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How Much Does It Cost to Live in a Tiny Home?
- By Sang Kim
- Updated:
For people who are just beginning their tiny home journey, the cost of tiny house living is a big consideration. In the previous blog, we discussed how much it costs to build a tiny house. But what about on-going costs of living in a tiny home? In this blog post, we discuss just that.
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How much does it cost to live in a tiny home?
Although the cost of living in a tiny home is a fraction of what it costs to live in a standard home, it still costs money to live in a tiny home. The costs of living in a tiny home will vary greatly depending on your location, whether you have access to utilities, or if you are planning to move your tiny home frequently.
That being said, here are my tiny house monthly costs that you can use as reference to get a better sense of your tiny home living costs.
Rent - $500/mo
We have been parked at our current parking location for the past 2 years. We worked with our current landlord to come up with a lease and pay $500/month including utilities (water, electric, and Internet).
This was an amazing deal for us because we are parked on a 10-acre land with our own little private space. We live in a high COL area (Northern Virginia), and by living tiny we are literally saving thousands of dollars every month.
Electricity & Water - $50/mo
Fortunately for us, electricity and water were included with the price of rent. But depending on your rental agreement with your landlord, it may not be the case.
From our personal experience, you should expect to pay no more than $50 per month. We arrived at this number because we actually measured and calculated our electrical and water usage and it ranged anywhere from $40/mo to $50/mo.
Internet - $0/mo
If you are parking your tiny home on a piece of land next to an existing home, getting access to the Internet is as simple as connecting to the existing router. Typically, this should be free.
However, if you plan on going off-grid, there are internet options available ranging from $30/mo to $110/mo. Now, you can lower your Internet cost by using your phone as a hotspot. Or, you can look into subscribing to a premium satellite service such as Starlink, but at a higher price tag.
Moving Costs - $0/mo
If you are planning to park your tiny home semi-permanently, you wouldn’t need to budget for moving costs. But, If you plan on moving your tiny home frequently, you can expect to shell tons of money on gas or towing if you are having someone else move it.
Expect to pay anywhere from $400 ~ $1500 depending on the size of your tiny home and the distance it will need to be towed.
Here is a link to Tiny House Giant Journey that goes more in depth on the cost of moving a tiny home.
Miscellaneous Costs - $10/mo
Some of the recurring expense we have for our tiny home are inline RV water filters and the composting medium for our composting toilet.
One bag of peat moss sold at Lowe’s and four inline water filters are all we need for a year’s worth. This comes out to around $10/mo in additional tiny home expenses.
Maintenance Costs - $25/mo
Although we don’t make drastic changes to our tiny home, you will have to budget for general maintenance costs. As the rule of thumb, you should budget at least 1% of the home’s purchase price for maintenance.
Our tiny home costs around $30,000. So we have budgeted for $300 per year towards any maintenance expenses that comes up every now and then.
Total cost to live in a tiny home - $535/mo
So in total, my girlfriend and I spend $535/mo to live in our tiny home full-time! This includes all of our day-to-day home related expenses as well as rent and utilities.
However, please do remember that, depending on your location, you may find your monthly expenses to be higher or lower.
Sang Kim is the founder of Riding Tiny® and has been active in the tiny house scene since 2018. Since then, his mission is to help people plan and build their dream tiny homes. And each year, he continues to help more people on the path to simple living and financial independence. Follow Sang's journey @ridingtiny
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