Tiny homes are nothing new -- from a family of 4 downsizing to 168 square feet[1] in 2008 to a Yale student building her own 144-square-foot dorm that same year[2] . But that definitely changed in 2013, as sites from NPR to CNN started picking up on the trend[3] and taking closer looks at the big benefits from living small[4] .


And what's more interesting than the homes themselves? The amazing stories of the people who live in them. Here are just a few of our personal favorites from this past year.