Becky: For me it was less of a change, and more like an evolution. I’ve been living with fewer possessions (than some) and in small places for a long time, and I like not having excess things. I was also already conditioned to compost my food scraps, to use biodegradable soaps and cleaning products, to conserve energy and water, and to grow and make as much food as I could, which is a big part of living where we live. When people visit and mention that our place is small, I realize that I don’t notice the smallness that often. We have exactly what we need, and it seems like it all just fits. I’ve spent a lot of time working on getting down to the basics in my own life, and it turns out that I can be really happy in a simple living situation.

Todd: I’ve always been a “less is more” kind of guy. I never yearned for more stuff or a bigger place to live. Being on acreage in the forest, I have grown to love my time in the mountains more than space and stuff.

What was the process like to move into your tiny home?

Becky: I moved in with Todd, so a lot of it was getting rid of certain things, so we wouldn’t have duplicates (we don’t need two mattresses), except the cast iron pots and pans. We have a collection of those now. I had to get used to monitoring the propane use and walking our cans a half mile to where the city will pick up the garbage and recycling. Otherwise, the experience wasn’t that different than other times I’ve moved.

Todd: It was like any other move, considering I was a student going from rented room to rented room. The space became challenging. As I grew older, I felt society pushing me to accumulate more things and have more space for those things, but I never bought into that mindset. Also, the space becomes increasingly small with one kid, then two kids, but we manage, and do the dance, literally and figuratively (the kitchen is so tiny we find ourselves contorting and shimmying when making a meal).

What's it like living with children in a small space?

It can be a lot of energy sometimes. But most of the time it works pretty well. They are small now, but in the future, we think we actually will need more indoor space. More grown people living in this space would be difficult. Especially teenagers.

How do you balance work and living in a small space?