Have Less, Live More-Five Freedoms Found from Choosing to Live Tiny

Living a minimalist lifestyle or choosing to live in a tiny home can bring about a world of new possibilities. While many sit in their spacious living rooms living vicariously through the people they watch building tiny houses on their favorite DIY channels, thousands of people across the globe are actually living this life and gleaning so much more than they originally had hoped from this adventurous alternative housing opportunity.

Here are five freedoms found from choosing to live tiny.

Freedom to Unplug

As your interior real estate decreases, the push to go outdoors grows exponentially. Tiny house builders like Movable Roots do a brilliant job of designing small homes that make excellent use of space, open floor plans to share rooms, and bring the outdoors in by way of natural light and even fold down bar tops and decks.

Spending more time outdoors provides tiny house dwellers with an opportunity to soak up some vitamin D while they garden, swing in the hammock, or sit around a bon fire instead of staying cooped up inside or plugged in to their work or online sources.

Financial Freedom

Since tiny house living costs an average of 60% less on mortgage and utilities, many report being able to reduce to a one-income household, travel more, and pay off other looming debt. The feeling of freedom that comes from paying off student loans, medical bills, or creditors would be hard pressed to compare.

Freedom to Be Intentional

When you are able to clean your entire house in under an hour a week, you are literally given the gift of time. One tiny house dweller reports, “The first weekend my husband and I lived tiny full-time, we looked at each other and figured we’d forgotten somewhere we were supposed to be because it had been years since we had free time with no obligations.”

This freedom allows parents to spend more time with their kids, couples to spend more time getting to know each other, and everyone in between the time to take adventures and chase their dreams.

Freedom to Say No

When you have grown up in a ‘yes’ culture, learning to say no to things that don’t make you happy or help you learn or grow can seem almost wrong. Tiny house community members are so much more likely to understand and appreciate the philosophy of saying ‘no’ since they have had to do that every step of their tiny adventure.

They have had to say no to big furniture, a large wardrobe, too many shoes, or books, or collectibles. You name it and they have had to learn to shake their heads at it. This way of being intentional in your choices is very freeing and becomes incredibly mentally rewarding.

Mental Freedom

For many who struggle with anxiety, sensory issues, behavior concerns, and even depression, living a tiny house lifestyle can open up new opportunities. By reducing your everyday stimulation, your sensory input diminishes and you are able to focus on what is important or the task at hand. That paired with less financial worry, more time to intentionally choose things that bring you joy, and the encouragement to get outdoors or bring natural light in aids in increasing overall happiness and wellness, thus reducing the effects of anxiety and depression.

Tiny house living may not be a solution for everything, but it has certainly proven to bring with it a wealth of positives beyond the implied: less to clean, lower mortgage, hip and trendy. Real people living in real tiny homes in real communities across the globe are reporting happiness abounding in their ability to reconnect with what really matters and to surround themselves with communities of kindness.