June 11, 2009 — Patrick Zimmerman

Recessionist Living: A Tiny Closet Becomes His Castle

We’ve all heard the phrase, Home, Sweet Home. Well now, there’s Closet, Sweet Closet. That’s right, Sergio Santos’ home in the resort town of Delray Beach, Florida, started out as just a closet. But now, that closet’s become his little 77-square foot castle, a loft that’s only five and a half-feet wide, by 14-feet long. “I was really struggling to pay for the place I where used to live. I decided to look for something cheap,” said Sergio. The rent here is $150 a month, and furnishing his pad with recycled materials cost him a whopping $64. Sergio’s “room” is equipped with a small microwave oven, a mini-refrigerator and, upstairs, the loft bedroom. “I have just become very well-fitted here,” he said. The closet is part of a living space that sits above a restaurant, and he shares a community bathroom with other renters on the same property.

There was a time when Sergio questioned himself. “I really felt that I wasn’t going to survive for too long here. I really thought I was going to give up,” he said. But he didn’t give up and instead found some peaceful comfort in his humble surroundings. So although his new home might be small in size, Sergio is thinking of the larger picture. “That it’s all about saving; it’s about recycling; it’s about optimizing my time.” Yes indeed, Sergio’s teeny-tiny closet has become his peacefully, comfortable little castle.

Recessionist Living: A Tiny Closet Becomes His Castle



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