Hey everyone. Rob Greenfield here
and I live in this 100 square foot tiny
house that you see behind me, in Orlando, Florida.
(Acoustic guitar music playing)
Today I am going to talk about the
challenges of living simply and sustainably in my tiny house.
Before I get started, I just want to say
one thing, and that is that this is just
my example. Don't look at this video and
think that it represents the tiny house
movement. This is just my life that I am
sharing with you today.
People have all sorts of different
examples. Some people do this with
families, some people do this in cold
climates where it freezes vs.tropical
climates where it's warm year round. Some
people have tons of money, some people
have very little money.
Some people are more physically capable
than others.
So, look at this as one example and take
from it. I'm trying to do things in a
way that is very simple, very sustainable
and uses a very little bit of money, and
I'm sort've on that extreme side of the
spectrum there. So just keep that in mind
that this is just my example that I am
sharing with you.
Number one. It is tiny! Even for a tiny
house it's pretty small. At ten by ten,
it's a hundred square feet,
and I'll be honest, it's a little bit
small for me. Especially with all the
different projects I am doing. For example
if I want to dehydrate using my dehydrator
there's not really a spot for that,
so I'm either sticking it on top of my
freezer or my desk and I don't have that
much space for the different projects.
Plus, I'd love to be able to host people in
my house but the reality is it doesn't
have a loft or a separate bedroom,
so it is just a little bit too small.
Number two. I live sort've outside. My
kitchen is outdoors, my compost toilet is
outdoors, so that's a lot of going in and
outside of the house. And because I live
a partially outdoors life, I have to deal
all those elements.
Mosquitos, the sun, the hot and the
cold. When it rains some of my stuff gets wet.
So living outdoors, partially, certainly
has it's challenges.
Number three. Temperature and climate.
I live here in central Florida where it's
one of the easier places to live outdoors
in a way, although most people here think
what I am doing is crazy, anyway.
I grew up in Northern Wisconsin so I've
experienced the winters and I'm happy to
not be living through the winters.
Like I said, though, everybody has to deal
with their own situation so if I was
doing this in Wisconsin, I would build a
different way. Here, in central Florida, I
don't have air conditioning, so it get's
pretty hot on those 90-95 degree days
during the summer, but I have my house
built under the shade of a big tree.
And the great news about that is it keeps
it cooler, but in the winter, with no
heating, that means pretty chilly nights
and some pretty chilly mornings. There is
not insulation either. So that's a big
challenge.
Number four. I used repurposed materials
to build this tiny house. And repurposed
materials take a lot more time and really,
a lot more effort and creativity. Going
to the store and just buying everything
brand new and having your list, saves
really a lot of time and thinking. And
beyond that, the building is done but
still I am trying to use repurposed
materials and with repurposed materials
not everything fits together always quite
as smoothly. So sometimes it makes things
a little less convenient.
Along those lines is number five.
And that's that I still try to only buy
second hand materials. So for example,
my cutting board has broken into three
pieces, but I haven't found a used wooden
cutting board yet, so I'm just using a
third of that cutting board.
So, trying to do things using only second
hand materials and not buy new stuff has
definitely been a big challenge as well.
Number six. I am definitely a minimalist.
And generally minimalism and having a
tiny house do go pretty hand in hand, but
one of the challenges is that versus
having no place whatsoever and having a place,
there is always a lot of things to
do and more possessions are actually
needed versus when I travelled with
everything that I owned fitting into my
backpack. I also try to have as few
electrical items as possible.
So I have a manual
hair trimmer. And that is
definitely more work than just an
electric razor. Also, I don't have a
fridge, only a freezer. So that's not as
convenient. No oven and of course no
microwave. I haven't had one of those for
probably about seven years, though.
And also, I just have one extension cord
with electricity going to the house that
just has three plugs.
That's to keep my electricity usage to a
minimum, but it often means juggling
things if I am trying to do a few things
at once.
Number 7. This tiny house gets dirty
really easily. Because it's so small it's
really easy to make a quick mess and it's
also easy to fill it up with dirt.
Especially because I am constantly going
in and out, in and out. In and out to my
outdoor kitchen and my compost toilet.
The good news is that it is very easy to
clean because it is so small but I do find
myself constantly cleaning.
Number eight. Sustainable living takes time.
A lot of people that you see online will
make everything just look super easy. And
in some ways it is easier than living that
busy life where you need to earn lots of
money and have lots of bills, but it also
has it's challenges.
For me, all the different things I have
to do around here to live sustainably
add up.
For example, there's my compost toilet.
I have to empty the bucket about once a
week. I have to get sawdust, and I grow my
own toilet paper.
Water isn't just coming from the taps
seemingly infinitely.
I harvest my water from the sky and that
means I am so often having to refill my
Berkey filter to
have clean drinking water. Algae grows in
the tank so I have to clean out those
tanks eventually, and it just takes a
little bit more time.
My bio-gas stove turns food waste into
methane that I can cook with, and that's
great, but I have to constantly feed it
with food waste and it doesn't always
produce enough gas so I still have a
propane stove as well. And I have to be
switching it back and forth.
With my solar oven I'm able to cook food
from the sun.
Which is amazing but it's certainly more
work to take out my solar oven, cook with
it and put it back then it is to just turn
on the electricity or turn on the gas.
Right now, I'm growing and foraging 100 %
of my food and the benefits of that are
amazing. But no grocery stores and no
restaurants means a heck of a lot more
work for me. Right now I'm working forty
to sixty hours a week just on food alone.
The compost pile. Composting is really
easy but it is, in many ways, more
convenient to throw it in a garbage can
and have it be someone else's problem.
Because I have a compost pile, I'm dealing
with my own waste. I deal with some
things like fruit flies, and flies and
even some rats.
I try to live a pretty zero waste life.
Not perfect, by any means, but trying to
create as little garbage as possible. And
the reality is, is that a lot of times
that means the convenient option is not
an option for me.
Lastly, there's transportation. I don't
have a car. I haven't had one for about
six years and it's the life for me.
However, if it's hot or it's cold or it's
raining and I need to get somewhere I'm
probably biking and that's not as easy as
just hopping into that gas powered car,
turning on the a/c and the heat and going
wherever I would need to go.
So, again, none of these things on their
own are necessarily that challenging.
It's just that to live a really
sustainable life, it's about all of my
actions and how they combine and the
impact they have on the world around me
and it really adds up.
Number nine. I'm living here short term.
Only about two years in Orlando.
So the reality is, by the time that I get
everything set up and done and feeling the
way I like it, that's when I'll be moving.
So, if I was here for a long time, I'd
have time to really get things established
and get into that flow. But definitely
staying somewhere short term has it's
downsides.
Number ten. I built this tiny house and
this little homestead on someone else's
land. I don't own any land of my own.
So that means that I don't necessarily get
to do things my own way, that we have to
work together.
We do a work exchange. So in exchange for
me setting up my tiny house here, I built
a garden, I'm helping her to live more
sustainably, to grow her own food, and
after I leave, the tiny house is hers.
It's the perfect situation for me, but not
being able to do things my way always,
certainly has it's challenges.
Alright, number eleven, and lastly, and
there's a whole bunch of other ones out
there, but for this video, this is the
last one. And this is a big one for a lot of people,
and that's that this tiny house is
not technically legal. So I built it
within building codes. It's a shed,
basically. So, that part's fine, but I'm
not technically allowed to live in the shed.
Now for me, it's not really a big worry.
I've had media out here every week, I'm on
the front of two of the- the two largest
local print media outlets and multiple of
the local news channels. So, I am not
really worried about it, but it's a slight
bit of a worry. Now for me, what I'm
doing, is I'm following earth code over
city code. I live my life in a way where
as long as what I'm doing is beneficial to
the earth, my community and myself, and
isn't harming other people, then that's
when earth code will go over city code,
sometimes. And for me, that's what it's
all about, sometimes we have to break some
rules to do the right thing.
So those are my top eleven challenges of
living simply and sustainably in my tiny
house. But why make this video? Why even
tell you about all this? There are a few
reasons. One, I have not desire to play
into any delusion that life is easy, and
whether you're living in a mansion or a
tiny house, simply or extravagantly, every
life has it's challenges. I wanted to
share some of the challenges that I'm
dealing with here so you can see that it's
not just all glorious and it's not just
all easy. There are definitely a lot of
challenges to it. Many people who go into
something like this, trying to live in a
tiny house, and aren't aware of the challenges,
well, it ends up being something that
didn't expect and then they end up
quitting. So I want to help people to be a
little more prepared by knowing that
this is something that's challenging and
try to be prepared for that.
And I'm definitely a big fan of just
sharing my experience so you can learn
from my challenges, and then when you're
planning your tiny house-your simple life,
you can use these things to cater it
towards your situation.
Another thing that I want to say is that
all of this is solvable. These don't
have to be challenges or problems
necessarily for anyone else. These are my
challenges but they're all solvable. For
me, one of my biggest limits is time. I'm
trying to do so much in a short period of
time.
I also just want to say that I'm
definitely not complaining here. This is
the situation that I want to be living in.
These challenges that I'm sharing with you
today are all worth it and I've known
about these challenges because
I have been living simply and
sustainably for about seven years now.
So I'm definitely not complaining.
I'm just sharing the challenges
of life. So, you know, why
even do this with all these challenges?
For me, it comes down to the fact that a
quality existence takes time. We can live
in a way where we get a quality existence
but it's a burden on other people, but to
me a truly quality existence, that's
beneficial to ourselves, our communities
and the world as a whole, takes time. And
that's why I'm willing to take the time
to do all of these things. So, if you
got a lot out of this video, if you
got some inspirations, some motivations,
some education, I'm right here on youtube
and I'm here to answer your questions and
to share with you. So if you liked this
definitely hit the like button, subscribe
and stay tuned for more! See ya all soon.
Love you all very much!
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