Two Weeks!

So we’ve hit our two week mark living in the tiny house. We are all alive and well. Actually, we are fantastic! This new way of living is such a great fit for us. There are some pros and cons for sure, but the pros are very much outweighing the cons. We are learning how all our features and appliances work.

I have never had a gas stove, but we now have a propane one and I am pretty sure it is not set quite right as the lowest setting is like a full boil and if I put it to high there are flames reaching around my pots. I’m pretty sure that needs some tweaking. I have not burned anything yet, but I do cook meals very fast! And on low obviously.

We are loving our washing/drying machine but have discovered that it takes A LOT of power, so if it is on you can’t even put the kettle on. We’ve lost power 3x already and its not a fun experience. When the power does come back on it is pretty alarming because our smoke detectors start speaking. And then again in French. It was a bit surprising the first time. The machine does wash and dry clothes nicely. The whole cycle takes 3-4 hours on average which is a long time, but we can throw it on and do some errands and laundry is done when we come back. If only it folded.

We have had beautiful weather lately and yes it does get a bit warm in the lofts. We do have an amazing fan however that helps. It has a motor that turns it round and round and the fans can be adjusted to different angles. Evening breezes are always appreciated as well. We love the loft though. It is cozy and feels like you’re camping, but we can both still sit up and read. The mattress we got is actually a futon mattress from Small Wonders Futons. It is a handmade double cotton/wool mattress. It is a bit firmer than we expected but after a few days our bodies adjusted. A firmer mattress is supposed to be better anyway. So they say. I bought these futon mattresses because most conventional mattresses off-gas, especially foam from what I understand. Being a small space I have tried to keep off-gassing to a minimal. We have a vinyl floor which is probably the largest of our off-gassing in the house. So I figure I should minimize what I can. We have been on a health journey for a couple years and it is important to us to limit our chemical exposure.

We have yet to get cushions for our bench seating, so we have blankets and pillows for now and it gets a bit uncomfortable after awhile, but I was able to fit my grandmother’s old fold-up rocking chair in the living room. Our dining table is not quite finished so we are using a fold up card table and the rocking chair fits nicely tucked up to it. And it’s pretty comfy. When we homeschool, the kids sit on the bench and I sit in my rocking chair and I do feel more like a teacher like that. Very professional-like. Don’t all teachers sit in rocking chairs?

We have a waterless toilet, which we were hoping would work out great but really had no idea. Turns out, it doesn’t stink at all! Only time I smelled anything was when Tim emptied it and took the garbage bag outside. So a waterless toilet looks like a regular toilet but when you lift the lid it has two compartments. The rear area is for #2 as I am sure you guessed, it has a built-in fan that basically dehydrates the #2 if you know what I mean. The #1 goes into a different place completely in the front and gets added to our grey tank discharge. And it is pretty good at making sure the #’s don’t get mixed up. They are different spaces completely. We have had to change it 1x/week so far but not because it was full of #2 but toilet paper. We bought nice thick luxurious toilet paper to our detriment. Note to self: pick more flimsy toilet paper next time. So when it’s full Tim just opens up the toilet, and inside there is a bucket lined with a garbage bag, he closes the garbage bag and hauls it out of the house. Weirdest part is that there is no flushing, so you feel like you’re missing a step. So forgive us if we go to your house and forget to flush, it is becoming habit.

Well, I’ll end on that note. Probably too much information for some.