Photos from The Martin House Company.

With tough economic times facing many Americans some folks are deciding to go on semi-permanent camping trips in specially designed tiny houses. CNN.com posted an interesting article on the trend and it turns out it’s not just retirees deciding to downsize their living spaces these days.

Tiny houses can be purchased starting around $15K and offer most of the conveniences of a regular home, albeit on a much smaller scale. Since the homes are so small (generally around 100 square feet) they are ultra-portable and some are even built on a trailer for maximum mobility. Some small home residents are parking their pads on land owned by friends or relatives to save money between jobs. Others are flocking to the tiny home lifestyle for the freedom such a small footprint (both literally and financially) affords.

The tiny home trend has been around for a few years now and for many it’s surprising to see the quality of such homes (these aren’t you’re typical mobile homes by any means - stainless steel appliances, granite, etc.). The great thing is these homes can be installed almost anywhere with little environmental impact and some owners are using tiny houses as simple vacation getaway cabins.

It seems that modern materials and conveniences are blurring the line between camping and everyday living - perhaps one day we’ll all be on permanent vacation!

Related posts:

1. Winter ice storm means indoor camping in northeast
2. Camping numbers steady despite higher gas prices
3. Camping as inexpensive family vacation

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 11:43 am and is filed under camping, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.