What do you think of the Tiny House movement? I must admit I’m intrigued by these ultra-small houses-on-wheels. Some of them are more luxurious than the average vacation condo. Others are a bit too rustic for my taste. They are all quite creative with space and storage.
Of course, tiny houses are nothing new. My in-laws had one back in the seventies. They called it a camper, and they lived in it nine months at a time, all over the country.
I admit tiny houses feed into my yearning for a simple life. I’m a sucker for any magazine or website that offers “creative storage solutions.” Or articles on “how to organize your life forever.” It is the same drive that leads me to the purse aisle every time I visit a store. I’m always convinced I will eventually find the perfect bag with just the right amount of pockets in exactly the right configuration to hold only the items I must have at my fingertips on any given day.
I don’t think my husband and I will be moving into a tiny house, though. We already downsized from a two-story, five-bedroom with a veranda to a two-bedroom home in a four-plex.
It took me about ten years to accept the fact that I don’t have enough space for everyone to come home for Christmas. But I do love the simplicity of living with less. And every few months I go on a purge and lessen us just a bit more. (Does that sentence even work?)
Which makes me wonder what is drawing so many of us to this lifestyle of tiny houses and limited wardrobes. I do have a theory, of course. Maybe, what we are really craving with these clean lines and clear spaces is something spiritual. Maybe, what we really want to do is unclutter our souls.
That’s a movement I could get into.
I think people are tired of chasing after nothing. There’s no satisfaction in a too-busy lifestyle, or if there is, it’s very fleeting.
I definitely think it’s connected to uncluttering our souls. My happiness has expanded with less. Stuff takes so much time – the more clothes you have the bigger the laundry piles grow, etc. But having just enough is relaxing and peaceful – your mind is free to imagine up things to do instead of all that stuff determining it for you. Plus, the stuff you do have hopefully means more to you. I dream of truly getting this simplifying thing right so that I can feel a little freer to buy that one great chair or clothing item because I know there is plenty of room for it in my home, in my finances, and in my life because I don’t have things that don’t matter. I can kind of go on and on about this. I really love this moment, even though I’ve decided the tiny house is actually *too* tiny. A medium house with not too much in it, though? That’s the master plan.