LATE!
In Liz Pleasant’s article “Tiny House Living: How Two Families Made it Work—Teenagers, Sleepovers, Alone Time, and All” she speaks on two families; one of four who live in a tiny home in Minnesota, Kim and Ryan Kasl and their two children Sully and Story and the Morrison’s family, Andrew Gabriella and their two teenage kids Paiute and Terra. Pleasant explains their experiences of going tiny, the benefits, and how they managed to do so. Some of the benefits the writer lists are saving money, saving the planet, and saving your sanity. Andrew Morrison states, “We quickly saw that we were spending way too much money, and more importantly, too much time paying for a house that we didn’t need.” I believe the main reason a lot of people join the Tiny House Movement is because they like the idea of being financially stable—I mean who doesn’t? Because one has downgraded the square footage of their home it makes the rent they have to pay on the home much less. Most Tiny Home owners don’t even pay rent for the house itself, but the land the house is residing on in which is far less than paying rent for a home! Pleasants then goes on to quote from the EPA, “Houses that are smaller all-around require less material input as well as fewer equipment and labor hours to construct.” This is very important because ultimately people in the tiny house community are saving the planet one step at a time. If less apartment buildings were being made and more tiny homes we would be polluting the air a lot less as well as using less energy to operate the homes. Lastly, “And you just might save your sanity” the writer states. “Living in a tiny house means having less stuff, fewer bills, and not as many living expenses, which means less time necessary to spend at work.” (Pleasants) Kim Kasl expresses that she loves that her husband is “climbing the ladder in his career” yet they’re not upgrading their lifestyle, just simplifying it because it makes them able to be feree to do more things as a family ultimately leading to happiness.
In Linda Federico-O’Murchu’s article “Tiny Homes Can Mean Big Lifestyle Squeeze” ventures into the lifestyle of Leah Atwood who has being living in her 90 square foot tiny home for the past six months. The tiny homeowner expresses the challenges she faces while living tiny. “What I miss most about living in a big house is being able to invite people over,” says Atwood. Because her home is just around 90 square feet she is only able to invite over two people at a time. Though this may seem like a bad thing for a lot of people this can be looked in a positive way such as being able to have privacy and learning to be alone because you’re not always going to be able to have someone to entertain you in life. Another challenge O’Murchu writes on about the young homeowner is having a limited amount of space and only being able to have so little in the home. “It forces you to be conscientious about the possessions you get attached to.” (Atwood) This lifestyle change can take months to accommodate to and probably one of the hardest moving into a tiny home. Although, in the end it is a beneficial change in ones life because you’ll learn what truly is a necessity in life rather than a luxury.
All in all the Tiny House movement is a life-changing experience and not everyone can do it. “Many people who have tried living with limited space and possessions say it is a fun challenge in the beginning, but almost impossible to sustain permanently.” to each his own.
(Word count: 632)
In Liz Pleasant’s article “Tiny House Living: How Two Families Made it Work—Teenagers, Sleepovers, Alone Time, and All” she speaks on two families; one of four who live in a tiny home in Minnesota, Kim and Ryan Kasl and their two children Sully and Story and the Morrison’s family, Andrew Gabriella and their two teenage kids Paiute and Terra. Pleasant explains their experiences of going tiny, the benefits, and how they managed to do so. Some of the benefits the writer lists are saving money, saving the planet, and saving your sanity. Andrew Morrison states, “We quickly saw that we were spending way too much money, and more importantly, too much time paying for a house that we didn’t need.” I believe the main reason a lot of people join the Tiny House Movement is because they like the idea of being financially stable—I mean who doesn’t? Because one has downgraded the square footage of their home it makes the rent they have to pay on the home much less. Most Tiny Home owners don’t even pay rent for the house itself, but the land the house is residing on in which is far less than paying rent for a home! Pleasants then goes on to quote from the EPA, “Houses that are smaller all-around require less material input as well as fewer equipment and labor hours to construct.” This is very important because ultimately people in the tiny house community are saving the planet one step at a time. If less apartment buildings were being made and more tiny homes we would be polluting the air a lot less as well as using less energy to operate the homes. Lastly, “And you just might save your sanity” the writer states. “Living in a tiny house means having less stuff, fewer bills, and not as many living expenses, which means less time necessary to spend at work.” (Pleasants) Kim Kasl expresses that she loves that her husband is “climbing the ladder in his career” yet they’re not upgrading their lifestyle, just simplifying it because it makes them able to be feree to do more things as a family ultimately leading to happiness.
In Linda Federico-O’Murchu’s article “Tiny Homes Can Mean Big Lifestyle Squeeze” ventures into the lifestyle of Leah Atwood who has being living in her 90 square foot tiny home for the past six months. The tiny homeowner expresses the challenges she faces while living tiny. “What I miss most about living in a big house is being able to invite people over,” says Atwood. Because her home is just around 90 square feet she is only able to invite over two people at a time. Though this may seem like a bad thing for a lot of people this can be looked in a positive way such as being able to have privacy and learning to be alone because you’re not always going to be able to have someone to entertain you in life. Another challenge O’Murchu writes on about the young homeowner is having a limited amount of space and only being able to have so little in the home. “It forces you to be conscientious about the possessions you get attached to.” (Atwood) This lifestyle change can take months to accommodate to and probably one of the hardest moving into a tiny home. Although, in the end it is a beneficial change in ones life because you’ll learn what truly is a necessity in life rather than a luxury.
All in all the Tiny House movement is a life-changing experience and not everyone can do it. “Many people who have tried living with limited space and possessions say it is a fun challenge in the beginning, but almost impossible to sustain permanently.” to each his own.
(Word count: 632)