Why the Tiny House?

The American dream is to graduate from high school, go to college, get a good, safe job and buy a house.  That is the way it is supposed to be.  Why, then, are people messing with the status quo and building these mini wanna be houses on wheels?  Well I can't tell  you other people's reasons (although I'm sure a lot of them are similar to mine), but I can tell you what mine are.

First things first, I am not a conventional person in most areas. I don't mind doing what everyone else is doing if it makes sense, but if it doesn't, I'm out. Well, my husband and I's journey to the tiny house decision started when we were living in an apartment and decided we wanted to own a rental property, for the residual income benefit. We looked around at all of the multi unit properties in our area and there was something that wouldn't fit with each of them (there weren't that many).  Somehow, while being a little discouraged about the rental property setback, we landed on the idea of buying a house. I remember all of our reasons: We wouldn't be throwing money away at rent every month, no landlords, we could put picture frames up, etc. It all seemed magical and wonderful at the time.  When we bought the house and moved in, I was expecting to feel like I had accomplished something or that I was living better than before, but that feeling never came. For either of us.

The house we bought was a three bedroom and for a starter house, and for two people, it felt huge.  We never use our upstairs because our bedroom was on the first floor, so we were paying for a three bedroom house when only using 1 bedroom.  I thought I would feel like our money was going to something more than just rent, but I never got that feeling either. The money disappeared from our checking account each month and every time I happened to see the balance on the loan, it was so daunting and wasn't going down at all (side note: In two years we had paid 2,000 on our house...). Now to people whose dream it is to own a house and had it drilled into you since birth that this is what you're destined for, it doesn't seem all that weird that it would take a LONG time for your loan balance to go down, but it just doesn't make sense to me.  I felt like I was starting to see Matrix and once I did, I couldn't go back to my old way of thinking. 

Adam and I had lived in a really, really small apartment when we were trying college out and were there for over a year. It was a tough adjustment at first because we had to get rid of a lot of our stuff and could absolutely not accumulate more stuff.  The living room and kitchen combined were smaller than most people's living room, but we didn't mind it.  We also had dirt cheap rent because of it.  So, with all of that in mind, we started doing research on tiny houses and decided it was definitely the move for us.  Now that you have the backstory, here are my reasons for buying a tiny house:

Minimalist Living
The generation I grew up in are great in a lot of ways, but one of the downsides is that we are a generation of materialistic, instant gratification brats.  I can say that because I myself have those tenancies as well. It wasn't our parents fault, it was growing up in a society that was coming up with some crazy awesome technology that we all got to experience that the older generations did not.  I luckily made it almost all the way through high school without having a cell phone and even then it was a pay as you go phone. I know 12 year old kids that have their own cell phone, stream hulu and Netflix on their tablets, and pretty much  have everything at their fingertips.  Well, I don't want to be one of those people anymore. Not only do I want to not have everything at my fingertips, I want to be more present in my life. I want to think about washing dishes because I have to be aware of the amount of water I'm using. I want to think about the Christmas presents I buy because they somehow have to fit in our house.  I want to sit down and enjoy a good book on a Saturday night instead of feeling like I have to do something fun and new just because I can.  My husband and I decided that for kids' birthdays and Christmas we would buy them a couple of toys but mainly focus on creating experiences for them, like an art class, a trip to the aquarium, etc. Things that aren't things. I remember as a kid, if I didn't have a humungous stack of presents under the tree I was disappointed and I thought, why did Santa give me all these presents last year but not this year. I remember feeling so guilty because I felt greedy about the presents I was receiving. I don't want my kids to ever feel like that. I want them to cherish each and every gift they receive and use them more because there aren't a million more.

Own my home quicker
Don't get me wrong, rent is not something I particularly enjoy paying. It would be nice to be able to just own my own house someday. But that someday be a heck a lot sooner than 30 years when it's just me and my husband and all of our kids are gone.  With a tiny home, you can pay your home off in 10 or even 5 years.  I used to watch  documentaries of tiny house owners and a lot of them would say that they now own their tiny house completely and work a part time job and then come home and have time to do their hobbies and enjoy their friends and family. I loved the idea of that.  And even if you kept working full time after you paid off the house, you're still saving all of that money you would be paying on a mortgage or rent.

Freeing Feeling
The idea of owning a house and feeling like you have to stay there for 30 years or, if you sell, go through the whole process of getting it ready, showing it to people, going through the paperwork, and heaven forbid your house isn't worth what it was when you bought it and you lose money, that all sounds horrible to me. One thing I did get from being a millennial that I am not ashamed of is that I want to feel free. I want to be able to travel and move if it's right for my family and I thrive on new adventures. Someone like me should definitely not have a house that is attached to the ground.  The tiny house on wheels that we are buying will allow us to move if needed and take our lives with us.

It's fun!
I'm not even in the house yet (one more month!) and I'm already thinking of space saving furniture and storage ideas. It's fun to make the most out of what you have and make every space have a purpose, because there's just not a whole lot of room!  It's fun to know that you thought of multiple functions for one piece of furniture or found a way to make something difficult more enjoyable. 

Well, there you have it! Those are my reasons for buying a tiny house. I don't share this because I want everyone to join us, but I do see the benefits and want to share them for people similar to us that are feeling stuck in the American Dream (or on the path to the American Dream).  Tiny houses aren't for everyone, just like regular houses aren't for everyone. But if you are interested, I have some resources and ideas that I am happy to share and would love to hear your story as well.