A Tumbleweed Home

In the past several weeks I’ve come on a couple of stories about a new trend in the housing market. They’re called tiny houses (or Tumbleweeds) and that is really about as straight forward a description as necessary. One of the primary founders and advocates of this new minimalist movement is the owner of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, Jay Shafer.Jay has been living in a Tumbleweed for around thirteen years now. He not only built his own, but has helped many others design and build similar residences for themselves. Many of the designs are mobile (about the size of a travel trailer), but of a more solid permanent construction. As you might have guessed, there is a philosophy that goes along with choosing to “live small.” Part of Mr. Shafer’s motivation for adopting this lifestyle was his own environmental concerns. Many other people who choose to downsize do so out a desire to avoid being simply a consumer or collector of material goods. It’s a way of dropping out of the rat race of modern materialism and simplifying one’s life.

Now I’m certainly no environmentalist. I live in a modest twelve hundred square foot home, (as a teacher I couldn’t really afford a big house anyway), I teach my son not to “mess with Texas,” and I’m a proponent of commonsense conservation. By that same token, I don’t care about urban sprawl; I’m not interested in, or rather don’t believe in carbon footprints, and I don’t really think that most human activity can affect the earth’s climate long term. What I can appreciate about the tiny house craze is the concept of simplifying life, getting back to basics as it were. Theroux would be pleased I think. Living this lifestyle definitely requires the home owner to decide what it is that’s most important to him or her, and to be content with the little things. In this I think St Paul and St Francis would be pleased.

I should also stress that the point of the concept is not to live poorly. While the houses are indeed small, they are also very nice. The amenities that the tumbleweeds do offer are generally top of the line. A small but nice flat screen television, (if that’s what you want); fits far better into this life style then an older, clunky cheaper one. The homes are also designed to maximize the use of existing space. In this they are very smart. As a parent, there is currently no realistic way for me to adopt this lifestyle. However, for the single person, particularly in their twenties or thirties who wants to live an inexpensive lifestyle this could be an intriguing option. Most models sell for around forty five thousand, if the Tiny House Company builds it. Using the company’s design, costumers can build one for less than half the pre-fab cost.

I think this is clearly a concept for people who have pursuits in life other than career advancement, or raising their income, (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Again it’s all about setting priorities. For more information on the Tumble Weed Tiny House Company, visit their webpage at http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com