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Exploring the Tiny House Lifestyle

Tiny House in Portland, Oregon
Tammy [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
Tiny House in Portland, Oregon

By now you’re probably familiar with the so-called “tiny house movement.” The basic idea is to drastically downsize your life so it fits into a small -- like 500 square feet or less -- home. Sometimes they’re on wheels and can be moved, sometimes they’re on foundations like a normal, larger house would be. Part of the movement is about simplifying one’s life and lifestyle, but affordability is also a driving factor. There is still no set definition as to what exactly constitutes a tiny house. But, the tiny-house movement in general promotes financial prudence, and a shift in mindset away from consumerism. We’re joined by a panel of guests to explore this movement, and why one would choose to pursue it.

Terry Records is the admin of a local MeetUp group called the Tiny House Movement of Southwest Florida - she herself lives in a tiny house, and she’s a realtor and real estate broker working to help others find their way into the movement. Dr. Serge Thomas is an Associate Professor for Environmental Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University and a tiny house dweller; and Betsy Barbour currently lives in tiny house up in central Florida but commutes back to our part of the state, for now, because she couldn’t find a community here to live in her tiny house. And Barbara Reilly is Founder and Director of Bildsworth International, which does tiny house inspections and certification.

Copyright 2019 WGCU

Julie Glenn is the host of Gulf Coast Live. She has been working in southwest Florida as a freelance writer since 2007, most recently as a regular columnist for the Naples Daily News. She began her broadcasting career in 1993 as a reporter/anchor/producer for a local CBS affiliate in Quincy, Illinois. After also working for the NBC affiliate, she decided to move to Parma, Italy where she earned her Master’s degree in communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Her undergraduate degree in Mass Communication is from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Mike Kiniry is producer of Gulf Coast Live, and co-creator and host of the WGCU podcast Three Song Stories: Biography Through Music. He first joined the WGCU team in the summer of 2003 as an intern while studying Communication at Florida Gulf Coast University.