One Year in a Tiny House. Video and story by Miko Ruhlen.
In mid-December, many of us are shopping for holiday gifts, buying outfits for holiday parties, and getting tubs of twinkle lights out of the garage.
Quinn, Cole, Tina, & Darren
Tina Gallion and her family are instead preparing for an ambitious New Year’s resolution – downsizing from their 2,500 square foot house to move into a tiny house measuring just 182 square feet. Tina, husband Darren, and sons Quinn, 5, and Cole, 7, plan to live for a year in the tiny house in Underwood, Washington while they build a house on the same property. Because of Darren?s 6’7″ height, they had to have it custom built–at a total cost of roughly $32,000.
Tina’s inspiration for moving into a tiny house came from a book by Dee Williams, who started the tiny house movement. “She [Dee] had gone to Ecuador, I believe, and stayed with a family who lived in 84 square feet, so then she thought, Hey, why can’t I live in 84 square feet?”
Tina wanted to try tiny living to save money as they built a new smaller home, but she also considered environmental reasons. Their move to the tiny house in Underwood brings them significantly closer to their jobs and kids’ school; they’ll use less gas and spend less time commuting. Building smaller decreases environmental impact it needs fewer building materials. Additionally, preliminary data from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality show that building smaller reduces the carbon footprint of a house by dramatically reducing heat and electricity related emissions over time. Although energy efficiency measures can play an important role in new house construction, the savings from just building smaller are significant. Reducing home size by 50 percent can give you a 36 percent reduction in total emissions over the lifetime of the house.
The Gallions are now working on lifestyle changes to minimize not only consumption of water, electricity, gas, but also their possessions. Downsizing can be difficult for anyone, but it’s a particular challenge with small children. When Tina broke the news that the big stuffed bear toys and the giant monster trucks couldn’t come to the tiny house, the kids protested with a distinct “No!” When 5 year old Quinn was asked if he is excited about moving to the tiny house he shook his head ‘No’. Tina uttered a worried, “Uh-oh.”
Tina is sad and a little worried herself about not having her oven to cook with and other appliances like her washer and dryer as “the kids will be outside getting dirty all the time.”
This process is not without sacrifice, but Tina says, “Downsizing is something everyone should do; consumerism has gotten out of control.”
“What you start noticing is what you really use, and you really only use a few items out of a drawer. I’m finding that I don’t use even half of what I own! It feels lighter to get rid of all that stuff, especially when you know that you really haven’t used it.” This holiday season Tina is thinking twice about every item she buys, “I think you fill your space, you fill what you have.”
When designing their new house, Tina and Darren have been carefully considering their needs and negotiating about their ideal space. “The hardest part,” Tina says, “has been to figure out how big you go, because 2,500 square feet is the average house size here, but I felt like a slave to that house because there was so much to do. It is always managing the stuff or managing the cleaning.”
The Gallions are putting some larger items, such as furniture, into storage and donating the rest to charity. Tina had a difficult time downsizing her wardrobe, particularly shoes, “Where are we going to put the shoes and boots and how many different pairs are you going to bring?”
To help smooth the transition, Tina and her kids are thinking of it as an extended camping trip. They plan to be outside more, take more time to play games, and spend more time in the community. Tina is an optimist, “It’s going to be an adventure, no doubt.”
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I’ve considered a tiny home as an option while building a house as well. It’s not just about the economy of size but also money spent, for us anyway, on rent as we look for either a home to buy (really nothing has been available which is why we rent) or property to build on. I would be interested in reading more about the Gallion’s adventures in tiny living.
We plan to do a series on the Gallion family’s year in the tiny house.
We plan to do a series on the Gallion family’s year in the tiny house.