For those folks who have made the jump to tiny-house living, they are finding there are benefits that far outweigh traditional-home living. Living mortgage-free or cutting the time to pay off the mortgage way sooner, paring utility bills down to a minimum, and learning to live simply are just some of the perks of tiny-home life.

However, for those who do not wish to make this jump, or are not ready quite yet, be aware that a tiny house is a versatile animal, which can be used for more than just tiny living, so check out these other handy uses of a tiny, which can be placed in your own backyard or on some vacation land you may have.

A tiny house can be used as an office – If you currently work from home, and wish for your own professional space that’s not next to the kitchen or living room, using a tiny house as your office area can be a great idea. The stand-alone structure of a tiny house can separate your work life from your home life, serve as a quieter area to work from, plus at the end of the day, you can walk away (even if it’s only a few steps!).

A tiny house can be used as an online zone – Wi-Fi has connected the world nearly everywhere, and it’s always at our disposal, sometimes to the degree of alienating us from our family lives. Having a dedicated place to go to check email, be online, and play games could be the answer to effectively separating our online presence from reality. Even if it’s just in your backyard, going to your tiny-house tech zone can place a healthy divider between the activities we pursue on the internet and improving our family time.

A tiny house can be used as a weekend home or a second home – Everyone gets a hankering to get away for a little while, and whether it’s in your backyard or situated in another, relaxing area, a tiny house can help fulfill this requirement, without costing an arm and a leg. When you decorate it the way you want (and decorating IS cheaper to do in a tiny, rather than a larger house), you’ll have your own personal Shangri-la to escape to!

A tiny house can be used as a workshop or studio – whether you’re a DIY type of person, a hairdresser, a writer, a massage therapist, or you fit somewhere in a slew of other professions or hobbies, using a tiny house to create art, write, perform massages or cut hair is a great idea. Additionally, you get the benefits of this space without worrying about paying a landlord rent for it (which can increase at any time), nor do you have to be bothered by any tenants occupying spaces close to yours, such in a strip shopping center or the like.

A tiny house can be used for your teens – Teens crave independence. You may crave a break for a blaring stereo, TV, or the constant drone of video devices. Win-win, right? Keep the peace, while giving your teen(s) more time on their own to do their own thing by putting a teen tiny space in the backyard. You can even teach them about budgeting for the energy and water used in the ‘teen house’.

A tiny house can be used as a rental – You’ll have to check out your local regulations and possible restrictions for a rental property on your residence, but if the rules in your area are relatively lax, renting out the tiny house on your property could help with your own mortgage and other costs in your life. Air BnB and similar services are becoming more popular all the time, so you could perhaps offer up your tiny house for this purpose.

A tiny house can be used to homeschool – Homeschooling is quite popular. Sometimes, it can be hard to keep kids on task and focused while in their own house, surrounded by pets, their toys and games and by other familiar objects or other household members who may distract their attention (and yours). By using a tiny house as a dedicated place for learning, separates school from home and could make children feel more excited about learning. Remember – in the early days of this country, one-room schoolhouses existed everywhere. You can bring back that old tradition in a new, modern way and make learning more fun!

Even if you don’t imagine tiny-house living full-time, these great little structures can be re-purposed for so many other things in your life. By erecting a tiny house unit on your property, think of the benefits it can offer you, plus, if you’re considering living in a tiny home down the road, you’ll get to experience first-hand what this will be like!

So, you’re thinking about downsizing and choosing either a Tiny House or an RV as your new abode.  Congratulations on that!

A lot of folks out there group RVs and tiny homes into one category, and if you’re one of those people who does, we’re here to set the record straight;  there are some huge differences between the two, so read the insights below, as they may very well have an impact on which smaller-living option you will choose.

The Issue of Depreciation:

RV stands for – as most are aware – “Recreational Vehicle”, the operative word here being “vehicle”.  RVs are sold on sales’ lots, just like cars, and also being vehicles, they depreciate very steeply as soon as you drive them off the sales’ lot, and they continue to depreciate, the longer you own them.  On the other hand, a tiny home is considered more of a permanent living option, like a standard house.  From the building to the fixtures, to the insulation, tiny homes are very similar to conventional homes – they are built to last a long time and therefore they keep their value up.

Insulation:

You can purchase an RV that is classified as “four seasons”, meaning that they are marketed for year-round use, but the reality is they’re only moderately insulated, at best.  RV owners who have spent a winter in their vehicle often find the furnace runs 24/7, and monthly propane bills for a poorly-insulated RV can run into the hundreds of dollars.

In contrast, tiny house builders ensure their little homes are insulated very well – in some cases, even better than traditional homes, and are therefore suited for year-round use, at the fraction of the cost for heating (and cooling!) an RV.  As well as better insulation, tiny houses can be fit with heat-recovery ventilators, solar power systems, wood stoves, heat pumps, radiant floor heating, and more.  Sure, an RV can have some of these things retrofit, but due to better insulation from a tiny home, an RV retrofit would prove less efficient.

Tiny houses equal an eco-friendly relationship:

As mentioned before, tiny homes are built like their bigger brothers – traditional houses, and as such, use superior higher-quality materials.  Individuals building tiny homes can pick out the construction materials and methods they want for their homes, which include green, eco-friendly options, recycled materials, better paints for dwellers who are sensitive to chemicals, and so forth. 

There’s no place like (tiny) home:

Like cars, RVs are mass-produced.  You go to the lot, choose what’s available, drive it away.  Tiny houses are extremely customizable to fit owners’ tastes and needs.  A user can choose to build or partially build their tiny house, but whichever option they choose, they can have lots of say on the specs and the personalization, from the inside to the surroundings. 

Times are a changin’:

As the tiny house movement takes hold, towns and municipalities are becoming more lenient in allowing tiny homes to become permanent dwellings.  Tiny home communities and neighborhoods are popping up throughout the country, with some even offering rent-to-own options.  There is work taking place to include tiny houses in the International Residential Building Code.  More and more banks are happy to offer loans for RVIA (Recreation Vehicle Industry Association)-certified tiny homes.

The moral of this article is to think carefully before downsizing to a living option that may not suit your long-term goals.  RVs could be your answer if you plan to travel a lot in less extreme weather conditions and you plan to replace your RV every few years.  Tiny homes are built to last as long as traditional housing – they are better insulated than RVs, highly customizable, and don’t depreciate at the rate of an RV, which is a vehicle, after all!

It is 2020, and America is poised on the brink of another Thanksgiving. 

Be it a stroke of situational luck for tiny homeowners (if you choose to look at it this way), we have been told to keep the numbers down as we celebrate the holidays this year due to the Coronavirus.  We have been advised to keep our guest list minimal during our festive gatherings, which may give some tiny-house dwellers a good excuse to host Thanksgiving, or at least think about it this year.  

So, how does one hold Thanksgiving in a tiny house which has limited space?  Firstly, by believing it can be done, and it has been done by hoards of other tiny-housers already!  Secondly, by planning and keeping it real, so let’s check this out.

  Before you make the stock, take some stock 

 Every tiny-house kitchen is different, depending on the needs and the desires of its dwellers.  Do you have big or small appliances?  How large is your oven (if you have one), and how many burners does it have?  How large is your refrigerator?  Do you own a turkey fryer, a crock pot, or a grill?  Are you abounding in cookware and Tupperware to store leftovers or with which to serve the dinner?  Think about all of this. 

  What’s on the menu? 

 Depending on the size and amount of your kitchen resources which you have just analyzed, think about what you are going to serve, next.  Consider quality over quantity.  A satisfying Thanksgiving meal can consist of just an appetizer, a turkey or other protein source, a couple of side dishes, some type of bread, a dessert, and a drink of your choosing.  Even if all you have is a toaster oven, fear not, you can use it to cook all the bakeables in it.

See the link below to learn exactly how to do this!  The internet is also chock-full of Thanksgiving culinary delights which can be made on the grill, in a crockpot, and more! 

Check this out >>

How to toaster bake your entire Thanksgiving meal

Don’t feel like cooking or don’t have space or inventory to do so?  No problem!  Many local and online food stores and supermarkets offer complete Thanksgiving dinners or side dishes that you can pre-order and have delivered or be ready for pick-up.  Even people who live in traditionally-sized houses go this stress-free route – just know it’s available to you.   

A lot of family and friends also ask their guests to bring a dish to Thanksgiving dinner.  Let them know what you are cooking, decide what you need them to bring, write a list of these items, and give everyone a choice of what they’d like to bring from the list. 

Who’s on the guest list? 

Again, as in the food selection, think quality over quantity.  If you live in a warmer area of the country, hold your dinner outside, and ask your guests, if necessary, to bring a chair and a blanket if it starts to get colder.  If you hold your dinner in your tiny house, not a lot of them have room for a big dining table.  Consider holding the dinner around a low table – such as a coffee table – and situate the guests on comfy cushions that you can provide, or go BYOC (Bring Your Own Cushion)!  

  It’s dinnertime! 

The logistical consideration of how to serve your feast will now be tackled.  If you do live in that temperate climate, and all can eat outside, say on a picnic table or on outdoor furniture, these logistics are not as big of an issue as when the dinner is held inside.  A good method of serving food is buffet style; let the troops choose what they want to fill their plates with.  Speaking of plates, save clean-up time and effort and serve the dinner on paper or Styrofoam disposable plates; decorated or not, they are convenient and serve a purpose, and don’t forget disposable utensils and cups, too!  If you have a folding table and chairs, utilize these, and if you don’t, it may not be a bad idea to invest in a set.

  Miscellaneous Tips 

 In the aftermath of Thanksgiving dinner, leftovers are almost a certainty.  If you don’t have, or want to find space, for said leftovers, ask everyone to bring a storage container so you can share the extras with them.

• In the aftermath of Thanksgiving dinner, leftovers are almost a certainty.  If you don’t have, or want to find space, for said leftovers, ask everyone to bring a storage container so you can share the extras with them.   
   
• Put a large trashcan outside your tiny house in an accessible area, where guests can dispose of their plates, plastic utensils, napkins, and cups.  This saves mess and clutter from building up in your tiny home. 
   
• A cooler can go a long way in helping to store extra drinks or desserts; leave the covered cooler outside, to keep beverages cold.  

One could say that cavemen were the first tiny house dwellers. However, a lot has happened since then, and what started off with our distant ancestors has today turned into an actual movement, where people are consciously rejecting bigger living spaces as they choose smaller, pared-down, more efficient habitats.

One could say that cavemen were the first tiny house dwellers. However, a lot has happened since then, and what started off with our distant ancestors has today turned into an actual movement, where people are consciously rejecting bigger living spaces as they choose smaller, pared-down, more efficient habitats.