Anne Donath's mini wooden house is just 4x4 meters in size. She lives here in a largely minimalist way without electricity, uses hardly any drinking water and her heating costs amount to around 150 euros per year.
Unlike modern Tiny Houses, Anne's wooden house is designed like a normal house: It has a full basement and even an attic as well. However, there is no electricity in this house. Only a small, portable solar panel has recently enabled Anne to charge a power bank, which she can then use to charge her cell phone or power a small lamp above her bed. Otherwise, Anne has adapted her rhythm to daylight or uses candles. She has no other electrical appliances. Instead of a refrigerator, Anne uses her earth cellar and cooks on the small wood stove, which she also uses for heating.
Thus, Anne has hardly any fixed costs: she pays about 20 euros per year for water. She only uses five liters of drinking water a day. Anne gets the rest of the service water from a cistern in her garden. The house is heated with a small wood stove. Due to the small size of the house, the heating costs, or wood costs, amount to just 150 euros a year - even if Anne is at home all year round.
Anne has been living in her small Tiny Holzhaus in Steinach near Bad Schussenried for almost 30 years now. The 74-year-old lives an extremely frugal, sustainable and resource-conserving life, even though that wasn't her main motivation at all. Nor does she lead her lifestyle out of any political, religious or ideological conviction. "I see all of life as an experiment. What is good for me, I continue to do. If something no longer suits me, I will change it.".
Anne had the house specially made for herself. It was important to her that the shape of the quadrilateral be found everywhere. For her, the square has a clear and orderly effect. Anne also attaches great importance to order in other respects: "The hut lives from the fact that the few things that are in it all have their place. It educates you to be tidy."
When she had the cottage built, Anne borrowed 124,000 marks from the bank and sold her car for 10,000 marks. This money was enough to buy the entire property and the wooden house. The prospect of a small pension made her want to finance her own property as soon as possible so that she would no longer have to pay rent. She then managed to be debt-free within seven years and pay off the entire loan amount on her home loan.
Anne passed her first state exam as a primary and secondary school teacher in Bavaria. After moving to Baden-Württemberg, she changed careers and took a three-year nursing exam in psychiatry in Bad Schussenried. There she worked as a nurse and in patient education from 1983 to 2008. In the meantime, Anne enjoys her retirement and the peace of the cottage.
Over winter, however, she has left her small house more often to travel to Greece for warmth - on foot, by bicycle and public transport. "When I leave here, I don't have to worry about anything. I just turn off the tap and that's it. The cabin then gets through the winter on its own." But in spring at the latest, she is drawn back to her little wooden house in the countryside. Anne spends a lot of time in the garden. She also tried gardening once: "But that wasn't for me. I didn't like killing snails. I prefer to just sit here and enjoy the peace and quiet." As long as it is possible for her, Anne would like to continue living like this.
A film by Feline Gerhardt (editing, camera), Oleg Kauz (camera), Cécilia Marchat (sound) and Farina Hasak (editing). Production: EIKON Media GmbH, on behalf of SWR.
00:00 Living on 4x4 meters
01:10 Living without electricity
01:46 Kitchen
03:05 Bathroom
04:20 Water supply
06:00 Bedroom & living room
09:06 Attic
09:36 Garden