DIY Throne composting toilet with kids

Meet the @wearethathippiefamily!

They used an off-the-shelf composting toilet for their off-grid home, but realized quickly that when it comes to urine diverters “They are not all the same”. They upgraded to a DIY Throne composting toilet and their verdict is:

“Durable and easy to clean it makes a huge difference.“

What did life look like before you moved into your off-grid tiny house? 

We wanted to be home owners but didn’t want to wait years to get into the housing market. Now we are in our mid 30s and mortgage free home owners. I would love to live this way forever but with the kids growing I do see us buying a small house in the future. But I would love to continue to strive to be off grid.

Tell us more about your off-grid tiny house!

My husband built our tiny house himself. It’s on a 28’ trailer. We have been parked on Vancouver island for the last 4 years and love our spot. We have a very reasonable pad rental of $1000. It does include our water and power.

Tell us about something you love about your space! 

I love our sleeping loft. We have 3 beds up there. A queen and two crib mattresses. I love waking up next to my kids every day and will miss it when they get too old.

What’s something you’d want to change about your space?

If we could go back and change one thing about the tiny house I would add heated floors!

What are the biggest challenges with this type of lifestyle? What are the biggest benefits? 

At first I thought it was challenging to just feel so confined but now I’m so used to it I feel lost in a regular sized house.

We save sooo much money. No only on housing but just general purchases because we don’t have the space to buy things we don’t need.

What does a typical day look like?

I’m a stay at home mom. I spend a lot of time cooking and baking at home and then we try to spend a large amount of our time outside together hiking or exploring

Tell us about your toilet solution! 

We had a different composting toilet to start with. The urine diverter was a plastic funnel so there was a gap between the bucket in the back and the funnel. It was horrible! I won’t describe what happened but I’m sure you can imagine splash back. With the throne toilet we have what I refer to as my dream urine diverter. It leaves no gaps. Keeps the entire toilet more tidy and is very easy to clean. I absolutely love it. I also love how the kit comes with an exhaust fan. It really keeps it smelling fresh in the bathroom.

Our solids go into the back bucket and once it’s full it goes out side to our humanure compost. We don’t use toilet paper we use cloth wipe instead. We plumbed the urine to go through the urine diverter straight into our French drain.

Has your Throne solved the problems you were trying to address? 

This unit was exactly what I was looking for. If I hadn’t already had a flawed system I may not have appreciated how wonderful this one is, but I’m glad I found it!

Finances can be a major crux for getting into this lifestyle. Do you have any advice?

It only has to be as expensive as you want. We chose to build our house with as many secondhand materials as possible and that saved a ton of money. Take it one day at a time.

What is one question you frequently get asked about your lifestyle, and what’s your answer?

People always ask how we live in such a small space with kids. I always say it’s all we know and it’s all they know. We didn’t have kids outside of tiny living and they were born into it. Literally at home in our bathtub. So we have grown together into this tiny house lifestyle

Do you have kids? How are they adjusting to the new space?

Yes I have a 4 year old and a 20 month old. They love living tiny as of right now

Is there anything else you’d want to add?

I have never felt so free as I do living tiny