by Derek “Deek” Diedricksen
Hey all,
With the 1000th post of Relaxshacks.com on the horizon, and our third hands-on, tiny house building workshop coming up (Nov 2-4 right outside Boston, MA), I thought a giveaway to the Tiny House Blog readers might be in order, as a way to thank all of you, and Kent, for all of the support over the years.
Up on the block we have….
- My “Humble Homes, Simple Shacks” tiny house design/concept book
- “No Impact Man” the DVD documentary from Colin Beavan
- “Make Your Place: Affordable, Sustainable, Nesting, Skills” by Raleigh Briggs
- “Your Money or Your Life“- by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin
- A tiny house print from JamaicaCottageShop.com
- A “Tiny: The Movie” tiny house print I created/sketched
- A compilation CD with my band (for use as a frisbee or drink coaster)
- my band “DEFDEALER” (which may scare some of you) is doing a “Itunes for The Homeless” fundraiser
- using the money from each and every download to raise money to build a tiny dwelling with a certain homeless organization. $0.99 at a time, we hope to raised a little over $400 to make this possible.
Anyway, to win, just let us know WHY YOU FEEL TINY HOUSE LIVING IS ADVANTAGEOUS– aside from the normal, more cliche, reasons…..I will pick a winner, and I’ll mail you all the prize loot. Feel free to get creative or comical too. Deadline is one week from the posting date of this entry. Enter your submissions in the comment thread below.
As for the upcoming workshop….we’ve added even MORE guest speakers and demonstrators! Check out the list, its pretty insane! Its filling up pretty fast too, so if interested, don’t lag too long. And YES, we’ll all be building a tiny guest house together, camping, seeing/touring other tiny dwellings (Jay Shafer’s VERY FIRST TUMBLEWEED TINY HOUSE), discussing topics at night by a bon fire, a pizza party, and more. I can’t wait!
Click here for more details and sign-up info…
http://www.relaxshacks.blogspot.com/2012/07/tiny-house-building-workshop-3.html
–Derek “Deek” Diedricksen, author, blogger, tiny house builder, and host of the program “Tiny Yellow House” on youtube, will also be hosting the upcoming Tumbleweed Tiny House Workshops in Chicago, and NYC.
TINY HOUSE LIVING IS ADVANTAGEOUS
because
It’s all you need.
Wish I could attend the workshop, but I’d settle for the books.
For now.
Thanks for the chance to win.
*** Tiny House Living is Advantageous ***
because you can cook from bed, the bathroom is never more than a few steps away, and if you get sent to your room, you can probably still see the TV. 🙂
TINY HOUSE LIVING IS ADVANTAGEOUS…from my point of view, because it affords you a much better quality of life. Your emotional well being is improved since you no longer are a slave to “things” and constant home maintenance. Your financial well being is improved since you are no longer working to pay a huge mortgage, maintenance cost on a conventional home. Your footprint on the world is smaller! And of course, less house cleaning!!
We should make love not war and love in a tiny house just might warm it up for the day and save on heating bills.
Multitasking: I can clean the whole bathroom from the toilet!
Tiny house living is advantageous … because we live more intentionally with less impact on the earth we all call home.
Thanks!
Tiny House living is advantageous because it allows a paradigm shift from consumerism and American Dream dogma to matters more passionate ranging from financial prowess to relationship revolution!
I just recently moved from a three level house to a studio apartment and I love it. It allowed me to purge items I hadn’t used in years and give new purpose to other items (my bed is also my sofa, desk, dining room). I like the idea of living more simply, with less stuff. Plus, it makes moving so much more easy!!
With less space to fill with stuff, we desire less junk that is advertised at us. With the ability to ignore the pressure of constant advertising we are happier!
That’s my thoughts… but Thoreau really nailed it…
“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.”
In my county it is difficult to get permission to build anything less than 1000 sq ft. So building a tiny house and living in it is a political and social statement. Real estate brokers and salespeople are against them because they can’t conceive of people willingly living in so small a space and think that selling a tiny house will be difficult. It also due to its likely lower price would mean less money in their pocket for about the same amount of work. Building inspectors tend to serve the contractors, developers, and real estate industry (not to mention banks and mortgage holders).
These are my reasons for seeing tiny house living as a social and political issue.
Tiny House Living is Advantageous … because we bump into each other more, literally, and so have more opportunity to touch each other. It has the cosy, contained sense of ancient caves, or other small communal spaces that our ancestors once shared, so the sense of that depth of our genealogy/history comes forward in a tiny space. Narrowing our focus (less stuff, space) opens us up and gives us more inner and outer freedom.
I love tiny living because it emphasizes that everything that you possess can be unique, authentic and handmade. Rather than filling a huge house with store-bought furniture and items, you can take the time to choosing a handmade chair that you bought from a local carpenter and a spoon that a friend made for you. You can MAKE your life rather than just FILLING it. And that is a beautiful thing!
Can I vote? I love this!
I don’t own a tiny house, and yet my girlfriend and I are both students in Germany that have fun to discover alternative ways of living. For me there are so many reasons to live in a tiny house that I actually don’t know where to start with my explaination. The tiny house lifestyle is in my view one of many shapings of our attitude to life, which could be described best as a mixture of minimalism / property reduction, anticonsumerism, self-reliance, nature preservation, antispeciecism etc. We are passionate about developing a reasonable and sustainable lifestyle, which has the potential to serve as a model for other human beings. Unfortunately for now we lack time and money to draw closer to our dwelling dreamings. We were inspired by our common room mate, who plans to build a Wagen / construction trailer next spring to live there for the rest of his studies. Here in Germany in every bigger city exist a few mostly illegal Wagen settlements, which build up communities that sometimes comprise up to 50 Wagens. We were invited from a Wagenplatz in Leipzig to stay for a night and were really impressed of the hospitality. Maybe we can found someday our own small Wagen community.
Tiny Living is Advantageous… The cliches are true- reduce consumerism, throw off the chains of financial bondage, be more in touch with your values, simplify.
But you know what the #1 advantage is that is simply not discussed enough?
Easy mobility to escape from zombies (or insert political party of choice). If things are looking rather scary where you are at, it’s nice to be able to hitch up your life and move it away to greener pastures.
I admit it. I want the books. I’ve been lusting after some of those titles for awhile, but haven’t bitten in an effort to reduce. I will put them in a tiny bookcase, but I will love them large 😉
Winning argument, Dawn Wolf! Practical AND Fantastical. Love it!
Tiny House Living is Advantageous … because whenever you’re feeling down, you can cheer yourself up by dramatically stomping around the house and pretending that you’re a giant.
Oh man, I don’t believe in saying LOL but that is exactly what this comment made me do! High five Mickey!
How can anyone top this comment I ask you? That is definitely the number 1 reason for a tiny house.
Tiny house living could be a game changer for people like me, a veteran, and people in low-wage jobs or those who help or are homeless—like a couple of my friends. Many homeless programs, for example, demand that people be clean before they’re given admittance to the shelter, but frankly, if anybody needs distraction, it’s somebody experiencing the misery of homelessness, so having a shelter first gives them the safety and comfort that just might make it possible for them to regroup.
Low-wage workers would not have to pay exorbitant rents, and be able to save money—-and move toward better jobs.
People who have shelter cannot imagine what it’s like not to have it or to fear losing it.
A tiny house is more of an embrace than a house, really; its small scale hugs the space around you, embraces you with its intimacy, and offers you just enough space to be surrounded by your dearest possessions. That’s one of the things that I find most alluring about tiny houses; the idea of reducing one’s life to not just bare necessities, but bare luxuries, the things one loves most of all: a cherished painting, a beloved book inherited from a relative, just the clothes one loves the most. In a tiny house, practically everything is visible at once, so the house is a real reflection of who you are as a person.
A tiny house forces one to go outside for some things, increasing one’s time out in nature, or getting one to interact with neighbors, to make or meet friends.
A tiny house is freedom from so many things, and yet it’s the freedom to as well. To make friends, to travel, to follow the road, to be free from the company store, to be free from bills, to consume much smaller amounts of resources….
A tiny house is Perfectly Enough…enough said.
Tiny space living forces my kids outdoors-I LOVE that! And keeps all of us from becoming too attached to too many material things!
I told my husband last night that after working all day on my feet (which were really sore) that if we lived in a tiny house, I wouldn’t have to walk so far to the back door to let the dogs out! That is my tiny reason for why tiny house living is advantageous.
Tiny Living is Advantageous…because the ‘kids’ can’t move back in – there’s not enough room. They have to get their own! Tee hee!
Tiny House Living is Advantageous because….
It awakens us all to the art of domesticity and thoughtful architecture.
I find it advantageous because I LOVE being single. With my extra small loft, there is no great temptation to fit others in my small space. It also guarantees that nobody will try to “u-haul” into my life.
My boyfriend and I are taking steps toward tiny house living for us and our little animal family.
We’ve decided to do this not only for the obvious reasons, but because we enjoy the closeness it will bring, as well as the adventure of building this dream together. It’s funny, because over the last year we’ve naturally begun ignoring half of our apartment- at this point all of our ‘hang out’ time is spent in our bedroom with our Boston terriers. We joke about being just like the grandparents in “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory,” haha.
We’re just in the beginning stages of taking these steps, but we’re prepared for the adventure of a lifetime in simplifying our life together so we can focus our energy on only the important things.
~Sarah
Tiny house living makes house living at all possible for me, or will once I get the thing past the planning stages. It also makes life simpler and easier for someone that is constantly getting to one end of the place only to discover I’ve forgotten something or other at the other end. Tea,glasses,sock darning supplies, whatever. All that endless trudging to and fro!
Tiny house living is advantageous because … well, let’s face it, it’s just pretty darn awesome. Living more conscientiously, consuming less, reducing spending, simplifying needs, etc. etc., all the cliches are true. And then some.
Those with mobile tiny houses can hook up, pull out, and move as easily as someone in an RV, without having had to settle for someone else’s mass-produced ideal. And in any tiny space, people get to know their living quarters, and themselves, to the core. There’s very little room for hiding or wasted effort; anything that stays has to serve a purpose. Plus, for those taking on the task themselves, building your own home with your own hands is a marvelous thing. It might be next to impossible for a one or two pair of hands to build a McMansion, but tiny houses are accessible to almost anyone that can pick up a hammer or hold a square. And I don’t think anyone can be closely involved in building their own home without feeling changed and both proud and humble.
So I’m going with pretty darn awesome, in pretty much every way.
Living Tiny is Advantageous–because not only does it cut down on spatial clutter–it cuts down on mental clutter. I think it’s a very zen way of living. I purposefully live in a tiny two bedroom with my husband and two children because a)we’re living below our means which is a wise practice and b) we are not covered with crap all over the place. When it gets to be to much it’s time to de-junk. It creates natural and necessary purges.
Tiny house living is a fine art
Tiny house living is advantageous because…
I could say stuff like you pay lower utilities or no mortgage or even with less space you don’t buy all the crap advertisers try to sell you but none of these quite do it for me. With a tiny house every time you walk in the door it is like the whole house wraps its arms around you in a hug and says “I’m glad you’re home.”
Some good ones! Keep ’em comin’! Its great, reinforcement-wise, for others, who might be on the fence in terms of making a downsizing move, to see/read these…
Because instead of a couch I hang a huge hammock across my whole living room. In what other situation would you have an excellent excuse to hang a hammock in your living room?
P.S. Hammocks store smaller than any guest bed I can think of. Makes perfect living room furniture. Couch, bed, conversation starter.
One of my top three because its different/fun…..SO MANY good ones and thank you to those who put so much thought into this…
Buggiebutts- I got a kick out of “who doesn’t want to live in a fort” one too…
It’s like living in a fort and who doesn’t want to live in a fort…..and be batman.
In a tiny home I come back to me , find myself stepping out into my community and connecting. Ironically , my “home” is now magnificently large because it is beyond my doorstep of that tiny house!
“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to loose” – Janis Joplin
Tiny home is best of both worlds. Freedom to pick up and move, but still a place to come home to.
I live in a modest-sized row house currently, but even that is too big. My husband and I spend so much time cleaning and repairing in this home, that we miss out on time that could be spent more advantageously- volunteering, going on adventures, making food, making love. A tiny house would return to us the freedom of our time.
Tiny homes are great,
For a large home you have to get a draft approved, or buy a certified one, and then you have to stick with the plans with little variance.
With a Tiny home it’s all you. You can get a plan, or make one. If you’re handy you can just build it as it goes.
A tiny home is an expression of you.
Tiny house living is great because…
It makes you think about what THINGS matter most to you.
Which generally are not the things…
i feel that tiny house living is advantageous because too many people have lost too much money supporting the “mortgage industrial complex”.
the small homes movement can help head off the next big economic crash.
I even use tiny letters in my comments. lower-case rules!
tom o.
Aside from the obvious that has been listed here by others, living in a tiny house is reassuring. Family and friends will not ask nor expect to be short or long term house guests. You also won’t be expected to host family celebrations. Children who have left home won’t even consider moving back. It’s kind of like having a sports car with two seats; there’s room for you and ‘one’ more.
Tiny House living is advantageous because, really, in the scheme of things, you really don’t need much to live and thrive. When I spent 6 months in Scotland with one bag and a backpack, I learned that what I really need in life is food, clothes, and some kind of shelter. Heck, I even lived on the streets of Edinburgh for a night. I would have really enjoyed having a tiny house that cold, cold night.
Tiny house living is advantageous because it emphasizes my inner world, and the mindfulness I bring to what I make a part of me.
and…
Tiny house living is advantageous because it emphasizes my outer world, encouraging me to integrate my inner and outer living/inner and outer beings in a holistic way.
Besides, fairies feel safe in small spaces, so they’re more likely to visit me there.
It will be sometime before I finish school, and have the money to build a tiny house, or a truck to trek it. I am a marine biologist, and want to have the flexibiity of travelling from the coast of Maine down through New England. I also have nil experience, myself, or those around me to get started. I guess why I’m posting is this — it’s a bit of a dream for me, and I want to start making it real; so if there are any people looking for someone to really help build a tiny house, and willing to teach me on theirs (really I won’t just stand there looking stupid – have been working out of doors and on farms and with fishermen for years:) …I am offering hands and heart to help with labor….
tiny living=BIG LIFE
thanks
Tiny House Living is Advantageous because it is the truest form of living. It is putting need before want. It is putting realism before idealism. It is quite simply, living within your means and not chasing false dreams. It is being mindful of mother earth and of our surroundings. It means stopping the urban sprawl and living as we should be, simply, mindfully, resourcefully, and with passion.
Tiny House Living is adventageous because, when I die, there will be less things for my kids to fight over and less things to sell or donate to clear up the estate!
Time and Money
We all know that tiny houses cost less to build, heat, furnish, and maintain. In fact, Deek recently posted “15 reasons to go/stay tiny” and more than half of them had to do with money in some way. What most people may not think about is where that money comes from and what that means for their quality of life. Though there are those out there who have jobs they love, most do not. Even then, “A bad day fishing is better than a good day working”. I am not a fisherman, but the point of the saying holds true for whatever your favourite recreational activities may be. We want to spend our time doing what we enjoy, not working for someone else. Having less expenses means we have to work less to keep doing what we like OR keep working the same amount and have more money to spend on these things. For me, this means I can afford a new gun whenever I find one I like, I work 4 days a week giving me more time to watch movies, and I’m packed and ready to go backpacking or rock climbing at a moments notice. Some may view spending almost $200 on a tiny tent that rarely gets used crazy, but I don’t remember saying I wasn’t crazy.
Tiny house living is advantageous because if you misplace something, it is easy to find.
– Mili
Tiny House Living is Advantageous:
Because it allows many a 35 year old still living in their parents house to finally move out!
As a university student living on a budget, tiny house living makes INSANE sense. How much space does a co-op student who moves every four months actually need, anyway? Owning one’s own home makes someone proud of their accomplishments, financially independent, and able to pursue larger life dreams by allowing one to move home to wherever you go. You are never tied down to a city (and also job) that you dislike just because you need to pay the rent for another 7 months on an apartment with a one-year lease. Tiny houses give people the freedom to edit their lives, find out what is most important to them, and engage in the larger world community by seeking community outside their door and not on their television.
Tiny House living is advantageous because…..it allows me to re-create on a human scale the dollhouse I so dearly loved when I was a kid 65 years ago and permits me to live independently and at a price I can afford on Social Security.
TINY HOUSE LIVING IS ADVANTAGEOUS
Because all the girls that stay over have to stay in my bed, there is no other space!
I will be retiring in just under 4 years time. And, although I live in the UK, most of the ideas on Tiny Houses Living give me a lot of information about construction, solar power, insulation, etc. i have no building experience, and need all the info I can get!
Tiny house living is advantageous… because I hope it will allow me to have an affordable and just-right-sized space to move into when I start my job search out of college! And because it’s easy to add on another room to a tiny house in case my family decides to grow. 🙂
Tiny house living is advantageous because if most of the end of the world scenarios actually happen I can crap myself (on the toilet!!!) and defend my entire house at the same time. And no zombie, homeless man, pack of crazy biker cannibals, dinosaurs, or any creature from Dr Who will be able to sneak up on me. And it would make Al Gore so proud!!!
Tiny house living is advantageous too those who want to leave a small foot print on the earth. Those who do not believe that stuff makes life better. People who want to use their money for living and not to live in. It is advantageous to those of us that want to learn what is more important in life then possessions. The less you own the more you appreciate the things you have, and there is less to protect so you tend to share more. Remember we can’t take it with us!
Tiny house living is advantageous because there is so much less house cleaning to do!! It is the chore I hate most running the sweeper, dusting, mopping the floors. And added BONUS – NO FAMILY DINNERS at my house – unless they want to eat outside then cool you’re welcome to come over.
When your house is rather tiny instead of gigantic
It influences your life to be fresh and organic
You pack your own trash, and maybe even poop
Then you put it all in the composting group
Tiny house living supports and inspires
The whole generation to unplug their wires
To take a look at our world from mama earths perspective
To see how man-kind can be more eco-effective
This mini-sized footprint causes a shift in thought
Do we really need all that stuff we once bought?
With enough room for only essential goods
we can move our tiny cabins right into the woods.
It is an advantage for children to go outdoors
An advantage for Spenders to stay out of stores
An advantage for us all to be more content
An advantage because we won’t owe much rent
Tiny house living is advantageous to all
Throughout winter, spring, summer and fall
It will keep you humble and grateful too
Tiny house living is the right thing to do
wow- a poem! sheesh….that certainly adds to the competition!
Win or not, I might ask your permission to put this in a new book I’m presently working on- if you’re game. Very cool!
Living in a small-ass house is advantageous because I don’t have to have friends, which leaves me more time for reading and petting my cat, Karl Marx Jr.
tiny house living is advantageous because it is the quickest way to find out who you really are and what you are made of. 🙂
My husband would say living in a small house would prevent me from accumulating a yarn stash … unless I can convince him it works as insulation!
Tiny house living would be advantageous to me because I’m tired of being part of the “rat race”. I don’t want to continue in the cycle of working-to-live and living-to-work. I want to live-to…live a life as full as I possibly can. The low cost of tiny house living would allow me to do that.
I currently work with a group of adult artists in Maine, and we produce a variety show called TV SHOW. The show is a collaboration between Shoot Media Project and Bomb Diggity Arts. Most of the show’s producers have intellectual disabilities, and we spend a lot of time talking about independent living. For many TV SHOW producers, the idea of owning a home seems far-fetched, but I’ve been researching tiny homes for years and want to present more information to the group.
We’re learning more about grantwriting, because we want to partner with local organizations to pilot a program where folks with intellectual differences can gain access to homes that they can own and afford. We could set up a group of tiny homes, where folks could have access to various support services without having to live in group homes or with family members. This would be ground-breaking in Maine, where the housing waitlist for folks with disabilities is at a total standstill.
Deek, I hope you’ll watch an episode of TV SHOW (especially episode 4, which features a music video tribute to Free Willy) and consider sending some of your loot to Maine, where we will immediately put it all to good use! The more books and information, the better! In gratitude, we’d definitely credit you on our next episode!
Your work is a real inspiration, rock on.
Will check it out- thanks!!
Hi Deek, That sounds awesome! Im game, Can’t wait to check your book out. There are some black and white little comics my friend drew to go along with it if you’d like. (We are big kids) I’m glad your blog gave me something fun and important to write about! Good luck with the upcoming workshop
We would like to own and live in a tiny home so that we are debt free and living a life not dependant on stuff. Nor will we be controled by stuff. Currently we have two kids and live in 1200 sq feet. It has been so good for our kids not to equate stuff with happiness. We are in the process of adopting our third child and we are a happy family. I’ve learned to be organized and decorate with fun colorful items.
When I was a little girl I wanted a dollhouse but sadly never got one. As I grew older I was amazed by life-size dollhouses. There’s actually one on the Long Island University – CW Post campus which belonged to CW Post’s daughter. I recall thinking “I wish I could live here!” Any why not? Large homes requires a lot of maintenance and it is just too mainstreamed for my taste. Humans have a tendency to want more than what is necessary to life comfortably. I visited Japan a few years back and fell in love with the tiny apartments and house dwellings. I often feel that country is my second home, despite being an American. I hope to one day own my own tiny home.
P.S. Tiny house living has many benefits for the environment, as well as our pockets. It’s the smarter choice for our future.
I’ve always liked the look of tiny houses–being so unique. But, since I”ve been diagnosed with an illness which prevents me from expending too much energy, I think a tiny house would be just perfect. NOt too much space to clean or clutter up, or move around in…just enough. Thanks for the chance to win.
thanks for the heads up on this, and the kind words, I’ll def check out the show…
-Deek
The winner…..JADE…..that poem was not only clever, but it contained more than a few good points….we had a few other close-winners, but after much thought, Jade takes it, and thank you all for entering! We’ll have more to giveaway down the road….
-Deek
YAY! Thank you! This is so Awesome, I am excited to check all this out. Thank you! For my Birthday (this Friday) I bought a ticket to a tiny house workshop by my house in Santa Rosa, CA. What perfect timing! Thank you again!
Your pal,
Jade