I love television and despite keeping a generally crazy, hectic schedule, I somehow find time to veg out way longer than I probably should in front of said television. HGTV is one of my favorite channels and House Hunters has always been one of my favorite shows on that channel. So imagine my delight when they created a spin off with Tiny homes, especially since I’ve been in a serious downsizing mode over the last year.
After stretching the good graces of my generous aunt’s hospitality for the past 5 months as we’ve searched for a new home in our tiny budget, I’m happy to announce we’ve bought a two bedroom condo that’s just shy of 1000 square feet.
Now I realize technically I’ve not bought a tiny home since some of the homes featured on HGTV are around 250-400 square feet but considering there’s three adults that will be living here at least part-time and a cat and considering the fact that our last place was around 1,700 square feet with a one-car garage, this is definitely going to feel like a tiny home to us.
The positives:
- We’re in our desired neighborhood, close to many good friends
- Saving me over $300 a month on the mortgage payment alone, a huge benefit since our income is taking a serious hit in a few months
- Smaller place and second floor location should mean smaller electric bills
- We’ll have a community pool again. Frugal summer fun.
- It will be the perfect size for me once the boys desert me…I mean move on to their own places
- Already partially updated with newer kitchen and hardwood floors. Nice perk since these condos were built in the late 70’s and many we’ve looked at haven’t been updated since then
Cons:
- Definitely going to be tight for the next couple of years when both boys are home
- Unit has a stackable washer/dryer unit. Nice that there’s laundry in the unit, that was a non-negotiable for me, but I’m sure the smaller washer/dryer will take some getting used to
- Going to be tricky finding a good spot for the litter box for our cat Kobe
- Also going to be tricky creating a third bedroom out of the dining room. The size is good but creating a faux door for privacy that’s not too expensive and/or permanent will be the trick
- Not going to lie…definitely going to miss the garage when the weather gets nasty
So, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives for me. I’m super excited at the idea of having our own place again. I’m also super excited at the thought of living a more minimalist lifestyle. The movers were actually laughing at me because as they kept bringing more stuff in, I kept saying, Oh, I forgot about that piece. I thought we had done really well purging when we were staging our old place to sell but it’s obvious we still need to do another round of purging, especially since Michael just brought the contents of his dorm room home this past weekend. Of course some of that will be sent to school with Nick in the fall so we’ll just have to find somewhere to store it until then. I can’t wait to see how this works out for us and I’ll post an update in a month or so to see how we’ve settled in with this new adventure.
