Buzz Feed recently posted an article filled with a bunch of questions for tiny house hunters.
Dear “Tiny House Hunters” People: Please Answer These Questions
Well I’m not a tiny house hunter, but I am a tiny house dweller. Surely that makes me qualified to answered some of these questions.
1. What actually qualifies, in your mind, as a “tiny house”?
Anything smaller than 500 square feet.
2. Have you ever seen a studio apartment in Manhattan, and if so, would you consider that to fall under those criteria?
Nope. It’s a tiny apartment.
3. Was your realtor a little annoyed because they knew their commission wouldn’t be as much?
Why would they agree to take on a client if they were going to annoyed?
4. Are there tiny house fixer-uppers and short sales, or is that just for bigger houses?
There’s a lot of tiny houses in varying states of completeness on websites like Tiny House Listing. Tiny houses tend to be less expensive than “normal” houses so I’m guessing the instance of short sales is lower. Many tiny houses, particularly ones of wheels, are not eligible for bank financing which would also lower the instance of short sales.
5. Be honest — how much did you really know about yurts before starting your tiny house hunt?
Before: Yurts are cute.
6. Be honest — how much do you really know about yurts even after getting a tiny house?
After: Yurts are cute and not very warm.
7. If you had a larger family, would you still want to do the tiny house thing?
Probably not a tiny house on wheels but probably not a big house.
8. If so…why? (I’m looking at you, family with four kids.)
I mean I’m wondering why anyone would even want that many kids in the first place. I’ll stick with being an “aunt” for now.
9. What does the rest of your family think about your decision to live in a tiny house?
My parents supported me because I was going to do what I want to matter what. Now they’re super proud. Generally, my family is on board. I’ve got a family filled with badass women (and men) who encourage me to be a badass woman and chase all my dreams.
Mom an Dad filming for Tiny House, Big Living
My cousin Paul installing all the electrical
10. If you want a pet, does it need to be a tiny pet, like a hamster or something?
Hamster are tiny – their cages, not so much. Definitely not the right choice for a tiny house. Henry the hedgehog used to live with me in a tiny apartment but his cage was too big. He has a new loving home now. But hot damn, he was cute.
11. How frequently do you plan on moving your house around, if at all?
Occasionally. When new adventures arise or my leases run out.
12. How do you choose which friend’s place to park your house at until you can buy your own plot of land?
Whichever friend says yes!
13. Do your friends actually want you to come and stay on their property for an undetermined period of time, or are they just being nice?
Probably a little bit of both.
14. Is it tough to get someone to come and install cable and wifi?
I’m a wifi (electric and water too) parasite. I mooch off the main house. Do people actually still have cable?
15. What does it take to disaster-proof a tiny house (as in, prepare for earthquakes, tornadoes, etc.)?
Construction is similar to a regular house. My rafters are connected with hurricane ties to stand up to strong winds (at home and on the road). Luckily, I don’t have to worry about many natural disasters where I live.
But when the floods come, I can move my house out of the way!
16. How do you decide which possessions of yours to get rid of if there’s not a lot of storage?
For the year prior to moving in, I hid clothes and household items under the bed or in the hall closet. This way, I was able to see how it felt to be without them. If I found myself digging under the bed or in the closet for an item, it came to the tiny house. If I forgot about it, it was donated. And my friends got to take pretty much whatever they wanted.
17. Do you have to be a really neat person to live in such a small space?
Nah. I go from one extreme to another – really tidy or a total pig. It all depends on your tolerance for mess and clutter.
18. Like, can you just take your shoes off and throw them on the floor like most people, or do you have to put everything in a very specific place?
I kick them off and leave them in the middle of the floor. Then I have a temper tantrum when I trip over them later..like most other people.
19. Do you ever get claustrophobic?
Yeah and then I go outside. I’m not trapped inside my house with no means of escape. I get claustrophobic if I’m inside for too long no matter how big the inside is.
20. Do people even come over at all? Like, can they fit?
Little Lou has hosted as many as five friends at one time! And that’s pretty much all the friends I have.
21. When is the last time you threw a dinner party, and how did that work?
I haven’t had a big group over for dinner but I plan to host summer bbq’s on the lawn. If your house is small – or big- go outside!
22. Is it awkward when you have guests over and someone needs to fart in such a small space?
Meh. Farts are funny.
23. Is it even more awkward if someone needs to poop?
Nah. Pooping in the composting toilet is less awkward because it’s filled with sawdust instead of water. No embarrassing splash when you drop the kids at the pool.
24. And can everyone hear you peeing?
see above.
25. Is there soundproofing…at all?
Well everything is basically one big room. So not really. But the insulation, Roxul, actually acts as a sound barrier.
26. Can you have ~overnight visitors~ without things getting uncomfortable?
Yup. They sleep on the couch, share my bed with me or I sleep on a camping pad and they sleep in my bed. I’m pretty much the best friend ever.
Oh Wait…is this a sex question? Right, it probably is.
It’s not uncomfortable. And I live alone so I can enjoy activities-monopoly is a favorite-with overnight guests in any room in the house without worrying about being busted by roommates.
27. How often do you hit your head on the ceiling when you wake up?
Never. I can sit straight up in my bed.
28. Are there tiny bed frames for sale somewhere or do you just have to put your mattress directly on the floor?
You could probably find one but it seems like a waste of space to me if you have a lofted bedroom.
29. Why do you seem to expect that a full-sized kitchen will fit into your 150 sq. foot house?
Because you can do it. The kitchen in my tiny house is bigger than the kitchen in my last apartment. But you’ll have to sacrifice space somewhere else – like the living room.
30. Oh, and do you end up having to order a lot of takeout because the kitchens are so small?
Nope. I love cooking and hardly order take out. In fact, I order less take out now than when I lived in an apartment in the city because there is no delivery options at my new home.
31. Are you hoping to put in tiny granite countertops, at least?
Granite looks nice and you can afford to splurge when you have such a small area to cover. However, nothing beats free. If your house is on wheels, you need to be mindful of weight and granite is heavy.
32. Do you have to take out the trash all the time so it doesn’t start to stink up the whole house?
Nope. I compost all of my food scraps. With most of my veggies scraps, I save them in the freezer until I have enough to make a pot of stock then I compost the scraps. I keep the compost bin in the fridge so it doesn’t stink up the house.
I produce so little trash, that I’ve only had to take my trash out twice in the past 5 months. and I used grocery store bags as trash bags!
33. What’s up with those bathrooms that are just a toilet, shower, and sink combined into the same 10 square feet?
It’s called a wet bath and saves a lot of space since you don’t need a tub or a shower stall. But they’re also a pain in the butt. It’s hard to keep your toilet paper dry when the whole bathroom is a shower.
34. Why do you always ask if a bathtub will fit in your tiny house? IT WON’T.
Lies. I have a bathtub. It’s a horse trough that we put a drain in. You just have to be creative!
35. Do you ever have a hard time maneuvering in the shower and just give up trying to get fully clean?
No. I’m not a dirt bag.
36. Is it hard to get up the ladder to the loft/sleeping area after having a few drinks?
Yeah but it’s hard to get up any stairs after a few drinks.
37. How many times have you fallen off the ladder/loft?
0 almost once. making the bed in the loft is hard work.
38. If there are two people and one wants to sleep while the other wants to stay awake, how do you choose if the light stays on or goes off?
Rock, paper, scissors
39. Do you ever get into fights because of noise/light issues like this?
Nope. I like the people who spend the night at my house and tend not to fight with them.
40. Is there even enough space to have a fight?
Fight? Like wrestle? Yes. Argue? Yes.
41. And do you feel silly when you complain about not having enough space for something and then remember that, like…you chose to live in a tiny house?
Yeah but everyone complains sometimes. I feel the most silly when I loose something in the tiny house. It’s 240 square feet-how the hell do I still loose my keys all the time?!
It’s tempting to rush out and buy new things to help you along your zero waste journey. I would encourage you to slow down, look at what you already have and make do for a while. Mindless and rushed purchases will lead to products that are not quite as helpful as you might have hoped. But one cheap and easy option I’d like to suggest (if you have nothing else already at home!) is the Cuppow! which can be used to turn any wide mouth mason jar into a to go cup.
Little Lou Tiny House 