Top Five Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing Your Tiny Home

It’s time to remove the complexities and frustrations of home ownership – let it go! Discover freedom, simplicity and cost reductions that you once thought were impossible by living in a mini-mansion – a tiny home to get the full enjoyment out of life.

It sounds great, and it really is! But you have to do it right.

Tiny mistakes in the tiny-home planning process can become big issues down the road. That’s why you need to take a few minutes (or hours!) to plan out the finer details of your next stage of life.

Let’s take a look at five of the biggest mistakes that tiny-home owners are most likely to make.

Tiny Home Mistake #1: Keeping Stuff You Don’t Need

If you are going 100% into your tiny home without any additional homes, cottages or storage, you will need to purge a lot of the ‘stuff’ you’ve accumulated over the years.

Whether you choose our 40-foot tiny home or a much more compact 13-foot tiny home, space will be at a premium. If you have 40 pairs of shoes, they can certainly all fit in, but you may have to consider cutting down on other items. Got a large collection of anything? Might be time to part ways with at least some of it.

You will find that the freedom that comes from living in a tiny home is also because of the choices you make to simplify your life.

Tiny Home Mistake #2: Not Building Enough Storage

Even those who think they have downsized to the bare minimum will need significant storage space, especially here in Canada where you can’t wear shorts and T-shirts year-round. (Well, it would be more challenging anyway.)

Look at your tiny home design to determine opportunities to add extra storage for the things you need. Under the bed, in overhead compartments, on every shelf in the kitchen and even under chairs.

Tiny Home Mistake #3: Not Enough Insulation

If you plan to use your tiny shipping container home year-round and not just as a three-season getaway, you will need to ensure your new way of life works even in Canada’s harsh climates.

That means strength. TargetBox’s three tiny homes are made out of 14-gauge steel, with extra-strong members and corner posts that ensure your new space stays productive for more than 35 years.

Your tiny home needs to be built to keep comfortable air in the home and inhospitable air outside. It’s not unusual to have summer temperatures exceeding 30℃, while winters can be –30℃. Your TargetBox tiny home will come wrapped in cozy spray foam insulation.

Windows are necessities in tiny homes, to let the light stream in and offer beautiful views of the world around you, but going ‘cheap’ on these can result in unnecessary inefficiencies. Be sure to ask your tiny home manufacturer about the quality windows (and doors) that will be installed.

Lastly, for life in Canada, the luxury of having running water is often a necessity. If your site has access to water. Standard TargetBox tiny homes are outfitted with plumbing to make this easy.

Tiny Home Mistake #4: Not Choosing a Tiny Home with a Little More Space

Every square inch of space in a tiny home should be taken advantage of. If you have your heart and mind set on TargetBox’s 8’x13’ cozy Nest, you should seriously consider your lifestyle as well. Is it worthwhile to upgrade to the 8’x20’ Burrow or the 8’x40’ Den?

A tiny home with triple the amount of space could mean significant extra storage, a little more space to stretch your legs, and perhaps room for a second occupant down the road. Keep your options open and make sure that your tiny home is the exact space you need to make Life 2.0 happen in the best way possible.

Tiny Home Mistake #5: Not Being Flexible to Change

Your kitchen may be next to your bed. Your bathroom sink may have less space to arrange your hair products. And if you’re not used to spending much time with your partner, that could change by living in a tiny home.

If you’re sharing space with one or more people, you will need to be okay with being a little closer than usual.

But that’s the point of a tiny home – being closer, cutting back on the things that aren’t as important in life and putting some much-needed ‘change’ into your life.

Take Your Next Step into a Tiny Home

Reach out to Ontario and British Columbia’s shipping container tiny home professionals to help walk you through the process, decide on the specs and features you need, and get you moved into your tiny home sooner than you ever thought possible.

Fill out the tiny-home form on this page and we will get back to you in 24 hours with the next steps. Thanks for reading!