For years, 36 years Anders Boisen lived in apartments all over the city of Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest.

Despite a comfortable living situation – a two-bedroom apartment he shared with a girlfriend at the time – and a job in urban development at a local municipality, Boisen told CNBC Make It that he felt confined by his lifestyle and the societal pressure of what was happening. what life should be like at your age.

“I had this claustrophobic feeling about living in an apartment, not so much because of the size of the apartment but more because of the lifestyle that seems so predefined,” he says.

During this time, Boisen came across a YouTube channel featuring people living in tiny homes that were completely off-grid.

“I found it very inspiring and it opened my eyes to a new possibility where I could actually live more economically freely, and I could also live relatively sustainably,” he says. “If I could build a house off the grid and in tune with nature, then maybe I could learn to have a better idea of ​​life on a philosophical level.”

Boisen left his apartment and moved into a house with a garden where he had the idea of ​​building his own little house. In 2018, Boisen began building a mobile one, but it was stolen a few months later.

“It was all over the news here in Denmark, but we couldn’t find it,” Boisen says.

But Boisen didn’t give up and began building another one the following year. In spring 2020, Boisen completed the tiny house after working on it on and off for eight months.

He did most of the construction himself and estimates he spent between 80,000 and 90,000 Danish crowns, or between 11,366 and 12,787 US dollars.

The little house is six and a half meters long and two and a half meters wide, or 21.3 feet long by 6.6 feet wide.

At the time, Boisen was living on land he had been renting for more than a year.

To finish building the tiny house, Boisen quit his job and focused on the project full time. He also created a Facebook group to share his journey, and some of the people he met there helped with the building process along the way.

“I realized how personalized this house already was because I had built most of it myself, so it was filled with my own memories and personal decisions,” he says. “But there were also the memories of all the people who came to help us. It was qualitatively very different from what I imagine, asking a contractor to build a house for you.”

Since leaving his job, Boisen has made a career creating content for YouTube and giving talks across the country about tiny living and off-the-grid living.

Although Boisen has fond memories of building his tiny house, he admits there were many technical problems along the way, including moving the house itself and a hole in the roof.

“At that time, I had not secured the frame sufficiently and so it was not stabilized. When I moved the house, it ended up tilted to one side and it was difficult to correct it by what’s next,” says Boisen.

“It was a setback and I was a little disappointed. In my dreams I dreamed of burning down the house so that I would get rid of the problem. But, of course, I didn’t do it, but it was very stressful,” he adds with a laugh.

Despite these challenges, Boisen says there is no greater feeling than seeing the little house he built be finished.

“There were some bad things, but it was a nice feeling knowing that I was creating something that would be my home. You feel that giddiness because you’re so excited about the things you’re making. It was like directing a dream.” » said Boisen. “I wasn’t just building something like a roof over my head; I was actually building a dream. It was like entering a new chapter of my life and all the things that will hopefully follow in this life.”

In September 2021, Boisen purchased approximately 17,800 square feet of land outside Aarhus for 160,000 Danish crowns, or US$22,791, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

“It’s at the end of a dirt road and there are no immediate neighbors. There’s also a meadow and a large forest next to it, so it feels like it’s much bigger than ‘It really isn’t,’ says Boisen.

A month later, Boisen had the small house moved from the property he was renting to the land he now owns.

Living off-grid in a forest

Boisen made sure his tiny home was equipped for off-grid living, which he defines as “self-sufficient in water, electricity and heat.”

The house has a rainwater filtration system, solar panels and batteries to store energy.

Boisen has lived in the small house for more than four years now and says he has run out of power several times and water only once.

Now he monitors his water tank closely, takes short baths if his tank starts to run low on water, and seeks to conserve water in other ways.

“I tend to think I need power, but then I wonder if it’s the lack of power or the amount of energy I’m actually using and that’s part of my journey,” he says .

In the winter, Boisen uses less energy and lives more sustainably by storing some products like milk and condiments outside in the cold instead of using electricity for a refrigerator.

“The goal of this house is to teach me to consume fewer resources and that was part of the idea from the beginning,” says Boisen. “I wanted to see how far it is possible to continue living comfortably in a small house. My journey involves not only making the small house livable, but also adjusting my need for resources and my behavior. The house stimulates my behavior of way way.”

Boisen also has a permaculture garden – which Better homes and gardens defined as one who “helps build soils and does not rely on synthetic inputs” – where he grows potatoes, several berries, apples, leeks, cabbage and different kinds of herbs.

“I try to plant permanent plants that will give me a yield for as long as possible,” he says. “I will increase all my food production because at the moment it is only at an experimental level, but from next season I will significantly expand the size of the garden.”

Boisen says growing his own food is an extension of his initial journey of trying to be self-sufficient.

“On a personal level, it teaches me to be more in tune with the seasons and with nature in general. To be able to grow food, I need to learn a lot about gardening. It brings me joy that each season has its own types of foods, so you always look forward to eating something and you always eat local and seasonal foods.

Boisen uses his food scraps to feed his chickens and composts them to use the soil in his garden.

Since completing initial work on the tiny house, Boisen has added a mud room and upgraded the water filtration system. He is preparing to build a new house and sell this one.

Boisen says the plan is to build a smaller, more practical house to start a family and continue living an independent life: “I’m kind of preparing for the future.”

He plans to finish the new house next spring.

USD conversions were made on November 15, 2024, using OANDA conversion rates. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.

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