30 Tiny House Disadvantages (With Solution Suggestions)

I have lived in different tiny houses (THOW, ADU, and skoolies) at different times, for different durations. Starting from a couple of days, up to 4 months. I have quite a knowledge of tiny house living and would like to give you a detailed list of the disadvantages (or bad things) of living in a tiny house.

However; I believe, only my personal judgment is not enough. So; I have reached out to 4 different Facebook groups, and asked the same question to the audience: “What are the bad things (if any) of living in a tiny house?”. There are 3 types of responses from Facebook group members to this question from real tiny house owners:

1. I am super happy with my tiny house. There’s nothing bad about living in your OWN house for a couple of hundreds of dollars a month (no mortgage).
2. Limited storage space is the harders part of tiny living.
3. The hardest part is to find a parking place for the tiny house.

Tiny House Problem	%
No problem at all	25% of the poll audience
Limited storage space	65% of the poll audience
Finding a place for the tiny house	15% of the poll audience

The “cons of living in a tiny house list” below is a compilation of my own experiences, and answers from facebook tiny house group members.

Before jumping into my list, I want to add one more point: Like everything in life, pros and cons are also relatives. I may see something as a disadvantage, however, the same point may seem like an advantage for someone else. I will try to look at each item below from different points of view and add some suggestions based on my tiny house living experience for each of the disadvantages.

Bathroom challenges

‘Bathroom’ is not a great subject to start an article, but – maybe because of my personality -, the bathroom is one of the most important places in a house. I need/want a comfortable bathroom in my house. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many tiny houses, for a couple of reasons:

• Multiple people living in a tiny house and almost all the time there’s only 1 bathroom to use. You will need to wait in line if the bathroom is not available. As a solution, you can make a schedule for standard routines. For example; for morning routines, you can create a schedule for bathroom usage, and this may ease the morning stress a little.
• When I am in the bathroom, I want to be comfortable. Up until now, I couldn’t find a tiny house bathroom that I feel comfortable 🙁
• Because of the space limitations, almost all the time shower and toilet are in the same place. When you take a shower, everywhere gets wet and whoever will need to use the toilet after your shower will need to dry the area. I don’t like this situation. As a solution, in our tiny houses, whoever takes the shower has the responsibility to dry the bathroom area.
• There are different options as tiny house toilets, and ‘compost toilets’ are the most common ones. However, many people don’t know the details about compost toilets. When you have a guest who has never used a compost toilet, you will need to explain everything to your guest. Not a pleasant situation, especially if your guest is a special one for you 😉 As a solution, you can prepare a ‘toilet usage guide’ and hang it on the bathroom door. This solution may reduce the uncomfortable discussions with you and the guests.

‘Bathroom Infrastructure’ Challenges

Let’s continue with the same overall subject and get over with it.

The other bathroom-related challenge is regular toilet-related chores. When we are living in a tiny house, toilet-related tasks were one of the most hated tasks at home.

In general, tiny houses have 5 different types of toilets, and their chores are different:

1. Composting toilets: Needs regular emptying
2. Macerating toilets: Requires full plumbing and electrical hookup. When you move to another location, you will need to hook up your connections to be able to use the toilet again.
3. Incinerating toilets: Maybe the easiest option is this one but comes with a higher price tag. This type does not require any water, and sterile ash can be disposed of anywhere.
4. Cassette toilets: The cassettes need to be changed/replaced often. Not environment-friendly, but easy to use and not much chores.
5. Flush toilets: I am pretty sure you know how they work. They need a plumbing connection and not a good match for off-grid tiny houses.

One way or another, the tiny house owners need to deal with toilet-related chores; unless the tiny house is sitting on a foundation and it has a sewer connection.

Unfortunately, there’s no easy solution for this challenge. Either you will take turns dealing with toilet connections or cleanup, or one of the house members will take this responsibility. In our case, I was the ‘mandatory volunteer’ for the task 🙂

Laundry challenges

Laundry days were always stressful days in our family. I still remember the tension in our home from my childhood. Tiny house laundry days are -unfortunately- even worse.

Depending on your tiny house type, the laundry challenges differ:

• No washing machine in the tiny house: If this is the case, you will need to plan regular laundromat trips. Additional planning, cost (if you need to drive), time is needed. There is no real solution, but proper planning will make the task easier.
• There is a small washing machine in the tiny house: If you are not living in the tiny house by yourself, most probably a small washing machine will not be enough for you. Rather, you will use it for urgent, small needs and continue to laundromat trips for regular washing needs. Similar to the previous situation, there is no real solution. I suggest you have a proper laundry day planning/schedule, and in this way you won’t have big problems.
• There is a big enough washing machine in the tiny house: The main challenges with this situation are related to living in a tiny space: You will need to have a dedicated space for dirty clothes, and while the machine is running, the sound may disturb you. Still; this option is what I like the most while we were living in a tiny house with a washing machine.

In my other article, I have discussed Tiny House Laundry subject in detail, take a look: Tiny House Laundry

Privacy challenges

If you are planning to live in an off-grid tiny house by yourself, this is not a concern for you. Just skip to the next challenge.

However, if you will not be living alone, get ready to have some hard time finding peace in your tiny house. Basically, you are never alone. Either your partner, or kids, or pets will be with you… There’s always someone – something just next to you. This makes it hard to concentrate, work, study or just to relax.

The solution is dedicating a space in your tiny house for relaxation. We usually used lofts for this purpose. Whoever needed to have some quiet time or some time without any disturbance; gone to lofts and focus the work (or whatever is needed).

The other problem is parents with kids. No need to go into details but basically it is hard to find some ‘private’ time when the kids are around. The solution is sending the kids to grandparents (or close friends) for sleepover parties 😉

Staying Tidy Challenges

If you are thinking that keeping a tiny house in order easily, you are living in a dream world. Unfortunately, this is not true.

Imagine you are in a furniture store. It is a huge space and even if you leave a glass of water and a plate somewhere in the store, nobody notices them for a long time. This is not the case for tiny houses. The moment something is left behind, there is no way to miss it. Very very easy to create a mess, if you are not careful enough.

The solution is to live conscious all the time and never postpone. If you eat something, put the leftovers in the right place immediately. If you played a board game with the kids, put it back right after the game. Otherwise, you can easily lose control.

Cleaning Challenges

If I haven’t lived in a tiny house, I would have thought that I need less cleaning in a tiny house. Not correct. The smaller is the house, the more cleaning you need.

Even very small garbage in the house (a piece of paper on the table, cracker wrapping paper next to the kitchen sink, etc) makes the house looks not clean. And as a result, you need more cleaning in the tiny house.

The solution is simple; always (but ALWAYS) put things to where they belong. If something needs to go to the garbage bin, throw it now – do not postpone. If you took off your shoes, put them in the show box – do not postpone.

Only if you live according to these rules, you may not need to increase number of cleaning days.

Bed Weather Challenges

When you are living in a tiny house, the outdoors becomes an extension of your house. You spend a lot of time outdoors. Most of the time, sitting on your porch, and reading a book or enjoying the sound of nature.

If the weather is windy, rainy, or snowy; you won’t be able to enjoy outdoors – as much as you could if the weather is nice-.

Once, when we were in northern NY with our tiny house, there was continuous rain for 4 days. We were stuck in the house for most of the time. Believe me, it wasn’t easy.

If your tiny house is mobile, the solution may be moving to another area with better weather conditions. However, this is not practical and applicable in some cases (for example; in our case, a friend of ours was going to visit us the next week, and we had to wait in that location).

The other weather challenge is; heavier and more serious weather situations: Hurricane, tornadoes, etc. You will need to secure your tiny house if bad weather is approaching. I have posted a video in one of my articles related to tiny house tie-downs: https://www.architecturedecor.com/can-you-put-a-tiny-house-on-wheels-thow-on-a-foundation/ . The solution is either securing your tiny house properly or moving the tiny house to a better place (if possible).

Having Visitors Challenges

Some of us love to have guests always. For example, my wife; 100% prefers to have our friends over, rather than we going their places. If you are living in a tiny house, and if you love to have guests over; better to be creative for entertainment and sleeping areas.

We have been using outdoor spaces mainly for entertainment area. We sit together, chat, bbq and drink while our friends are visiting us. As long as the weather is nice, we don’t have any problems.

Sleeping is a little more tricky. Honestly, because of the space limitations, it is really hard for us to have sleepover guests. During our years of tiny house experience, only a couple of times our friends have stayed with us overnight. As a solution; maybe keeping an air mattress is a good option. Or, you can have a futon couch for such situations.

Cooking Challenges

I can list 3 different cooking challenges in tiny houses:

1. Limited space for cooking: Cooking is not my ‘thing’, but I know that better to have a bigger space, bigger countertops for cooking. Many tiny houses have minimal countertops. Not a great situation for chefs.
2. Food smells: This is not a secret; when you cook some dishes, they smell. Usually, that smell is contained in the kitchen area of your house. What if your house is about the size of a big kitchen, without any separators and walls? Yes; this is the smell situation in tiny houses. The solution is to have better ventilation in the tiny house.
3. Frequent cooking: In some situations, you may want to cook for many days and store the food in the fridge (Did I tell you that I am not a cooking person? Whenever my wife goes away and kids stay with me, she prepares days of food and leave them in the fridge). Considering the fridge sizes, this is not an option for tiny houses. You will need to start cooking daily.

No Room for Expansion Challenge

One of the main challenges of living in a tiny house is having no space for expansion. Everything is so planned, and all the available space is dedicated to a specific person or activity.

Almost impossible to add a new member to a tiny house family. If you are planning to have a baby, you have to plan the changes that you will need to go through. Please do not misunderstand me, I am not saying that you cannot have a baby while living in a tiny house. Of course, this is possible. However, it needs all new planning, redesigning the tiny house, and almost starting from scratch.

If you are thinking the challenges are limited with a new baby, unfortunately, you are wrong. Having a new pet requires all new planning. Or even buying a new piece of furniture/household item becomes a problem.

Finding a solution for this problem is not simple. If you are living in a THOW, there’s not much to do. If you are living in a tiny house on a foundation (or at the same location all the time), you may consider to have an additional unit/room attached to your tiny house as an expansion.

Be careful, these small expansions may turn your tiny house into a regular house with lots of clutter 😉

Limited Storage Space Challenges

For many people, the main disadvantage of tiny houses is the limited space. You have limited space for the bathroom, limited space for the kitchen, and also limited space for storage.

You need to be creative when living in a tiny house. Every small place can be / should be used as storage. Under the couches, under the table, loft area, under stairs, etc. They are all waiting to be used as storage spaces.

There are a couple solutions:

1. Get rid of unnecessary items: This is the most important solution. As much as possible, we need to learn to ‘let go’ of stuff.
2. Rent storage: If you are not traveling all over the country with your THOW, this could be a good solution. However, be careful – storage costs add up easily. If you are downsizing for financial reasons, better not to start another monthly expense.
3. Use storage containers: If you have land that you can place the storage container, this could be a good solution. With me time purchase (container), you can resolve the storage problem. However, if you don’t have any available land, this solution wouldn’t work for you. It is not easy to find a location to put your storage container.

Hobby Space Challenges

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey (https://aytm.com/blog/hobbies-survey/), 56% of respondents said that they have multiple hobbies. 24% said they just have one real hobby that they practice or participate in regularly. And 20% said they don’t have any hobbies.

So; basically more than half of the population have hobbies, and hobbies need space. Which is really limited in tiny houses.

For example; my wife is a resin artist (https://daphnew.com/) and she needs lots of space. She started this as a hobby and later on started her business in this area. When we are living in our homes, the basement is hers to work (plus, part of the garage!). However, when we are on the road in our tiny house, she cannot do any resin art.

Unfortunately there’s no real solution for this problem. Either you’ll need to find a hobby with minimum space requirements or find a place for your hobby.

Loft Access Challenges

Lofts in tiny houses are great solutions; either you use them as storage space, or bedroom, or for any other purpose (check this article for great loft ideas). However, the loft usage is not super easy and access is problematic most of the time.

As I made some research and wrote in my article (How Tall Are Lofts In Tiny Houses?), in general, tiny house lofts are 3-4 feet tall. Which is not super spacious. You would need to use that space as a crawling space, or a bedroom.

If you are using your tiny house loft as a bedroom, get ready for the great challenge: making the bed in a loft area 🙂

Shopping Challenges

I think we all agree that one of the reasons for tiny houses is to downsize, to get rid of unnecessary items, and having a simpler life.

However, the tiny lifestyle also forces more frequent trips to grocery stores. Because of the limited storage space problem, not possible to buy large package products (economies of scale).

We have 3 kids, and while we are living in a regular size house, we do our shopping from Costco. But, this is not the case when we are in a tiny house. Basically, we cannot store big packages in our tiny house. And as a result, our trips to grocery stores become more frequent.

This situation also affects our budget. More frequent trips for shopping means spending more on shopping. If you are not planning to live alone in a tiny house, take this expense increase into consideration.

Additional note: This situation became even more problematic during the 2020 Covid-2019 pandemic. Some products were hard to find (for example; at some point, stores run out of toilet paper and paper towels). When we find them, we wanted to buy big quantities. However, because of the limited storage problem, we couldn’t.

Connectivity / Internet Challenges

This problem is a 21st-century problem: While you are living in a tiny house, you may have a hard time with the internet connection.

When we had this problem the first time, I was really frustrated. I thought that I have to have internet connectivity to live, like oxygen. After a while, you notice that this is not the case. It is possible to live without the connectivity (or minimum connectivity), and as a result, you have more time for yourself. Even though at the beginning I see this as a challenge or problem, now I see it as a blessing.

If you insist to have a good internet connection in a tiny house; as a solution, I can suggest you take 2 actions:

1. Make sure that your tiny house is parked on a spot that has a good signal reception from internet service providers. For a short-term stay, there’s not much to do. But for the long term, I suggest you check the internet connectivity before making any arrangements (if being connected is important for you).
2. Make sure that your tiny house material doesn’t block all the signals, so you can have connectivity inside the house as well. Some materials (especially metal), interfere with the signals and your connectivity gets interrupted often. we see this problem mostly at the container conversion tiny houses. I suggest making sure that the signals go through (and the internet works fine) before making the tiny house purchase.

Legal Challenges

(Please be aware that I only have knowledge of the US in this regard. So, if you are living in another country, I don’t know tiny houses’ legal situation in your country).

Unfortunately, there is too much confusion for tiny house legal status in the US. There are 27 different types of tiny houses (https://www.architecturedecor.com/beginners-guide-to-all-27-types-of-tiny-houses-with-pics/), there are 50 US States, and many more counties/towns and believe or not all have different rules and regulations for tiny houses, depending on the type of tiny house you have. Moreover, the rules and regulations keep changing every year.

There is no way to cover all different possibilities and keeping them up to date in this article. I can just suggest you be in touch with the local authorities and make sure you are in the green zone from the legal point of view.

Limited Appliance Selections

A while back, I was staying at a friend of mine’s tiny house. It had a washing machine, and I was alone at that time. So; the washing machine was enough for my laundry needs. But, one day; the DECO brand washing machine refused to start 🙁 No matter what I did (checked the connections, checked the power cord, checked the water input lines, etc.), nothing helped.

There were 2 options ahead of me: find a service center to fix it, or buy a new machine.

First; I tried to find a service center with small washing machines experience. No luck. The limited number of service centers didn’t have anyone to help me. I have found only one center to look into the problem, and the amount that they have asked, just to come and analyze the problem was ridiculous.

I quickly change my direction to option 2 and started looking for a washing machine to replace it. You cannot believe how hard to find a washing machine to fit into a limited space. Even half an inch bigger models were too big to fit in. Finally, I found a model that fits the space and my budget. But the search was not easy.

(For more detailed guidance on Tiny House Laundry, check: Laundry In Tiny Houses. Do Tiny Houses Have Washer / Dryer? )

The problem is not limited to the washing machines. Usually, the tiny house appliance models are smaller than regular ones (oven, stove, dishwasher, refrigerator, etc.), and each has its own challenges. A couple of main examples:

• You need to run the dishwasher after each meal
• You cannot store a lot of items in the fridge; as a result, frequent grocery trips and frequent cooking is needed
• Usually, stoves are smaller with fewer places to cook.

Once you get used to living in a tiny house, you will stop seeing these as challenges. But believe me, if you are not mentally ready for tiny life, you will think these are all huge problems. The important point is to get ready for the change.

Garbage Challenges

When we are living in a regular house, many things are easy; including garbage collection and disposal. In tiny houses, even this small (and smelly) thing may become a problem. This potential problem has 2 sub-problems:

1. Garbage collection: You will be living, eating, reading, watching tv, sleeping in the same space with a trash can. Make sure you have a quality trash can with a proper lid, otherwise the smell will definitely make you uncomfortable.
2. Garbage disposal: Depending on the place that your tiny house is located, you may have different options for garbage disposal. You may need to take your garbage to a garbage collection location, or maybe there’s a waste pickup service in front of your tiny house.

When we are living in a tiny house, I always do one important action for better garbage management: Collect organic garbage (leftover food, etc.) in a separate container, and take it to the garbage collection location as frequently as possible. Mostly daily. As long as there is no food left in the trash can, I don’t have any problems.

Mail Delivery Challenges

Up until I officially move into the tiny house, I haven’t noticed this problem. But it didn’t take long to notice afterward. Receiving mail is a problem when you are living in a tiny house. Even if you are living in the same location all the time, you may not be able to get an address from local authorities (Did I mention there are many legal issues related to tiny houses?)

There are many solutions for the mail challenges:

1. The first step should be to check with local authorities regarding having an official address. If you can get an address, you won’t have any mail problems.
2. Use your friend/family address: This is a potential solution, but not an ideal one. You will be depending on another person for your mail service. S/he may be busy or not at home; so your mails will be delayed. Or, s/he may not give the highest priority to your mails. And also, this will be an additional burden for your friend and family member.
3. You can rent a postbox and use it. However, this becomes an additional expense every month. The monthly rent for PO boxes depends on the location and size. The cheapest PO box will be around $20/month and it goes up to $100 levels.
4. You can use the RV mail forwarding service if you will be travelling most of the time. There are many companies out there that provide this service, and their service costs start from $10 (plus any shipping and postage costs when they forward your mail). Check their service details before agreeing (mail scanning service, how they are handling big packages, small packages, etc.).

Moving Around Challenges

In general, tiny houses are not great for disabled people. It is hard to move inside the house, hard to use the bathroom and shower, hard to climb up to a loft, etc.

However, this doesn’t mean that the tiny house world is closed to disabled people or to elders.

The solution is to work with an experienced company and build your tiny house according to your needs and requirements. There are some companies, creating disabled accessible tiny houses.

I have not worked with such a company before, so, I cannot suggest any of them. But with a simple google search, you can find some experts in this area. Just make sure they are reputable companies and they have good customer feedback.

Temperature Control Challenges

I love springs in tiny houses; the weather is nice, I don’t need to use any heater or AC in the house, I can go out most of the time and enjoy nature. Summer and winter are problematic months.

During summer, inside the house becomes super hot, super quickly. If your bed is in a loft, you have an even bigger problem. Sleeping at night becomes a real challenge.

The problem doesn’t stop there. Once the temperature rises quickly, water builds up on windows, walls, and furniture. Which creates mold in your tiny house.

The solution for the temperature control challenges in tiny houses is to have an AC unit or proper ventilation. So; you will have some fresh breeze to sleep and your tiny house will not have mold.

If you are looking for an AC solution for your tiny house, check LEZETi hybrid air conditioner, I have used it and pretty happy with its performance (http://thomasedisonsolar.com/lezeti-hybrid-solar/)

The wintertime also not easy in a tiny house. It is easy to heat the house, but also easy to lose the heat once you turn off the heater.

The solution for wintertime temperature control in tiny houses is to have the proper insulation in the tiny house. If you are working with a company for your future tiny house, please pay extra attention to insulation. You will thank me later.

Tiny House ‘Wrong’ Build Challenges

There’s no real single code for builders to follow when they are building tiny houses. And this ‘freedom’ may bring some problems to future tiny house owners. It is quite possible to have problems down the road; electrical problems, plumbing problems, or more.

The solution is to work with a reputable company, with lots of experience and good customer reviews. Also; if possible, it is better to buy a tiny house with a warranty. Check the agreement before making such a big purchase, and make sure the warranty is covering all possible builder mistakes for at least 1 year (better, if more).

If you are a member of tiny house communities on social platforms, I am sure you have read some horror stories related to builders and low-quality tiny houses. There are many real-life stories out there.

I want to give you just one small example. A friend of mine has purchased a tiny house from a company (don’t want to give the company name here, I don’t want to deal with legal problems), with a hefty price tag. The tiny house is delivered on time, as agreed. But, there were huge electrical problems in the house. Since there was no warranty coverage, my friend had to find another company to re-wire almost complete house from scratch.

Tiny House Parking Challenges

Tiny houses give freedom. However, this freedom comes with its challenges. Parking is one of the serious ones. If your tiny home is a mobile one, you are free to move it wherever you want; as long as you find a proper parking spot for your home.

When looking for a parking place for a tiny house, there are a couple main points that needs to be taken into consideration:

1. Is there a time limit for parking? You may want to live in that location for a month, but if you can park for only a week, you have a problem.
2. What kind of connections do you need? Is your tiny house off-grid? Or do you need power, clean water, and sewer connections?
3. Do you need any additional services (garbage collection, wi-fi or cellular connectivity, laundromat, etc.), and in that location providing those services?

In 2020, because of the Covid-19 situation, many national parks shot down. Which made the tiny house parking even harder. Finally, as of spring 2021, national parks are re-opening and more options will be available for tiny house owners.

As a solution; if possible, decide your destination and find a parking place before reaching your destination. After hours of tiny house driving, having a surprise is not a good feeling. Better to be prepared, than sorry.

Weight Limitation Challenges

Have you ever thought about the weight of an object that you are planning to buy? If you are living in a tiny house (THOW), you have to think.

Tiny house maximum weight is determined by the size of axels. This means you are not free to add to your house whatever you want. If you want marble countertops, -in general- sorry, you will need to change your direction from a tiny house to a regular house. Or maybe, you can get rid of your couch and dining table and washing machine, and then maybe you can install marble countertops.

The solution is to use lighter materials with a similar color and design as heavier ones. We are lucky that, nowadays, you can find very light material with any design and shape.

Peel-and-Stick Countertops are great solutions for mobile tiny houses. You can have any design, with very lightweight. And they are cheap as well.

Selling Tiny House Challenges

The tiny house market is small, really small. According to the official numbers, the tiny house market is smaller than 1% of the total real estate market.

Moreover, the number of tiny house builders increased in the last 10 years.

When the market is small, and there are many sellers (including tiny house builders); the situation is not great for the sellers.

Once you decide to sell your tiny house; be prepared to wait for a long time to find a buyer for the asking price.

There are some actions that you can take to sell your tiny house quickly and at the right price. Check this article for ideas to help the tiny house selling process.

Insurance Challenges

Buying insurance for a tiny house may not be a straightforward process, depending on the tiny house type. Considering, there are almost 30 different kinds of tiny houses, you may have a hard time buying the insurance.

Getting your home certified by the National Organization for Alternative Housing (NOAH) may make it easier to purchase coverage from some insurers.

Also, it is recommended that if a tiny home is mobile, it should be certified by the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association. Builders who are RVIA certified can provide an RV VIN (vehicle identification number), which also makes it easier to get tiny homes registered.

As a solution, I suggest working with local and government authorities along the way. Once your tiny house has proper documentation, either as a mobile home or alternative housing, your insurance purchase process will be easier.

Towing Challenges

If your tiny house is a mobile one, you need a big truck to tow it. The process is not too easy. You cannot just simply start the truck and drive your tiny house, even if you have a big enough truck. And, I am not talking about the DMV driving license requirements, etc.

Even if your tiny home doesn’t require special permitting to be road-legal, it may require some kind of permit and/or equipment, depending on the states you’ll be towing it through. Be sure you check with the DOT or DMV in the state(s) through which you plan to drive – to ensure that you’ve got all your legal and licensing ducks in a row before heading off

Before moving a tiny house; you have to secure everything in it. Otherwise, you may see a mess when you reach your final destination.

Also; better to check your route and make sure there are no obstacles that your tiny house cannot pass through. Some routes may have really low bridges or very steep hills. Better to be safe than sorry.

Because of the moving challenges, many THOW owners decide to stay at the same location for long periods of time, rather than moving to another location often.

The solution is to have a written list of to-do items before moving a tiny house.

Or another solution is to hire a professional company to move your tiny house to your new place. There are multiple tiny house moving companies in the market. The important point is to work with a reputable company with great customer feedback.

Financing Challenges

Unless your tiny home meets zoning and building code standards and is built on a permanent foundation, it won’t qualify for traditional mortgage financing.

You’ll need alternative financings, such as an RV loan, a personal loan, or a credit card, which can have higher interest rates and require a better credit score than a mortgage loan.

Some of the tiny house builders providing financing options themselves. But also, -usually- their interest rates are higher.

The solution is, if possible, buying the tiny house with cash or with minimum credit. I know this may not be possible all the time. For such cases, do market research and try to get the minimum available APR.

Mental Challenges

Let me tell you plain and straight: Making such a huge change is not easy. We are all used to live in big houses; having bedrooms for everyone, a separate dining room, living room, kitchen, multiple bathrooms in the same house. When you move into a tiny house, you lose almost all these extras. You will need to live in less than a 400 sq ft house. Considering the average house size in the US, this downsize is a huge downsize.

If you will be living by yourself, the first feeling after you move into a tiny house will be the feeling of aloneness. Humans are social creatures, and we need someone beside us. Being alone in a tiny house makes this aloneness feeling much harder.

The other feeling will be Claustrophobia (According to https://www.healthline.com/health/claustrophobia; Claustrophobia is a situational phobia triggered by an irrational and intense fear of tight or crowded spaces.). This feeling is affecting some people more than others. For example, my wife has a little claustrophobia, and getting used to a tiny house idea wasn’t easy for her. On the other side, I don’t have any such feeling.

For the people with claustrophobia, there are some suggestions to make their life easier:

• Use lighter colors for walls
• Try to maximize the height, especially loft height as much as possible.
• Lots of sunlight helps
• If possible, install a sunroof and increase the sunlight in the house

Homeschooling Challenges

Homeschool is the most common option for people raising kids in the tiny lifestyle.

The notion of not enrolling your child in a more traditional school institution involves time, energy, resources, and space. If you have a tiny house or small space, try not to become discouraged. It is absolutely possible to create a wonderful learning environment in a small space and on a small budget.

I have seen this from my friends, and believe me the key is “spending time with your children”. As long as you can dedicate some time, homeschooling works.

I have asked tips from my friend, who is homeschooling her 12 years old daughter and here is her input:

• Set annual and monthly learning goals
• Prepare a daily schedule to follow
• Prepare a workspace for homeschooling
• Socializing factor is important. Since the kids won’t be going to school, make sure the kid will have friends from their age to socialize.
• Make homeschooling a fun family activity with lots of outdoor activities and field trips.