You can find inspiration everywhere and today it came in the form of an article on architecture. A special about small living spaces which made me think about my current living situation.
How much space does a human need to be able to live and thrive? If we take a look in the direction of third world countries people live in very confined spaces with little to no comfort at all. At the other end of this spectrum we have the mansions that stand on huge estates, getting the mail from the beginning of the driveway is a ten minute drive. Going to the toilet requires deciding which one to use this time.
So, what is enough room and what is to much? I don’t think it’s about the number square feet, you have but more centered on what is available in the living space. An advantage of small living is that you’re limited in the amount of things you can own. The 100-items challenge I wrote about earlier would almost be vital to keeping a tidy home. Yes, I see this as an advantage. I’m a minimalist after all.
As a college student most of us experience living in tight quarters, but after college it’s off to a good job, getting a nice house and sometimes having so much space we don’t know what to do with it all. The typical Dutch house has a living room, kitchen and toilet downstairs and three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. There might even be a converted attic on top of it all. Converted to bedroom, office or something else. All this space can be rented to a single person. Just imagine that, 3-4 bedrooms for one. Do we actually need all this? Such a waste of space. And what’s worse, we end up filling all those rooms with stuff just so it doesn’t feel so empty. That’s where things go wrong. We feel the need to have all those rooms, to have all those things we stuffed in every room.
But what do we really need?
- A bed
- A desk/table and chair
- A toilet
- A shower
- A kitchen
- A place to store our 100 items
All those things an be found in even the tightest living quarters. Think of mobile homes, ship’s cabins, trailers. If we leave out the kitchen we can even add the hotel room to our list.
What are the implications of all this? If we realize that we don’t actually need all that room we can live smaller and much more mobile. I found a few great examples of small living that I would like to share with you:
The Micro Compact home
The rotor house (Click the picture and be amazed)
And if you don’t mind living in something that resembles a garbage truck
All these homes are tiny but have everything I mentioned in the list. The rotor house isn’t mobile but has the most room. The Micro Compact can even be airlifted, the garbage truck.. ..well it’s a truck. Do we need more? Living in a small home does mean you have to change your mindset about what a home actually is. And with kids it’s not a good idea but if you’re alone or there is just the two of you it’s very doable. You might even start to like this way of living.
Take a look around when you’re home and wonder. How much space do you have and do you really need it all? I know living so small isn’t for everyone. Few people would be happy in the small places I just showed you, but it’s something I’d like to offer you so you can think about it. Really go take a look around in your home and wonder if you really need it all. I’d like to hear about your findings.
Not only your home offer ways to implement minimalism, there are more places to minimalize. Over the next few weeks I want to write more articles on this subject and try and show you why I like minimalism so much and what the effects of it are on our mental state and piece of mind.
If you liked this article you might also like living on a small footprint, minimalist living: the Japan edition or One step to creating a minimalist home
Looking for even more on minimalism? Try this guide to developing a simplistic lifestyle that allows you to finally do the things you love. This is an action plan to get you where you want to be.
Wow, that rotor house is really something.
I think living in a small space with a few things is best for the spiritual well being of the individual. It raises our spirits when we don’t feel so overloaded with extra things and space.
I’ll be moving into a small apartment soon that’s pretty small too. Nothing special compared to some of the above examples, but still pretty small.
Going smaller means that everything you bring in through the door must be important. You can’t just buy things to make yourself feel good or soon you’ll end p with a total clutter.
I’m sure you’ll do just fine, just keep thinking :)
Christiaan,
My wife and I have looked at minimalist homes here in the States. We thought we could do it with kids, but it is looking more and more like we will not accomplish it. I lived in a tent for a summer then in the Navy I had no real space at all, so I am accustomed to not having space. I think instead of the stuff it is trying to impress people with what we have that drives most Americans, at least, to buy bigger and bigger homes. Great post.
Thank you,
The bigger = better philosophy does seem to be out there a lot these days. Especially in places where space is abundant. (And having a lot of space in a crowded area is a status symbol…)
I should have posted a tent in this post as well, or a hammock & tarp. Everyone should try and live a while in a tent to really appreciate all the space and comforts they have.
I have large house with 5 bedrooms. (That was because I had four daughters.) Now they are all out and on their own, my wife had mention about getting a smaller place. but then I had two grandkids come live with me and three more that visit alot. So that smaller house doesn’t work with me. (Also I have a 5000 plus book collection.)
But I am now collecting articles on my computer (been downloading lots of books.) Getting rid of my magazine collections, getting rid of stuff in my cellar that me and my wife had thought someday we would get fixed. Now if we aren’t using it, out it goes. ( So I am slowly getting to that mimialist style. Maybe in a 100 years or so. : – })
There are a few great books that might just be of help in getting control over clutter. My favorite though would be:
Clear your clutter with Feng Shui – Karen Kingston
The title might not be for everyone, and all advise in there is usable but it’s a small book and will certainly help you in minimalising even more.
Great article! I recently bought a 920 square foot house…while not as tiny as the micro homes, it’s small by comparison to the newer homes people tend to be leaning towards these days.
It is the perfect size for me and my daughter…although most people thought I was crazy buying that small, I feel more in control of my life in a small space. I have alot of room for improvement…but I keep striving for a more minimalist attitude because I do believe it improves our stress (not worrying about all the ‘stuff’ and most definitely our wallets!
But now that I have a boyfriend, who is a collector of ‘things’, that is going to move into my tiny house at some point, I need to show him this article and bring him around to my way of thinking…instead of thinking we need a bigger house! :-)
I think that if your going to live minimilist it is crucial that you follow the concept of Quality over Quantity. A crap small space is soul destroying. A small space that focuses on high quality lifts and inspires.
You hit the nail on the head there Simon. A huge benefit (to me) of the material aspect of minimalism is that the few things you do own are of high quality because you don’t own a back-up or anything.
Reliability seems to be fundamental here as well.