This is a guest post from Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell, whose book, “Living Large in Our Little House: Thriving in 480 Square Feet With Six Dogs, a Husband And One Remote…Plus, More Stories of How You Can, Too” is being released today. I provided the foreword to Kerri’s book and I think you too, will enjoy her full story never told before on her blog, as well as stories of some others who are Living Large.
People always ask me the benefits of living in a tiny house. “Are the financial benefits really all they’re cracked up to be?” “Are you really spending less time maintaining your home?” “How small are those utility payments?”
Here are the answers to those questions:
- Yes, the financial benefits are awesome. As long as you plan your tiny house move, follow codes in your area and if you have to take a loan, have a plan to be debt free as soon as you can.
- In the city, we spent at least a day of our 1 ½ day weekend each week cleaning and maintaining our house and yard. In Our Little House, we spend about 2 hours per week cleaning it top to bottom, maintaining the immediate yard (we live in the woods) and several minutes each day picking up and sweeping.
- Our electric bill amounts to an average of $56 per month. We did have an initial expense in drilling a water well, but no monthly water or other utilities.
What people don’t typically ask me about the benefits of living in a small home is what is most important, which is how Living Large has impacted our lives on a deeper level than financially and freedom from chores.
In other words, the human story.
Last fall, my husband, Dale and I were thinking of a move back to the city (for professional reasons).
At first, I was excited for the potential move, but the more houses we looked at, the more we realized that the house in which I once declared, “I could never live in that tiny house,” had become home.
Dale realized how much he loves coming home in the winter and sitting in front of the fire while the dogs and I are mere steps away in any part of the house. I love cooking in the kitchen and still being able to listen to the news on the television or have a conversation with my husband while he is in the living room.
And yes, we even love the fact we’ve learned to share that remote.
We finally definitively realized that we had found a better way of life for us, one we didn’t want to leave. It’s the human story I tell in my book, not just ours, but of about a dozen other people who have made the same move.
I hope you’ll read and enjoy it.
Photos by Kevin Peiper, from the upcoming Reader’s Digest book Living Large in Our Little House: Thriving in 480 Square Feet with Six Dogs, a Husband and One Remote—Plus More Stories of How You Can Too. Used by permission of Trusted Media Brands, Inc.
