Money Matters Episode 29- Tiny : A Story About Small Living - Alternative Housing Ideas W/ Writer/Director Merete Mueller and Cinematographer/Director Christopher Smith

The “tiny house” movement can be traced back at least as far as Henry David Thoreau, and the publication of his book, Walden.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,” Thoreau wrote, “to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Today’s tiny house movement is less concerned with leaving society to find solitary contemplation. But Thoreau’s ideal of simplifying life, considering which comforts and possessions can be done without in order to live a life that is “more deliberate” rings true for many Tiny House owners. Though they live on a smaller scale, most tiny house owners still commute to jobs every day. Some even have families.

Some are attracted to the mobile lifestyle, since most Tiny Houses are built on trailer beds and can easily be towed to a new location. Many thers like the idea of having a home, but without the mortgage payments and upkeep of a traditional house. Whatever the original motivation, the folks who make up this movement have come up with some inspiring designs and innovations for living comfortably and creatively in small spaces.

For the purposes of this project, we define a “tiny house” to be a small building created with the specific intention of making a home. We’ve found some lovely examples of small houses built as art studios or guest houses on the grounds of other, larger homes, but have decided to limit this exploration to the way that small spaces shape a person’s primary dwelling place.

Today we were joined by:

Merete Mueller (Writer, Co-director/Producer)

Christopher Smith (Cinematographer, Co-director/Producer)