Combatting humidity

 

In my experience, there are a couple of downsides of living tiny.

One is the constant back-of-your-mind worry about tiny houses not yet being a legal form of housing. All it will take is one community citizen (who doesn’t even have to be a neighbour) to complain and the municipal bylaw officers are mandated to give me an eviction notice. By getting involved with advocacy, I am doing as much as possible to make it so that tiny house owners won’t have that worry.

The second is humidity. A tiny house is a small and well-insulated space. It is also one where you are doing the same moisture-producing activities that you would in a larger home - cooking, showers, dishes, etc. In the summer, this isn’t an issue as you can just open the windows for air flow. In the winter, however - at least on Vancouver Island - opening the windows lets more moisture in than you are trying to let out.

To combat excess humidity, which can cause harmful mould if left unchecked, I run a dehumidifier regularly. I run the kitchen fan during and after cooking, doing dishes or having a shower. And I pull furniture a few inches away from the wall to allow for better circulation.

This year, I also found another way to combat humidity. I started using Norwex products to reduce the chemicals in my home. Most Norwex products are top-quality microfibre that need only water to clean. Another advantage to them is that they dry quickly. My floor, for example, that used to take about two hours to dry is now dry in 10 minutes. And my towels dry in a couple of hours instead of overnight. As a bonus, these products save me time. I did a comparison weekly clean between my old products and Norwex and went from 28 minutes down to 18. I’m a happy customer - it’s no wonder I decided to come a Norwex consultant. Please contact me or check out  my website - if you would like more information about these healthy-home products.

Rallying the troops!

Despite ongoing efforts and some support, there has not been significant progress in legalizing tiny houses in Canada. Locally, we have worked with planners and Councils in Victoria and Central Saanich. Tiny houses are included in Victoria’s strategic plan and Central Saanich’s official community plan. But there are still many steps to take to make them legal.

Patricia and I had a Zoom meeting with Squamish councillor John French and THAC président Pam Robertson. It felt very positive and I felt more optimistic than I have for a while. “Team Tiny BC” is ready to grow and pursue legalization at a provincial - as well as municipal - level.

Last night, I posted my advocacy story to THAVI’s Facebook page. Now is the time to ramp up our efforts and make our voices heard! Unfortunately, the file is too large to add to this post but can be seen on the FB page “Tiny House Advocates of Vancouver Island”.

2020 - what a year!

 It’s been a long time since my last post - over two years! I guess that means that tiny house life just settled into a regular routine. I’ve now lived in Happinest for over three years. I still love it and consider it the best financial decision I ever made! I was able to pay it off in two years - and now, for the first time in my life, I have disposable income.

During this COVID pandemic, that extra money has allowed me to offer financial assistance to friends and family, support organizations that supply food to low-income families and even to support our healthcare workers. My daughter and I acted as fairie chocolatiers and delivered 175 Emergency Chocolate bars to three local hospitals and over 100 Cozy Comfort meal kits to local organizations. It felt great to be able to make a small difference during such a challenging year!