<![CDATA[Tiny House Living in NZ - Blog]]>Sat, 22 Apr 2023 13:30:33 +1200Weebly<![CDATA[HOW TO FIND LAND TO LEASE FOR A TINY HOUSE!]]>Tue, 19 Jan 2021 04:24:20 GMThttp://tinyhouselivinginnz.com/blog/how-to-find-land-to-lease-for-a-tiny-house​We have been fortunate enough to find not one but two parking spots for our Tiny House over the last 4 years of living Tiny! 
​
Here are some ideas to help you find land to lease for a Tiny House:
⭐️ My favourite method to find land is to post on Facebook community groups in areas you wish to live. For example if you wished to find land around Albany in Auckland, you would search for either a Northshore Auckland Community or Buy/Sell Group, or a Suburb specific group like Albany Community Group. Join the groups with a higher number of members to up your chances. We secured land both times by doing this. 
⭐️ Make some flyers and drop in areas that have a lot of vacant land. Sometimes farmers or older people who own a lot of land don't have a social presence. That is where a flyer comes in handy! 
⭐️ Ask around your friends and family. You never know, one of your social connections may know someone with the best parking spot for your Tiny House! 
⭐️ If you are in NZ you can also post on my community group "Tiny House Buy/Sell NZ" in case anyone has come across land in their own searches that may be available. 
Picture
Picture of our current "parking spot" for our Tiny House. 

What to include in your post or flyer: 
⭐️ A picture or render of what your Tiny House looks like. 
⭐️ A brief intro about yourself, and who will be living in the Tiny House on their land. 
⭐️ What do you require for your Tiny Home? Do you need power, water etc. 
⭐️Ask if anyone knows of anyone willing to supplement their income by letting you park on their land. (See my previous post re a guideline on the cost of land)

Picture
Above is the exact post I created to find our land the first time around. Simple but effective! 

Hope you found this helpful! 
-Kasia x
]]><![CDATA[OPTIONS FOR MOVING YOUR TINY HOUSE]]>Fri, 09 Oct 2020 11:00:00 GMThttp://tinyhouselivinginnz.com/blog/options-for-moving-your-tiny-houseOPTION 1. HIRE SOMEONE TO MOVE IT FOR YOU 
If you are only moving it once and a while, instead of purchasing an expensive vehicle just so you can move your house, you can pay a business to move it when you need to. 
For this option, just make sure to check out the contract, and make sure your Tiny House has insurance and is covered in the case of them accidentally damaging it. One person recently paid someone to move her home and unfortunately she was left with a damaged house, and a very expensive bill to fix it with the company claiming no liability. Easy to avoid, just make sure to have it in writing they will cover damages in case of an accident.  

If your Tiny House is oversized/overweight, an option is to get a boat haulage company to move it for you. 

Honestly paying someone to move your Tiny House for you is one of the best options. It is a million times less stressful if you get someone who has experience moving Tiny Houses to move it for you. 

OPTION 2: MOVE THE TINY HOUSE YOURSELF 
First things first, before you contemplate any of the Drive Yourself options. Your home needs to be under 3500kg and you need the right vehicle. It is very important that your Tiny House is also balanced correctly, or it will quickly become a very dangerous situation. If for example all your weight is towards the back, you could start fish tailing. 

If your route that you are taking isn't that far, it might be a good idea to drive it first and check for any potential issues, such as low hanging power lines, tight bridges, and branches. 

It may also be a good idea to choose a time when there isn't much traffic on the roads, as to not hold anyone up. 

Hire a rental vehicle

You could hire a vehicle with a towing capability of 3500kg to move your Tiny House. You would just need to check with the company you are hiring from that they are ok with you using it for this purpose. Also double check that even if the vehicle is capable of towing 3.5 tonne, the tow bar installed is also rated to handle that weight.

Borrow a friends vehicle
If you have a friend that owns a vehicle which can tow up to 3.5 tonne, and they are happy to let you borrow it to move your home... SCORE! 
They may be happy with a box of beers or dinner in exchange. 
Just make sure you are insured to drive their vehicle, or maybe get them to temporarily add your name to their insurance company and when you will be driving. As well as the standard car insurance, make sure you have roadside assist or cover for your tiny house on the road. 

Borrow a friend of a friends vehicle
If none of your friends have a vehicle that can tow, or they don't want to let you use their car, you could put out a post on facebook asking around if anyone of your friends knows anyone with a car capable of towing 3.5 tonnes. 
Maybe offer up something in exchange for borrowing their vehicle. 
Same rules apply with making sure you have insurance with this option. 

Buy a vehicle that can tow!
I would only really recommend this option if you are planning on towing around your Tiny House all the time, as the vehicles with this towing capacity are certainly up there in price! However, if it is your intention to travel around in your house, or you wanted one of these vehicles anyway, it would be worth it! 

SOME VEHICLES THAT CAN TOW A TINY HOUSE: 
Ford Ranger XL - 3500kg 
Nissan Nivara - 3500kg 
Toyota Land Cruiser 70s Series - 3500kg 
Toyota Land Cruiser 200 VX
Isuzu Dmax - 3500kg 
Nissan Patrol Ti - 3500kg
Nissan Patrol VK56VD - 3500kg
Mazda BT-50 - 3500kg

As mentioned earlier, make sure the tow bar is also rated to tow the required weight, you don't want to accidentally rip the towbar off! 


To find more vehicles capable of towing a Tiny House, check the towing ratings here!
ONCE YOU'RE ON THE LAND 
Lastly when you get your Tiny House onsite, one of the easiest ways to position your Tiny House on land is with a tractor, so if you have access to a tractor, it will make your life easy! 

Hopefully you have found this helpful! Feel free to share around, or comment below with more ideas! 
Picture
]]><![CDATA[Tips on Living in a Tiny House with a Chronic Illness and Pain]]>Tue, 30 Jul 2019 05:48:20 GMThttp://tinyhouselivinginnz.com/blog/tips-on-living-in-a-tiny-house-with-a-chronic-illness-and-painBefore you read on, here is a TMI warning. We are going to go knee deep in “too much information”, so if that doesn’t sound like a bit of you, I would suggest to click on any other article instead...except 'Side effects of living in a Tiny House', that is also TMI. If you don’t have a chronic illness or pain, or aren’t in someone's life with one, this may not make a whole lot of sense to you. To those with, we all have our different needs and experiences, and I can only give advice base off mine, so take out of this article whatever may be applicable to you, and hopefully you find something useful.

Ignoring my warning? In the words of Taylor Swift, “Don’t say I didn’t, say I didn’t warn ya”.

To get a better understanding of why I would write such an article, I am best to start off with a bit of a brief background. Like many of us, I do not wish for pity (or health advice/cures/vitamins from strangers ;) ) but rather to be a bit more relatable to those also living with similar conditions. I have been living in a Tiny House for almost 3 years, and have a list of chronic invisible illnesses, and attacks of severe pain. Over the years living in the Tiny House, I have gone through bouts of being bed ridden, I have put the composting loo to the extreme tests (even managed a colonoscopy prep in this Tiny Home, and most of us know what those are like!), I have made it through winters, and dealt with the heat, and through all this, I hopefully have some survival tips for you all going forward into Tiny Living. 

DESIGN IDEAS 

I say this often, but it’s true that one of the best parts about Tiny Houses is that you can build or even renovate to suit your needs. You can create a space custom for you, and you can create a healthy living environment. Here are some design ideas/tips to apply to different areas of the house. 

Bedroom.  

One of the most important areas of the Tiny House for people with pain and chronic illness is the bedroom. For most, the bedroom is just a place to sleep, and if this is the case, you don’t need much room or to put much focus on this area. For us spoonies, it’s a place that some of us spend a lot of time in, both awake and asleep. When our bodies are giving us grief, it may become the hangout space. The space you may end up spending a lot of time in. So let’s make this the best space for you!


Put your money here. You’re saving money not having to kit out a huge house, so you deserve to splash out and get it as comfortable as can be. Get the healthy and super comfortable mattress, get the nice soft bed linen. 

In terms of placement of the bedroom, this will depend on your situation. If you majority of the time would not make it up some stairs or a ladder to the loft, but occasionally could, then you are better off having a downstairs bedroom with the loft as a guest bedroom/storage or if you have money to spare, you could get an electric lift to loft. For me I am fortunate enough to be able to make it up our loft stairs majority of the time, and only occasionally can’t so we have a loft, and a couch bed for when it’s not possible. I’m also lucky that I have a husband that can help push me up the stairs or lift me down. 

If you opt for the downstairs bedroom, and you live with someone, I would recommend getting a room specifically, instead of just a bed in an open space, so you can close the door. Especially if you’ve got guests and need to sneak off if you’re not well. 
 
If you opt for the loft space, have a decent loft height above the bed. Our mistake was making the loft too high with a pitched roof. I have smoked my head on the roof so many times, I have lost count. Jake (husband) said I’d learn, but with a combination of brain fog and bad spatial awareness it has resulted in multiple head banging episodes without the “learning”. If we were to rebuild, I would make dormer windows above loft or a shed roof for maximum loft space.

Don’t forget to put enough plugs next to the bed. I have an electric hot water bottle, so I can charge it up in the middle of the night without having to get out of bed. Electric blankets also use next to no power and if you use other power occupying medical devices, it’s good to have easy access plugs. 

Bathroom.

If you are spending a lot of unpleasant time in the bathroom, then let’s counteract this by making the bathroom as nice as possible. It doesn’t need to be large, but just pleasant. This could mean fancy towels, plants, positive quote signs. Whatever you can add to the space that will make it nicer to be in, then add it!

Design considerations for the bathroom are as follows:


  • Do you need a bath to manage your pain? You can put one inside. It’ll eat a bit of space, but it’ll be worth it or you can have an outdoor bath. 
  • Is a shower part of your pain management? You can custom make your shower and include a fold up seat if you don’t have the energy to stand. 
  • Do you have spells of vomiting with or without migraines? If yes, put a vanity in reach of the toilet. You can then run your own cold flannels, wipe your face etc right from the loo.
    It’s also good for hot and cold flushes, you can use hot and cold water to help manage the waves. 
  •  Can you sometimes get stuck in the bathroom for hours? Add a plug near the toilet, so you have access to charge phone in case you need to call someone for help or need distraction of playing something on netflix etc. Sounds a bit gross, but when you’re in so much pain or so crook who really cares anymore, you can sanitise devices later. 

House Placement. 

Try and get a parking spot for the Tiny House that is in an easy place to access from car to house. 
 For a while we were parked in the middle of a paddock, and it got really muddy in winter and we would have to jump a couple fences to get to our house from the place we parked. It was fine most of the time, but when it came to a pain flare and trying to get into the house in a hurry, it made for the most excruciating trek.

Something to consider is how far it is to get to a medical centre from your parking spot, especially if you have frequent trips to the Drs, or on occasion need urgent medical care.
Plus, you will want to make sure you can get both internet and phone reception in your home. 

Once you have found that perfect parking spot, make sure you strap your Tiny House down as well as possible for minimal shake. If your in severe pain, and someone else is walking around in the house and it's wobbling, that can make things worse, and it's easy enough to avoid. Plus, it's always good to strap your Tiny House down anyway, so if a strong storm comes along, you're not worried about the house falling over! 

Heating / Cooling. 

Some people experience more pain and symptoms in different climates. If the heat makes your symptoms worse, put emphasis into a good cooling system for your home. If the cold gets you, then look at heating as a priority. For me, the cold isn’t my friend. I prefer a direct hot heat, such as a fireplace. If you have someone who can help light the fire when you’re unwell, then go for a wood stove. If you don’t mind an encapsulating heat, then go for a heatpump (if you don’t get other symptoms from them). Alternatively, if you are by yourself and prefer a dry, intense heat, I would recommend a pellet fire. You just pour pellets in the top when you are well enough, and when you’re not well, all you have to do is press a button, and it will light your fire, and then press a button to turn it off. It has a fan that pushes out heat, and has a direct heat like a normal fireplace. A bag of pellets is around $10 and lasts a few days. It heats the house super fast.
The only downside is that they are quite pricey and are generally a bit large for Tiny Homes. We went for the pellet fire and chose to forgo the room it takes up because we picked up a bargain off TradeMe, and to me they are magic. This winter has been so much more pleasant with the pellet fire installed, than the last winter without it. It also helps keep the house nice and dry, even while drying clothes inside. 

Storage 

When you are designing your cabinetry, make sure you think of a good place to store all your medical equipment such as medications, vitamins, medical devices, hot water bottles, heat packs etc. Minimalism in this area doesn’t work super great with how many things we tend to need to manage our conditions! If you design a designated place for all the things, then it will save your Tiny House looking messy, and you’ll always know where your important things are. It is possible to lose items in a Tiny House, I do it all the time!  

General Advice 

With a Tiny House, once you have freed up your income from being spent on rent, you may be able to invest more on your health and wellbeing. Some options could include getting regular massages, or getting some body maintenance such as acupuncturists, osteopaths, naturopaths etc, or if you are working, you may be able to reduce your hours to a more comfortable level. 

That’s all for now. I could go on, but then it would probably turn into an e-book!
I hope you have got something useful out this article, and if you did, I would love to hear about it! 

-Kasia xo

Tiny House Living
Here's a throwback pic to the time I got an onsite Chiropractor/Bowen Therapist to sort me out in the middle of our muddy paddock, and our cat went crazy!
]]><![CDATA[Unexpected Side Effects of Living in a Tiny House]]>Mon, 25 Feb 2019 07:37:42 GMThttp://tinyhouselivinginnz.com/blog/unexpected-side-effects-of-living-in-a-tiny-houseJust like the title suggests, I will be listing some unexpected side effects of living in a Tiny House! These are some of the things that we’ve found, but of course everyone is different, so different side effects may occur for different "Tiny Housers" (a term I use to describe Tiny House enthusiasts)! You may find that some or none of these apply to you! ​

1. Talking shit

You start to get overly comfortable talking about shit… literal shit! When you have a composting toilet, lots of people become rather fascinated in the whole toilet shituation.

When guests come over you explain what to do when you poop or wee! (FYI the answer is basically a handful of sawdust/coco peat mix to cover your “business”)

To future Tiny Houser’s you become the shitspert, the person they come to, to find out what your experiences are with pooping in a bucket! (Technically they aren't always buckets, sometimes they are fancy poop collectors)

I've got to tell you, in all honesty I’ve become a major advocate for this composting loo. It’s waaay less smelly than using a normal toilet. As long as you have an inbuilt extraction fan, that shit’s magic.  I can walk in after my husband has "dropped a load" and instead gagging, reversing and giving it a few minutes like I would after walking in on a "normal" toilet, I can whizz right in. TMI? See, I told you! It's a side effect, I no longer give a shit. Sorry for all the crappy puns, moving right along to number 2 on the list! 
Composting Toilet
​Bathroom Vanity and Compost Loo on wheels were made by us over at Variant Spaces

2. Perception on the Weather Shifts

A very positive side effect for those living in a Tiny House is having a greater appreciation for different weather conditions!  

3. You become more "Green" 

For some people, a more eco friendly way of living was the main motivator into the Tiny House life. For these people, becoming greener will be a known side effect.

For some people however, finances are the main motivator into the Tiny Home. This is where the "green side effects" come into play. 
​
When living in a Tiny House, you become more affronted with the waste that you create.
A small place can quickly become full of rubbish, and you don't want a massive bin in your Tiny House, so then you start working on reducing the amount of rubbish that you produce. 

If you own a composting loo you instantly start being responsible for your own toilet waste. In the word’s of ‘Formidable Vegetables’ (a group that create songs about permaculture) song you effectively are “turning brown into green” by way of composting your own waste, and turning it into top soil for plants. 
You are in for a laugh if you choose to watch this. These guys are hilarious, and the music is so fun. #notsponsored. 
Since you are composting your own waste anyway, it's not a difficult jump to then compost all your food waste too!  

You may also start collecting rain water, and generating your own clean green power!
You are forced to take a good look into the products that you are using around the house too, so that your grey water stays safe to reuse for watering trees, plant etc, or to go safely back into the earth.

A common "sub side effect" under this category, is that you decide you want to attempt to grow your own food. The more food you can grow, the less veggies you end up buying from the supermarket wrapped in plastic! It's an impulse that most of us tiny housers have, even if we aren't gifted in the gardening department. 

​We aren’t perfect in terms of zero waste, but we are striving towards reducing our impact, and that is mainly a side effect due to our lifestyle!

4. You have more freedom to choose how to spend your time!

After you have paid off/built your Tiny House, you may just find you won’t need to work as much to simply cover the cost of living, giving you freedom to decide how you want to spend your time. If you want to work less, because you don't need as much to cover basic living expenses, you can. If you would prefer to spend that freed up cash travelling instead, you can! If you want to start up your own passion business, but you've been too scared (due to worrying you might not be able to cover costs), well now might be your time! You get the picture!

Not only is your accomodation costs a lot lower/now free, but there are other savings involved too. If you’re off-grid you have no power bill, or if you're on-grid, the cost of power is greatly reduced. If you do end up successfully growing your own food, there's a cut in the grocery bills. There are even savings, and a potential income available if you wish to go away on holiday, as you can list your Tiny House on AirBnB to supplement your trip, or save money on catteries, doggeries (I know it's called a Kennel, but wouldn't it make sense to call it a doggery?!), and allow someone to stay in your Tiny House for free if they look after your animals. It's actually not hard to find "Animal Loving Tiny Housers"!
 
Picture
A while ago a chiropractor came out to our land, set up the table outside, and our cat went nuts. 

5. Your reaction changes when you go into “normal sized homes”

Perception on what is classified as a small house shifts in your mind. Now a 90sqm home, which pre-tiny house ventures you may have considered “small” now looks big. And when you step into a large home you may now consider them mansions, and automatically start calculating, “how many Tiny Homes could fit in here?” Look at all this unused space!

6. You start identifying Tiny House parking spots everywhere! 

When you drive past bare land, the thoughts that occur are usually as followed:
  • “Oooh, that would be a beautiful spot to park my Tiny House.”
  • “Wow, look at all that bare land just sitting there doing nothing, someone could be making a bit of coin by letting them park there!”
  • “Gosh, this area has soooo many paddocks that would be perfect parking spots.”
  • “You could fit a whole Tiny House village on that piece of land”
  • “That would be an amazing spot to park, but access would be a bitch!”
  • “Land for sale, ooh someone in the community might be interested in that!” ​​
Picture

7. You become a part of the “Tiny House Community”

There is such a network of people interested in Tiny Houses throughout New Zealand, and you find yourself engaging with many like-minded people! This side effect even impacts the pre Tiny House owners, as you end up joining all the online groups, and going to events where you can learn of others experiences and get tips from people who have “been there and done that.” When you have the Tiny Home, you become that “been there done that” person, and get to share your knowledge with others. You end up meeting quite a few Tiny House owners, and when you see pictures online, you start to recognise who's Tiny Homes belong to who! 

Click here if you haven’t yet found our online Tiny House Community! 

Let me know if you think any or all of these side effects have applied to you, or you think will affect you! 

Kasia x
]]><![CDATA[Prevent Tiny House from being Stolen]]>Wed, 12 Sep 2018 23:27:05 GMThttp://tinyhouselivinginnz.com/blog/prevent-tiny-house-from-being-stolenYou wouldn't expect a Tiny House to get stolen, or for there to be a need to write this article, however here I was reading about it in the news this week. Headlines reading "Womans Tiny House Stolen..." on stuff.co.nz. 

Most Tiny Homes are unique and usually around 7.2m-7.6m long by 2.5m wide by 4.2m high, so they aren't exactly easy to hide. It's a good wake up call for all of us "Tiny Housers" or "normal" Caravan owners to start thinking about security options for our homes.

Tiny Houses are an affordable housing option in big cities like Auckland, however they are still a big investment if you have had one professionally built (usually around $90,000 to $120,000), or if you have "DIYed", you would have invested both time and money. Let's protect those investments and prevent our homes from being stolen!

Measures/ Ideas to secure your Tiny Home:
My husband and I have been living in a Tiny House for a year and a half and these are some of the security measures we have either implemented or have had suggested from other Tiny House owners.

Padlocked gate
We are fortunate enough to have access to a gate which we have padlocked shut.
You can get padlocks with built in alarms so if anyone tries to cut it, an alarm automatically goes off. You can also get ones these days with built in cameras which send video footage to your phone if someone is trying to tamper with it.

Block it in
If you don't have fenced off land with a gate, then block the exits by parking between the road and the Tiny House.

Security cameras
Technology is so great these days. We bought a 'Cleverloop' security camera system that links to our phone. As soon as the cameras detect movement it automatically sends a live feed to your phone and records to a "cloud" of choice like dropbox. The first time we went away on holiday and left our Tiny House, we were at Auckland Airport waiting to fly out to Australia, when both my husband and I's phone alerts went off, we were sent a live feed of someone peeping in our windows!
We saw that they just turned around and left, or else we could have called police and watched them catch the thieves. It was such a clear imagine we were able to track down who it was, and fortunately it turns out she wasn't scoping the place, but rather was an overly eager Tiny House enthusiast, who since apologised profusely for jumping a locked gate!

Wheel Clamps 
As these Tiny Houses are generally registered as Caravans, and are usually insured as such, some insurance companies won't allow you to take the wheels off. So the next best thing is to clamp them up. It is also advised to have this in conjunction with a hitch lock as an extra deterrent.

Tracking Devices 
There are a number of affordable options these days to track your items such as Tile, and Trackr which use crowd GPS tracking which is activated when it's near another device, so why not hide one in your Tiny House. Alternatively, for a bit more money you can purchase specific GPS trackers which will not require relying on others to have nearby devices.
In the 'NZ Tiny House Community' facebook group Sharla May shares how she has repurposed an old phone as a tracking device, "I've ended up making a hidden compartment to house a mobile phone that runs an app 'Find my phone'. I can track it on my main mobile when needed. The second mobile just shares my mobile data. You could turn on when you go out like you would an alarm or keep it running all the time like I do."

Chain down the trailer
You can attach the trailer down to anything fixed such as a fence post or anything else which is hard to move. Another woman within the "NZ Tiny House Community" facebook group said after almost having her caravan stolen she has attached it to another "normal" trailer towbar to towbar, so that it can't be towed.

Don't be put of Tiny Houses because of this theft!
After reading the news you may be a bit hesitant on going down the Tiny House route. However, Tiny Houses are a great way for people to own their own homes where it may not otherwise be possible. You can purchase or build these Tiny Houses for less than the cost of a 20% deposit on average "normal" house in areas like Auckland NZ, so I wouldn't let this theft (which was quickly resolved, "Tiny House Stolen from West Auckland Found") put you off from accomplishing your dreams of Tiny House ownership! 

As always, I hope you have found this blog post helpful, and if you have more suggestions, post them in the comments! 

-Kasia xx
​
Picture
]]><![CDATA[Plastic Free July]]>Fri, 29 Jun 2018 03:08:05 GMThttp://tinyhouselivinginnz.com/blog/plastic-free-julyWhat is plastic free July? It's an awareness month to reduce the amount of plastic in our lives. We are producing more plastic than we can recycle, and since we are no longer able to send it off to other countries to deal with (aka China), we have to look at ways of reducing the amount we use, and coming up with alternatives before even more plastic ends up in our oceans! 

I am no real advocate for set month/challenges because I believe you can simply make up your mind on any month, day or hour, and action positive change immediately. If you are reading this and it's day 5 of "Plastic Free July", instead of being like "oh, it's too late, maybe next year", just start now.
In saying that, I understand how it can make it easier to start when there is a movement and awareness around reducing plastics. Say for example you rock up to your local takeaways with your own container, you are less likely to get funny looks since they'll know it's "plastic free july", and they have probably had an influx of people doing the same already.  The awareness these campaigns bring can make for some great changes if you can find improvements and ideas you can roll out into the rest of the year and lifestyle.

You don't need to go 100% zero waste to make a difference (though that is awesome if you can), small changes in your day to day can still make an impact. We personally are not perfect, and are what I'd call a "work in progress" and have reduced our waste considerably, but still slip up occasionally and have not reached zero waste status. 

SIMPLE CHANGE IDEAS:
  • If you usually use plastic bags at the super market try bringing your own reusables. 
  • For vegetables, you can reuse drawstring bags, or at a pinch (if you forgot them) use a paper bag. 
  • Say no to plastic straws when drinking out, or bring your own steel straw
  • Bring your own keep cup to cafes for drinks. 
  • Bring your own containers for takeaways 
  • Look at what you are purchasing in stores, and see if you can purchase food in more sustainable packaging, or make your own from scratch. 
  • Reuse Glass Jars or odd containers, and bring them to farmers markets or your local bulk food store! 
  • Say no to single use plastics such as plastic cutlery etc.
  • Swapsies, swap your talents/skills for locally grown food. See below to see what we did for a swap week. 
OUR SWAP WEEK:

A few months ago for fun, we decided to create our own challenge and trade our skills for locally grown food for a whole week! The idea was to save waste from packaging plastics, and saving food from others gardens that may have gone to waste, and to save money on food. If we had been growing our own veggies we could have swapped our excess for other food we could use, however our garden wasn't flourishing yet, so we settled with swapping some woodwork instead! We posted in a local community FB group and garden group asking for people to trade with, and below are the trades we made:

​
We swapped a succulent planter for lettuce, and a coriander plant. 
An upcycled pallet planter I made for some fresh silverbeet, and cherry tomatoes! 
Wooden coasters for a large bowl full of delicious plums and lemons!
This last haul/trade was from a zero waste family who have a massive garden and chooks. They swapped us all this for some cedar stakes for their tomatoes. They also have a blog called Practically Green where they share some of their eco living tips. Check out their FB page here. 
Picture
I hope this has inspired you to make some simple changes, let me know what changes you will be making this July, and share any tips with us! 

- Kasia  xx
]]><![CDATA[Top 5 Tiny House AirBnB in NZ - North Island]]>Tue, 31 Oct 2017 07:48:16 GMThttp://tinyhouselivinginnz.com/blog/tinyhouseairbnbnzIf you are looking into buying or building a Tiny House, what better way to find out if you like the lifestyle than testing it out for a couple nights! It's a great way to find out if the space is going to be an issue for you, what features you like, what you would change, and to collate ideas for your own build. Or you could just be looking for some unique accommodation ideas in NZ! 

1. kati kati 

Build Tiny Accommodation
Image Source from Build Tiny
Located in KatiKati, this amazingly designed Tiny House called 'The Millennial' is built by Build Tiny who is a Tiny House Builder. 
Tiny House Air BnB NZ
Image source from Build Tiny 
You may recognise this home from when they were featured on TV news and through several media outlets. 
Tiny House NZ
Image Source Build Tiny 
You can stay in this Tiny Home from $97NZD per night.  You can book on the Tauranga Tiny House Accommodation on AirBnB here. 

2. Auckland - Piha 

Tiny House Plan NZ
Image source from www.diyhousebuilding.com
Based in Piha with beautiful views of the beach this Tiny House was designed by Shaye from diyhousebuilding.com and is called 'Doris Jean'.  
Doris Jean Plan
Image Source www.diyhousebuilding.com
This accommodation is perfect for a family wanting a beach getaway. The 'Doris Jean' Tiny House Plans are also available for purchase. So if you like it, you can build your own!  
Tiny House Accommodation
Image Source diyhousebuilding.com
Prices start from $96NZD per night. Click here to visit the Piha Tiny House Accommodation on Air BnB. 

3. Marton

Tiny House AirBnB
Photo supplied by owner 
Located in Marton this Tiny House is known as 'Colonial Tiny House' and is set on farmland surrounded by native bush. 
Upcycled Tiny House
Photo supplied ​by owner
Many of the materials used in creating this Tiny House were upcycled or reclaimed!
Reclaimed Tiny House
Photo supplied ​​by owner
The Colonial Tiny House can sleep up to 4 adults cosily with one double bed in the loft and one pull out couch bed downstairs. Prices start from $119 NZD per night. Click here to visit the Marton Tiny House Accommodation on Air BnB.  

​4. TaUPO

Tiny House Taupo
Image Supplied on 'Tiny House Buy/Sell NZ' group on FB ​
You will find this gorgeous green Tiny House aptly named 'The Greenhouse' located close to Lake Taupo, botanical gardens, and a 5 minutes drive from the highly popular 'Debretts' hot pools. 
Tiny House AirBnB
Image Supplied on 'Tiny House Buy/Sell NZ' group on FB ​
The layout of this home is so clever, that it makes the 7.6mx2.4m floor area feel super spacious. 
Tiny House Accommodation NZ
Image Supplied on 'Tiny House Buy/Sell NZ' group on FB 
'The GreenHouse' comfortably sleeps 2 adults and prices start from $106NZD per night. Click here to view the Taupo Tiny House Accommodation on Air BnB. 

5. New Plymouth​

Tiny House New Plymouth
Image Supplied from owner
Located in New Plymouth this Tiny House named 'The Matchbox' is situated near a second Tiny House which is home to the owners of this airbnb accommodation. 
Tiny House airbnb
Image Supplied from owner
A cool feature about 'The Matchbox' is that it runs on solar power. Also, if you aren't into lofts, this could be the Tiny House for you, the bed is ground level and it slides away 2/3rds which means it nicely doubles as a couch to save space. 
Tiny House for rent
Image Supplied from owner
The hammock in the porch area makes for a perfect spot to lay back and relax, especially with the tilt windows wide open! Prices start from $95NZD per night. Click here to see the New Plymouth Tiny House AirBnB. 

Which one's your fave?

Sound off in the comments below! 
This post is in no way sponsored. Just some cool houses I spotted on AirBnB. I haven't stayed at any...YET, except I have walked through the Kati Kati, and Taupo homes which are both beautiful. Check out the reviews on AirBnB for accurate feedback on these places. From what I could see at the time of posting this blog, every single one of these places have had great feedback! 
]]><![CDATA[BROADBAND FOR A TINY HOUSE]]>Thu, 12 Oct 2017 23:00:00 GMThttp://tinyhouselivinginnz.com/blog/broadband-for-a-tiny-houseA lot of people ask me what we do for internet, and today is the day I answer that question. We are off-grid so we can't connect to fibre, or VDSL. We could rack up our phone data, however that would cost a small fortune with how much data we use. Use internet toggles which again equates to a small fortune plus limited data. The final option, and what seemed to me like the best option is 3G/4G RBI Wireless. 

That's where Wireless Nation comes in. They provide a "plug and play" option, where they send you a configured modem usually within 2 working days, and all you have to do is plug it in and connect to it! If you're in 'Plug and Play' coverage you don't have to wait for installers to come around or wait ages for the connection to go through which is a happy bonus. (I have had many an experience with waiting months for a simple connection). 

There are a few service providers which can provide 4G Broadband, however many are geo locked which means you where you've listed your address, is where the internet can operate from. Whereas with Wireless Nation is they allow you to travel with your modem, so if you were to decide to move your Tiny House to the next location after a few months or years, you can just bring your modem with you! 

We switched providers as the prior ISP were not good at answering calls. Wireless Nation are not as huge as some of the other providers therefore they can offer a better more personalised service. I found them very easy to talk to and down to earth in comparison when ordering our connection. Last but not least, you have the option to have an open term contract (you'll need to purchase modem), so you aren't locked in to 12 or 24 month contracts.

Click here to find out their latest offer. 

Wireless Nation Off Grid Internet
]]><![CDATA[PRODUCTS TO MINIMISE WASTE IN A TINY HOUSE]]>Tue, 10 Oct 2017 02:37:39 GMThttp://tinyhouselivinginnz.com/blog/products-to-help-minimise-waste-in-a-tiny-houseForget plastic free July, you don't need a specific month, day, or time to start making change. You can simply decide in one moment and action change in the next! Any change is positive too, whether you want to make a small but conscious effort to bring reusable bags to the supermarket or to the extreme of not touching a piece of plastic. Let's just start off by saying we aren't perfect zero waste people, but we are on a journey to making positive changes! 

Before living in a Tiny House Jake and I had a certain level of eco-consciousness, since he works for an organic mattress and furniture, and I run an eco-friendly craft small business on the side.
However, since living in a Tiny House, it has made us much more environmentally aware, and by default we are leaving a smaller environmental footprint. We create our own power using Solar Panels, and a small wind turbine (see Tiny House Solar Packages for more details), collect some of our own water (we aren't fully self sufficient here yet), we compost food scraps, take recycling to Jakes work or the recycling centre, and we have a composting toilet. 
Instantly by being off-grid we were much friendlier, the resources used to create our home was much less than a standard home as well, and also less waste. We are still not the perfect eco pair, but we are making choices into creating less waste.

These are some recent products we have chosen and received to help us along on our journey to less waste:

Reuseable Grocery bags - Plastic bag replacers

ReUsed Reuseable Bags
Tote & Produce Bags from ReUsed.
This beautiful Tote and produce bags above are from a small NZ Business called ReUsed. Handmade from recycled/reused materials by the clever Courtenay Feck. They are beautiful and strong, and the produce bags can be used for fruit, veggies, nuts and grains. Click here to see here to see her full range of reusable products. She even sent it packaged in 100% zero waste packaging! 

You could also DIY your own Tote bags out of old T-Shirts. I made one without the need for any sewing, and it's a great small "keep in handbag" type tote. To see how I made it click here to go through to my the video on my insta page.
Bag It Up Bags Reuseable Bags
​Bread Bags from BagItUpBags
These handmade bags are made by a lady named Ella, from her small business called BagItUpBags. These bags in particular are "Large Bread Bags" which she sells on etsy. They are perfect to keep bread fresh for longer. A tip I received from someone in a zerowaste facebook group, was to ask if the supermarket could put one of their freshly baked loaves into your own bag, or you could go to your local bakery and use this bag.
I haven't done this yet, but it is on the to do list. Up until now I have just been collecting the plastic bread bags for drop off in the soft plastic recycling bins at the local Pak-n-Sav. These bread bags are also multipurpose and can also be used for flour, chia seeds or other bulk bin selection options. You can replace those snaplock plastic bags for these instead, and then transfer into containers when you get home to reuse or simple store the food in the bag until it's been eaten. Ella also packaged these in a brown paper envelope with a handwritten address to also be 100% zero waste packaged. 
To see her full range of eco products click here!

Reuseable food wraps - Glad wrap alternative 

Honeywrap Reuseable food wrap
Small Reusable Food Wrap from Honeywrap 
These reusable food wraps are made from beeswax covered fabric, and can be used to replace what you would usually use glad wrap for such as wrapping sandwiches, covering bowls in the fridge, or even wrapping up some snacks!
Honeywrap was the brain child of three friends and eco conscious Mums named Tara, Jo and Amy. They handmake each of the products themselves, and their latest range includes custom designed fabric! See full range here!
Just like the last two small business, these honeywraps arrived in ecofriendly packaging that I just popped into the compost bin. 
 

Bamboo Toothbrushes - Plastic tooth brush replacement

Bamboo Toothbrush
Bamboo Toothbrushes from Mama Bear
Instead of those plastic toothbrushes from the supermarket, how about trying a bamboo tooth brush. These are from a small business Mum who sells a range of eco and organic products called Mama Bear. It's not a surprise she has these in her range as her husband is a dental hygienist. These tooth brushes are biodegradable and all the packaging is also compostable.  Unlike some other bamboo toothbrushes on the market these have a range of colours at the bottom so you can tell who's brush is whose. 
These may take a bit of getting used to for some as they are extra soft. She says that her husband wouldn't let her sell anything harder, as he recommends these to be the best firmness for healthy teeth and gums. Check out her full range here!

what are your faves?

Leave in the comments below other zero waste alternatives you love to use.
]]><![CDATA[TIPS FOR COUPLES LIVING IN A TINY HOUSE]]>Wed, 30 Aug 2017 02:06:06 GMThttp://tinyhouselivinginnz.com/blog/tips-for-couples-living-in-a-tiny-houseFrom the experience of living in our Tiny House with my husband since Dec last year, I have devised a few tips to help you with living more happily in your Tiny House with a partner. 

Lights 
When designing your Tiny Home, I think it is a good idea to make sure that the lights above loft can be separate to the lights above living space. If you or your other half wish to go to bed before the other, you can turn off the light in the loft, and your partner can still have the lights on in the lounge. I have many times gone to bed before Jake, and being able to darken the loft has been awesome. It really feels like it separates the two areas. If you are super sensitive to light you can also
wear an eye mask, however for me personally, I struggle to sleep with something attached to my face. 

2 way light switches where you can control the lights in the loft and downstairs is also a good way to avoid the debate on who has to go downstairs and turn off the lights!

Headphones 
Investing in a pair of noise cancelling headphones/ear plugs (or any good headphones) can make living in a small space with someone else that much more enjoyable. If you like to watch individual programs, or one person is in relax mode, and the other person is in DIY mode for example, you can block it all out! 


Have your own space! 
Have separate spaces in your Tiny House where you can just chill by yourself if you want to. Be it at a desk, on the couch, in the loft. Have a retreat area just for you. You'll be living in close proximity to your other half, which is nice for the most part, but having your own space keeps it from being "too much of a good thing..."
My space is in the loft, and Jake's got the couch in the lounge. He has never been forced to sleep on it, so we must be doing something right! ;) ;).
I have medical conditions that put me in bed a lot, so naturally my space ended up in the loft, however you can really create loft areas to be great hang out spaces. I have recently seen designs where the second loft has a full on desk and chair, and also a beanbag. Another design had a TV, and a bunch of cushions to cuddle up on. Something to think about when you are designing your own Tiny House.  
 
Laundry 
Try and stay on top of laundry! Some onto it people have limited clothes in their Tiny Houses, so they don't have many clothes to store, and reuse clothes until they really need to wash them. 
We on the other hand, both sometimes work with wood, Jake every single day #tradielife. So sometimes go through a couple outfits a day, and as it is super muddy at the moment on the land where we are parked, our clothes generally only make single use. Someone recently suggested overalls which may be a good idea... if I could convince Jake to wear them. If you do not keep on top of washing, you may trip up over it. In our home, we don't have much room or many spots to store dirty clothes. So, if we let it slide by a for a few days (which I'm not going to lie, it does happen!), it ends up taking up space in the kitchen or bathroom, of which we keep needing to slide out the way to access things. Sometimes it is inevitable when the laundry stacks up, for example when I have a few crook days in a row, or if there is something wrong with power/water supply. Fortunately, we have managed to fit a full size washing machine in our house (I'd fully recommend this), so it's not too hard to catch up, and if we do keep up with washing, we can store dirty laundry inside it until it's full, and then put it on. 

 
Laundry Pulley Rack 
Now you have your laundry sussed, you need somewhere good to dry it. If it's summer, it's no problem, you could just hang outside. If it's winter and you haven't got a decent covered outdoor area, then you need to dry your clothes inside. If you use the standard drying racks, it will take up so much of your living space. We have been there done that, and it literally eats up your hang out area, and walk about space. We even had guests over once, my clothes were still wet, and it was pouring with rain, so I couldn't take the rack down or put it outside. The guests could hardly reach the couch, and had to sit on the stairs. Not cool... in comes the pulley rack idea. I'd seen a couple about and they were super expensive, so I figured it wouldn't be too hard to make. I was right, and we were able to make one quite affordably out of Jake's wood scraps and disassembling a bike pulley system. If you want to make one, I put up some instructions here about how we did it. 
This freed up all the living space, dried our clothes much faster, and got the clothes out of eye level. I'm much less embarrassed to have clothes drying up in the roof, out of the way, than people tripping over clothes horses in the living room! Since we are washing clothes all the time, we constantly have clothes drying, so the clothes horse just wasn't going to cut it! 


Clothes Storage
Have your clothes in an easy accessible place without having to disturb your partner in the mornings. If you have to climb over your significant other to grab your clothes, chances are you have chosen a bad spot to put your clothes, and it will soon get old. Unless you just get used to it.. 
We have ours in custom sized loft drawers that we made. The drawers can easily open, and you can access them without climbing over each-other. Stair's is also a good place to store clothes or in a downstairs closet. 

Hand Sanitiser or Rinse Free Soap 
If you have a water pump because you are off-grid, you will note that the pump can be quite noisy. If you need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, running the tap may just wake up your partner. A simple solution to this issue is simply having on hand some hand-sanitiser, or rinse free soap. No need for water, no chance of waking up your partner. Also, if you are someone who may get thirtsy in the middle of the night, have a prefilled water bottle handy! 

Compost Loo 
I suggest choosing a loo which you don't have to empty every week, which is most standard bucket systems. It will get old quickly, unless it's a task that doesn't both you, in which case ignore what I said. We have a composting toilet that lasts around 2-3 weeks before requiring emptying, and even that feels like it comes round rather quick! If you can take turns between who empties it each time, that would be the ideal situation. Instead of the "whoever is the last to use it when it's full empties it", it's a competition, you don't want to push to the limits! 

Those are a few tips which I feel could make your lives in a Tiny House with someone better, obviously we are all different, and these are suggestions based on my own experiences, what suits us may not suit you. Take out of it what you want. If you have any other suggestions to add, please comment below. 

]]>