Comments on: Tiny, tiny houses http://greencouple.com/2008/04/24/tiny-tiny-houses/ Learning to live green and live together Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:47:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: gogo http://greencouple.com/2008/04/24/tiny-tiny-houses/#comment-1550 gogo Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:07:34 +0000 http://greencouple.com/?p=165#comment-1550 nice article nice article

]]> By: Andy http://greencouple.com/2008/04/24/tiny-tiny-houses/#comment-390 Andy Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:03:56 +0000 http://greencouple.com/?p=165#comment-390 I really think that if you want to be efficient, the step that will help push everything else in the right direction is a small house. I've been living in roughly 600 square foot, 2-bedroom "cabins" for the last 4 years in college. Yes, it is the most amazing college-owned housing available: I have a lake house. Ok, enough bragging from me. What I'm saying is that I don't have room for junk. My bedroom basically holds a bed, and all I do in that room is sleep. I have a beautiful large and tall bathroom, a moderately sized kitchen with a bar, dinning table, and all the necessities (aka haybox and cast iron pot, fridge, sink, toaster oven). The best part about a small house is that although I have a ridiculous number of outlets, they are mostly empty because I have learned that to live in this space I can't fill it with junk that uses space and power. I have an alarm clock, a cell phone charger, a medium sized entertainment center, fridge, laptop, and toaster oven, and that is all that I have in my outlets. There's just little space to put the extra crap that everyone else counts as necessary. No desktop (no desk), no microwave, no multiple televisions needed (I don't have cable anyway, just Netflix). Deciding to live in a smaller arrangement is also a big savings on energy. Most of my time here I've been using wood pellets for heat. It's a recycled product from local furniture manufacturers, which burns at something like 87% efficiency. To heat this space takes almost no time, especially since when I close off the bedrooms I only have to heat about 300 sq ft. Go for the small house :) -Andy I really think that if you want to be efficient, the step that will help push everything else in the right direction is a small house. I’ve been living in roughly 600 square foot, 2-bedroom “cabins” for the last 4 years in college. Yes, it is the most amazing college-owned housing available: I have a lake house. Ok, enough bragging from me.

What I’m saying is that I don’t have room for junk. My bedroom basically holds a bed, and all I do in that room is sleep. I have a beautiful large and tall bathroom, a moderately sized kitchen with a bar, dinning table, and all the necessities (aka haybox and cast iron pot, fridge, sink, toaster oven).

The best part about a small house is that although I have a ridiculous number of outlets, they are mostly empty because I have learned that to live in this space I can’t fill it with junk that uses space and power. I have an alarm clock, a cell phone charger, a medium sized entertainment center, fridge, laptop, and toaster oven, and that is all that I have in my outlets. There’s just little space to put the extra crap that everyone else counts as necessary. No desktop (no desk), no microwave, no multiple televisions needed (I don’t have cable anyway, just Netflix).

Deciding to live in a smaller arrangement is also a big savings on energy. Most of my time here I’ve been using wood pellets for heat. It’s a recycled product from local furniture manufacturers, which burns at something like 87% efficiency. To heat this space takes almost no time, especially since when I close off the bedrooms I only have to heat about 300 sq ft.

Go for the small house :)

-Andy

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