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:
A says
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.
Rachel says
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.
Libby says
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.
Anne says
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.
cher says
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!
Athena says
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.
Lori McDermott says
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.
Invicta says
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.
Vanessa Runs says
I “retired” by age 30 ;) Quit the rat race at age 29, got rid of all my possessions, moved into a 22-foot Rialta RV with my boyfriend, the dog, and the cat. Now we travel the country full-time doing whatever we want. The RV is small enough to fit into a regular parking spot, so we’ve never paid for a campsite. We get our power from solar panels on roof, and we’ve never paid for a hook-up. We’ve been to some unbelievable places. Our expenses are so low that I can fully support all of us with only my writing (10K/year). Complete freedom. Complete bliss. Constant adventure, constant movement, and no regrets.
mo says
Wow. That is truly inspirational.
Anneke says
That is truly inspiring! I wish I had the guts and a source of income that I could take to the road like that. Providing for a family of four though, so there is quite a lot to consider before quitting and getting on the road
Dianna says
Wow, that sounds great Vanessa! Are you writing about your travels and adventures?
Vanessa Runs says
Yep, you can follow our travels at vanessaruns.com :)
Artemis says
Vanessa, I just love what you’re doing. Been suggesting something similar to my husband for years! Told him we should buy an RV, move from place to place, some times staying at one town for a week -other times for months, we’d work doing whatever we can…odd jobs, just enough to live on and get us to the next town :) My husband isn’t as adventurous as I am, but maybe one day! :)
Spring says
So inspiring! We are considering our options to do something similar when my son graduates from college next year. It may be a small RV or a small live-aboard boat. Either way, the rat race is over!
Bonnie Jean says
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.
Bonnie Jean says
Motorbike should be motorhome……autocorrect is my nemesis
Keith says
Lol I thought that was a brand of motor home I never heard of!
Johnny says
I picture you on a motor bike with a cat under each arm and aviator goggles.
Jennifer says
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! :)
Isabel says
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.
Jennifer says
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.
George says
Well count your self lucky you have a home that is yours