Recently, my parents bought a smaller house. And this past week, while on vacation in South Dakota (yeah, I vacation in South Dakota), I got to see it for the first time. During our stay, I was surprised at how often my mother commented that “they just love their smaller house.” I wasn’t so much surprised that she felt that way (I am a minimalist after all), but I was surprised at the frequency. It was a comment that she repeated over and over again during our one-week stay.
Toward the end of the week, I sat down with my mom and asked her to list all of the reasons why she is experiencing more happiness in her smaller house. And this post was written… my first post co-authored with my mother.
12 Reasons Why You’ll Be Happier in a Smaller House by Joshua and Patty Becker (I get top billing because it is my blog).
People buy larger homes for a number of reasons:
- They “outgrow” their smaller one.
- They receive a promotion and raise at work.
- They are convinced by a realtor that they can afford it.
- They hope to impress others.
- They think a large home is the home of their dreams.
Another reason people keep buying bigger and bigger homes is because no one tells them not to. The mantra of the culture again comes calling, “buy as much and as big as possible.” They believe the lie and choose to buy a large home only because that’s ”what you are supposed to do” when you start making money… you buy nice, big stuff.
Nobody ever tells them not to. Nobody gives them permission to pursue smaller, rather than larger. Nobody gives them the reasons they may actually be happier in a smaller house.
So, in an attempt to break the silence, consider these 12 reasons why you’ll actually be happier in a smaller house:
- Easier to maintain. Anyone who has owned a house knows the amount of time, energy, and effort to maintain it. All things being equal, a smaller home requires less of your time, energy, and effort to accomplish that task.
- Less time spent cleaning. And that should be reason enough…
- Less expensive. Smaller homes are less expensive to purchase and less expensive to keep (insurance, taxes, heating, cooling, electricity, etc.).
- Less debt and less risk. Dozens of on-line calculators will help you determine “how much house you can afford.” These formulas are based on net income, savings, current debt, and monthly mortgage payments. They are also based on the premise that we should spend ”28% of our net income on our monthly mortgage payments.” But if we can be more financially stable and happier by only spending 15%… then why would we ever choose to spend 28?
- Mentally Freeing. As is the case with all of our possessions, the more we own, the more they own us. And the more stuff we own, the more mental energy is held hostage by them. The same is absolutely true with our largest, most valuable asset. Buy small and free your mind.
- Less environmental impact. A smaller home requires less resources to build and less resources to maintain. And that benefits all of us.
- More time. Many of the benefits above (less cleaning, less maintaining, mental freedom) result in the freeing up of our schedule to pursue the things in life that really matter – whatever you want that to be.
- Encourages family bonding. A smaller home results in more social interaction among the members of the family. And while this may be the reason that some people purchase bigger homes, I think just the opposite should be true.
- Forces you to remove baggage. Moving into a smaller home forces you to intentionally pare down your belongings.
- Less temptation to accumulate. If you don’t have any room in your house for that new treadmill, you’ll be less tempted to buy it in the first place (no offense to those of you who own a treadmill… and actually use it).
- Less decorating. While some people love the idea of choosing wall color, carpet color, furniture, window treatments, decorations, and light fixtures for dozens of rooms, I don’t.
- Wider market to sell. By its very definition, a smaller, more affordable house is affordable to a larger percentage of the population than a more expensive, less affordable one.
Your home is a very personal decision that weighs in a large number of factors that can’t possibly be summed up in one 700 word post. This post was not written to address each of them. Only you know all the variables that come into play when making your decision.
I just think you’ll be happier if you buy smaller… rather than the other way around.
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I would love to move to a smaller home but my husband does not. I have a 2500 sq. foot 2 bedroom home. I am the one stuck cleaning it and maintaining the outside. It’s constant upkeep. We moved from a 900 sq. feet townhouse 13 years ago and bought this monster “because we could”. Now I can’t stand it. If I had to do it all over again I would have been fine with 1/2 of what we bought.
I would love to downsize too. My husband, same as yours.We started with a 930sq ft home(no basement) Then we had a 4 bedroom 3300 sq ft home (1100 of it being a finished basement), now we are in a 4 bedroom 4700 sq ft home(900 of it being a finished basement plus a 900sq ft store room) I can not keep up with all the things that have to be done and want out. I loved my 2200 sq ft with the finished basement, it was just to far out in the country for me. We do have 3 kids, so under 1500 I think would be tight. Here’s to hoping our hubby’s hear us.
I HAD to purchase a tiny home in ’05, as that was our only option as a single mother who couldn’t collect much for child support. And boy, was it packed once we moved in. The apartment we came from was 500 square feet bigger than my 700-square-foot new house, and we’d just bought oversized, overstuffed, chunky furniture for the apartment. But over the years, I’ve learned that I’d much rather live in this space than rent a large apartment, so I’ve made some adjustments, the main one being to buy on a smaller scale, especially with appliances and furniture. I search out the dorm-room-type sales during back-to-school where I can get compact toaster/toaster oven deals, just to name a few. Don’t chintz on a microwave however. A small, hence low-wattage, microwave will not cook well or evenly, so our 1100 watt microwave is our true elephant in the kitchen, but oh well. Everything else is peanuts, compared. Happy downsizing! :)
Great posts, everyone.
I learned to live minimally as a traveling therapist living for 3 years in a 24′ motorbike with 2 cats. Am now living in it for 5 months a year.
Minimal size can and does require you to determine what is reapply important , and what must go.
I’d like to add two thoughts
1). Now is the time to buy a smaller home, I think, because the prices are still low (conventional “wisdom” still values bigger as better), but I think the trend is to downsize and prices of compact homes may then rise significantly
2). The layout of your place is crucial. It’s amazing to me how much storage space is built into my small mototrhome, much more efficiently than most houses. Some small homes with no closets or cabinets are less efficient than a larger home with thought out space, e.g.
Motorbike should be motorhome……autocorrect is my nemesis
Lol I thought that was a brand of motor home I never heard of!
I am planning on going small/tiny. I am tired of neighbors. I want a place of my own, hate cleaning and buy too much stuff. I am getting to the point I can see retirement and want to live a good life without having to depend on the government. I want to go off the grid if possible and just be.
That’s me too, but I’m not even close to retirement. I turn 30 this year and I’m already sick of it all.
I love my big house and wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m sure when I’m done having kids and raising them I’ll want to downsize and simplify, but for now my big house is perfect.
We had: 2 kids & lived in 2k sq ft w/ 3 car garage. Relocation gave us the chance to rethink it a few years ago.
Bought 1.2k sq ft w/ 2 car garage. Now the kids are gone we are rethinking the size again! They layout is terrible and we don’t use half of the rooms. The garden is buried in shade most of the day. I continue to freecycle our possessions to pare down and we are catching up on maintenance and curb appeal items to help sell it soon!
We have huge home about 4,000 sq ft. Including the finished basement, we have 4 bathrooms and 4 to 5 bedrooms, we use one as an office, it was wonderful as the kids were growing and always had room for friends, now it’s not so great. I am finding it so hard to keep up with the cleaning and maintaining. We will definitely downsize in the next few years but I can’t complain it was good when we needed it and thankful we had it.
I grew up in a 1000 square food home. there were 2 parents and 2 kids. My room was also the laundry room. Now, as an adult I find myself drawn to smaller houses. I have two kids of my own and when we get home from our busy schedules I want us to be together! It why we only have one TV and why we try to always eat dinner at the table. Thanks for the post. Its a great reminder.
When I was a teen, we lived in a nice 2500 sq ft house. It caught on fire and ruined it all one summer day. Very difficult time, but our family of four moved to a much smaller 3bdrm, 1 bath (added a bath later) home and we were surprised by how much more we saw each other and spent time together. That experience has helped me value a smaller home with my own family now.
I like the fact that we bought smaller then we could afford. It allows us to overpay our mortgage every month. Less build up of crap around the house too. We talked about bigger but decided it just wasn’t for us. Bigger piece of property maybe and another bay in the garage but our 1162 sqft house is big enough for us.
Just 2 months ago, we downsized from a big 4 bedroom, 3 bath home to a little 2 bedroom, 2 bath town home and I must say, it was the best decision I’ve made in a long time! It is just wonderful not having to worry about upkeep and all that stuff any more!
Last year we (a family of 6) moved out of our 2000 sqft house into a 200 sqft travel trailer. As we were packing and sorting and getting rid of things I finally became aware of how overwhelmed I had been by the larger house and how freeing it was to let go of the traditional ideas of how we were “supposed” to live. We have now upgraded our trailer for slightly more room (about 300 sqft) and a much better set up. I have seen all of these advantages as we have changed our lifestyle and couldn’t be happier with our choice to free ourselves.
We have six people living in less than 1200 sq. ft. with 1.5 baths (no garage). When the kids move out, it will seem spacious! I do want to point out that people have the idea that bigger equals better quality. Not so! I was visiting a 4,000 sq ft house and the quality of workmanship was terrible! You can have quality materials and workmanship in a small house. And having it decluttered helps a lot too!
When my husband died I moved from a house to an apartment. Now I am looking for a house again. My reason for buying is that I want to be able to provide a haven for my children and their families should misfortune befall them. I also have a large out-of-town extended family and when they visit I have nowhere for them to stay.
Sometimes bigger is better. HUGE, on the other hand, is unmanageable!
YES … and NO:
Moving from a spacious 100 qm, 3 bedroom flat into a much smaller one feels often tiring: Not enough rooms to just close the door of one and shut out my mess ;-) … not enough free space to roll out my yoga mat, to do tai chi or to dance freely through my living room … and it IS easier to clean if there’s a lot of free space on the floor!
I do NOT need 4 – 5 large bedrooms (I live alone), but more than 2 would actually be great – one room for ‘stuff’ (the library/office), one room to sleep in, one spacious living room would be great!
My family of four lives in a 1300 square foot house and my husband and I lived in 400 square feet for our first years of marriage so I tend to agree with you on most of this. But, I would like to point out a slight flaw in some of your line of reasoning. The real estate market is not so straight forward as to ensure that smaller is cheaper and bigger is more expensive. Both of the homes I mention above cost more than bigger homes in less walkable areas. Our theory is that, when you live in a place with parks, libraries, restaurants and shops a short stroll away, it doesn’t matter that your home is small because you will be out and about a lot more. That said, I plan on adding a small second bathroom in a couple of years ’cause we are already tripping over each other in the morning! :-)
I LOVE that you posted on this topic! I love your blog always as it is but my personal project right now is to build a 196 s.f. house for exactly ALL of these reasons plus a couple more. I LOVE that it’s starting to be ‘ok’ to tell people the bigger and more is not always better. Thanks for posting this!
My husband and I retired from a 3,000 sq. ft. home to a 1400 sq. ft. home and we LOVE it! It’s so cozy….I’m making it my little cottage. We did get rid of tons of ‘stuff’ that we didn’t need and donating to people felt good. We have very small bathrooms (2 of them) and our bedrooms are just big enough for our beds and wardrobes. We have a nice porch and patio outside and we love enjoying the outdoors as much as inside. I now have time for things I love instead of being a slave to my home. We are in the process of getting rid of our lawn and making that my ‘secret garden’ with just plants, bird feeders, benches, etc., so we won’t have the mowing to worry about either. We have 5 grandchildren and one more on the way and they love it here too. We’ve come up with great storage ideas and we make use of every inch of this lovely, small house. I highly recommend it!
just one more plug for small houses–
“Less decorating. While some people love the idea of choosing wall color, carpet color, furniture, window treatments, decorations, and light fixtures for dozens of rooms, I don’t.”
I feel quite the opposite. I really enjoy decorating and am pretty good at it. Honestly if my house was any larger I would not be able to upgrade nearly as easily or frequently. For instance I am looking to get new/custom windows…it is so expensive to get quality window treatments and if my house were any bigger it wouldn’t be possible without GREAT sacrifice. Every square inch of my house is decorated (not in a cluttered offensive way). I know if we had bought a larger house it would all have the same paint color, ridiculously small looking art on the massive/vaulted ceiling walls (I see this ALL the time)…I swear my house would have no soul. I am so glad that it’s possible to have a lovely home that I can decorate and redesign often without breaking the bank.
I totally agree , Patti . I love to change things up often … wall colors , art , etc. we recently upgraded our kitchen and bath and we could actually afford to use stone flooring , etc. because our rooms are small . we live in a 1300 sq. ft. house . every inch of my home is decorated by what I love , which gives our home tons of soul . It’s not cluttered either . When I bring in a new find from a flea market , something has to go . It forces me to refine and simplify .
Nice article, nice idea. What does that look like with five kids? We are now in an 1100 sq.ft home, with a finished basement. We also homeschool so we do have a lot of stuff like toys, but also have all the books and craft supplies that go along with homeschooling. Currently our oldest two have a bedroom of their own, an 9 yr old girl, and an almost 8 yr old boy. The two younger share a room (girls 2 and 5) and the baby (5mo old boy) sleeps in our room; and we have a toy room. We have no rooms left for baby number 5 to go into! We want to move out I town onto an acreage but have no idea what an appropriate size home looks like for a family of 7.
I have to agree with Ulanda. We are a family of 6 in 1050sq/ft. It mostly works. Not as perfectly as your list, though it’s a good guide. I think rather than saying smaller is better, lets just agree that generally speaking, we don’t need as much space for the reasons you listed. But what about families that really use their home? Hospitality, caring for others, being available to take someone’s kids when a parents have an emergency? Those are all generous and valuable things. There might be assumed perks for paring down, but quite honestly I’ll be relieved when we have an additional 600sq/ft.
Also, living in Southern California, I have to say those percentages for housing are absurd. Those guides should (and from what I’ve heard do) change considerably for those living in higher real estate markets.
Great post, Joshua. I felt myself cheering a hearty YES! to every item on your list! We are a family of five living in our new 665 sqare foot house. Every single one of us has said, “This is the BEST house we’ve ever had!”
I stupidly bought a 3,200 s.f. house a couple of years ago because we got an outrageously good deal on a foreclosure and couldn’t find anything less expensive that wasn’t a complete dump. The cost of maintaining this home is staggering, in terms of time, money, and attention. I now have almost no time for things that matter to me like my writing and photography.
I’ve also noticed that the bigger the houses in a neighborhood, the more inconsiderate the neighbors will. be.
Home ownership is like a wound that bleeds money and never heals.
Just out of curiosity – how large is your house, Joshua?
I agree with all 12 advantages listed. We jumped from a 2300 sqft home to a 4000 sqft when the two kids were starting high school. We could afford it and we thought that we needed more space. It was a great home, but the major downside was that everyone went to their corner of the house and the familial interaction dropped. Part of that is due to having teenagers, but its also due to the size of the house. The kids are now in college and away from home, so we sold the house and moved into a 1440 sqft downtown condo. We have no regrets. We have more time on our hands and are spending considerably less on maintenance and stuff that we don’t need.
I, too, am happy with our relatively smaller home. I do, however, have one issue. Your statement “Nobody ever tells them not to. Nobody gives them permission to pursue smaller, rather than larger. Nobody gives them the reasons they may actually be happier in a smaller house.” made me bristle. Too many people in our society wait to be told what to do — even if that being told is by watching far too much HGTV or the like. Each time my husband and I bought and sold a house, we never paid attention to the realtor’s statement of what we “could afford”. We chose based on our own opinions. This — in my crankiest old lady voice — is the problem of our society: blame someone else when you did something not so bright.
I’m with you Alice. More and more society is looking or waiting to be told what to do or someone to blamee on poor choices. We are such sponges on what the media tells (at times brainwashes) us to do, say, buy, eat etc etc!
Come on people, think for yourselves!
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