Small Living Journal

There are, I’m sure, many for whom the biggest obstacle is actually believing they can build/buy a tiny house, who sit and say ‘oh if only I could do what your doing’, or ‘I’d love to be able to do that but I’m not clever/rich/strong/free enough’, or even ‘I just have far too much stuff to downsize that far’. I spent years planning an off-grid home, always hoping that one day I’d have enough money to buy a piece of land and build the house of my dreams. It was never going to be some mansion in the mountains but even so it was a huge undertaking and I thought that if I worked solidly for enough years I’d eventually get to the place where I’d be able to take a year or two off work and build it.

Life, however, had other plans. I found myself unemployed, getting divorced and having a nervous breakdown. I’d moved from a 3 bedroom house to a room in a shared house. I was steadily going through my savings living in one of the most expensive cities in the world and starting to wonder how long it would be before I was out on the streets. It was during this time that I gradually became aware of the tiny house movement and, in particular, Jay’s Tumbleweed houses. I sat looking around my room and realised that a tiny house would, in fact, be bigger than the room I spent most of my time in. Add a small kitchen/bathrom to it and you’d pretty much be there. I once spent 3 months living in a VW camper I used to own doing fieldwork in the Hebrides, the space became more reasonable as I started figuring out how I might arrange storage.

So, once I decided I could live in the space, it came down to money. With savings dwindling, could I afford to build a tiny house? I’ve always been a bit of a womble and I figured I could recycle a fair amount of stuff picked from skips (dumpsters), freecycle, eBay etc. Reading about Dee William’s tiny house cemented the idea.

Even so, actually doing something about it was harder. I finally decided that I had about enough money left from my savings to pay the rent on my room for a year, just in case I couldn’t get more work in the current slack job market. I could easily see myself getting to the end of that year and then having nothing left. I made a bit decision, one that was very tough, with the agreement of my mum I would move in to their spare room in Ireland and build a tiny house in the back yard. It would mean leaving everything behind but I would have space to live and mum would feed me. I was 42 and moving home. Strangely it didn’t feel like defeat, I was going to follow my dream for the first time in ages.

Then a friend who was starting a new business offered me some part-time work and my girlfriend, who I’d only been with for a few months, offered to let me move in with her so I could stay in London and build it here. I had no idea whether I could, but making the decision was undoubtedly the hardest thing in the entire process. After that, it became much, much easier. Once you’re actually embarked on the journey sheer inertia tends to keep you going.

There have, of course, been many ups and downs. The trailer I bought turned out not to be a good buy, I should have spent more which would have meant I’d have been much further along with the building than I am now, as I’m still fixing the problems with it, although I should be moving upwards soon. Weeks of rain can become demoralizing as you just can’t really build in a downpour. However, you take that time to research, monitor eBay, scour the small ads and freecycle lists. Even though I was again made redundant when my friend’s business couldn’t attract additional funding, this just gave me more time over the summer to concentrate on building and I had a little bit of extra money from the work.

I have always been reasonable at basic diy, but I’d never framed anything, never wired or plumbed a house from scratch, never built a roof or welded anything. I love to learn new things though, and I love a challenge. It costs nothing to spend time on the internet, you can even go to the library or a coffee shop and use their bandwidth if you don’t have your own. I’ve spent many days lost online, learning about all the new skills I’ll need. No-one’s born with the innate understanding of electrical code, or the metallurgy of copper pipe, it can all be learned if you’re prepared to put in the work. I was time rich, and I’ve been using it to learn so many new skills. I’ve also gained many new friends online through the tiny house communities/forums and blogs. I’ve built a network of contacts through whom I can learn, exchange ideas and gain support.

At each stage there’s always been a reason not to do something, but equally there’s a reason to start. The old Confucian saying ‘a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step’. For me that single step was the hardest point in the entire process. I was having lunch with a very good friend of mine a while ago, just after I’d made the decision to build, not knowing how I’d find the materials to do all this on the budget I had. He looked at me, smiled and said the oft-repeated line from the film Field of Dreams: ‘If you build it, they will come’. So far he’s been right, things have turned up unexpectedly just when I’ve needed them. Maybe it’s all about belief.

Justin.

I’m sitting at my desk with a sprawl of paper threatening to eat my organic, goat cheese pizza.  I just crunched numbers over my late night feast.  I can do it.  My bank statement is sitting on top of my Tumbleweed plans.  Across the table, my research list scribbles every trip to the hardware store and every name of my construction recruits.  I know what I need to build my tiny house.  I know what it’ll cost.  With my new bank statement, I know I have the money.  Here’s the tripper; I also have the land.

What’s the Problem?

It’s this last point that’s caused the late night pizza binge.  My free home site lies in the corner of my parent’s yard.  My tiny home will sit on a permanent foundation and forever keep me living with Mom and Dad, while I chase the ghosts of my childhood.

Even though my relationship with my family doesn’t require a tunicate, there’s something deep seated in me that calls for autonomy and needs physical separation from my family.  I’ve grown up in a country that expects independence, and lays out this freedom along a linear flow of events:  Education, career, house, spouse, kids, retirement.  Although a degree of variation is acceptable, cross too far off the path and you become a social eyebrow raiser.  “Live in Mom’s backyard,” lies in the realm of eyebrow raising.

Questioning Freedom

I know I can easily point to the downfalls of this freedom lineup.  It’s impossible to ignore the high cost of education, the sick-laden workaholic and the mortgage meltdown.  These are the questions I ask as I chase simplicity: Is this freedom?  What happened to my independence in this pile of bills?

Balancing “We” and “I”

For me to accept land from my family, and dig my foundation in their space, I feel like I’m crossing a boarder that values, “we,” over, “I.”  It would be a sharing of resources, with an acceptance of work and care in return.  No, my parents would not breath their expectations through my windows.  But I would need to be around to care for their animals when they go out of town, tend to the garden, and resolve myself to share my comings are goings.  Then there’s the larger question of care as they grow old.  It would only make sense to become their caretaker when it’s time.  I would be their closest neighbor.

Working this family dynamic is a process for every person.  But it becomes more alive and tangible when you live in close quarters and rely on their grace to build your tiny dream.

Asking the Question

Without question, planting my tiny home next to my parents would afford financial freedom.  Sharing resources would lessen our impact on the environment as a family.  So the question remains.  Can I hack it?  Can I leave the social norm.  Sure, I see tiny homes on the path to culture coolness.  Living in Mom’s backyard isn’t quite there.  When I except that cool is not my destiny, can I hold on for the lifetime ride of these new family ties?

Figuring Thing Out.  Slowly

This is why, fellow tiny house-ers, I resorted to my organic pizza binge.  From here, I’ll continue to mill over my questions.  I’ll practice clear speaking and deep listening with my family.  I’ll give myself the room to make a decision, knowing there is not only one way to live freely and walk lightly on this earth.  Of course, I’ll leave the oven on, pizza ready.

Author Bio

Amber is a writer and outdoor educator.  She lives small in Los Angeles with her mutt, Kona.

The subject of this issue of Small Living Journal was actually my suggestion. I thought it would be useful to hear how people have solved, and plan to solve, past and future challenges. Here are some example of common obstacles and my solutions.

Past & Current Obstacles

Debt Reduction

After watching the equity in my home evaporate I began to think very differently about money. I decided that for me, debt is to be avoided at all costs because the risk it too high. For example if I were to loose my job I would put my family in a very difficult position.

I’ve made some immediate changes in spending and have chosen to eliminate every unneeded expense. Living frugally immediately puts money back in my pocket and gives back some of the freedom lost by taking on debt.

When the housing market recovers we’ll be able to move on and into a smaller less expensive home on a larger piece of land. Once we’ve landed my financial focus will be becoming debt free.

Income Growth

I have a simple plan to create multiple revenue streams by leveraging my knowledge and skills. Most of us make money by selling our time to an employer. We make more money over time as our skills and knowledge improve, advancing as our contributions increase. The problem with this is that we’re reliant on someone else to support us and if that company should fail we go down with the ship.

There is another option that everyone can capitalize on immediately, and that’s banking your knowledge. To some degree everyone is an expect in something and when you take the time to record that expertise on a blog, book, recording, video, etc, you are banking your knowledge.

I’ve chosen to blog about my passion for tiny house design and have a couple book ideas in the works. Each one of these efforts becomes a small self-sustaining revenue stream. They don’t have to be large, they just have to be plentiful and require little effort to maintain. Blogging does require a lot of time and energy but I love to do it so I’d actually say the effort is low. In other words I’ve taken something I love doing and turned it into a revenue stream.

My long term plan is to create enough small streams to help eliminate debt and give me back more and more of my time. It’s a slow process but can work if you can maintain that entrepreneurial spirit.

More time with my Family

In 2006 Julia and I adopted our daughter Katie. As every parent can attest, having a new baby is life altering. The job I had at the time was a 100-mile commute away. I took the bus mostly and then the train when the bus route got canceled.

After Katie was born I began to make the trip to San Francisco by car because it was faster and gave me back about 2 hours a day with my family. But this was still not enough, I wanted more.

One day a job opportunity presented itself and a few months later I had switched positions and was working from home full time. Working from home has saved me so much time commuting and I can even have lunch with my wife and daughter.

Not every profession is as accommodating to working from home as mine. It’s also very hard to imagine working from home if you’ve always worked outside the home. But I think if you use your creativity and do some research you might be able to find a niche that fits your skill-set. My only warning is to look for real jobs and avoid anything that looks like a scheme.

Future Obstacles

Peak Oil Transition

I realize this is a loaded topic so forgive me for blurting it out like this, but hang in there with me for a few minutes.

At some point in the future the demand for oil will exceed supply. This will be due to increasing demand and fewer sources of oil. It’s clear that business and government are focused on the problem and are injecting more resources into finding a way to curtail demand, like using energy more efficiently, and diversify energy production by exploring coal, new oil exploration, tar sands, solar, wind, nuclear, etc.

In my humble opinion, all of this momentum has created a peak plateau and I’m certain it’s all in an effort to make a smooth transition to a new alternate energy source world. Some see our future powered by coal, nuclear, and natural gas; others see a wind, solar, hydro world… but they are all united in finding a way to make the transition smooth to keep human civilization strong.

Here’s a list of things I’m doing and plan to do. Ironically no matter what your predictions are for the future, none these choices can hurt.

• Eliminate all debt.
• Move to a temperate climate with adequate rainfall.
• Become less dependent on an income by building a sustainable and self-reliant lifestyle and multiple small revenue streams that could theoretically survive a deeper economy downturn.
• Move toward a sustainable lifestyle and live in balance with nature.
• Buy only things I’d be happy keeping for a lifetime.
• Buy only electronic devices that can run on 12VDC.
• Invest in alternative energy equipment like photovoltaic solar panels, batteries, and wind turbines.

Life, Liberty, Happiness

While peak oil concerns have acted in part as a catalyst for my interest in simple living, downsizing, sustainability, and self-reliance; I think it’s really the desire to live a happy and free life that is my primary motivator, as it should be.

This is also something I think every human around the planet can relate to, we all ultimately want to be happy and freedom is a prerequisite. It seems many of us have strayed from that goal by giving into short-term perks powered by borrowed money and a society that seems to require the sale of our time, aka, a job.

Ironically the solution to this obstacle has been staring at us through the pages of history. Species that survive are those that are in balance with their surroundings. We are an incredibly resourceful animal. I’m certain that if we choose to solve this puzzle and take into account the need to be in balance with our natural surroundings we will prosper, be happy, and free. I suspect if we choose to use up our natural surroundings we will ultimately fail because we’ll be so far out on a limb when the branch finally decides we’ve gotten too heavy to hold.

So I’m choosing to get off the limb and climb down the tree. I certain I can find a way to live free and be happy by choosing to use my clever human ingenuity to architect a sustainable future for myself and family. I figure the more of us that put our focus on what truly sustains life the better our chances will be for a long and fruitful civilization. The first step is it to move our focus off the noise around us and redirect it on the things that keep us in balance with the life around us.

I invite you to follow me on Twitter, and visit my design blog, Tiny House Design.

Designing small spaces for multiple people is a design challenge I’ve not focused on in great detail on Tiny House Design. It has however been the focus of my own future home plans and the core requirement of a design concept I hope to turn into a book called The Tiny Simple House.

In this article I’ll describe some ways of thinking about people living in small spaces that should help you more effectively approach the design of an existing or new small space.

Getting Everyone On The Same Page

Many of the smallest houses you see are built for one person and after a careful inspection it’s pretty easy to imagine how one person could live in less than 100 square feet. But as you can imagine choosing to live more simply and owning fewer possessions is required for this kind of extreme downsizing.

The first challenge of creating a tiny living space for multiple people is to get buy-in from everyone on choosing to live a frugal lifestyle. Compared to overcoming the actual design challenges this initial human challenge is by far the most difficult.

I suspect it’s our consumer culture that has conditioned us to think of a certain set of things as normal so unlearning what we’ve learned is the hardest part. For example, choosing to eliminate most of our possessions and keeping only the things we use regularly is a very hard step for most people to take. Even for those of us who have made the commitment find it difficult to make the time to finally get rid of all the extra stuff. Getting an entire family to rally around this and choose to downsize and simplify is rare.

My best suggestion in this area is to remember that all people change slowly and that the ultimate goal for downsizing usually includes creating more time to spend with your family and friends. Be patient and move forward and don’t leave anyone behind.

Take A User-Centered Design Approach

When you begin noodling over making a small space more efficient for multiple people it’s fairly common to assume one of the following two ideas:

• If one person can live in 100 square feet then four people can live in 400 square feet.
• Four people can live in less than 400 square feet because some efficiencies are found like shared bathrooms and kitchens.

I’m going to suggest coming at this design challenge from a different direction. You see you can’t simply make assumptions like these because different people have different needs and use their homes in different ways. For example a couple with jobs outside the home will have different needs than a couple that lives and works at home. Assuming that the same amount of space will serve these different needs equally would be a mistake.

Instead focus on the specific needs of the individual people today and projected into the future. Then while determining the spaces needed to meet these requirements and keep in mind that the real goal is to end up with a space that meets everyone’s needs while not overtaxing any one person. In other words strike a balance between too much and too little space so that the home truly provides value instead of costing too much time, money or energy.

Here are a few things that people often do together. These activities can often be served by shared spaces:

• Gathering
• Cooking
• Eating
• Entertaining

Here are a few things that people sometimes do as a group, but usually require private or dedicated space.

• Sleeping
• Bathing
• Study Time
• Work Time
• Private Time

Considering the needs of the occupants first will always give you a firm foundation to build solutions. Most of us like to think about the solutions first because it’s more fun but doing so will often distract us from the real end goal. When you start with actual user needs you end up building only the things the users need.

You might even want to use the Pareto principal, also known as the 80-20 rule, to help guide your decisions. This simple rule says that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. So instead of building 100% of a house to fulfill 100% of the functionality, build 20% of the house and get 80% of the functionality. This is a pretty smart approach because we usually only use a small portion of a large home’s functionality but it will always costs at least 100% or our time, money, and energy. So some functions might need to be left out of the design because their value doesn’t offset their cost.

Tips for Small Space Design

Once you have your priorities and people in mind applying some of these common small space design techniques will help you achieve more from less.

1. Think like a boat builder not a home builder

When we think of our living spaces in the context of a traditional home it’s easy to jump to common solutions like 10′ by 12′ bedrooms with walk-in closets. Instead think like a boat builder who must pack a lot of function into every tiny space.

2. Design bathrooms for multi-person use by dividing functional areas

Instead of designing bathrooms to contain everything consider breaking it into functional areas like a separate sink area, sink & toilet, and shower/tub. These individual spaces may take up a little more space than a single bathroom but they allow more people to use the individual spaces simultaneously.

3. Create built-in multi-functional furniture

Keep spaces open and clear by using built-in furniture and storage. This is an especially useful technique for bedrooms, hallways, and kitchens. Some common solutions are beds that can be hidden away, desks and tables that fold-out, cabinets that conceal possessions, and even cabinets that pivot and divide spaces. You could carry this to an extreme too by creating a single open space and then dividing it with floor to ceiling built-in cabinets.

4. Use your vertical space

Every cubic inch of a home must be heated and cooled so why not use it all when it makes sense. Beds with lofts above them can make fun rooms for kids and floor to ceiling built-in cabinets can provide enormous functionality.

5. Reduce transition spaces like hallways

This seems obvious and isn’t really easy to do. The best place to start is to build off a single open area and have rooms open directly to the larger space. You can also get more use out of hallways by lining walls with functional built-ins, concealed appliances, bathroom sinks, and so on.

6. Open up spaces and use subtle transitions

Subtle transitions help define the division between spaces but is more about fooling the eye than aesthetics. Spaces can be made to look longer, wider, and taller by creating visual progressions through any space. But when you close those spaces forming separate rooms you loose the optical illusion so its best to keep spaces open. Also use continuous flooring treatments.

7. Use high ceilings and draw the eye up.

It’s amazing what an extra foot of ceiling height can do to make a space feel larger. If you’re stuck with the ceiling height you have try raising your window coverings up to the ceiling and avoid cutting your walls visually in half with things like wainscoting. You might even try painting your walls one color 3/4 of the way up and then painting the top 1/4 and the ceiling a brighter color. Also be sure to point light fixtures up.

8. Use light solid colors and let the sun shine in

Light always makes small spaces feel bigger. Lighter colored your walls mean you’ll need fewer windows and artificial lighting. Busy patterns will make a space appear cluttered.

9. Include outdoor space in your design

The exterior of a home is often forgotten while you’re focused on making the inside feel bigger. The final product will be much more successful if you consider all your spaces inside and out. Think of the space outside as another room and open the house up to them visually. You’ll be able to achieve the same effects as you can with visual progressions inside the house.

10. Use simple window treatments

Your exterior windows and doors can help you make your space feel bigger. Avoid heavy, thick, and dark window coverings.

11. Reduce clutter, collections, and possessions

This is actually the first step that all of us can do right now to make out homes feel more spacious. I left it for last so that it would be left in your mind most vividly. Eliminating clutter and organizing what we already have will make any space feel bigger and help the occupants feel better.

For more articles on tiny spaces for families see these articles:

• Tiny Paris Apartment for 4 + Dog
• Is Living in Small Spaces Cruel To Children?
• Tiny House with Moving Walls – part 1, part2, part3, part4

I invite you to follow me on Twitter, and visit my design blog, Tiny House Design.

Living with my partner and 2 cats in 400 square feet has been a learning experience. Moving to a smaller space has actually improved my marriage, health and overall quality of life. I’ve learned a lot by downscaling and wanted to share 7 essential rules for happy small space living.

1. Listen and communicate.

Living in a big or a small house requires communicating and listening to your partner and family. Don’t make assumptions. If problems arise ask open and non-accusatory questions. I’ve found this approach to be very helpful, especially when it comes to discussing finances and cleaning.

2. Make your home a clutter free zone.

One of my favorite bloggers, Leo Babauta from Zen Habits, recently wrote a great post on clutter-free counter space. I think the tips Leo offered in this article can be applied to all areas of the home. For instance, Leo talks about finding “a home” for each object in your house.

If you want to declutter and aren’t sure where to begin read: Zen Mind – How to Declutter. Some tips offered in this article include, decluttering in small chunks, setting aside the time to get it done, tackling one drawer at a time, being merciless, and creating a “maybe” box.

For more information on Decluttering, check out these posts:

• How to Eliminate Clutter, from Basic Instructions
• FlyLady: How to Declutter
• FlyLady: Declutter 15 Minutes a Day – 5 Great Tools That Make it Easy!
• What Is Clutter?

3. 100 Thing Challenge

If you want to try extreme decluttering, you can read more about The 100 Thing Challenge. I stumbled across Dave’s blog a months ago and learned that he is living with 100 personal possessions. Why?

Dave is trying to remove himself from consumerism. Reading about this project inspired me to do the same! I’ve found that scaling down to under 100 personal things has enabled me to question what I need and has removed a tremendous amount of clutter from my life.

4. A clean home makes for happy people.

There is nothing worse that walking into a grimy home. Living with others requires cooperation and sharing chores. Always having one person clean the house isn’t fair. I’ve found that it’s important to split up cleaning responsibilities and share the load. All of us lead busy lives and it’s important to help out around the house.

5. Minimal furniture.

Get the big bulky furniture out of the house or minimize the amount of stuff you own. Keeping light and easy to move furniture makes cleaning and moving very easy. One strategy that has worked well for us is using big pillows as chairs.

6. Beautiful art and pictures.

Rather than displaying decorations on the counters, hanging beautiful photos of family, friends and art on the walls is perfect. Pictures give a small living space character and hanging art/photos is minimal and beautiful. Plus, photos are a portal to past memories and remind me of what is important in life. Not stuff, but people.

7. Keep the good stuff.

Stick with quality items. Keep stuff that you use everyday and love. For instance, we donated all of our big and heavy furniture and kept our favorite Ikea chair. We purchased it used and absolutely love it!

Questions…

I’m curious to hear from you. What strategies have you used to make living in a small space with others fun and easy? Would you add anything to the list?

You can learn more about small living by reading my blog, RowdyKittens or following me on Twitter.