Have you ever wondered what’s inside an eco tiny house? Well, not much really. The average size of a prefab tiny house is 15 by 20 ft (4.5 x 6m) but they somehow manage to fit in a decent size room, a kitchenette and a shower room on the ground floor. What about the bedroom, you might ask? The majority of eco tiny house projects have a loft space – that’s where the sleeping pad, or a den, is situated. The access to the pad is usually via a step ladder.

Let me give you a quick little plan – it’s not the tiniest of the plans. It is actually quite a decent size for this particular type of build. In the middle of the kitchen there is a small storage room that can be used as a boiler room if necessary (no, there’s no landline in that boiler room, it’s meant for heating).

An eco minihome offers a very limited space and basic (to say the least) quality of living. However, I am sure many people will find the experience of living in an eco tiny house extremely pleasant, especially if the setting is good. Middle of the forest, on a hillside, embraced by the Nature. I can almost see myself there…

But the problem is in the price. For example, a prefab tiny house produced by Tumbleweed costs from $16,000 upwards (a little short of $40,000 if you’re not willing to do any DIY). Fancy a beach-home in Bournemouth? You would need to wait in a queue for decades to get one, yet you can build a similar one for less than £1,000. Timber doesn’t cost much these days. Ok, a tiny house is a step upwards from beach homes but, having so little square footage for so much money is not necessarily eco-friendly. Remember that in many cases living sustainably also means being efficient with your money.

As far as the money is concerned, $40,000 will buy you this gas guzzling but full size home (3 proper bedrooms and garden) near Colorado Springs and leave a neat little fund permitting you to convert it into an eco-friendly home. And it’s not a one-off example – in the USA and Canada you can easily get your foot on the property ladder for $30,000 and less.

Please note that the purpose of this article is not to belittle the ideas behind purpose-built small livingspaces. There are people who will appreciate them tremendously. It’s just the case of leaving other options open for yourself and deciding what it is what you really want.

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