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:
Carol Tiffin James says
We have been in both worlds – huge house and little house. After my husband retired from ministry, where we moved from parsonage to parsonage, it was time to buy our very own house, and we went overboard and bought a 3-story 100-yo Victorian and then doubled the size. It was beautiful, and had lots of room, but boy, was it a pain to clean and a financial drain to maintain. Sometimes people think of a house only in terms of the purchase price and not the price you will be pay to repair and maintain; that can be substantial, and it was for us. When the kids moved out, we sold the huge house and built a small modular house in the country. We went from a very big walk-in closet with built-in shelves, etc., to a tiny closet each. I said, “Oh well, if I have too many clothes for this closet, it just means I have too many clothes, period.” It’s also nice that I can call for my husband from just down the hall instead of down 3 flights of stairs and what seemed like a city block away. I do love the smaller living space – my only regret is that I no longer have guest rooms – we had always enjoyed having friends and relatives travel to Maine for visits. That, however, is always the result of choices: you lose, you gain. If you’re lucky and wise and choose well, you will usually end up with more gain than loss.
I think we as a society have gotten so accustomed to large living that we can’t picture a different lifestyle. My sister and I always shared a bedroom growing up, in a small house with only one bathroom for us and our parents. We didn’t feel deprived because we didn’t know of any other way to live.
Kristia says
I can relate to @Christy Z. As we were moving in to our small house 9 years ago, my brother in law asked how long we were going to live in the house. We hadn’t even slept in the house yet and he was assuming that we wouldn’t be in it very long because of the size. He owns a mcmansion and to him everything is a competition. At 1800 square feet, our home is small by a lot of people’s standards.
I’ll take my small mortgage payment that will be paid off in 5 years, our smallish yard, our 1 1/2 baths, our one car garage filled with bikes instead of a car, our low utilities and tax bills. He can have his huge mortgage, heating bills, and maintenance headaches that came with his 3500 sq ft home. I forget which blog I read this line, but our new motto is “the jones’ can kiss my assets.” Because of our small home, we have put ourselves in a comfortable position financially.
Nicole says
I love that quote: “The Jones’ can kiss my assets.”
Jack Bennett says
Great post!
I have one little objection based on a specific pet peeve of mine.
I prefer to use more impersonal words like “house”, “apartment”, “condo”, “residence” rather than “home” when referring to the bricks-n-mortar, real estate – to separate the emotional words from the practical words. Buying or renting real estate is just a financial transaction, but “home” is a state of mind created by you and your loved ones, and that can take place as easily (or more so, as you have shown) in a 700 sq ft apartment as a 6000 sq ft McMansion.
My nit picking aside, great job! :)
minimalist1750 says
Wonderful blog. Speaking about our homes, I do believe in less is more. I just moved in a 1 bedroom apartment 1940s style with hardwood floor and aluminum windows. Living in a small place encourages me to not purchase more furniture because there is simply no room to put them.
Laura says
Ari,
Yes, just about a month ago I sorted through all of my books. I kept the ones that I like to refer to or that have great sentimental value to me. All of the rest, including some of my favorites, went in a bin and out the door. I sold them all in one swoop on CraigsList, actually. I figured, if I wasn’t going to reread them, they were just collecting dust and taking up space. Someone else could use them and, if I ever wanted to read them again, I can always rent them from the library. Now, I’m left with a few books that I hold dear and a lot more space. More than the space, however, I gained freedom. A freedom from attachment to “things” that weren’t serving a real purpose in my daily life. I hope you find a similar liberation soon…it really is nice.
Kagey says
Our house seemed HUGE for us when we moved in 7 years ago; since then we’ve added 3 children, and it seems about right. We’re going to have to downsize our stuff as they get older — all that junk in my son’s closet from before we got married? Yeah, needs to be culled and put in our closet. He gets a place to keep his own stuff!
As the kids grow, our stuff will need to shrink.
I am making space for things like hand-me-downs, but have the temporary solution for some of the clothing — we loan it to another family after our older son, and get them back in time for our younger one. Minimize the storing of it; maximize the use of it!
Denise says
Yep, I can attest to all 12 of those reasons. I raised 4 kids in a 1000 sq. foot house with one bathroom. Things were a little tight there for a while, but the rewards were always well worth it. So many of our friends are house-poor, because they just HAD to have the dining room and the family room and the master bath and the walk-in closet…
Not us. We’ve got a low mortgage, plenty of equity, and now that kids are moving out, it’s positively roomy! :)
Candice says
While I agree that smaller homes are less expensive as far as to heat and electricity… buying a smaller home isn’t necessarily cheaper for the house itself… at least not where I live. For us to downsize to a smaller house of similar quality will actually cost us more than what we paid for our current house (which we bought as a foreclosure for a fantastic deal). Any houses in the same price range that are smaller are well below the quality of ours and would require a lot of work, and those that are similar in quality are more than what we paid for our current place.
joshua becker says
There are certainly many factors to consider in the purchase of a home. Size is just one of them and my hope with the article was just to open the idea that smaller may actually be better.
Ruby says
Ari – I just did this. Reading is one of my favorite things to do and I’ve always loved the look of a home overcrowded with books. Books as clutter were an exception, in my book. Then I discovered minimalism and really, no sense in having them there just to clean around them. I spend far more time on NEW information via the Internet. I donated about half of my collection to the library so far. I feel good knowing that others will benefit from them.
joshua becker says
Good points Ruby. I removed many of the books from my office a few years back and immediately felt a sense of freedom. As if I was now freed to research and find new answers to problems rather than all the old answers sitting on my shelves.
Ari Herzog says
…so you haven’t bought any books since you removed those other ones?
MLJ says
I trade for books at the used bookstore. I have to give them 2 or 3 of my old books to get one from them (they have to make a profit) so I get rid of my old books and still have something new to read. Between that and the library I’m all set. I do admit that there are about a dozen books I still hold onto, but that’s way less than a few years ago.
Ari Herzog says
One of my “possessions” which owns me is my ginormous bookshelf. There are some books I flip through now and then, but the majority are books I’d read in the past and will never look through again — but don’t feel right giving them away.
Have you downsized your books, if not gotten rid of them altogether? How did you do it without being emotional?
Calico ginger says
Oh how it hurts! But I have done it, mostly because I had to (non-voluntary downsizing). I gave away many beautiful and expensive books and felt quite shaken by the experience, but now 6 months out I feel OK about it. Books don’t really “live” in our bookcases, they “live” when someone somewhere reads them. Mine are now out there, hopefully being read, and I am happy with that. The upside is visits to my new public library – many wonderful books, probably more than I can ever read and I can take them back when I’m finished. I see books differently now – not “things” to own, but as “conversations” that I can start and finish with authors, without weighing myself down.