Recently, my parents downsized their home to a smaller house.
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 about living small (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 is the result.
Some people decide to start living small once they find that there are many advantages to downsizing. A smaller home means smaller bills and a smaller set of responsibilities.
People buy larger homes for a number of reasons:
- They “outgrow” their smaller home.
- 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 that nobody 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 if they downsize their home.
Here are 12 reasons why you may be happier if you downsized and bought a smaller house:
1. Smaller homes are 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.
2. You spend less time decluttering. And that should be reason enough.
3. Smaller homes are less expensive. Smaller homes are less expensive to purchase and less expensive to keep (insurance, taxes, heating, cooling, electricity, etc.)
4. Living small means you go into 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?
5. Owning a smaller house is 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. That’s one of the benefits of minimalism.
6. Smaller homes have a smaller environmental impact. They require fewer resources to build and maintain. And that benefits all of us.
7. You free up 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.
8. Smaller homes encourage 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.
9. Downsizing your home forces you to remove baggage. Moving into a smaller home forces you to intentionally pare down your belongings.
10. Smaller homes lessen the 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).
11. You’re less obligated to decorate. 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.
12. Smaller homes are in a 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.
Downsizing your home and living small is a very personal decision that weighs in a large number of factors that can’t possibly be summed up in one 800-word post.
This post was not written to address each of them nor was it written as a “how to downsize your home” article.
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.
Useful Resources:
There is nothing wrong with vacationing in South Dakota! I grew up there and it is a beautiful state, especially the black hills. We often did the black hills as our summer family vacation and there is so much to do that it was a different experience every time. We also bought a smaller home right after we married and are raising two kids in it with no plans to ever up-size. We could have afforded a bigger house, but the main reason we went smaller (and cheaper) is that we wanted to have the extra money for other things (travel, retirement savings, and not having to worry about our budget). Once we moved in, we started to realize the extra benefit of not having as much to clean and maintain. I now can’t imagine living in one of those Mc Mansions and having to clean it myself. We have also hosted large Thanksgiving extended family and friends gatherings at our house, had sleepover birthday parties of 12 middle school girls, and somehow it all works. I used to complain about my small, galley style kitchen, but we saved money and completely renovated it last year. We kept the same size and footprint, but got creative in space and storage and it is now a wonderful, modern kitchen that most people would still perceive as “too small” for their needs. However, it functions very well for our family of 4 and there is a lot less space to mess up and then have to clean!
Love this post. So much truth.
My husband and I are in the process of buying our first home. It’s just over 1300 sq ft, and our parents and some friends keep referring to it as a “great starter home”. They don’t seem to understand how we could possibly be content living in this size of a home for the rest of our lives, especially if/when we have kids.
Yet I am sooo thankful for the increased space, the backyard, the independence and quiet from apartment living… the positive investment over the loss of renting. Besides, why waste all that money moving around the rest of our lives when better things can be done with it? (retirement savings, investing in experiences, donating… etc).
We just moved from an 1800 sq ft house to 1000 sq ft apt and we LOVE it….great article, thanks!
Great post! Thanks for the information :)
Good article, I like it. It actually helped me from buying a bigger/expensive house.
I am glad I found this! We are currently a family of 4, living in a 1000 square feet home. We are currently pretty happy and comfortable, though I often wish we had a slightly larger master bedroom and living room. We are planning a third baby and will start trying around Christmas, but the thought of adding ANOTHER person scares me! 2 adults and 3 kids in 1000 square feet? Is that really going to work? Ugh, I guess it is going to HAVE to. But you bring up some great points that make me look on the bright side… less space to clean, and more interaction. We only have 2 bedrooms, and they are not what I would call spacious. I am so thankful that we have a garage, and we have a small storage shed in the backyard. But I need to figure something out. Today I was in a rage when I lost something and realized how cluttered and cramped things felt, and how much junk we need to get rid of! If we could just extend out outer walls out a total of 2 feet on each side, and add a 3rd floor bedroom with an extra bathroom, this place would be PERFECT. But that is never going to happen, so I need to figure something out before we have 5 people in 1000 square feet, or I will go nuts.
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I just wanted to thank you for this post and a thank you to all who have posted comments. We just bought our first house and I love the layout. I have been really concerned about the fact that it will be 6 of us in 1100 sq ft. After reading this, I am super excited to move it as one of my biggest reasons was that I loved the fact I would be close to my kids :)
Another great reason to a small home is it encourages you spending more time outdoors which has been proven for longer, happier lives. Our patio is our “formal living” and “formal dining” rooms. Don’t have room for a playroom? Play outside! Kitchen too small (and sometimes gets smokey), grill outside! Feeling a little *too* close to your family? Outside! No room for that treadmill? I hear there’s a lot of room to run outside! Kids sleepover parties are much more fun when tents are involved anyways.
totally agree, except when it’s -40 outside…or even -20 (celcius). yup, it can get that cold where we live. but, we still have a small house. you just make it work. but no dining al fresco until may at the earliest!
I would say that it’s not only less decorating, it’s more thoughtful decorating. I LOVE decor but having a smaller place makes me more thoughtful about what I put in it. Almost everything we own is for function as well as aesthetics and I find that having a smaller place really helps our decor to shine. Everything is well chosen and since we know we only have one of most items, it makes us picky in the best possible way. This is much different from when we had twice the space and as a result, twice the stuff. Sometimes I was buying cute tchotchkes just because there was a surface to put them on. Now that is not the case. I admire pieces and keep moving because our apartment is already well furnished with what we’ve carefully selected.