Ten Things I Keep Outside Of My Tiny House

When it comes to living in such a small space or living a minimalist life, it’s very important to think about your possessions.  Minimalism doesn’t inherently mean not having stuff, it’s about being intentional with the things I do have.  Part of that is recognizing that there are things I will own that don’t have a place in the home, or shouldn’t be in the house even if I have the space.

These are items that you need, but don’t use much.  They could be things you need keep separate from your main space to maintain a balance in your life.  These are things that I want access to, but don’t want to see.  So here is a list of 10 things I own, but don’t keep in my house.

1. Internet

This seems crazy, even to me. Those that know me know that I’m a unapologetic nerd.  The internet is an amazing thing, filled with interesting, informative and hilarious stuff.  But, I don’t have internet in my house.  This affords me a work life separation.  The truth is I love my work, it’s amazing.  I just love working and therein lies the problem.  When I go to work I am almost always hyper focused, a tad intense and get sucked into the work in a very big way.  Not having internet lets me disconnect and take a break.

2. Bulk Storage

I always like to keep a year’s worth of every day items on hand. I store these items in my enclosed trailer that I setup like a storage building, things like shampoo, TP, propane, batteries, etc. It is an odd habit I started a while back when I decided to try an experiment and track everything that I used for an entire year.  Whenever I run out of something, I have another on hand. I buy a replacement and put the newest at the back, grabbing from the front, which is the oldest.  What I’ve found is that after an initial stocking, it doesn’t cost you anymore to have.  I find this helpful because I’m never out of anything and when life gets crazy, I can focus on the task at hand, not the fact that I ran out of TP and suddenly need to go to the store.

3. Composting Toilet

This is another odd one, that I think I’m alone on (maybe?).  When I first moved into my tiny house, I was trying to figure out tile for my bathroom, so I just put the composting toilet (bucket) outside.  It’s been two years now and I think I actually prefer to have it outside.  I live on a large plot of land, so none of my neighbors can see my house.  As a result, I just put my bucket where there is a really nice view.  I don’t ever have to worry about smells, flies or the like, plus I have extra space in the house where the toilet would have gone.  I’ve gotten so used to it, that I can climb down my ladder, go outside and then get back in bed without really waking up.

4. Work Materials & Home Office

Being self employed meant that for a long time, I didn’t have an office.  I used to work from home and venture out to various coffee shops.   That changed about a year ago when I opened my coworking space and splurged by giving myself my very own office space.

I still operate out of my backpack for most things, but I now have a place to keep a few books and an extra computer. I keep items for the Tiny House Conference in the office storage space.  I think the best thing I like about having an office space outside of my house is that I now have a white board. There’s something about laying out strategy on a whiteboard that I love.

5. Laundry

You all know this about me, I hate folding laundry with a fiery passion.  I long ago decided that I was going to have a laundry service here in Charlotte called 2ULaundry come and handle my laundry.  For about $15 bucks a week, someone comes to pick it up, wash/dry/fold, then brings it back.  The best money I’ve spent all year.

6. Tools

This is an obvious one, you don’t want to drag all the sawdust into your house, but I thought it was worth mentioning.  I keep an enclosed cargo trailer for things I want to own, but not keep in the house.  My power tools from building my tiny house take up a good bit of room. I like to do small projects, fixing things and I don’t want the mess inside the house.

7. Camping Gear

When it comes to camping gear, I’ve been very careful to keep food smell away from them. When you cook in a tiny house, the whole house fills with the delicious scents of your cooking. That’s fine for cooking, but you don’t want your camping gear smelling like garlic chicken or soup. For that reason, I keep all my gear in plastic containers in the cargo trailer.

8. People I don’t want to host

It’s the ultimate excuse, “Oh sorry, my house is too small. Guess we’ll have to have it somewhere else…”  It means I don’t have to deal with having people over unless its a really small group of close friends that I really like.

9. Living Space (some of it)

Part of living in a small space is extending your living room to the world outside.  Right when you walk out of my house, I have an outdoor living area complete with tables, chairs, fire pit, grill, pizza oven and much more.  When the weather is nice, I’m outside.  Beyond that I extend my need for a guest bedroom to a local hotel, my dining room is at the best restaurant in town, and other needs to the best that my city has to offer.

10. Formal wear

I wear a suit once every couple years, which means that instead of owning and storing a suit, I just rent one.  The best part is that it always fits me well because they size it for you, plus I can match the formality of the event I’m going to.  It also means I don’t have to worry about storing it or cleaning it because they take care of it.  For women, they have online dress rental services where you can find lots of options in style that you can rent that are pretty affordable.

Your Turn!

• What things are you thinking about keeping outside your house?
• What things are you going to outsource?