on Tiny House Living

Last week I joined a class on downsizing. We get a weekly lesson by email, and there's a forum on Google + for discussion with others in the class. The thrust of the class is to lighten the load of what one owns, with an eye to eventually being able to live "tiny."
Have you heard of the tiny house movement? It fascinates me. The idea behind it is to "live smaller," leaving a smaller footprint on the environment, spend much less money on housing, utilities, etc., and to be surrounded by less stuff.

Sometimes, as I've written before, I feel that my stuff owns me rather than the other way around.
Anyway, tiny house living means living in a house smaller than 400 sq. ft. Think that sounds small? Many people who go for this lifestyle actually live in homes on wheels measuring less than 200 sq. ft.
Many communities have zoning rules with minimum square footage requirements. To get around this, tiny house folks in cities with such limited zoning place their houses on trailers with wheels, making them mobile homes, which are not subject to regular zoning rules.
There's a television show on Monday nights at 10 p.m. called Tiny House Nation, which visits a new tiny house project each week, helping the people build their home and downsize their belongings. I've seen married couples with children move into 192 sq. ft. homes. Crazy!
I figure if they can do that, I can live alone in 400 sq. ft. Well, with a pooch, a kitty and a tank of fish.
What I want is a small plot of land, ideally on water, but in the woods would be my second choice. Some people put their tiny homes in somebody's backyard, tapping into their water and electric, but I want my own space.
The really tiny houses use lofts for sleeping space. I figure that as I'm a woman of a certain age, the time is coming when I won't want to climb a ladder into a loft, then squat down to get to my bed.
I wouldn't mind a second floor bedroom if I can have a staircase, possibly with lots of storage underneath. Dormers and skylights can make the ceiling high enough to walk under.
Another thing they do in really tiny houses is use Murphy beds, cleverly disguised as desks or book cases during the day, in the living room. Sounds like too much trouble to me, though it's pretty cool use of space.
Back to my fantasy home. Downstairs I want a great room comprising my living room, dining room and kitchen space. I want a fireplace to heat with. I want a bathroom big enough to have separate toilet/sink/shower rather than the "wet room" many really tiny houses have, where everything is in one little space, and you practically have to stand in the toilet to take a shower. Easy to clean though, I bet.
I want a washer/dryer -- perhaps apartment sized stack-able. And a usable kitchen space. Not large. I'm not a gourmet cook. And I want a nice porch to sit on and enjoy the outside.
I'd like a solar panel to supplement my energy use. I want propane, to be off the grid. And septic if possible. County or city water is more sensible than trucked in, so I want that. And the possibility of a "green roof" to help insulate and gather rain water for use watering a garden, etc.
Sounds great, doesn't it?
You can go to You Tube and watch a short movie called "Tiny," about a guy who builds his own tiny house.
So, to make this happen, I will have to get rid of A LOT of things. I've inherited stuff from three women, and my children inherited stuff from their dad. It's all in my house.
When we moved here from the big house we had before, we dumped about 1/3-1/2 of our stuff.
I'm going to need to dump 90 percent to go tiny.
Kids, come get your stuff!

My timeline is when my youngest graduates from high school, or 3.5 years. That gives my older kids time to establish their own places, where they can take their stuff.
I'll only keep my absolute favorite things. I read that if something doesn't fill you with joy, get rid of it.
And a good friend once told me that memories are inside of us, not inside of the stuff we inherit from others. Why be tied down by the belongings of dead people?
So that's my plan! To go "tiny" in a few years. After all, I'm the Shabby Housekeeper. I don't like keeping house, so less house can only be good for my mental health, right?

If this sounds interesting to you, go check it out. Just Google it, and you'll find plenty of info.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!