Tiny House Hobbies: 5 Things You Can Do in Small Spaces

Reset A− A+ In a recent comment, someone asked the question:

“As a skier, kayaker, biker rider, backpacker, organic vegetable gardener and food preserver, I would love to see more small homes that have folks who are living very active lives with the accoutrements that go with these lifestyles.”

I thought I might take a stab at addressing tiny house hobbies. Of course, as usual, I can only speak to my own experience. I hope that maybe other tiny house dwellers that have different and perhaps more complex hobbies can also chime into the conversation.

When I was thinking about our hobbies I realized that many of them, with the exception of two that I will get to later, are designed to use very few accessories.

I encourage you to read below to learn about our 5 tiny house friendly hobbies that you might want to do too:

1. Chess. Matt plays online chess on some pretty competitive servers. The only equipment he needs is his tablet. We both also play other online games with friends from all over the country.
2. Music.  Once again, this is Matt’s hobby. A couple of years ago, after spending his life behind the drums in bands, he decided to switch things up and learn the guitar. Now he has been singing and writing songs as well. We have a guitar hanger in the house to keep it out of the way when it isn’t being used.
3. Hiking. All I need for hiking is a pair of hiking boots – which I also sometimes need just to walk up to my own tiny house. We love to check out different trails around the mountains in Asheville.

That was when I realized there was a second category of our hobbies which require more equipment. And here is where we needed to be realistic and practical. For our equipment-heavy hobbies we have a storage space. In our case, it is a barn that was on the land when we bought it. For other tiny house dwellers they may want to build a small shed to store additional items. If a tiny house is parked in the back yard of friends or family, arrangements could be made to share basement or garage space. Our two stuff-oriented hobbies are:

1. Camping. Actually, I should say Glamping. What we do is not “roughing it.” We typically go on one or two camping trips a year with friends to small festivals around the country. There, we set up a temporary village with everything from a bar to a relaxation space. Our tents are decorated and we use pretty linens rather than sleeping bags on our air mattresses. When the Element was younger and had about 100,000 fewer miles we would pack it to the gills with anything we thought we might want. Now, with a smaller car and a smaller lifestyle we have edited our supplies down to three plastic bins but it is still a lot of camping equipment.
2.  Nerding. I was trying to come up with a title for this hobby and that was the best I had. I originally thought I would say “Costuming” but there is more to it than that. Every year we attend DragonCon – a science fiction fan convention in Atlanta, GA that attracts over 50,000 people. We wear costumes and we bring table top games to play. All of those things have to go somewhere. Our costumes also stay in sealed bins in the barn until we need them. This year, we are totally rocking an Alice in Wonderland theme, by the way. We also play our table top games, like Castle Panic and Munchkin, in the tiny house from time to time.

Like I said, my hobbies are pretty specific but that is all I can really comment on. Everything we enjoy doing we are able to either keep compact or keep organized in a separate storage space. I believe that regardless of the specific hobby you can do the same thing as part of your tiny house experience.

What kind of hobbies would you take with you to your tiny life?

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Laura LaVoie

Contributor and Tiny House Owner at 120SquareFeet.com

Laura M. LaVoie is a professional writer living in the mountains of North Carolina in a 120 Square Foot house with her partner and their hairless cat, Piglet. Laura graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in Anthropology. She has been published in magazines and anthologies on the subjects of mythology and culture. She spent nearly 15 years in the temporary staffing industry before deciding to become a full time writer. Laura works closely with the Zulu Orphan Alliance volunteering her time and the skills she's learned building her own small house to build a shelter for orphans and other vulnerable children living near Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Laura also enjoys simple living, brewing and drinking craft beer, and popular culture.

Latest posts by Laura LaVoie (see all)

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