Today Tiny House Living is Practical

What is Tiny House Living Actually? That really depends on your lifestyle. Tiny houses range from 100 sq. ft. to a 1000⏍ft. Yerdle, a smartphone app based service for exchanging used goods, has created a short quiz to determine which tiny house personality you might be. Discover which category you may belong in with this Huffington Post Tiny House Quiz by choosing from four tiny house dispositions in seven questions.

Many would not find practical living in the compact mobile tiny houses being built for the current tiny house movement. Single young professionals and couples are the majority that are purchasing the wheeled 100⏍ft. to under 400⏍ft. dwellings. Those that travel or move a lot and empty nesters looking to downsize also fit in this category. Cost and simplicity are the main considerations for this lifestyle. The advantage is that many live mortgage free, spend less time and money on upkeep and maintenance and more time enjoying life. The question is could you live that tiny.

There are many Calgarians living in the midsize TH category. These dwellings are mostly built on a foundation and can include a basement and an attic loft for additional space and range from 400⏍ft. to 750⏍ft. Many of Calgary older neighbourhoods have this size of pre-1950s area homes where Calgarians have lived comfortably in for years. Condominiums, attached dwellings, or apartments are other types of accommodations that fall into this midsize category.

The Pinemont Condominiums is a good example of TH living since the mid-1970's. It's comprised of 87 units; duplexes, a triplex, and a fourplex that use up the same amount of land as 37 detached homes. I lived there quite comfortably for 7 years in the 490⏍ft. bi-level, with a total of 980⏍ft. including the 2 bedrooms in the basement. Outside we had a 7' x 14' deck with a patio below accompanied by a large public space maintained by the condo association. Not having to maintain the outside of the building was a benefit that allowed more free time to enjoy living.

Let us not forget that there are many Calgarians living tiny in detached houses. Many of the single family residential homes have secondary suites in the basement or laneway homes in the backyard. There are many Calgarians living tiny already.

With today's technology, many of the items we collect can be done electronically thus saving space for storage. We have electronic books, music, movies, pictures, etc. that can now be stored on the computer and accessed easily at any moment. Living tiny is not new, it's just that as life becomes more prosperous people tend to want more. Living tiny means many need to live a more minimalistic life than they are accustomed to. How minimalistic are you willing to go is the question you need to ask, along with which are the most important things in my life that I would want to keep. There are many advantages to our wellbeing to living tiny.