Here are my thought why tiny living is important to us…

  1. Community- I think the idea that we have to have our own house or own property is very isolating (this has been proven over the last year during lockdown). We bought the property with someone else to split the cost. We are sharing the project with a friend which has been exciting and it works well for us. We do not want to do this alone and we have the space to build and share all our ideas and projects. We acknowledge we are fortunate to be in our situation, owning a plot of land on Vancouver Island, but we had to get creative to get here. We searched for years and connected with people who had land in the area. We waited and saved and waited and saved until an opportunity came up. In our eyes, building community in rural areas is the most important and what a better way to do it than have your friends be part of the adventure!
  2. Lower expenses- fewer bills, insurance, rent or mortgage. We cannot see ourselves buying a house in the city for several reasons, but the biggest reason is price. Houses are expensive! With a tiny home, the expenses are relative, there is less to pay for and something we can slowly build with the money we save. Lower insurance and no mortgage will save us a lot of money stress by not paying high insurance rates and interest on a mortgage. The idea of living within our means has always made sense to both of us throughout our lives. Living in debt, tied to payments and throwing money at interest does not make sense. We both have lived our lives knowing if we do not have the money, we cannot spend it. Yes, I only ate frozen spinach for a couple of days while travelling to save a couple of dollars and I have stressed too much about a budget but it has allowed me to live within my means and I am comfortable with that.
  3. Low maintenance, less cleaning- I am a clean and tidy person but do not like the daunting idea of cleaning a massive house and the time that takes away from doing the things we love. Less square footage means there is less space to clean, maintain and fill stuff with. All in all this will allow us more time to ensure what we have invested in is well taken care of.
  4. Tiny and simple times- with less debt and more time to do what we love, life will be less stressful, simpler and ultimately more enjoyable as we will be spending more time outside, eating good food and building things that contribute to our lifestyle, such as a big garden. To me living tiny is not a sacrifice, however, I know it is not for everyone. For us, this is the right size (we have planned for loft space for wee ones when they come too). The less space we have the less time we spend inside, the healthier we will be. An outdoor kitchen, covered fireplace and workshop will all be part of the property and so we will spend our time there, rather than in front of a tv!
  5. Creativity- living with less, doesn’t mean we are giving up what we love and that is why we don’t feel this is a big shift in our lifestyle. What we love is the outdoors, activities and creating. All the things we play with can be stored in a shipping container, so although our house will be small, our ability to continue to do what we love is still there. It just looks a little different.
  6. Less money stress, more time- the stress of both of us having to work a 40-hour workweek is not something we want to do (especially when our family gets bigger), nor is it something we are all supposed to do. Take a read at a few of these articles to challenge your ideal of what is a normal workweek. The economic stresses we put on ourselves that force us to spend the majority of our week working to buy things may take away from our families and loved ones and we are trying to find a fine balance. Economist, Atspoke, Chat with Google co-founders. *I want to acknowledge the families, single parents and employees who have to work long days and weeks to put food on the table and pay their bills. This story will look very different from their situation and I am aware this is not reflected in this post. As a takeaway thought- why do our communities and society have such a broad range of wealth and foster individualistic behaviours? What are your patterns and beliefs that support or challenge this norm?