Angie and Andrew Florence pose in front of their tiny house in Mineral Wells. The shell was built by Amish craftsmen and they completed the inside. (Photo Provided)

MINERAL WELLS — A Mineral Wells couple is living the big life in a small way.

Angie and Andrew Florence live in a tiny house, a 16-by-20 foot home where the prime directive is no clutter.

“You need to look at your needs and not wants,” said Andrew.

Situated on 2 1/2 acres in Mineral Wells, the shell of the home was built by Amish craftsmen in April 2021. The interior was built by the Florences.

“We did it all ourselves,” Angie said.

Angie Florence in the living room of her tiny house in Mineral Wells. The home is 16-by-20. (Photo Provided)

The home, which has a loft with enough space for when Andrew’s three children visit, was completed in July 2021 and the Florences have been living in it since. Total cost was about $33,000 with the shell costing $15,000.

The home is nearly entirely “off grid,” meaning no public utilities except for water, which will be replaced by a storage system that collects rainwater, Angie said.

Electricity is generated from solar cells producing enough watts to power a refrigerator, lights and other appliances. The Florences don’t have a TV and their internet connections are through their cell phone service, Andrew said.

The home has a wood-fired hot water tank and heating also is wood-fired, but there is no air conditioning. The Florences, who cook on the wood stove that also is the heater, grow much of their food and keep bees.

Being off-grid means not having to rely on public utilities in the event something happens, she said.

The living room and kitchen of Angie and Andrew Florence’s tiny house in Mineral Wells. The couple also is endeavoring to be totally off grid and not rely on public utilities. (Photo Provided)

Their lives are chronicled on a YouTube channel, “The Florences’ Off-Grid Journey.” They also have a Facebook page of the same name.

YouTube is an excellent source of information about being off-grid and learning to live in a tiny house, Angie said.

Clutter is the bane to living in a tiny house, according to Angie. Space must be used as efficiently as possible, she said.

“You can’t be a hoarder or a collector of anything,” Angie said.

But an advantage of living in a tiny house is there is less maintenance, she said.

Andrew Florence demonstrates doing the laundry with a hand-operated washing machine on the “The Florences’ Off-Grid Journey,” a series on their channel on YouTube. (Photo Provided)

“I can take 10 minutes and the entire house is clean,” Angie said.

According to Comfyliving.net, 63% of millennials would consider buying a tiny house and 68% of those living in a tiny house own their homes and don’t have a mortgage. More than half of the owners of a tiny house have more money saved than the average person.

The Florences were prepared for living in a tiny house. They lived in separate campers before they got married, Andrew said.

Living in a tiny house changes the mindset and makes people realize that material things aren’t necessarily what is important in life, Angie said.

“You need to self examine yourself,” he said. “You have to be willing to live with the necessities and not the wants.”

It’s a simple life, but there’s more freedom when there is less to worry about, Andrew said. People don’t need all that extra stuff, Andrew said.

“That’s the hardest thing for people to understand,” he said.

Jess Mancini can be reached at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com