Our Tiny Home Contest is Over

Our contest to win a custom 28' Tiny House ended 12/4/21. We will announce our winner soon!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends 12/4/21. Subject to official Rules available at www.shop.tinyheirloom.com. Open to legal residents of 50 US & DC (excl. residents of NY, FL, RI, AK & HI) 18+. Void where prohibited.

minimalist living

3 Ways to Start Your Minimalist Living Journey

Even if you’re not a minimalism “enthusiast” per se, converting to a tiny house lifestyle necessarily entails a certain degree of minimalist living. This can be an overwhelming prospect for some of us. Fear not–it’s easy to start and grow into it over time. And, the more reducing you can do before moving into your tiny house, the easier the adjustment will be!

 

Quality, that Holy Grail of Minimalist Living

When it comes to consolidating your possessions, the goal to always be pursuing is quality over quantity.

Quality can take a number of shapes. For example, if you decide to take up the guitar, maybe you treat yourself to a $2500 Martin, knowing it will be the last guitar you ever buy. On the other hand, if you’re planning a tiny house, maybe you invest in one appliance that can do the jobs of many.  The point is to get the most work done using the fewest items you can–to cover as much distance as possible without retracing any steps, so to speak.

The result will be fewer purchases, fewer possessions, more money saved, and more space in your life.

 

Growing Your Own Food

Fresh food is one “possession” that needs to be bought more often than most. Of course, one way to mitigate this is to grow your own, especially using manure from a composting toilet.

The best approach is to think about what you enjoy eating and what you buy the most. Can you grow any of it yourself?

If you don’t have a lot of space for a full garden, you can use pots for fruit, herbs and vegetables and they can even double as decoration on your porch or in your windowsill.

If you’re growing the majority of your food, you can even downsize your refrigerator since the food you’ll be harvesting will be fresh and you’ll avoid frequent trips to the grocery store. Not only does this save you on grocery bills, it will also minimize your ecological footprint!

 

Countertops/Decorations

You might be shocked at how much more peaceful your living space feels without endless clutter and utensils chattering for attention on your kitchen countertops. Tiny house living tends to entail relatively bare countertops anyway; try experimenting with consolidating your cooking utensils to one per function, storing them in cabinets and drawers out of sight, and packing away everything that didn’t make the cut. Then, go back through whatever you packed up and get rid of whatever you can go without long-term.

The same goes for decorations. So many of our knick-knacks and wall art have no emotional or personal meanings for us and could easily give way to golden silence. Who knows how much simpler and more relaxed your home could feel without so many meaningless items swearing they’re an improvement on neutrality?

 

Getting into Minimalist Living, a Bit at a Time

Like tiny house living, minimalist living is a marathon, not a sprint. It will never succeed over the long term if the things you do buy aren’t high enough quality to outlast the riff raff. Even food can be optimized for minimalist living with a little planning. And of course, over time, you will see clutter become space, decorations exchanged for natural beauty, and home anxiety giving way to sheer reveling.