I’ve lived in both a large house and a tiny apartment, and there is just something super appealing about living somewhere that you can understand at a glance.
The only thing I didn’t like about tiny studio apartments was the inevitable lack of noise isolation.
Now, my dream is to live in a house that probably is just a little too big to qualify as “tiny,” but the house is on a decent piece of land. Basically a nice cabin in the woods sort of house, but without the horror movie connotation.
Everything within reach, everything in its proper place, quick to clean, minimal upkeep, don’t have to walk half a mile to the bathroom, cheaper, much simpler ventilation control, it’s just better and cozier to me dammit.
That’s my dream too. The struggle is that I’d prefer not to homeschool the kids, and it’s hard to find that sweet spot where you have that kind of space and are in a good school district.
Homeschooling is like what ayurvedic is to medicine. Or a chiropractor to an orthopedic specialist. Except you have to do it yourself and your kids won’t learn how to adjust and cooperate with others. You were planning to do this on a 9 to 5 schedule? How do you handle PE? Shop? Do you understand the material you will be teaching? Do you know how to construct and evaluate tests? How to keep track of progress and keep lesson plans planned three years ahead? Or are you just gonna wing it and learn as you go?
When my wife and I got our first apartment, it was a tiny studio. 15’x12’. But, as our family grew, we needed more space to accommodate the kids. We currently have 13 people in our household, and we built another extension on our house to bring it to 14 bedrooms. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of that tiny studio. Being able to clean our entire living space in like 20 minutes was pretty great. But the tradeoff of having enough space to build a big family is worth it IMO. If my life had gone differently, and I was just a single dude, or if my wife and I had decided to go the DINK route, I’d be fine in a tiny home.
But it was really nice being able to open my home to my niece when my sister went to prison and my niece had nowhere to go. When my oldest son’s marriage imploded and he needed to move back home (with his kids in tow), it was nice to have the space to host them. I try to always have an empty room in case someone I love is in a bad situation. Couldn’t really do that in a tiny home.
I also host most big family events, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July and whatnot. I have a HUGE extended family, and we generally have ~50 guests in addition to our own household. Trying to host 50 guests in a tiny home would be impossible. Trying to cook enough food in a tiny kitchen would be an insane endeavor. Not to mention the idea of all those people trying to share one tiny bathroom.
I’ve lived in both a large house and a tiny apartment, and there is just something super appealing about living somewhere that you can understand at a glance.
The only thing I didn’t like about tiny studio apartments was the inevitable lack of noise isolation.
Now, my dream is to live in a house that probably is just a little too big to qualify as “tiny,” but the house is on a decent piece of land. Basically a nice cabin in the woods sort of house, but without the horror movie connotation.
Everything within reach, everything in its proper place, quick to clean, minimal upkeep, don’t have to walk half a mile to the bathroom, cheaper, much simpler ventilation control, it’s just better and cozier to me dammit.
That’s my dream too. The struggle is that I’d prefer not to homeschool the kids, and it’s hard to find that sweet spot where you have that kind of space and are in a good school district.
Homeschooling is like what ayurvedic is to medicine. Or a chiropractor to an orthopedic specialist. Except you have to do it yourself and your kids won’t learn how to adjust and cooperate with others. You were planning to do this on a 9 to 5 schedule? How do you handle PE? Shop? Do you understand the material you will be teaching? Do you know how to construct and evaluate tests? How to keep track of progress and keep lesson plans planned three years ahead? Or are you just gonna wing it and learn as you go?
When my wife and I got our first apartment, it was a tiny studio. 15’x12’. But, as our family grew, we needed more space to accommodate the kids. We currently have 13 people in our household, and we built another extension on our house to bring it to 14 bedrooms. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of that tiny studio. Being able to clean our entire living space in like 20 minutes was pretty great. But the tradeoff of having enough space to build a big family is worth it IMO. If my life had gone differently, and I was just a single dude, or if my wife and I had decided to go the DINK route, I’d be fine in a tiny home.
But it was really nice being able to open my home to my niece when my sister went to prison and my niece had nowhere to go. When my oldest son’s marriage imploded and he needed to move back home (with his kids in tow), it was nice to have the space to host them. I try to always have an empty room in case someone I love is in a bad situation. Couldn’t really do that in a tiny home.
I also host most big family events, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July and whatnot. I have a HUGE extended family, and we generally have ~50 guests in addition to our own household. Trying to host 50 guests in a tiny home would be impossible. Trying to cook enough food in a tiny kitchen would be an insane endeavor. Not to mention the idea of all those people trying to share one tiny bathroom.
13 people is about a dozen too many.
Lucky 13 right here!