Do you have a tiny house parade that you don’t want to get rained on? Well, stop reading right now and pick another one of my posts. If you don’t mind a little sprinkle from a sky that is falling, read on.

Once upon a time, before konmari, this suburban house-dweller named me was fascinated with the tiny house trend/movement and wanted to be a part of it. I casually researched it for 18 months. My fascination came from a desire to escape my piles and bins and rooms of stuff. I imagined what I would do with my (newly abundant) free time if my household responsibilities were reduced to a couple hours a week. I really thought my situation needed a radical solution.

Wow, am I glad I konmaried instead.

Here are 5 things I found out about tiny house living:

#1 Tiny house living really only works in mild climates.

No surprises there. I would be spending a lot of time outside. Have you ever noticed how the tiny house photos are staged as if the resident is having coffee but doesn’t show many other activities going on?

#2 I couldn’t find substantial financial savings.

For me at least. I already live in a budget-friendly location. The savings only come with successfully finding borrowed land on which to park. If I couldn’t find free residential space on which to park, I would be stuck renting space at an RV park. Those rents rivaled my mortgage payments.

#3 It’s a revolving door.

Tiny houses for sale were usually used for less than 2 years, yet they averaged about $30k-$45k to purchase. To me, that was evidence that tiny house living is sort of a revolving door and no one stays with that lifestyle over the long term.

#4 I would have to find a certain trifecta of living …

Tiny house owners were constantly seeking the next free space on which to park. And most of them were dependent on their wifi and tech savvy to work from their tiny homes to pay expenses so the free space had to be semi-rural in a mild climate and yet have great wifi connection. That’s tough trifecta to find.

#5 I would not be as far off the grid as I originally intended.

Overall, tiny house living is promoted as being “off-the-grid” when it is more accurately “borrowing someone else’s grid” because tiny house dwellers use someone else’s wifi and city services like trash disposal, water resources and so on when they park on a host’s space for free or at a discount.

By contrast, my konmari-ing has given me that uncluttered living I thought tiny houses would bring. The solution was not so radical as I thought. Pare out the junk, leave the joy. That was all it took for living more simply.