Embracing Tiny Living

For the last 4 years, we’ve lived in a 1 bedroom, 500 sqft home. We’ve had 2 children, and now another on the way! In a just few months, we will hopefully be moving into a trailer (once we complete a little TLC on it) that’s around 250 sqft, with all of our littles. While tiny living has become more popular, it still isn’t for everyone, so I’m not going to try and convince you to do what we’re doing. I’m just here to share with you the fruits of tiny living that we’ve seen as a growing family, living small!

We have a 2.5 year old, a 1 year old, and a baby coming in January. My now 1 year old was actually a home birth in the same little home we are currently in, and baby on the way will be a home birth in our trailer (that’s the plan anyways)! And yes, it is absolutely possible to do home births in small spaces! It just takes planning, and organization.

Feels Small

There have been stretching times, where our home felt messy, cluttered, and small when we were cleaning or moving things around. However, it truly just meant we should stay more proactive at keeping things well kept, and being intentional about what we brought into the house. In the beginning, we would too often move things around to see how we could use our space the best, and not have it feel small. We’ve renovated this place from the ground up, so that played a part in our lay out issues too. It’s changed so many times though, as we have had different ideas. Just this past 1-2 years I think, have we finally found a rhythm in small spaces and our lay out has been pretty set.

Do Our Kids Mind The Small Space?

In short, no! The amount of square footage has never bothered them. One thing that has been tough however, is that we never had a good space for outside play either. Just enough room for our Rabbitry, and a garden space. Without a space outside to use for the kids we’ve had to drive to parks, and go on walks in nearby trails often.

I say this was a bit tough because, with our family, we would just much rather have outdoor fun right outside our door, than drive to parks everyday. Even my little one (2.5 yr old) will ask if we can just play outside at home, rather than go to the park. We feel with having land of your own there is more room for exploring, and more freedom to build whatever kind of play area you want too!

Fruits of Tiny Living

I can see the fruits, of living in close quarters though, and it’s wonderful! My oldest girl, is much more aware of who is around her in bigger spaces, and anytime someone isn’t in the main group, but is present, she wishes they were participating. Being able to live in such close proximity to your family, pushes you to have true quality time with them. I do believe it offers various ways to practice self control, too.

Being intentional about what we buy, became more important when we started living this way. With a small space, you can’t just buy everything and anything, whenever you want to! We know it’s so important not to crowd ourselves out of our own home with things that 1) we don’t truly need, and 2) things that will eventually just fade away anyways.

Another way we practice our self control, is emotions. Being closer together there is more push to slow down. I know for fact, at least in myself, that the Lord allowed smaller spaces (among other things) to really help me with my lack of patience towards my family. Before I married, when I was in a bigger space, I very easily could just walk away and let anger fester, and I often did. With no where to really step away now, it’s truly pushed me to slow down, defuse myself, and move forward. I’m still a work in progress, but the Lord undoubtedly used this space to help me.

Intentional Living

Over all, it just really became unimportant to us, to have all the extra stuff that can be an option with bigger spaces to live in. We also want to do our best with our finances and not waste it all on things that won’t really serve a purpose. We desire to take part in God’s creation, to be able to grow things, to have the option to steward animals, and to do all this with our children. So, we are okay with making a cut in how much space we have in the home, if that’s what it takes.

God provided all that we needed, and more! I find myself so joyous that it wasn’t really exactly how we pictured it at all.

If you would have asked me years ago, if I thought I’d live in a trailer, or if I’d be having baby in one, I would have been saying “No way.” But here I am, alongside my husband fixing a property, soon to fix up a trailer, and I am so thankful that the Lord has provided a way for my family to have a warm home to live in, once again.

The Lord has been good, friends. Even though living small has stretched us at times, I am so glad we’ve lived this way.

Psalm 63:3-4 ESV “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.”