The tiny home trend is one that popped up in recent times and seems to be here to stay. If you’re considering transitioning to tiny living and you want to do it in as economically efficient a way as possible, these tips will help.
Go Modular
Instead of building your tiny home completely from scratch and having to invest in a service to get it designed and built, choose a pre-fabricated option. This doesn’t mean you can’t add customizations, but it will make the process easier to start and give you a very concrete cost for materials needed. There won’t be surprise costs if you know that you’re getting all of the necessary materials from the beginning.
You can also choose to convert something into a tiny home that once wasn’t a house, like a school bus or a shipping container. There are currently 11 million unused shipping containers around the world, so you won’t have much trouble obtaining one to convert into a home. Converting an existing structure gives you some freedom since you know you’ll be making changes, and you can customize it so that it’s just what you want.
Sell What Won’t Fit
Realistically speaking, all of the things you have in a larger home or apartment won’t fit into your tiny home. When you begin the process of decluttering and downsizing what you own, you should start selling things instead of throwing them out. You can then reinvest the money you make off of these objects into making sure your build is exactly what you want it to be. If there’s anything that you can’t sell, make sure that you try donating it before you throw it out.
Remember What Will Fit When Making Purchases
If you’re buying things for your tiny home, keep in mind just how tiny it will be. Realistically, can you fit that new shirt or will you already be struggling to fit your existing wardrobe in your tiny home? Do you need that kitchen gadget? Since you cannot fit a lot of things into your tiny home, you should start being more mindful about what you want to actually dedicate storage space to once you move into your tiny home. This will naturally help you start saving money because there are so many things that won’t fit in your home.
Make Sure Your Things Are Multi-Functional
Speaking of choosing what will go into your home, make sure to take into consideration whether or not things will be multi-functional or if they’ll only have one purpose. Try to cut out hyper-specialized things like kitchen gadgets or items that exist purely for decoration. Instead, look for kitchen tools that can be used for multiple things, and things that can be useful as well as decorative, like a holder for your pots and pans that will make them into decor instead of just tools.
You can also try to look for furniture that you can use for multiple purposes. For example, if you have a table in your tiny home, make it so that it can be converted from an eating space to a workspace easily. You can also use display shelves for useful items and not just decorative items, like making a shelf of books into a decor piece by arranging them by color instead of the author.
Make Things Energy Efficient
If you make your tiny home energy efficient, you will save money over time since your energy and heating bills will be lower. There may be a higher cost upfront for things like energy-efficient appliances, but over time you will make your money back. It’s a good investment that will help you avoid the costly energy bills that will likely come with a cheaper, less efficient appliance.
If you’re installing an AC system, you should also make sure that it is functioning in its optimal state. If one part of your AC system isn’t working correctly, it will make your entire system work harder to compensate for the weak component, which will mean higher energy bills on top of mediocre performance. You can also look into using a wood-burning stove in your tiny home to heat it during the colder months of the year. These don’t use energy in the traditional, costly sense, although you will have less temperature control than with a traditionally installed heating system.
Grow Your Own Food
If you have room, starting your own garden is a great way to save some money on your produce. Instead of buying it from a store, you just have to go to your garden and take it out. If you start with seeds, the cost of getting your produce will be much lower than if you went the traditional, store-bought route. Make sure to do your research to find out what will work best in your area’s climate so you don’t end up with plants that never actually produce the fruits and vegetables you’re expecting them to.
When you’re starting your garden, make sure that you properly clear the area, and keep it free of weeds and other green intruders not meant to be there, like poison ivy. 85% of Americans are allergic to poison ivy, so avoiding it at all costs is your best bet — the rash from the plant is not a pleasant experience.
Save Before Building
Although you may be moving to a tiny home in order to save money, you should make sure that you save up before you make the jump to tiny living. If you save up the cost of building your dream tiny home, you might be able to move with no mortgage to pay, which can really help alleviate the normal financial burdens that come with owning a home.
A tiny home is a great way to work on living with less and save money that may have gone to useless things. With lowered energy bills, lower taxes because of a smaller house, and simply not being able to fit many things into your home, a tiny house can really help your saving journey.
Leave a Reply