poormanbiking

Has anyone here ever check out micro living homes? My kids are starting to leave the nest and a very small home sounds appealing. Building a very small home could be done easy.

Juha

There are quite a few threads on the subject in LCF, but you'd have to use Google to find them. Here's a sample:

https://www.google.fi/?gws_rd=cr&ei=...bikeforums.net

--J

Smallwheels

Thousands of people do this living in RVs. The size of your vehicle can be huge or it can be extremely small. I guess the people living out of back packs and staying in different locations every night would be the epitome of micro living. I've come across a couple of people on the internet who lived in cars as small as a Ford Festiva. Living in a Prius has advantages, such as the air conditioner can be run with the car off. When the power gets low the gasoline motor starts itself to add power to the batteries.

When the rear seat is removed from a car it creates a lot of storage space. Remove the passenger seat in the front too and a bed can be made with storage underneath. Shower in a fitness gym, buy a port-a-potty, get some water jugs, and if you want to cook for yourself buy a small gas stove. Refrigeration isn't always necessary because you can drive your tiny house to the store and get fresh food daily.

Over the years I've learned a lot from the creative people turning cars into homes. One guy with an old Chevrolet Suburban rents a storage unit and keeps most of his supplies in it. He only sleeps and cooks in his truck. With internet via Wifi and a good solar power system he gets all of the entertainment anybody would need with his TV, computer, and an e-book reader. Since he wants to stay in his city he can easily keep his possessions in the storage unit and doesn't need to give up anything. Several people who do this also keep a bicycle in their storage unit for fun and to save fuel when moving around town.

Roody

I didn't even know I can speak Finnish!

DiegoFrogs

This is what I'm facing as I attempt to downsize into a small Swedish apartment...

Juha

, didn't even come to think of that when copypasting the link. But there ya go, it's easy!

Artkansas 

I think it gets down to stuff control. If you can pare the stuff you think you need down sufficiently you can live in a very small place.

Ekdog

I live in a small flat. Just one complaint: nowhere to store a fleet of bicycles. My mountains bikes are several kms. away in a garage, so I rarely use them anymore. The Brompton is ideal for this kind of life.

Artkansas 

My ex got the dining table in the divorce. Plenty of room for bikes in the "dining room" of my small apartment.

I-Like-To-Bike

Is Finnish like Swedish? I learned all I need to know about the Swedish language from the John Candy character in the movie Splash.

gna

lulz

Juha

Not really. When Swedes want to discuss stuff, they need to know whether it's "en" or "ett" stuff to begin with. None of that excessive finesse in Finnish, stuff is stuff. Also, we promote gender equality by using just one word instead of hon/han (she/he in English).

Seeing how difficult even the en/ett issue is, it's amazing Swedes are so good at discussing.

MikeRides

This thread title reminded me of what a friend did a few years back. He was living in his parent's basement but got tired of not having a place of his own, so he decided to move out. Instead of going out and renting an apartment or finding a small house, he decided to purchase a small piece of his parents' property (I'm not sure how much he paid for the land - I do know they owned many acres, that they could easily spare a little of it). Instead of building or buying a mobile home to put on it, he bought a 12x32 wooden storage shed for under $5,000. He put at least another 5 grand into it: (DIY) expanding one side to add a bathroom (which only consisted of a toilet and standup shower), then of course he needed to hire a plumber to install a hot water heater and the shower/toilet/sink, a small kitchen sink, insulation and drywall (DIY), he hired out for a electrician, he only has a futon couch/bed, small foldable dining table, a wood stove for cooking and heating, a 42" flat screen mounted on the wall, and a small refrigerator. In addition to his regular job, he grows a vegetable garden every year and sets up a stand at the local farmer's market for the extras.
Definitely an inspiration!


Attached is an example of a storage shed, not my friend's but very similar:

poormanbiking

When the kids are grown and on their own, this would work for me. Cheap to heat and cool.

gerv 

Wouldn't this just make things more ambiguous? What the Swedes might refer to as a he or she, you Finns would call an "it". And the Swedes now have an instant way of altering entrenched perceptions by being able to say things like "God in her infinite wisdom"... sort of thing.

Juha

We tried that, but decided to have one word for "it" and another for s/he. This happened some time BC. For what it's worth, the Swedes are considering adding a non-gender specific word for humans too.

Just to post something remotely on topic, a friend of mine recently moved to US to work there. It may be just for a couple of years, or longer, he's not sure yet. Instead of hiring storage he and his partner decided to get rid of lot of the stuff they used to own. They both had a substantial CD collection, and they ended up just dumping all of it into iTunes. A huge job, but it saved them a lot of space and weight. I see their point, but I haven't even given up LP format entirely in my collection...

--J

poormanbiking

That shed would be ideal size. Get a double lot with that and I could have enough garden space to really impact my food bill. Where I currently live I have neighbors who has goats and chickens but don't see myself going that route.

Machka 

Rowan and I lived in a 9 metre x 6 metre (approx. 580 sq feet) shed for a year ... in the back corner of a 1200 acre property. Rowan expanded the living space a little bit by paving the veranda floor so that we could sit out there on nice days.

We were completely off the grid out there. It was a very interesting year!!

Photos of the Shack: https://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-...7619719051119/
Scenery around the Shack: https://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-...7623277367498/

Roody

In my down 'n' out days, I lived in a small motel room with my almost grown son, our good friend, and three cats. It was probably no more than 300 sf, including the bathroom. The one thing I liked is when we were all falling asleep in that one room. It felt tribal, primal, and cozy. That's how families lived for almost all of human existence, huddled together for warmth and security. You would get some of that back if you lived in one of these micro houses. Cozy!

poormanbiking

I can relate totally. Warmth and security.

GeoKrpan

Here's a couple of great videos. The house of three tents is my dream home.

Slowhead

Nice photo attachments, thanks for sharing.
I'm not familiar with the geography, what were the Winter/Summer highs and lows ?

Machka 

Southern Victoria ... in the Australian Alps ...

Winter: Lows: -5C, Highs: 15C

Summer: Lows: 10C, Highs: 40C

Approximately.

https://www.weatherzone.com.au/vic/north-central/eildon

The climate is quite similar to North America's PNW ... lots of rain and chilly in the winter, with snow at the higher elevations, hot in summer.

B. Carfree

From today's paper: https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/art...et-5053043.php
That article makes the twenty-four foot diameter Yurt my family lived in for seven years seem palatial. Heck, we even had a separate bath house.