Welcome to the Tweed Trends podcast. Hey, Evette, what's trending today? Hey, I'm Evette. Hey, girl.
And you are tuned in to Tweed Trends. It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today. Hey there, welcome back to Tweed Trends. We all know that big things come in small packages, but what about the ones that are tiny?
Let's get started. There are so much going on, so many things that I want to talk about, like the fact that yesterday was National Book Lever's Day, Tomorrow's National Sun and Daughter's Day, Quentin Tarantino's been holding a grudge against his mother for the past 46 years, and then on top of all of that, Governor Cuomo resigns. There are so many things I can be talking about, but there's one thing that caught my eye and just grabbed me, and I'm like, you know what? This is what today's episode is going to be about.
And what is it? Tiny Houses. Well, how did we even get to that? Well, let me tell you.
Saw this thing on Twitter where they were saying that Elon Musk lives in a tiny house. Now, I'm going to assume that he does not always live in a tiny house, meaning 24-7. Now, it's one of his many houses, I'm sure, but the fact that he lives in a tiny house nonetheless is pretty dawg, amazing, because when you think about it, a tiny house, by definition, is a house that is less than 600 square feet. Now, you've got some people living in New York that are like, wait a minute, my studio apartment is less than that.
Does that mean I live in a tiny house? Well, by definition, yeah, I guess so. However, these tiny houses are in tiny spaces. They're on plots of land, and this one in particular with Elon Musk, this tiny house was actually designed to be like your guest quarters at your regular house.
So you've got your house, and then, say in the backyard, you have this tiny house as like a mother-in-law suite, or like I said, a guest house, something like that. But I have to admit it, I'm very intrigued by tiny houses. I'm intrigued by the people who live in tiny houses, because as I sit in my in-home studio right now, recording today's episode, I think to myself, could I live in a tiny house? And I wonder, do you think the same thing?
Could you live in a tiny house? So let's jump right on here and talk about the Casita. That's the tiny house that supposedly Elon Musk lives in from time to time. It's made by a company called Boxable, and it goes for $50,000.
Well, some people had a few things to say about that because they're like, wait a minute, if you do the math, that's $133 per square foot. That right there is not cost effective. However, let's back up a few steps here, and let's think about it. Their argument is they can get a regular size house for less money per square foot.
And this is true, yes you can. However, you can get a tiny house for $30 per square foot. It's not going to happen. So basically, you're comparing apples and oranges.
When you make that argument that the tiny house is not cost effective because it costs so much per square foot. Simple as that. Now, you do have to keep in mind, there are other costs that go into getting this particular type of tiny house, because now mind you, it was not designed to be a freestanding house just for random people to live in. This particular house was designed to be a secondary dwelling on a property.
So this is for those people who have money and say the mother-in-law is going to need to move in. Well, you get her a quesita. Mama'sita, get any quesita. And you call it a day.
She's living in your backyard. And y'all are good because she's got amenities. Y'all, let me tell you what comes in this thing. You get a full-sized kitchen.
You get a large fridge, double sink with a view of an dishwasher, microwave, shaker cabinetry. You know what shaker cabinetry is? So kind of just look straight through. In the bathroom, a deep shower and tub.
Now it's a combo, so it's not two separate things. But still, you get a tub and a shower, a vessel sink, large countertop, backlit mirror, sliding glass barn door. Who doesn't love a barn door? OK.
Then the living areas, or the living space, is 19.5 feet by 19.5 feet, 375 square feet. The ceilings are over 9 feet tall. There's 8 foot huge doors and windows. Plank composite flooring, built-in ironing center, washer and dryer, heating and air conditioning.
Hello. You don't even have to see this person. So I'm not even going to lie to you. My first impulse when I saw this was Airbnb.
Yes, you can live in my backyard for a small fee and pay for my little tiny house. Sure. Come on, bring it. Bring the loot.
Let's do this, you know? But once again, this is not the only kind of tiny house. There are so much more to the tiny house business. You would be amazed.
If your tiny house game is not on point and you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the solution. Go online and look up this particular website. It's tinyliving.com, T-I-N-Y-L-I-V-I-N-G.com. And you will not only find information about various tiny houses, but you can also find out information about the builders of these houses.
And you can look by state to see what companies are in, which states check out your own state and see who the builders are there. And who knows? You may decide you want to buy one of their tiny houses. But the thing, the icing on the cake here, is they have a link for festivals, y'all.
There are tiny house festivals. I want to go to one. And I'm mad because I just not too long ago came back from Seattle and August 21st and 22nd in Seattle, Tacoma area. They have the great American tiny house show.
And so I went to the lake, was checking it out and everything. And it's kind of interesting because they have a section that's like, why? And so they start off with why come? Like, why come to this expo, this festival?
And basically, they describe it as an educational experience. And I can agree with that. I can definitely go along with that. But then the other part is about the why in terms of the tiny house movement.
And it's awesome because they're talking about the housing crisis. So it's not so much like, hey, rich people come here and find ways to get richer. This is, these things were created to try to help a housing problem. And I guess, for me, the disconnect, though, is it really helping the homeless?
Are homeless people getting the tiny homes that they need? Because when I tell you that when I was out in Seattle, seeing these tent cities was hurtful. It was amazing where you're just driving along and then all of a sudden there's a piece of land. And all you see are just random various color-shaped style tents that people are living in.
Just right there, kind of like how when I lived in Japan, you could be walking down the street, and then all of a sudden, there's a shrine or a temple. Well, here, I felt like in Seattle, it's like all of a sudden, there's a tent city. Just boom, right there, in the middle of nowhere. So they talk about different laws and ordinances and everything, and actually how you can become a part of the tiny house movement and actually consider joining THIA, which is the tiny home industry association.
It's a nonprofit. And basically, part of their mission is to legalize tiny homes in various places, because there are some states, some areas that are not welcoming to tiny homes. And I don't know, that's kind of unfortunate. But the idea is when people gather to educate themselves about the possibilities and options that are available, and in this case, we're talking about the options for housing people, then that's when change happens.
So I feel like the THIA has a great goal in mind. And so maybe they just need more people to join in on the effort. So the Great American Tiny House shows, they look at them as being vital to the education of not just regular Joe Schmoes, like me, but for elected officials and everybody else who can have a great, great deal of effort, and not effort, but influence towards making this housing crisis just kind of go away. OK, so that was today's episode of Tweechrins.
I hope you thoroughly enjoyed it. And I hope it sparked a little something inside of you to make you decide to say, hey, you know what? Let me do a little bit of research on tiny homes and see what it is that's going on with them, what am I missing, what don't I know, and let me get educated on this particular topic, and how it's supposed to try to help society and the world on a whole. Speaking of that, a way that you can help is you can make a donation to Tiny Home Industry Association.
They are a 501c6 nonprofit advocacy organization. And their whole goal is working to unify a movement by developing standards and promoting best practices in the construction, placement, and widespread use of tiny homes as permissible and permanent housing for those people in need. So it's a great cause. Check them out.
You can find them on Facebook. If you look on Twitter, you're going to be like, they might not be a real thing. I'm thinking they tried Twitter and said, no, we're not going to do this. If you go to their actual website, you'll see that Facebook is the only social media link that they have on there.
So if you go on Facebook and look for at Tiny Home Industry Association, you'll find them. You can read about them, see what they've been doing. Check out their websites and then some messages do what you do. But just actually consider helping a few dollars.
Yeah, that might not mean much to you. But in the grand scheme of things, a few dollars always can help out. All right, guys. Have a great day.
And I'll see you guys back here again on Thursday. Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter.