Every week, almost every day we receive inquiries from Radio-Kreta readers who ask themselves – and above all US – how one can live well and cheaply on Crete. Whether there would be apartments and/or houses to buy, which real estate agency we could recommend, what about property prices etc. etc.
We usually answer with the most important question of all: „What exactly do you actually want?“ and those dreaming of emigrating usually get to the point quite quickly: „less is more!“ Aha!
Well, we neven know whether these people might have sifted through the accumulated junk in their basement or in the attic in order to find some old and long forgotten „treasures“ which they could still sell on a flea market but basically this is what uses to happen: at least one of them hits his/her forehead against the wall, shouting out loud „Oh my God! we have so many things that we will never use again (or – at worst – have never used at all!)!!! HONEY!!! We urgently need to declutter our lives!“
This attack of inspiration concerning all those superfluous material belongings is usually followed by the mental urge to get rid of these „burdens of the past“ that was accumulated over the years. A nice word of this process-to-come is „Downsizing“. Meaning „cleaning up“ the respective life and concentrating on the essentials. Of course the next step is to determine individually what is „essential“ for oneself (and the opinions are not always the same….) but as soon as this step has been taken it is time to implement this „downsizing“ immediately!
„Why do we need 90 square meters of extremely expensive living space for the two of us when we hardly are at home anyway? Didn´t we always wanted nature surrounding us? Who the hell needs three 24-piece coffee and dining sets, 164-pieces cutlery boxes and glasses for red, white and southern wine, for beer, water, sherry, juice, grappa, brandy and the inevitable egg-nogg?!???!??!!!“Why do we need 2 separate bedrooms for guests when nobody ever stays overnight anyway – and if necessary we still have our sofa. Or we just party through!!“
What usually happens at the end of such considerations is that one comes to the conclusion „less is more!“ which means „Let´s declutter our lives, free ourselves from tangible things as well as from mental and spiritual ballast! All that in order to live in a friendly and nice environment that offers you everything that you really need and gives your life a certain sense of purpose!
And this is where „Tiny Houses“ enter the game: small, extremely functional, biodegradable, environmentally friendly and mobile houses that can be easily equipped with solar power, can get their water from natural springs or the public drinking water supply and also can be inhabited in winter thanks to the possibility of equipping these tiny houses with infrared heaters or even ovens (somba).
Well, we are starting such a project – „Tiny Houses on Crete“ with our partner Peter Pedersen (Rolling Tiny Houses) and we are working thoroughly on being able to present you a prototype of such a mobile Tiny House here in Southwestern Crete in the near future.
In case of interest, questions and/or doubts please do not hesitate to contact Jörg on joerg@radio-kreta.de.