5 Tips for Your Transition to "Tiny"
Thanks for reading, we're excited to be a part of your journey to tiny living!
Regardless of your current stage of tiny living, the goal is always to continue finding ways to reduce our impact even further, and to enrich our lives that much more. By downsizing and minimizing our material excess, we make room for more of the important experiences life has to offer, rather than spending all our time stressing, organizing, and working off debt.
If going tiny has been on your mind, or you are already in the thrill of it, take a look at some of the ways we started. Comment and share if you find the information here helpful or have things to add.
1. Begin Downsizing ASAP
Whatever you can, as much as you can, and however best supports the goal. When you begin to explore tiny living, one of the first realizations you're likely to come to is, "We need to get rid of some stuff!" Don't be discouraged if you have a mountain of materialism to tackle, most of us were convinced at one point or another that "stuff" had great status in our lives. So, however that needs to happen, sell, donate, or discard, if you're looking to go tiny, this is a great way to start.
Now, we all have different ideas of what's important to satisfy our daily needs, but initially, just start with identifying and letting go of the obvious excess. Start by going through clothes, movie collections, garages, attics or basements, and start collecting things you simply can't remember using. Trying to keep in mind that "useful" and "needed" are often not the same. A general rule to get you started when determining what still earns a place in your life:
If it's dusty, ditch it!
Pass the item on to someone who does need it, if you can, or simply say, thanks for the memories, and make room for new ones.
2. Create A Goal
A goal is just a way of turning dreams into realities. Start looking at how other people have created a tiny lifestyle and really be honest with yourself about what catches your interest. Does the idea of growing your own food fill you with a sense of freedom? Does being a part of a tiny community give you a sense of belonging and support? Does natural building appeal to your sense of connection with Nature? Or does all of it just seem like a great way to live? Take some time to figure this out, after all, it's your life! Write down your reasons for going tiny so that when you feel discouraged you can reflect on what got you started.
Once you have some clarity on the type of lifestyle you want, the next step is setting some goals to create it, and writing them down! For us, we wanted to travel and learn from the tiny community. We also wanted to start our own project at some point, and knew we would eventually need land, or need to build a mobile tiny home.
So where to begin?
Setting small goals that are on track to achieving a larger goal is a good way to get some momentum going. Keep things simple, and never get so attached to a goal that you refuse to adjust the process. A good method to follow, if you are new to writing out your goals, is the S.M.A.R.T. Goals outline. I first learned of this strategy from my days in marketing, but found that they were helpful to accomplishing really any serious goal.
Specific- "I want to live on at least two acres of land that I own personally, in a mountain setting, with some natural tree cover, and a view of nature." The more specific the better!
Measurable- What are the defining factors that mean this goal as been achieved. Write down the expected feelings, the sights, the sounds, the exact dollar amount spent, so that as the goal begins to manifest, you don't miss it being accomplished.
Attainable- Try to avoid things like, "I will live on one million acres in a glass tiny house so that my views are entirely unobstructed." Not saying don't dream, but when setting a goal, you want to be certain that what you're after, actually exists. Is there still a million acres, with unobstructed views, anywhere on Earth? If there are, please tell us where! But take a hard look at what it will take for you to accomplish this goal; time, money, skills needed, and decide what is within your current abilities, and set your first goals with this in mind.
Relevant- Keep it simple, if the goal seems too complex, then you may be straying away from what attracted you to tiny living in the first place. Determine that this lifestyle is one you actually want to pursue, and be true to yourself.
Timely- Set goals with an adjustable deadline. Don't beat yourself up if a deadline goes unfulfilled, you are only accountable to yourself. But you need to know whether what you're doing is working, and setting a time frame for milestones is a great way to track your progress.
As it goes with setting any goal, it is crucial that you learn to delay gratification if you want to reach it, especially in a world where most things we desire are a short distance away, and we've grown impatient.
3. Start Eliminating Debt
Disclaimer: we are not officially qualified to give financial advice, the following section is merely personal opinion.
Quite possibly the most legitimate setback to going tiny is having debt of any kind. It keeps you locked into a certain income level so you can make minimum payments, it often keeps you stuck in one physical location where work is available, and it just seems to erode your sense of freedom. Avoiding debt is obviously the best thing you can do, but if you are one of the many bogged down by student loans and/or credit card mistakes, you'll have to crawl your way out from under it, and into the light. Contrary to popular financial reasoning, debt is often a result of lack of financial education, belief that acquiring debt is normal, and not knowing an effective way out. Often people say to reduce debt, start by paying off the debt with the highest interest rate, while making minimum payments on the other debts, but this can be a long and arduous process.
Dave Ramsey, financial expert and personal finance educator, has a different way of looking at it. He says, that when looking at debt mathematically, it makes sense to go after the highest interest rate first, but that having debt is not a mathematical problem; it's a behavioral one. Now granted, some of us were trapped by student loans before we even knew what debt really was, and many of us fell victim to the advertising campaigns of big credit card companies, but getting rid of debt efficiently goes the same either way. Dave Ramsey talks about using a method called the "Debt Snowball," basically making minimum payments on all your debts except the smallest one and attacking the little guy with all your effort. Take extra work if you have to, but put all of your focus on the smallest debt, and then when it's paid off, the "snowball" rolls onto the next debt, and you continue this process, working your way up. It attacks your debt emotionally and fuels your fire, rather than simply testing your stamina against that of your interest rates. The big key here though, is to stop acquiring new debt immediately, and that's going to take some conviction. But freedom awaits you!
4. Start "Seeing Tiny"
Opportunities to start envisioning and preparing for tiny living may be all around you, you just have to
start "seeing tiny." If your goal is clear and you know exactly what you are working towards, then the world becomes your inspiration. When you walk into a garage, or storage shed, or into an old wine cellar, for whatever reason, start picturing where your bed would go, where you'd cook your meals, and where you might entertain guests. Every space you enter holds potential ideas and solutions for how to situate your living space, and when a light bulb goes off, make a note for later.
Also start to look for materials if you have a place to store them, finding cheap materials at tag sales or for free on the side of the road can be a real cost saver in the long run. However, only take it if you really have a plan for it, remember, step one was downsizing and minimizing!
5. Learn Some Skills
As you work on saving money and eliminating debt, if you have to take some extra work, try to maximize your time by finding income that also lends to further your needed skills. If you want to be able to grow your own food, but lack a green thumb and green in your wallet, try to find some extra work with a local farm or food co-op, if your schedule allows. If you need to learn some carpentry skills, odd jobs are a great way to learn some basics, ask your friends or family if there are any home improvement projects you could help out with, and absorb of whatever knowledge you can like a sponge. Now you may end up getting paid in beer or pizza, regardless, it's courteous to warn them of your lack of experience, even though they will likely be happy to have an extra set of hands.
I hope you found something useful in all of this, at whatever stage of tiny living you may be. And thank you for taking the time to read it through.
The last thing I want to mention as part of the tiny transition process, is becoming a part of the tiny community. Just because you're not living in a hobbit hole or a tree house, just yet, doesn't mean you can't reach out and share your enthusiasm and your questions. The tiny living community and those interested in sustainability know that it's going to take a lot of us to make real change, and are happy to help guide the inspired. Join the Tiny Getaways Forum, share this post if you liked it, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. We are all learning from each other and making tiny changes, with great love, along the way. Welcome.
Thanks for reading,
Devin Frost
@tinygetaways
*A Sustainable-Living Cooperative*
