The Tiny Budget

We've been living in the tiny house for 4.5 months. Many of our readers have been asking, "How much does it cost to live in a tiny house?"  We thought we'd outline some of our expenses here to give you an idea of what our monthly TINY budget looks like.

Propane (9 gallon tank)  

We use propane to heat our water. We chose an instant hot water heater so I never have to take a cold shower.

Propane also runs our full size stove and oven. I love to make whole made food so it gets used every day.

MONTHLY TOTAL: $10.00   

Electricity  

I was so curious about how much our electrical bill would be. Electricty runs our 8 lights, heater, appliances and almost full size fridge (10.1 cubic units). Our monthly total is based on summer months so the coming winter months will cause an increase, but we also have our beloved wood stove - the Kimberly to offset our heat bill. 

MONTHLY TOTAL: $13.00

Water

It's included in our lot price so we have no idea. Sorry.  

Lot

We work in the greater Seattle area and housing is so expensive. We love our current RV spot.

MONTHLY TOTAL: $525.00

The few things listed above are what changed when we started tiny living. I know I found it hard to gain any idea of what kind of budget changes would happen when I chose to live tiny. One thing that has remained the same is our food budget. I had feared I wouldn't be able to store bulk food and therefore my budget would increase. Surprisingly, the budget is still the same and Costco is still one of my favorite places to shop. 

Obviously, choices you make about your design in your tiny house will affect your budget; for example propane vs. wood heat or solar vs. electric. But I think its great to have an idea of what others are doing to keep their costs in a comfortable range for them.