If you are an avid fan of Home and Garden Television (HGTV) then you have probably noticed how popular tiny homes have become. In case you don’t know what a tiny house is, it is any house that is less than one thousand square feet. Depending on what people are looking for, they can get very small (200 sq ft or probably less), have wheels, or you can even get a yurt and live in that for your tiny house (and if you don’t know what a yurt is, google it). Basically, tiny spaces have taken America by storm, and House Hunters has been graceful enough to document some of the journeys people take to find their perfect tiny home.
One of the main reasons people get a tiny house is because of money. A smaller house not only costs less, but many can be purchased in full so you don’t need to pay a mortgage, leaving more money for things such as traveling. When people buy a tiny house for this reason, I become much more understanding. A single person wants to live in a small facility so she/he can save money for their worldly experiences. That makes sense to me. I may not do it personally, but I feel this is one of the more understandable reasons to buy a tiny house.
Another reason to buy a tiny house seems to be the mobility they have. Many have wheels, meaning you can trailer your house anywhere you’d like as long as you can find a piece of land to stay on for free/rent. One couple I watched on House Hunters lived somewhere in or by Tornado valley, so they wanted to be able to move their house around if a tornado was about to hit. Another woman I saw was working as a traveling nurse, so she needed to move her home to whichever state/location she was working in. These reasons make more sense as to why you might want a tiny home. I still think saving money as a single person for your worldly experiences is the best reason for a tiny house, but this one comes in a close second.
The final reason people seem to want a tiny house (besides the fact that they just want one) is for family time. This is where people lose me. I once watched a family of six; a mother, father, and their children, look for a tiny home because the parents felt like they were disconnected from one another. When did the parents realize this disconnect? After a family RV road trip vacation. All I could say after this episode is: those poor children.
Don’t get me wrong, family time is very important to have in each and every family, but something that’s also very important to a lot of people is alone time. In my family, and with most people I know, we all value our alone time. In a house of 600 sq ft (which they were looking for specifically because each family member got 100 ft) how is anyone going to get their alone time? The kids may be younger now and find this a fun adventure, but what happens when high school and college comes around? What happens when puberty hits all the children and they want to get away from one another? People need to be able to get their alone time, and while this family has good intentions of saving money and bringing their family together, I’m going to want to see a check up on them in five years to see how everything is really going. I hope this family is able to get along as they all grow older, but I can’t help but feel that a family of six needs to live in an actual home.
While I know a tiny house is not for me, I can see why people might find them appealing. Everyone’s priorities are different, and ideal living quarters will always vary. If you do think of looking into a tiny home, though, make sure you know who you will be living with and make sure everyone is on the same page with living in a tiny home.