If you're getting tired of living in a big house with too many rooms to clean, or you're looking to considerably downsize, then listen up.

Mauao Performing Arts Centre will host an alternative living panel called Housing Alternatives on February 22 at their venue at 11 Totara Street, Mt Maunganui.

The panel – which will address ideas including tiny houses, eco villages, container houses, permaculture and more – costs $5 cash only for entry and will start at 6pm.

Local container house enthusiast and container conversionist Tessa Mackenzie will be there to help convert people to the idea of living inside a shipping container; something Tessa has done in the past and highly recommends.

'It makes you realize what is important and what isn't. To be able to get out of the debt cycle is a huge positive.

'It's a way for people to move forwards without having to work to live. You can get off the grid with solar power and not have those utility bills,” says Tessa.

'They're portable, and that's the thing with a tiny house too – you can fit them on a trailer and go park them up elsewhere. It uses a lot of innovation as you're using things for more than one purpose.

'The other thing is that they can be very well-insulated so the heating costs can be very low.”

The panel has generated a lot of interest – more than 140 people have already registered on Facebook as going, more than 600 are interested in attending.

Tessa Mackenzie will speak alongside host of the ‘Living Big in a Tiny House' channel on YouTube Bryce Langston and permaculture specialist Catherine Dunton-McLeod.

For more information visit the Facebook page by searching ‘Housing Alternatives: Tiny Houses, Eco Villages & Permaculture' on Facebook.