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Small World: The Tiny House Trend

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Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#301

Post by metildaa »

driverdan wrote: post #198
justjash wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looked through your IG, very cool. Who/what are you using for internet access while on the road? I'm interested in trying to travel more when working remote but trying to make sure I end up with a decent connection each day seems like it could be challenging.

I'm currently using AT&T Wireless Home Internet. It's about $120/m with 100GB of data. https://www.att.com/cellphones/att/att-wireless-internet.htm... I previously used an unlimited Sprint hotspot. It had more data but had poor coverage in many areas.

Have you considered Verizon's unlimited jetpack or AT&T's unlimited tablet plan for $30 a month? https://buyasession.att.com/sbd/Common/ShopRatePlans.action

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#302

Post by crankylinuxuser »

losvedir wrote: post #258
crankylinuxuser wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly! That's what I've been saying all along. The "Tiny Home" trend is "I make way too much but want to show my opulence with virtue signalling of "I'm rich enough to build dinky" Versus a trailer. I live in a trailer with my wife in Indiana. It is portable. Its a bit smaller than what we want, but we own the trailer out right. Our total utilities (land rental, electricity, internet, water, sewer, trash) is $500/m…

Where in Indiana? $500/mo strikes me as a little on the higher side. In my town in Indiana (Whiting), you could rent an apartment for roughly that price, although I guess it depends on the size. And you can buy a house for What are the advantages of a trailer vs. a small (not "tiny") home?

Bloomington. We have some of the highest rates for rental properties and apartments in Indiana. Downtown, costs are upwards of $1000/mo, not including all utilities.

Right now, we're saving for a house along with paying for Harvard. We don't want a house here, primarily because we know we're going to ending up on the East coast.

At our local hackerspace, we had someone construct a tiny home. They ended up making so many compromises that it was a lousy not-even-a-house.

In our trailer, we have 2 bedrooms, a full bath, full kitchen, and living room. Its small, but its like a house for the most part. We'd like a study and a craft/hacker room, but thats later.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#303

Post by nyolfen »

irrational wrote: post #248
haldora wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you documented this somewhere online, and do you have pictures? Using an old train car sounds very interesting and unique! I'd enjoy reading more.

Based on the description and OP's username, I think this might be it: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/1949-railroad-boxcar-on-mer...

op said he's lived in it for 9 years, this says 30. also first name doesn't match his username.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#304

Post by bellerose »

thisisweirdok wrote: post #105

I think the tiny house trend is the symptom of growing wealth gaps in many places (especially the US). People are finding themselves unable to afford traditional housing, and therefore want something that doesn't require a large amount of debt (on top of an already likely student debt). My grandparents for example, could afford a traditional ranch style house on a single apprentice plumber salary back in the 60s. Goo…

I'm a millennial and I don't see a house in my future. I wouldn't want one of these tiny homes. The market for them is trying to sell the environmental friendly niche and it's just nonsense to me. The person who lives in the homes are the ones that make the impact or not. Similar, I haven't heard of other millennials desiring these tiny places to call one's own. The few persons I know who like to watch youtube videos about them, are my parents generation and who own what I consider a mansion with a lot of land. Life is filled with irony.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#305

Post by JadeNB »

war1025 wrote: post #16
tjr225 wrote: post #12

The Tiny Home trend and the "Van Life" trend are slightly unsettling to me - I wonder which forces are at play who intend to convince us that lowering our standards of living is cool? No judgement from me if you do choose to do these things, though. I do see the appeal. Maybe there is no conspiracy, maybe it is a coping mechanism. Edited "deeply" to "slightly" upon further reflection.

I think it's more that our standards of living were artificially inflated for the past 100 - 150 years. A person doesn't actually need that much room to live comfortably. Particularly if you make use of public spaces and the outdoors.

> I think it's more that our standards of living were artificially inflated for the past 100 - 150 years.

This kind of perhaps excessively long historical horizon reminds me of the old joke (http://www.challzine.net/23/23scientist.html):

> [King's College] had gotten a large bequest to the College and were trying to decide how to invest it. The bursar said, “Certainly we ought to invest it in property, real property. That has stood the college very well for the last thousand years.” But the oldest senior fellow in the room shook his head and said, “Well, that is true enough. But the last thousand years have been atypical.”

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#306

Post by crucini »

ryandrake wrote: post #140
tjr225 wrote: post #12

The Tiny Home trend and the "Van Life" trend are slightly unsettling to me - I wonder which forces are at play who intend to convince us that lowering our standards of living is cool? No judgement from me if you do choose to do these things, though. I do see the appeal. Maybe there is no conspiracy, maybe it is a coping mechanism. Edited "deeply" to "slightly" upon further reflection.

I have the same unsettling feeling as you. The conspiracy theorist in me is definitely on high alert and sees it as an attempt at conditioning this generation towards accepting a lower quality of life than their parents had. If we can be made to actually believe we want to live in tiny cramped homes and apartments, then when it comes to pass we won’t get out the pitchforks and torches and riot. Eating bread and plain…

Look at the flip side - if a big chunk of people go for those memes, it takes pressure off the price of houses. I would love for houses to become unfashionable. Then I could buy more house for less dollars.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#307

Post by nradov »

war1025 wrote: post #238
ip26 wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reserve passing judgement until your three kids are in middle school. Your relatives may know something you don't. (Or maybe they don't)

I agree there may come a time when we need to upgrade to something different. A lot of it comes off similarly to the dentist I had once who told me I needed to get my wisdom teeth removed immediately because getting them removed when I'm 70 would be much more of an issue. There is a lot of time between now and then, and I think it makes more sense to prioritize my current needs and keep my options open than to premat…

That's rather like the story of Nasrudin and the Sultan's Horse.

https://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Sufism/Nasrudin

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#308

Post by war1025 »

nradov wrote: post #307
war1025 wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree there may come a time when we need to upgrade to something different. A lot of it comes off similarly to the dentist I had once who told me I needed to get my wisdom teeth removed immediately because getting them removed when I'm 70 would be much more of an issue. There is a lot of time between now and then, and I think it makes more sense to prioritize my current needs and keep my options open than to premat…

That's rather like the story of Nasrudin and the Sultan's Horse. https://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Sufism/Nasrudin

Had never heard of Nasrudin before. Looks very interesting.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#309

Post by erikpukinskis »

Bjorkbat wrote: post #142

I really wish there was more diversity in offerings when it came to manufactured/trailer homes. To clarify, I'm not talking about RVs. I like tiny houses, but really only in the sense that I'm fascinated by unusually small things. Otherwise I think they're actually kind of ridiculous if your motives are to downsize and not pay $300,000+ on a house Trailer homes are pretty incredible when you think about it. They're t…

I really dug this trailer-based development project in Palm Springs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z4vz5Ms0rE They were able to find a manufacturer who would customize the design, and then they also did some post-hoc renovations after the homes were delivered. Plus some custom decks and carports. Seems like a really nice result for a good price.

Re: Small World: The Tiny House Trend

#310

Post by erikpukinskis »

rootusrootus wrote: post #273
crooked-v wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish a company would make modular homes that are actually modular, in that you could start with a 'tiny home' module, then a few years down the line add a 'bedroom and master bath' module and turn the original bedroom into a child's space, and so on. The end result might be at a premium over getting a big house all at once, but in the meantime you'd get the benefit of being able to invest most of your money…

It would probably need to be constructed from standalone modules with something akin to an airlock to get between them. Even then whatever you save by buying piece-at-a-time might still end up more expensive than just building a bigger house and blocking off parts until you need them.

Imagine buying a 1000 square foot home, with a second story locked and available as an in-app purchase!
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