Tour My Affordable Tiny House That Helped Me Retire Early

1. Early retirement

I have been living in my tiny house for six years going on seven. I taught school for 30 years and retired at age 54, which is quite young. I loved teaching, but I loved being retired, too.

To wake up every morning and just think, what do I want to do? And I love my house so much that sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I pat the wall. I now know what home feels like.

2. Downsizing

When it was time to go tiny, I had to get rid of 90% of my belongings, and it was actually not that hard. I realized that all that stuff was a burden on me, and once I reduced it to that 10%, it suddenly became manageable.

3. Tiny home community lot and costs

The house itself cost me $11,000 or $12,000, not including a couple extra things like the mini split, which is pretty cheap for a place to live.

At the Bird's Nest, I pay $450 for the lot rent. It includes the septic, water, and trash pickup. The only thing I pay extra for is internet and electricity. And during the worst part of August, my bill was either $50, $60, and I kept it cool. This makes for a very comfortable tiny house retirement.

5. Interior

My affordable tiny house on wheels is about 140 square feet, 18 by 8, and everything in here is custom designed just for me. I have a TV mounted on the wall in my living area that rotates so I can watch it both from the bed and from the bathtub.

To maximize space in the living area, I decided to combine two functions in one space. I will never be both sleeping and crafting at the same time, so my bed acts as both the bed and the couch or the chair, with the shelves with my crafts, such as my watercolors, yarn bowl and knitting needles, behind it.

I had them build this window lower than the other windows and with a wider window sill so that I can put my cup of tea right there.

Since the siding of the house is white and it looks a bit boring, I decided to paint a stained glass window on the shades. I have one here and another one at the loft, so they match.

For the heat I normally just use a heating oven, because the mini split is up high on the wall and so it would have to heat the whole top of the house before the heat came down to reach me, and normally if I am cold it means I am sitting.

I keep most of my clothes rolled up in bins under my bed. To allow for storage space under the bed, the bed had to be pretty high, and since I am short, my feet would not reach the floor, so I also used the bins to pull them out and put my feet down.

6. Kitchen design

In the kitchen, everything is suited to my size and my needs. The shelves come out further as you go up, all my cutlery is in a cup instead of a drawer, I have a farm sink even though it takes up a lot of space. I also have a mixer and an electric kettle. I use Corelle dishes because they are very light and thin.

I have had a cupboard built specifically to fit my small refrigerator, a toaster oven and a tiny microwave. Here, I also keep my filing cabinet consisting of three hanging files, a sliding box with my sewing machine and a gate leg foldable table for it, part of my china collection, my hanging clothes and a telescoping ladder that I use when I have to get to the loft.

My short loft over the kitchen holds my fabric and my yarn, and there is another loft over the living area.

This kitchen is much smaller than the kitchen in my big house, but it is easier to work in because it is better designed for me.

7. Bathroom

I have a four-foot tub, which is plenty big enough for me, since I am about a foot shorter than most people. I have a tiny sink and my ironing board hangs up inside here.

There are washer and dryer hookups, but for now I prefer going to the Laundromat every couple of weeks instead of giving up all that space. The toilet is hooked up to a septic system, which I definitely prefer over a compost toilet.

Simple living lessons

I think living tiny teaches lots of lessons, and it probably differs from person to person. You can simplify things down to where you can handle them. Things do not have to be more than you can do. Having simplified my life to where I can handle everything is what makes me a happy person. I can wake up happy and go to bed happy.

Would you retire in a tiny house on wheels? Do you feel like getting rid of things can free you or make you less comfortable in your life? Share your thoughts in the comment section!

Next, check out this Tiny House Tour With The Coziest Bedroom.