I live in a hobbit home – showering in winter isn’t great, but my solution is better than driving 40 mins to a gym
THE cold never bothered this tiny home owner, as she has revealed a key hack allowing her and other travelers to shower outside in the middle of winter.
Not only does this trick keep her warm, the eccentric truck homeowner said it saves her a 40 minute drive to the closest gym or recreation center where she could shower.
Kai (@the_ugly_truckling) has amassed more than one million followers on TikTok and around 122,000 on Instagram as she regularly posts about her life living in a tiny house built out of a truck.
Kai, from British Columbia, Canada, started building the house when she was just 25-years-old and has lived in it for several years with her partner Ben.
Also referred to as her “Hobbit House,” the tiny home has allowed Kai to save thousands of dollars on rent and other living expenses.
She previously told her followers that growing costs of rent is what drew her to the project in the first place.
Having lived in the home for many years, some have questioned how Kai goes about everyday activities – like showering.
She revealed to viewers on TikTok in July, 2023 that she has exclusively showered outside for the last five years.
While it can be quite enjoyable during the summer, she said it can get quite cold during the winter.
Kai has her home parked on the wooded land of a friend, whom she pays rent to.
She said temperatures in the area have gotten as low as -18 degree Celsius – which is just below 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
She revealed that while she can bear showering in cold temperatures, she will typically not shower outside if temperatures drop below -10 degrees Celsius – around 14 degrees Fahrenheit.
“That’s when I stop showering outside and I just start going to a local rec center or something like that, because it’s pretty painful,” she said.
However, anything warmer than that, she opts to shower outside with one key trick.
“Basically what you do is you just get the water ripping hot, get it as hot as you can so that it’s basically scalding,” she said.
“Run inside, take off all your clothes, run outside, get into the water.”
Kai explained that as long as you stand underneath the piping hot water, “it’s not that bad.”
“Getting in and out of the shower, that can be kind of painful.”
She went on to compare it to using a jacuzzi or hot tub at a ski resort.
“It’s the same concept, you’re just running into hot water and then running back out again. And once you’re warm and your skin is warm, it’s not that bad at all,” she said.
In other social media posts, Kai revealed that she is also able to stay warm in the winter due to a wood stove.
She shared on Instagram that the stove typically runs until around 2 a.m.
At the time, she noted she was considering purchasing an auxiliary diesel heater for when she is asleep or away from the tiny home.
Additionally, the home stays fairly warm due to rock wool insulation.
Kai revealed that the insulation was easy to install and is also fireproof, alleviating any safety concerns.
However, she warned that mice “love” to steal it for their nests nearby.
While she has figured out how to stay warm in the cold Canadian winters, Kai warned that the most important thing to handle was stopping her water from freezing.
She explained that initially she used pipe insulation for her water heater.
However, when temperatures dropped below -18 degrees Celsius, the insulation wasn’t enough.
Since then, she has installed heat cables all over her water lines underneath the tiny home, as well as additional pipe wrap and insulation to prevent it from freezing.
“Knock on wood!” Kai said.