Tiny House Living Costs Explained: Average monthly costs of living in a tiny house
Are Tiny Homes now ready for the masses?
2020 may have hit us like a violent slap in the face, but equally, it opened up a huge can of worms as the nation began reconsidering what is really important in life and what type of lifestyle is wanted to be truly happy. While the real-life horror film continues to play out across the globe (the pandemic!), an increase of people gained enthusiasm for a greener lifestyle such as foraging for food, plant/fungal spotting, growing crops in the garden or eating a healthier, more varied diet.
The Tiny House Movement
The tiny house movement or what we like to call a 'back to basics' lifestyle. An opportunity to be mortagage free with low costing bills and a greener way of living, and so, today we wanted to create an introduction to the benefits of tiny house living, more so, why you would save money downsizing and how you would do this.
Smaller Home = Less Energy Needed = Fewer Bills
Downsizing will instantly save you a penny or two on your bills as a more modest home requires less energy for heating. Lighting is similar as one or two lights will sufficiently light up the living space and kitchen. Another point is that most tiny houses come with new A rated appliances such as the stove, fridge and boiler. Poorly rated appliances zap energy and increase your bills by simply just switching them on. Collectively, a smaller home, with fewer lights, less space to heat up and high quality appiances equal a low energy home with much smaller bills.
Greater Renewable Energy Options in a Tiny Home
When living tiny, you have the option to live off-grid or partially off-grid. You can arrange your roof to be pitched on an angle to collect rainwater rather than flat, you can add solar panels for electricity, and even generate your own biogas for cooking. With less energy-demand from your smaller home, you could potentially run all appliances off of your solar panels.
An added bonus of having a smaller home, is that they can be super-insulated, resulting in more heat being retained for longer. Even during the coldest days of winter, you can stay nice and toasty with an underfloor heating system which is connected to a wood-burning stove, which can be eco-friendly, if you source and use local wood. For more info about your green energy options, click here.
More Affordable Than a House
Tiny Homes are a fraction of the price of a regular house and can accommodate all of your daily needs. Some people compare them to caravans which I dislike (personally) as I feel caravans are thin, fragile and feel like a temporary home. Compare this to a well designed tiny house which has all the practicalities of a regular home, is sturdier and has better quality insulation than the average home, making them easy to heat up and cool down.
You'd be even more fortunate if you find a plot on a friend or families land saving you money and hassle of buying your own. Even if this is a route that you must take, a tiny home plus some land will still be more cost-effective and longer wearing than a typical brick house that may have been made with materials almost 80-100 years ago.
Another win is if you purchase land for your tiny home and use any remaining land for additional income. A small animal farm, camping/glamping site etc would provide with you with income while living the dream!
Minimalism & Gratitude in your Tiny Home
When living in a smaller space, you can't just buy whatever you want due to the lack of space. You may switch from spending on clothes to buying experiences. You may realise that an extra pair of jeans gives you as much happiness as a walk in your new front garden. Appreciating what you do have, and reducing the very idea that you ‘need’ stuff to be happy can be truly life changinge! And when you do need something, you may choose to donate or repurpose another item to be able to fit the new item into the compact space. This encourages recycling of clothing, shoes and everyday household items.
Also, when we live minimally, we allow ourselves to see what is really important to us, adding gratitude to our daily lives. With less ‘stuff’, we can enjoy the simpler pleasures - not chasing the material dreams of owning more and more, but rather saving money and putting it into things that matter, from holidays, leisure, hobbies, or simply putting something aside for a rainy day.
Food Gardens: Reconnect with the Land
If you have a simple lifestyle with a lovely tiny and lots of outdoor space, then creating a food garden would not only be a hobby, but could save you money on buying your veggies. Berries, potatoes, vegetables and legumes can be grown in the UK with relative ease. With lots of TLC and time for them to grow abundantly, within a few seasons you could be growing 50% or more of your daily food needs.
Starting off with a simple herb garden, and hardy vegetables such as potatoes, carrots and cabbages, which are somewhat ‘hands-off’ vegetables that require less monitoring, can be a quick and easy way to get those hands dirty. The simple pleasure of eating something you’ve grown, as well as reducing food miles, is a fulfilment of pride that you grew them yourself.
For those considering living in a tiny, you could begin your vegetable garden today by purchasing a few plants from your local garden centre or ordering some seeds from online. Grab yourself a greenhouse, which can be as cheap as £30-40, allowing you to propogate some seedlings, and once at a decent height, can be planted outside during the spring and summer months. Visit the RHS website or other organisations for info on how to grow your own.
Upkeep - Fewer Maintenance Costs
Along the same line as saving money on reduced energy bills, a tiny home is brand new with the newest and up to date materials for a warm, cosy but equally well-ventilated home. This means less chance of a leaky roof, cracks around windows and doors that you usually get in older terraced homes. Another bonus is the requirement for centralised heating all thanks to the high insulative performance of SIPs that stops heat from escaping and reduces the chance of drafts in the winter equaling less heating on those cold dark days.
Average monthly cost of living in a tiny house
This is a tough one to properly answer, but let’s go through an example of typical British bills & monthly costs using the latest data from 2020.
Rent = £959 national average or £1,673 in Greater London
Gas & Electric = £93.83
Water = £35
Food = £120
Council Tax (this really depends where you live, but using a typical English Council range from Band A - H) = £100 - £300
Other = This could be Netflix, mobile phone payments, monthly direct debits for outstanding products = £100 per month
Total = £1400 - £2221 depedant on your location.
Let’s compare this against the cost of tiny home living.
Mortgage/loan for the home (based on a typical loan for a £50,000 over 10 years) = £480 / month
If you don’t need a mortgage or loan, then you’ll save even more!
Electric = FREE if using solar panels - around 90% reduction if connected to the grid at £10pcm
Gas = If using 6kg of gas a week (estimated from a typical caravan usage) for your cooker and hot water = £32
Water = If using a composting toilet and rainwater collection for your garden = £10-15 month
Food = £120 month or grow 30% of your own = £90
Council Tax (if you place your tiny on someone’s land, within the curtilage of the plot, you won’t need to pay council tax) = £100 - £300
If you are going for planning permission, due to the ‘value’ of your home being lower as it’s smaller, you will likely only pay Band A tax, still resulting in a potential saving.
Other = This could be Netflix, mobile phone payments, monthly direct debits for outstanding products = £100 per month
Total potential savings = £780 - £1057 per month dependant on where you live
After the mortage/loan is complete = That’s £300 - £577 per calender month!!
Now, this is a rough guide, but you’ll be able to work out your current costs and how much you could potentially save by living ‘tiny’. We’ve heard stories from other tiny home owners that they're spending as little as £50 on monthly living costs, which is a significant saving.
Having more disposable income can make all the difference to the quality of our lives from rainy day spends, money aside for our health, holidays with our loved ones or even reducing your work hours to enjoy more free time!
To conclude, living tiny sure does has it perks, and more importantly, can free up more of your hard earned cash to spend on yourself or on your family. I hope this in itself explains why so many are following the movement and trying to make this dream their reality!
Disclaimer - These numbers were correct at the time of writing.
That's it from us. If you would like to add to our list of reasons why tiny living can save you money, feel free to get in touch. We love connecting with our readers and enjoy our little chats about tiny living life!
