Downsizing To A Tiny House

[Nosferatualso]

Im half thinking about living in a tiny house with just one pen that I would use in a utilitarian way. Does anyone have experience of this?

[rhitee93]

I live in an average sized house with 3 houses worth of junk in it, so I am the exact opposite.

 

However, pens don't take up much space, so why limit yourself to just one?

[carlos.q]

However, pens don't take up much space, so why limit yourself to just one?

[RoyalBlueNotebooks]

My first place will most likely be the tiniest apartment I can afford and I don't care if I have to swim through my stuff, I'm not downsizing my collection one tiny nib bit.

[JayKay3000]

Yes, but when I have one pen I take more care of it because I only have one of the item especially if I like that pen. But at the end of the day it's just a tool.

[Maurizio]

Even in a tiny house I’m sure you could fit at least 3.

[Charles Rice]

Ya might want to rob a bank and see what it's like living in a tiny pen for a while

[Ed_Usinowicz]

Im half thinking about living in a tiny house with just one pen that I would use in a utilitarian way. Does anyone have experience of this?

 

While I do not live in a tiny house I have done considerable research on them - the idea appeals to me. The key seems to be creativity in storage. Anything you sit on or sleep on can have storage underneath - think motorhome. As to pens, a coffee mug can hold 6-8 (or more) pens stored upright. I save all the boxes that my pens come in and this takes up a considerable amount of space; do you need to save the boxes? Ink/ink collections also take up a lot of space, maybe just a bottle or two of favorite ink. I assume you will at least have a writing surface/table so the coffee mug and two bottles of ink will have a minimal footprint. Journals, writing paper, cards and envelopes can also take up a fair amount of space. Maybe a journal or two and a pad of writing paper stored next to a few cherished books can be more than enough. Also not everything pen related needs to be co-located, put it where it fits best. When it comes to pens it may be the case that you can have more than you think.

[alanshutko]

Im half thinking about living in a tiny house with just one pen that I would use in a utilitarian way. Does anyone have experience of this?

 

 

If you only had one pen, you'd better make it the nicest possible. Do you think that a tiny house would fit a Namiki Emperor?

[sdbruder]

Why limit yourself to one pen?

 

Create a list of type of nibs that you like and have at least one pen of each nib type.

 

I think that’s my definition of ‘minimal possible collection of fountain pens’.

 

—

Im way way above my ‘minimal collection’ and I even don’t have all the nib types that I want.

Edited March 30, 2018 by sdbruder

[pajaro]

My wife and I have watched a lot of the TV shows about tiny houses. We are too claustrophobic to sleep in a tiny space with the ceiling so low. A lot of improvisations are needed to live in a tiny house, and a number of creature comforts are forgone. You need to think this all the way through.

Edited March 30, 2018 by pajaro

[AmandaW]

If I moved to a tiny house I would use some of the money saved to buy more pens and better ones! They don't take up much space and life is too short to forgo the things that make me happy, so long as the aquisition didn't cause other types of unhappiness, such as unmanageable debt or irritating clutter. It's a balancing act. (I sat with my Mum while she passed away a couple of weeks ago. I thought about a lot of things during those last six lonely hours. It was a profound experience that changed the way I think about a lot of things.)

Edited March 30, 2018 by AmandaW

[FarmBoy]

Keep at least one pencil

[kaspian]

I live in a cottage with about 560 square feet of floor space, plus a loft and basement — I'm not sure whether that counts as tiny or not, but it felt that way when two teenagers also lived here. I'll just pass along a couple of thoughts from my experience.

 

Good design is worth spending thought and money on. This house does not feel tiny, partly due to a few tricks like lots of sunny windows, a higher-than-usual ceiling, and decks that allow for expanding the living zone in nice weather. I couldn't find existing plans that felt like a match for my needs and tastes, this piece of land, and the Maine climate, so I hired an architect, and the result was totally worth it, and then some.

 

Another thing that makes a big difference is having a floor plan that allows for getting up and shuffling around a bit. This isn't so much a question of adding extra space as it is of creating distinct zones — living, working, cooking, and what have you — which may be somewhat overlapping but nonetheless feel different when you are in them. Furnishings that transform in some way — taking on different functions at different times of day — might be a part of this.

 

You can always buy new pens if you feel the urge, but it's trickier to change the house, so wait until you're sure.

[Runnin_Ute]

My wife and I have watched a lot of the TV shows about tiny houses. We are too claustrophobic to sleep in a tiny space with the ceiling so low. A lot of improvisations are needed to live in a tiny house, and a number of creature comforts are forgone. You need to think this all the way through.

I couldn't have said it better. My house isn't very big. (70's split entry, 864 sq ft main floor plus finished basement) The kitchen/dining area alone takes up 170-175 sq ft. I couldn't see myself - even if I were single, living in that kind of space. The master bedroom? Just under 160 sq. ft. And it's cramped.

 

This is amazing advice. What I think a good way to see if it would work for you. Rent a trailer or moter home in the size you are contemplating and spend some time in it. Not just a week or so. An extended period. (some people a week might be enough to determine if it is wrong for them) A lot of compromises are required. There are some things that are appealing, even more that tell me that no it won't work for me.

Edited March 30, 2018 by Runnin_Ute

[inkandseeds]

While in grad school, i lived in a VW microbus for a couple of years. I also lived in a 300 sq ft house for three years. The latter was very spacious as it was an old “shotgun” worker house with an arched ceiling. If the space is used wisely and if there is adequate natural light, 300 sq ft can be quite huge.

[Nosferatualso]

Thank you everyone

[sidthecat]

I moved my mother into assisted living about seven years ago, and it was essentially the same exercise. Luckily, she wasn’t the collecting type, but I’ll observe that many of us are going to have to go through this form of downsizing. That said, one can dedicate a desk drawer to a moderate-sized collection.

[bogiesan]

While I do not live in a tiny house I have done considerable research on them - the idea appeals to me. The key seems to be creativity in storage.

Umm, I disagree,. The key is not storage. The key is eliminating everything from your life except the essentials. A tiny house is not about quaintness or efficiency. The tiny hose lifestyle requires almost nothing. As soon as you need storage for things, you are no longer in the tiny house. You are only trying to stuff your stuff into a smaller space.

Edited March 31, 2018 by bogiesan

[Parker51]

Why bother?

Yes, some homes are too large to be functional, but tiny houses strike me as an attempt at an extreme at the other end, typically as an excuse to play. The ones I have seen portrayed in the media are built by or for privledged people so they can travel and engage in pleasant life style options. I expect when they tire of it, they will park it on some relatives property and head off to graduate school and with their other family connections, entry into the full blown established privledged class, with the tiny house being some token kept to be wistfully referred to and perhaps be lent out to others of their group to enjoy a year or two of false bohemian travel.