By: Rose Burke, Guest Blogger from Tiny House Society.

One of the perks of living tiny is it allows you to move out of overcrowded, noisy cities. You can buy or rent a small piece of land out in the country, and become one with nature. You’ve lived in a closet-sized studio apartment in the city, so you’re prepared for the tight quarters provided by a tiny house. What you might not be prepared for is country living. While it offers a lot of advantages, it will also require some adjusting on your part. Before you pack up your tiny house on wheels and hit the road, take some of these country living tips into consideration.

Shopping Won’t Be Easy

If you’re used to hopping in your car to quickly run errands or walking to a nearby market for food, you’re in for a big surprise. Country living means everything is more spread out. A lot more. Going to a supermarket can easily turn into a day trip. For this reason, it’s best to do a bit of planning. If you’re going into town, get as much done while you’re there as possible. Buying in bulk might not be an option for you since tiny houses are small enough as it is. You might want to consider starting a vegetable garden and growing some food at home.

Consider Eco-Friendly Utility Options

If your tiny house needs to be hooked up to a local water supply and sewage system, you might be out of luck. Unlike highly populated cities, the towns don’t automatically take care of these things for you. If you buy a piece of land, then you might want to consider installing a septic tank and water line. However, if you’re renting, you’re likely on your own. Fortunately, many tiny houses are built for living off the grid these days, and there are a ton of eco-friendly options. Here are a few examples:

• Water Tanks
• Composting Toilets
• Solar Power Electricity
• Wind Turbine Power

While you’re probably able to hook up to the power grid while out in the country, it’s important to have a backup. If there’s ever an outage, it can take a few days to have it fixed depending on where you live.

Living within a tiny house community will make your adjustment to country living infinitely easier. You’ll find that they’re all extremely helpful when it comes to all things tiny. They’ll probably have utility hookups that you can use and maybe even a shared garden. Instead of going at this new lifestyle alone, you’ll have a team of like-minded individuals to back you up. Living out in the country can get rather lonely as well. Joining a community will help to prevent that and bring more excitement to your experience.

Monitor Unmaintained Roads

When you live in a city or the suburbs, the government takes care of the roads. They take care of potholes (eventually), snow removal, and fallen trees. That’s not always the case out in the country. For this reason, you might need to check up on the roads leading to your tiny home on occasion. If there’s ever an accident, you’ll want emergency vehicles to be able to get to your house quickly. Additionally, you’ll want visitors to be able to drive over without any issues. Find out who’s responsible for road maintenance nearby, especially if you plan on staying awhile.

Keep Emergency Equipment On Hand

Even with clear roads, it will take longer for emergency vehicles to reach you than what you’re used to in the city. There’s no traffic, but your town fire department could be miles away. Always have a fire extinguisher on hand as well as a first aid kit. Keep fresh batteries in your fire and burglar alarms. You might even want to consider setting up a few security cameras.

Summary

While adjusting to the country will take time, being prepared will help put your mind at ease. Learn as much as you can about the area you’re heading to long before you get there. This way you can map out its distance from any stores and learn about the towns general regulations. You might find that people out in the country are friendly and always willing to help, but you shouldn’t rely on that. The ability to be self-sufficient is key when you’re living in a tiny house out in the countryside.

Learn more about United Country Real Estate by visiting www.UnitedCountry.com.