Living with 140 square feet
140 square feet is the living space of the tiny house that Greg Johnson lives in. He says it has improved his lifestyle. He even wrote a book called Put Your Life On a Diet: Lessons Learned from Living in 140 Square Feet. I haven’t read the book yet.
140 square feet is also the living space of many village huts in North India where the Dalits live with their families.
140 square feet is 13 square meters. It’s not much living space.
140 square feet is also the living space of our motorhome, which has been our only home and base for the past 2 and a half years. With my wife and our 5 children, and our guest, we currently live with 17.5 square feet per person. Thats a little more than last week, when another guest was living and traveling with us, but it still not a lot of room.
Even less than Greg Johnson who gets to rattle around his 140 square foot home all by his lonesome.
SO . . . HOW DO WE PUT UP WITH EACH OTHER LIVING IN 140 SQUARE FEET?
– We make it a priority to get along. Disagreements are sorted out immediately and nothing lingers.
– Our daughters have always shared a room in houses so it was an easier transition for them.
– We don’t have much space but we do have our own space. We all have a locker, all to ourselves, to store our clothes and stuff.
– We make use of outdoor space as much as possible. That includes our outside kitchen and occasionally sleeping in tents.
– We like each other. We get along. Our kids play games together despite the differences in age. That has always been the case.
– We are willing to make sacrifices in order to maintain a high degree of travel. No pain, no gain.
My family of soon to be six lives in a 31′ tag-along camper. Because we are on family property we are adding a room to hold the woodstove to keep us warm for the winter, but being off-grid, while challenging, also offers so many benefits! We’re loving it!
Probably a great form of birth control. 🙂
and for that you are all CONGRATULATED! You guys are amazing! Your lifestyle is something we can ALL learn from
Does it make a difference that you have the entire world in your back yard?
It does make a difference that the world is at our doorstep. We use the space on top of the truck most of the time. We set up a table and or a mat next to the truck some of the time. We find beaches, rocks, hidden tables and special places all of the time. Right now we are at a small, cheap, old-fashioned eastern european style camping ground. Our table is set up with breakfast, Our Moroccan mat is next to it with pillows propped up against the barbed wire fence for protection. Lizzie is getting internet at a woodstump table next to reception, Natasha is enjoying the absence of flies at the small culdesac beach about 50 metres a way. Sam is still asleep on his bed inside the truck, Hannah is beginning to arise from her hammock, I see some motion on the roof as Abi wakes up. Andrew is walking into town for some more screws and TJ is working on breakfast. We are enjoying the luxury that a camping ground offers. When we “wild camp” we need to be more descreat. I love how we need to continually reinvent ourselves to our surroundings.