I live in a tiny house – here’s what most people don’t know

When it comes to a tiny house, there’s usually no mortgage because these homes can be hard to finance. But not having a mortgage is a huge weight off our shoulders. Plus, with all the windows and being outside more, electric bills are lower. We have also become more frugal naturally, because we are constantly thinking about space, which, in the end, makes us more financially aware. Before, I could mindlessly purchase something that was “cute.” Now, I have to think, do we really have room for this? It is really eye-opening how mindlessly you can be spending money on things; those things take up space and dollars.

Here are 12 sneaky ways your home is draining your bank account. 

While one might think you get claustrophobic living in a tiny house, it can be more claustrophobic being surrounded by clutter you don’t need. You really get down to knowing what you need and what you don’t – and also knowing what you have and where it is. Cooking becomes easier, too: When we go to my parents’ and I am helping with the cooking, I am literally running all over the place looking for different things. In our tiny home, everything is literally within arm’s reach.

While tiny homes can be built on a foundation, most are built on trailers. Some people choose to buy tiny homes to travel with them, but we like to say that we get to travel because of ours. Since there is no mortgage and the maintenance is low, it’s easier for us to close up the house and hit the road without worrying about the things you would with a normal home. Though our house is on a trailer, we will not move it until it’s necessary, if/when we have to move. We travel with our camper and our car for now.

Financing and insuring a house relies on having an accurate assessment of the structure, but with a tiny house, that value can be hard to determine. We opted not to insure our home. While everyone is different, we decided not to because the cost of insurance sometimes isn’t worth what the home is worth. We did take down some threatening trees, however. But, as more and more people are opting to live in tiny homes, more companies seem to be taking the risk to make it easier to insure and finance them.

While codes and laws change from state to state and even town to town, in general, you can’t just park a tiny house anywhere. If you don’t own the land, you can rent it. We live on a family member’s plot of land and split some of the bills with them in return, including electric, propane and a portion of the property taxes. We do not have cable, and my husband’s employer pays for our Internet and his cell phone.

Setting up electricity was also pretty standard. We have standard switches and plugs, but we have an extra benefit of USB outlets that plug right into the wall so we can charge our phones and whatever else.

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Source: RD.com