Ready to Scale Down to an Efficient Tiny House? Here Are 5 We Love — From Just $19K

If you've daydreamed about lightening your load and living the simple life, you're not alone. For more and more people, scaling back is a topic that's hitting home... literally. Tiny houses — pre-fab or pre-built residential structures typically between 100 and 400 square feet — have become a hot ticket for those who want to live a more minimalist, eco-friendly life while cutting costs.

The average price of a tiny house is about $50,000, and most owners of these compact dwellings have no mortgage. Once you invest upfront, the most efficient tiny house is the gift that keeps on giving, conserving resources, reducing clutter and waste, and shrinking your utility bills — even more so if you decide to live off the grid and utilize more environmentally sound resources like solar power and rainwater collection.

Most tiny houses include all the essentials for modern living, including furnishings, but modified to fit in a smaller package. Sleeping lofts might take the place of traditional bedrooms, storage is often built in, and kitchen appliances tend to be smaller and more energy-efficient. The most affordable option is a DIY house, which you build from scratch using plans and materials. Or you can pay a bit more for a pre-fab tiny house, which is built off-site and arrives partially or fully assembled. Some companies will even work with you to design a customized, one-of-a-kind tiny house.

Whether you picture yourself in a rustic cabin or a modern, two-story home, these five efficient tiny houses will open the door to a new way of living. Before you commit, make sure to inquire with your local city or county zoning and building department about obtaining laws and requirements in your area regarding tiny houses, and obtain the necessary permits before building.

The Tumbleweed Aspen is a tiny house on wheels, designed for both mobility and minimalist living. One of Tumbleweed's three pre-fab models (they also do custom homes), the 217- to 390-square foot structure is made using sustainable materials and includes energy-efficient double-paned windows. Walk through the Aspen's front door to a cozy layout with one lofted bedroom, a full kitchen, and a bathroom.

If you're looking for a tiny house you can move right into, this is it: the Aspen arrives fully assembled and fully furnished.Tumbleweed also offers a monthly payment plan with a variable interest rate.

The Rose Cottage is a Home Depot best-seller with two bedrooms and one bath. It's a prefab modular tiny house designed for DIY assembly on-site. It offers 444 square feet of living space, making it perfect as an Accessory Dwelling Unit (a secondary residential home on your property), guest house, or even a home office space.

This one requires a little elbow grease: it's delivered as a kit with pre-cut materials and a sturdy steel frame that won't bend, warp, or twist. Steel is also naturally resistant to termites, rot, mold, rodents and fire, which is a huge plus.

This cabin-style elevated house is a 20-foot luxury modern container home, a durable type of tiny house built using repurposed shipping containers. This specific model features a pitched roof, which allows for high ceilings inside and better water runoff from the roof. This model comes fully assembled and in your choice of sizes, from one to three bedrooms (the 400-square foot two-bedroom is featured here). The bathroom is decked out in modern furnishings with a separate shower, which allows the house to be foldable.

No need to go off the grid with this efficient tiny house: it comes with all its utility hookups, and it's treated to be fireproof and earthquake-proof.

The Desert Skillion is palatial in terms of tiny houses. At 971 square feet, the steel frame structure has two floors, three bedrooms, and three bathrooms. It's surprisingly affordable since it's a prefab home designed for DIY assembly — including handling your own electric and plumbing, should you choose to stay on the grid — and later weatherproofed and sealed (referred to as "dried in").

What the kit does include is all the materials you need to construct the steel frame and exterior. With a modern design and a generous amount of living space, it's great for families or even rental income.

If you value outdoor space, the EMONIA prefab tiny house is right up your alley with its spacious front porch. The modular, ready-to-install container house is designed for easy transportation and can be unfolded and expanded on-site, making it a convenient solution if you want a quick setup.

The unit comes with key elements like walls, doors, and windows already assembled. It also has standard electrical and plumbing systems and a stainless steel frame, so it's earthquake- and fire-proof. And with two bedrooms, its under-$20,000 price tag is a steal.