Keith and Kelly Rogers’ home is 399 square feet and includes a bedroom, kitchen, living area and bathroom.
The Rogers are one of many to make the switch and downsize to a tiny home.
“Once our children graduated and left the house we decided we didn’t really need two extra bedrooms and an extra bathroom so we decided to downsize,” Keith Rogers said.
The Rogers said they have lived in their tiny home for seven months now, and said they have seen many benefits from going tiny.
“The cleaning is less, electricity bills have been less the water bills have been less,” Kelly Rogers said.
The Rogers said they bought their tiny home from Shawn Fuller, owner of Tiny House Outlet.
“Most of our housing needs in the past have been larger homes,” Fuller said. “But here over the last three years we’ve noticed that there’s been a surge in downsizing.”
Fuller said people want to take care of less property, and save money to travel.
“We’re roughly averaging about three a month,” Fuller said. “And we take them everywhere, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, we’ve been as far as Georgia.”
Fuller said one town that has really welcomed tiny homes is Spur.
Danny Schallenberg, a tiny home builder in Spur, said it is the only place in the county where people can not only own their tiny home, but own the land it sits on as well.
“This movement is not going to go away,” Schallenberg said. “This movement is huge, this new housing paradigm is huge, and more cities are going to come on board with this.”
Schallenberg said 22 tiny homes are scattered around Spur, but he said over time he sees there being tiny home subdivisions, not just in Spur but all over.
“The grass is un-mowed and we’re just at the beginning really,” Schallenberg said.
The Rogers said downsizing was not as hard as they thought, and that people typically can get by with less than they think.
“Just realize that most of the stuff you’re hanging onto is just stuff,” Keith Rogers said.
The Rogers said they believe tiny homes are not just a phase and will continue to grow, but caution that it is not for everyone.
“I think for a long time we probably thought that we needed all of those things at some time we might use this or we should get this now because we might not find it again,” Kelly Rogers said. “But once you get rid of some stuff it’s kinda freeing.”
