The Reality of Tiny Living

I wanted to talk about some things people don't think about living tiny. As much as people on tv make it like a fairy tale, it is reality and there will be some things you find of minor annoyance while living tiny. I will say it took a while to come up with my list as there are not many annoying things about living tiny for us, but there are a few.

Cleaning- Cleaning happens way more often. There's less room to spread the dirty. But again since it is a small space it doesn't take that long. Plus the Dyson Car/Boat handheld vacuum rocks. From top to bottom, with a little OCD, it takes us about 30 minutes to deep clean our home. But happens about twice a week. 

No microwave life -  Not a big deal but movie theater-style popcorn for "Netflix and chill" is more work when you're trying to be lazy. This also adds an extra step to leftovers as there's an extra pan to clean after heating up some of Sam's homemade Filipino food 😋. Although we can still buy a microwave it just takes up a lot of counter or cabinet space that we can utilize for something else. You can obviously opt for a microwave but we don't have space for it really. Ps. Why are microwaves still so large in 2017?

Floor space- Leaving anything on the floor instantly makes your home a mess. For me, I'm a pile maker before an adventure to make sure I have everything I need and am prepared. If you leave two shirts your floor is messy. 

If you have a handsome cat like Oliver and depending on your setup for the litter box, this can be a messy process. We opted, after buying Tiffany, to install a cat door and shelf under the stairs for his litter box. We then placed this mat in there to catch as much litter off his feet. Depending on how Oliver makes out on his private time depends on how much litter is on our floor. 😽 

The water temperature is not always consistent. I think this is a tiny living thing in general. You could be in the middle of a hot shower and boom a second of cold water shoots out. I actually like cold water showers to wake my cells up so it's okay for me but Sam likes hot showers. Now my biggest trouble is that our water is too hot! (which is still a good problem to have if you think about it) We turn the bathroom faucet on to let some of the hot water out before it hits the shower but it can be hard to find the right temperature to clean ourselves from the adventures. You start to learn little tricks about your home like this which is kinda cool. 

Washer /dryer combo - Now this could be the just the model (Edgestar CWD1510W) we have but it's something we experience. Obviously this is a smaller unit so more loads more often are required. If packed too tightly then it could take two dry cycles to completely dry everything. Good luck washing a comforter in these units. 

Gifts- Holidays can be hard when gifts are given. Most people forget that you don't have space for things or trying to have less material possessions in life. The holiday season is around the corner and my mom is already telling me this will be a difficult stocking stuffer year 🙄 

Everything needs to be adjusted. What do I mean by this? Some home products need to be altered to fit in your tiny home. We have to cut our tub mat and shower curtain. Finding window curtains off the shelf and throwing them up would have made Sam really happy. 😄 Little things like this you will find need alternated to fit just right! 

Now I am naturally a half glass full type of guy so these are not a big deal for us. I know people will give us heat for this post but I also hope other tiny home people will share what their experiences aside from how great it is overall. Again, this list was hard to come up within the first place. This is what we have experienced living tiny so far. We wouldn't trade tiny living for anything else. Period. We just want people to realize fewer things or small spaces will not going to solve all your problems, it's still life. Ultimately you decide how to make your life better, not your lifestyle. 

What do you think would be an adjustment in your tiny home living experience? 

-Tim