There’s a trend in homebuilding recently, which is the increase in tiny houses or micro-homes. The average North American home is about 2300 square feet but in the last few years, people are beginning to choose to live in smaller homes. It’s less expensive, more environmentally friendly, and is in keeping with the movement to live more simply. Some homes are as small as 100 square feet! These homes are sometimes only 4 feet wide in places! Every square inch is put to good use, and obviously they are meant for only one or two people to live in. I don’t know about you, but I’d feel a little claustrophobic in these, depending on where they were built. I’d rather a home than an apartment this size, because it would be important to have some open space around me.
A bonus to choosing to live n such a small home would be the inevitable cleaning out of closets and bookshelves, and purging oneself of excess everything. It really makes one keenly aware of how much stuff we have! And why?
I do wonder how to prepare for an emergency when living in a home like this. No room to stockpile extra food, water, or other necessities. Where do they store their freezer, bikes, tools, winter clothes and jumbo sized cereal boxes? I wonder how many people living in these tiny homes have a mini storage unit somewhere?
In order to thrive in a lifestyle like this, I’m guessing mini-home owners have radically changed their consumerist mindset to living one day at a time and storing only what they need for that week.
I have to agree; a bit too small for my taste. The smallest we lived in was an 1100 square foot 3 bedroom apartment but it was roomy with lots of storage areas (that was when the kids were still at home). I think hubby and me could get buy with less than that now (provided he parted with a lot of stuff) but one requirement I do have is two bathrooms.
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betty
100 square feet? Wow, my yarn stash wouldn't fit into that. :-(
ReplyDeleteWhile I wouldn't want to go as small as 100 sq. ft., I would love to have a cabin sized home some day. I know the exact floor plan I would use to maximize the space I had. I have even done a bit of searching on the internet to see what's out there. I just need to find the perfect 3 to 5 acres to build it on.
Our house is around 700 square feet and I can't imagine surviving in anything smaller. Especially since we have very limited storage. I had to laugh about where one would store the big cereal boxes. Well, we stack them on top of each other all willy nilly in the pantry. BUT, the giant pack of toilet paper Gary convinced me to buy at Costco last week still doesn't have a proper home. And yes, we purge our closets frequently. It's an absolute necessity.
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