How To Live In A Tiny House
Ah, the inevitable backlash. Screw those planet lovin’ do gooders, I bet they’re not happy anyway. Pointless judgmentalism always gets me going, especially when there’s so much real harm in the world–I don’t notice people getting as fired up about child hunger–but this kind of article especially. And before you disagree with me about the child hunger thing, when was the last time HuffPost shared an article slamming someone for buying a new car instead of donating that money to Oxfam?
On my Facebook author page, I wrote:
I’m sick of this judgmental bullshit. I don’t hold anything against people who live in enormous pads but just because some choose to, doesn’t mean that’s everyone’s goal or that everyone needs space to make them happy. Not everyone’s sense of contentment, or self worth, is tied to material things. We could live in a much larger house than we do (although ours is by no means tiny, especially not in the sense of this movement); moving here, and staying here, was (and is) an affirmative choice based on our personal beliefs. You all know I’m a dirty hippie; I care a lot about my carbon footprint and for me, personally–again, just me personally–that has to go beyond buying the meat with five cows on it at Whole Foods. I grow my own vegetables, have over 200 houseplants, and water them all with rainwater I collect in a gigantic barrel because dirty hippie; I do a lot of the stuff I do because dirty hippie. And, believe it or not, when you don’t own a lot of stuff–I have virtually no personal possessions and like it that way–your house doesn’t, in fact, get really messy.
Our world would be a much more harmonious place if we stopped judging each other over stuff like this. There are as many ways to be happy as there are people in the world and I personally think that the only reason anyone would waste valuable time that could be spent doing something else on, instead, judging the non-harmful lifestyle choices of another, indeed a complete stranger, is because they’re not happy with their own lives. Because maybe, just maybe, the writer of this article has been fed the lie that more stuff equals more happiness and yet still isn’t happy. And can’t figure out why.
But I wondered, after, if confusion about how to fit into a smaller space didn’t lie–at least in part–at the heart of this belief that one can’t. At least not and be happy. Of course, there are much broader questions here, both personal and ethical: how much do I need? To what extent are my wants valid? How do I determine which wants have what degree of validity? How do I distinguish, indeed, between wants and needs?
But in practical terms, here are some suggestions.
First, be honest with yourself about what you really do need. For me, that’s a garden. I need green space to be happy, and not just a little postage stamp. While neither our house nor our yard is huge, our yard is, in fact, larger than our house. I also need dedicated space to create. The other members of my family have different needs–as, I’m sure, will you. Getting needs met isn’t an issue of adding more space but, when you’re trying to conserve, making trade-offs. We don’t have a guest bedroom. We don’t have any room that doesn’t serve at least two functions. My son’s bedroom is also his playroom, although of course the whole house is his playroom too. My writing area is also my crafting and designing area. And…you get the idea. This works, for us, in part because each room is a place we actually want to be. Which brings me to my next point, that….
You have to purge. We have no clutter. Yes, really. Our house isn’t completely sterile; we have tchotchkes like everyone else. But we’re selective about what we buy, and save. Anything we don’t use for six months, with a couple of notable exceptions (like Christmas decorations), we give away or, if it’s not in give away condition, toss. That includes our fine china, which I really do use. I mean, why not? It’s there, we like it.
Organization is key, and that means using the walls. Above our mantel, in the living room, I strung a DIGNITET from IKEA and that’s where we display our son’s recent art. Instead of blank spaces with one or two pictures, our walls are covered with shelves and cabinets and curtain wire and all kinds of fun things. I have a personal rule for organization that, when a room is clean, nothing can be “put away” on the floor or on a tabletop. Obviously, furniture would be the exception! But I don’t want anything just hanging out, because it doesn’t have a space. In learning to utilize my walls better (and thus keep my surfaces cleaner), I’ve drawn quite a bit of inspiration from my Amish friends, who hang up just about everything. Including spare chairs. Which might sound strange, but you’d be surprised at the feeling of space it creates!
Buy furniture that fits your space. Most American-made furniture seems really oversized, and too huge couches, beds, and etc can make even a reasonably sized home seem tiny. Our furniture, for the most part, comes from IKEA precisely because it’s engineered to work in small spaces. So we don’t feel like we’re sacrificing–because we aren’t. My house is half the size of some of my friends’ and I have more storage space than they do, because I’ve made different furniture choices.
You don’t have to be beholden to certain decorating “rules,” such as that you must absolutely have a mahogany veneered dining room set worthy of King Charles II to have a formal dining room. We have a formal dining room–although it’s not that formal–and when we swapped out the furniture I’d been given (by a relative, who told me she needed to get rid of it because it was hideous), gave that away, and purchased some more space-appropriate furniture from IKEA it literally felt like the room had doubled in size.
Do I lie awake at night, bumming because my house isn’t larger? No, I actually sleep quite soundly most nights because I work so hard all day. I don’t have time to worry about the size of my bedroom. And, of course, if I wanted a larger bedroom I could purchase one. I think it boils down to what you’re using your house for: yes, to live in, but is this space for you or for you to use in proving something to yourself? Or to someone else?
