‘You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place…like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.’ – Azar Nafisi
I have lived in a tiny house for almost eleven years now. September 2015. Originally, it was merely meant to be a stop-gap until the next move happened. A year or two maybe.
Fast-forward to 2026 and my wife and I have lived here together for nine years.
I discovered early on that living on a farm, almost entirely off grid with absolute independence and low utility bills/rent suited my lifestyle. It was that freedom to move to and from the place with ease, and not having a huge amount of weight whilst living this lifestyle. And the knowledge that when I returned, all my belongings that did not accompanying me on the road were right where I left them. It was the golden age of working as long-haul airline crew. Being paid to travel with a minimalist mentality, with the woman I love.
The off grid lifestyle came with a carte blanc approach that allowed us to restyle the property and the garden as we saw fit. The garden became my personal passion project and through it, I have learnt, and continue to learn, so much about the cultivation of plants and a greater understanding of man’s relationship with animals.
A few years ago, we were attempting to buy our first property, but our professional careers stalled and this prevented any movement. Several personal tragedies forced us to put the entire project on hold.
Now in August 2026, we are buying our first home. We are finally leaving our tiny home.
Our tiny house is a fully functional property that two people, on the minimalist side of life, can live in without issue.
Believe me, we have been doing it for nine years.
But there is a greater issue at work. That we simply outgrew the place.
We recognised the need for change in our lives and why moving to a larger property is the answer.
But the matter is deeper than that. We have managed perfectly fine for a long while without incident – so what has changed?
What changed is a decade has passed and we are both thirty-five now, not twenty-five (I’m actually nearly thirty-six). It was easy to live this life as young twenty-something year olds.
In our mid thirties, this is becoming significantly harder to do. There is a need to think towards the future.
There is a desire to start a family, which we have put off for a while now. There is a wish to live in a new community, suitable and fair for children.
There was a time, once, long ago, when our little farm felt like a community. Friends would live here, invite each other over for a cup of tea/beer and share a laugh Those people have moved away and now the environment has changed.
We have changed.
And of course, as we wish to grow as a family, we will need places for our children to flourish, grow and develop.
This, and I could say more, is why I believe I have outgrown our tiny house.
Our minimalism will change over time as we make this transition to our new home, but what is fundamentally true is we will never regret where and how we chose to live over the last decade.