Unbelievable Tiny House Living: Rainwater, Solar Power, and Off-Grid Simplicity

Hey y'all, welcome back to Alternative House channel. Esther has been living already three years in her off-grid tiny house. She's living in tiny house village with other seven tiny houses and today she's gonna give a tour of her house. Let's have a look. Hi guys, welcome to my home. I've been living here since December 2021 and as you can see we just had a bit of rain which I'm happy about because I collect the rainwater right here. So you live completely off the grid? As much as possible, yeah not completely. Like you have a backup possibility? We do have backup possibility, yeah. But you try to keep it as long as possible off the grid? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you collect rainwater? I collect rainwater, it's right here underneath my porch basically. Two tanks? Two tanks. Quite big tanks. I think I've got about 2000 liter. Okay. Obviously in summer sometimes you notice that it gets quite dry. Yeah. For long periods of time. So then I need to, well you could top it off but I've never had, I never had to. Oh you always stay with the rainwater? Yes, yeah. So for how long it lasts, 2000 liters, if it's dry? Never ended. Never ended, yeah, yeah. I was lucky, yeah. But I live, I live alone so that that definitely helps. And you have a solar panels on the roof and on above the porch? Yeah, not on my roof, only on the porch. Six solar panels. Yeah. Provides me with enough, definitely enough energy for say spring, summer, autumn. Winter, in winter we have possibility of going on the grid. Yeah. Because yeah, not a lot of sun. Yeah, this is Dutch weather. It's raining right now as well. And you know it's like 400 watts each solar panel? Now you're asking me very technical questions. I think it's written. I have looked into it, but I think I got about, my capacity is around 1400 in total. Yeah. And then the roof you have for the warm water? Yes, solar boiler. Yeah, it's, I love it. It's very, very good. It's easy. And in winter it works as well? Well, it depends. If it's sunny. No sun, no hot water, but I've noticed that you only need like a bit of sun. And nearly each day, even in winter, you will have a bit of sun there. It's exceptional for not having any sun at all. And they have some storage boiler as well, or it's just what is there on top? Yes, the storage is in here. And so it's like 100 liter tank or something like that? Unfortunately, I don't know, to be honest. I guess it's also because I bought the house through somebody else. And yeah, I didn't really look into all the technical details of my home. I'm still learning. But yeah, it's a big tank. It's huge. It's like just as big as the shed. So it's generating their hot water, it's circulating all the time, and it saves it in that boiler. This is my cat. This is Ruby. Ruby, you want to say hi? Come say hi. She's a bit shy of the camera. She won't come over and say hi. I have quite a big garden, I would say. My garden is definitely bigger than my home, which I love. So I've got 50 square meters around my home, which is my private space. And then obviously you've got the community, yeah, huge park around your home, which is amazing. But yeah, this is my garden. I'm really proud of my beautiful roses. I've got strawberries. So something was here and then something you planted. Yeah, some things I've been planting. Yeah, I'm still learning gardening. I'm also trying to find the balance between trying to grow stuff, but also let nature do its part, basically. So I'm always trying to find the right balance with that. And I like the way you're recycling stuff, like the shoes. Yes, yeah. So that's nice to tell you. So I was on the Camino to Santiago in 2012, which is the pilgrimage. I walked for about five weeks. But on my way, I saw people recycling shoes in all sorts of, how do you say, possibilities, basically. And then, yeah, there were also shoes where people left their shoes when their shoes were broken and then they put plants in it. And I thought, oh, that's nice. You know, why not recycle them in this way? And these are the shoes you hiked with or not? Yeah, I've been hiking with these. Yeah, for a long time. Not to Santiago. No, no, no, but it could have been. Yeah, yeah. No, not to Santiago. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I love my porch. I think I spend most of my time outside my home, even in winter, because I just love being outside. I think tiny living is also about being part of nature, but also realizing we are nature. We're not just divided, you know, it's not one or the other. And I think people really have to get back to that connection. We kind of lost it. Some people lost it. Especially in the 50s. Which is why this world is in a mess, I think. But yeah, I think I also had to learn through living here. I keep evolving. What is the size of the house? The size of the house? Six by two and a half meters. As you can see, this is the entrance. So this is where I put my coat and up here, some storage, which is quite nice for winter winter hats, which we don't need right now. Almost we do. Almost, yeah, I know. It's really cold. I know, yeah. And then the next day can be too hot. But yeah, welcome to climate change, unfortunately. Yeah, so this is where my solar panel system is. So the batteries and everything is right in there. So it's under the stairs. Yeah. And up here I can see how much I'm using. So batteries completely charged, because this morning we did have a bit of sun. Do you know the capacity of battery? Again, technical question. No, sorry. But it's enough. I don't use a lot of electricity because I don't have a TV. I don't have Wi-Fi, no washing machine, no dryer, because we have a shared washing machine and dryer at the community, basically. So, yeah, I don't use a lot. So for me, it's definitely more than enough. I mean, I would prefer to be completely off grid. That would be my next project, basically. That's the wardrobe. Yeah, it's where I put a lot of stuff, like the vacuum. I'm not sure if I want you to see this. I mean, I'm still trying to get off the plastic, but it's not always possible. Yeah, right in there. On display. I'm only human. So it's like recycling. Yeah, this is for recycling. But still, you know, I think also by living here, I am much more conscious about how much do I collect? How much I'm still using? Do I still buy stuff in plastic? Yes. Is it hard to get changed? Yes. But slowly, bit by bit, step by step. Sometimes I'm also struggling when I'm at a supermarket. I want to buy completely organic food, for example, and veg, but often it's wrapped in plastic. So it's like, yeah, then I have, well, of course, you have a choice, but then I choose to buy it in plastic, but it's organic. So trying also to learn more about my allotment. I can show you if you like later. But this is from two months ago. So this is everything from two months, including paper. So not too bad. It's amazing. It's getting better, getting better step by step. I'm definitely not so good at it. When you travel, it's difficult to find the plastic free stuff. Of course. Yes, yes, yes. You have to know places. Yeah. Here's a, this is nice to show you. So this is from the solar boiler. So right now we have, we're collecting, it's 68 degrees up there and in my boiler down there it's 52. So I can have a shower, a hot shower. So even though it was raining, I still have hot water. And with like this, how long shower you can take until it's getting cold? I've never had a moment where it got cold, but then I take short showers. Yeah. I'm a very practical person. So when I take a shower, it really is just to get clean, get my hair washed and that's it. And how you came up with the idea to buy a tiny house? Was it a long time in your agenda before you found this house? No. I think the lifestyle was definitely something I've been looking into for a long time. Like I was traveling a lot and then did a bit of moving, working on organic farms all over the world. I've always known that, oh yeah, this is something I really, really somewhere down the line want to start doing. Then I lived in England for about eight years. I've been abroad for 10 years in total, away from the Netherlands. And then when I came back, somebody told me about tiny houses. I've actually never came across it while I was traveling and living abroad. Yeah. And then when somebody told me about this type of living, I thought, oh, that's it. I mean, I was very worried that going back to Holland, going back to my roots would be extremely boring. No more challenges, even though I've now learned that actually being back to your basics can be very challenging, but that's where growth starts. I think what I really like about it is that I can be on my own. I can close my door, have my own home, have my own garden. But if I want, I can go outside and meet my amazing neighbors. Like last night, there was a small party with silent disco around the bonfire. And yeah, it's amazing to have that on your doorstep. Still gives me the feeling of, you know, I'm free and I'm kind of the feeling that I had while I was traveling. I have now brought it back home, basically. Tiny community and at the same time you have your own space. Yeah, the sense of freedom maybe as well. Yeah. And this is your kitchen. This is my kitchen. Yes. Yeah, I love my kitchen because I love cooking. So I also love the view from my kitchen. And so I've got like, this is my stove. It's gas. So still on gas, but hey ho. And would be nice to show you maybe as well. This is something I use while I cook as well. I bring everything to the boil. I put it in here. I close it, lock it, and then in 45 minutes it will be ready. And I used to have this back in the days because I used to heat food in that way and keep it warm. I like cooking. Unfortunately, you've got block sink, you know, so that's something to attend to. That's one of those chores that will never end. I guess in a normal house, you'll come across chores as well like when you own the house, you have to deal with it. Exactly, you have to deal with your own. Literally, in my case, also literally deal with your own shit because we got a compostable toilet. So yeah. I also want to show you some more storage if you like. Sure. It's right here. I love it because this is where I keep like my winter coats and my winter boots. Oh, it's very spacious. It's built in. It's nice, huh? I love it. Yeah. Yeah, because I know some people were minimalist when they choose this lifestyle. They really choose to have less stuff, less material. Unfortunately, I'm a collector, so I'm not very good at being a minimalist. You still don't have much storage there, so. No, true. But I think I can declutter a bit more than I do right now. But then also I find it hard sometimes to let go. For example, I was collecting a lot of shells for my travels. Yeah, that's something precious, right? So, but yeah. You can make a wall of collections. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a shell. Yeah, yeah. And you have a fridge? Yes, a small fridge. So this is the most consumptive electricity probably? Yes, yes, yeah. I was looking into not having a fridge. Okay. But yeah, maybe if I ever move and start all over again, you know, maybe if I can have like a permanent tiny house, then I would definitely want to look into keeping everything cool in the ground. This is my living room. Yeah, there's a huge fireplace. There is a fireplace. Right now my chair is blocking the fireplace because I'm not obviously not using it. Yeah. Actually, I've only been using this last winter once because I have an electric heater, a small one. But because it's a small tiny space, it heats up quite quickly. Also, I've noticed when the sun's out, my house gets warm as well, which is quite nice. You have many windows. Nice. Yeah, I love all the light coming in. Yeah, I like that because I want to have a feeling that I am also connected to outside. I'm an art psychotherapist. I'm used to working with people through art, basically connecting with them. But I'm also now trying to find my way in my home. How can I make this a nice space to be creative as well? Because when it's small, sometimes I feel it's too small to like an artist really do their thing. You need a studio. Yes. Next project. Next tiny house. But this works. I mean, when I do just illustrating and small drawings, then it's perfectly fine. So I created a little space here to work at. Also, when I'm sometimes do a bit of writing on the laptop. So I put my laptop there. You see people cycling, people walking. It's quite nice. You can hear them chitchat. And I guess that table is extendable. Yes, the table is extendable. When I have visitors coming over, it's obviously small, this space. So sometimes what I do is I go to our little glass house on the community and I have dinner with them there because it's a bit bigger. It's like an extended living room, basically. And again, make use of all the space. So I can store some stuff here. Here's all my photo books from travels. I like reading. But again, when I read, I also get books from mini libraries around the village. So we kind of, it's quite a nice system in Holland. Everybody shares or not everybody, but some people share their books. So you go there, get a book. And then when you've done reading, somebody else can read so you pass it on. And there is one more door, which is not often used, I guess. Not right now, no. But in summer, I definitely open these doors and then, yeah, as you can tell, you can't open it right now. For extra airflow. Airflow and look at the view. It's amazing when you sit here and you look at this. I feel very rich, basically. Got an extra loft. So when I have somebody staying over, they can stay there. Also, I got a bit of stuff up there. And my cat Ruby, as you can tell, this is like a little bridge for her so she can connect with me in my living room and then she'll go up there and she'll sleep there. So she basically got her own bedroom. She's spoiled. But you can get up there by going up these stairs. This house has been built with bio-based material. Yeah. Except obviously for the windows. Plastic windows. Plastic windows, yes. Got a tiny bathroom. With a dry toilet. It's a split toilet, no? I don't have a split toilet. I'm the only one at the community without. Most have split. Yeah. Again, nice view from the window. Small shower. It's like regular 80 to 80, something like that. Yeah. And you use sawdust for the dry toilet? I use sawdust carvings. Yeah. Yeah. And then I empty the bucket outside in our bigger compostable. So you're actually composting it and. Yes, that's right. Leave it for two years and then we can use it in the garden as compost. I'm quite happy with having normal stairs going up to my bedroom because when you're tired you don't want to go up a ladder or something every day. Yeah. So I'm quite happy with this. So you go up and then there's my bedroom. And as you can tell, I can even sit down while I breathe in my bed. But also it's quite nice when you're getting changed, you can just stand straight up. Right. So I quite like that. Beautiful painting. It's not one of my own paintings. It's a client of mine made it. And yeah, I absolutely love it because it really reminds me of my travels. I love the sea. I love this color, like turquoise and blue. So yeah, I quite like waking up to it in the morning and going to bed dreaming about. Yeah. And the skylight brings a lot of light inside. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I love it. It's great. And how big is the bed? Is it a twin size bed? 160 or 140? Well, actually, again, it's something that was already here when I bought the house. Yeah, it's definitely for two people. So I'm very lucky because I'm on my own. So except for when Ruby sleeps next to me, then she'll take up most of the space. Give it to me. All right. Thanks for watching. In the second video, you can find more information about the community and how they're living here and what they have around. I will leave Facebook link in the video description below and see you in the next one. Cheers. I won't be on there as much, but yeah, if you want to send me a message, go ahead.