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:
Annie says
This post is awesome! Thank you, Joshua’s Mom, for your thoughts and input. I’m so on board with you! I love all the readers comments, and the new design, and the fact that so many of us realize the importance of a minimal lifestyle, in whatever way works for each of us as individuals and families! We are a family of four and own a small bungalow in USA, maybe 900 s.f., currently rent it out as we are in Germany for work. I observe that in Germany (and many European countries) folks live literally on top of, underneath and RIGHT next door to each other, MOSTLY in VERY small spaces. AND ARE PERFEKTLY HAPPY, and love to get outside and go for walks, and talk to their neighbors, and enjoy time together at a beirgarten and shop at the local market, and ride bikes and take public transportation (bus/train…)!!!! We were lucky to find a place to rent that is actually LARGER than our house in America, and has a one car garage!!! The real estate agent (‘Immobilien’) thought I was CRAZY when I said with surprise “this place is larger than our house in the USA.” She just ‘assumed’ all Americans lived in huge houses. Anyway, thanks for this post, minimalism ROCKS! (and with moving across the ocean and other places, it sure is easy and more cost effective and more environmentally friendly to ‘pack up/un pack’ our minimal ‘stuff’!!!).
ART says
I live in a 2700 sq ft with my wife and two kids, we bought this house when the kids were 8 and 11 years old respectively, now after 8 years the older is getting ready to leave for college and the youngest will be leaving in two years. My plan is that as soon the youngest is off to college to sell this house and buy a small 1400 sq ft for my wife and I which will be more than enough for the two of us.
I have to relate the following observation:
When we moved to our house, this was the smallest floor plan in the neighborhood and there was a family living next to our house that had 3 kids and their house was 3600 sq ft and they moved after a year because they could not stand that the house was too small for a family of 5, so they built a 5500 sq ft mansion and are happy now. I always wonder about that. To me a larger home means more to clean and maintain, more rooms to fill up with expensive furniture, more walls to decorate, more areas to heat up and cool off and of course larger insurance and energy bills and not more happiness. Happiness to me is a small mortgage or no mortgage at all.
Jenni says
At 2000 sq. ft. we have much more space than my son and me need, but the location trumps it all. Because we live across the street from where I work I am able to walk to work. My son goes with me in the stroller because my employer offers on site day care. I told someone yesterday that regardless of the size of our place, I would live here because of all of the other benefits.
This article also made me think of my son and his crib. He loves to spend time in his crib. He has free reign in the house, but there is something about being in that small space that is all his that he loves.
Meg says
Love this post, and really relate to your mom’s p.o.v. After DH and I downsized to our cozy little bungalow, we had a party, inviting many of our friends from our old town. I don’t think a single one of them thought we were sane after seeing how much smaller our new house was than our old one. No regrets!
Agree with Gip about the overall appearance of the new site design.
Cindy says
This is a great post! I wish that more people could read/hear this side of the argument. When my husband and I married 5 years ago, I assumed that we’d be in my house (we sold his) just a year before we bought “our” house, which of course would be larger. Then the housing meltdown happened and we stayed put. Now, I am sooo glad we didn’t buy a larger home “just because that’s what you do.” We are content to stay in our 1300 sf home for all the reasons you listed. Thanks for not only seeing, but writing down the reasons for having a small home. Hopefully, others will hear the good news!
Kristen says
I love this list! I live in an apartment that’s ≤750 square feet with my husband, our 7-year-old, and 3 cats. I usually try to explain to people that it’s like living on a boat: pared down to the essentials, I know where everything is (okay, *usually*) and I don’t have anything I don’t use regularly or love unconditionally, and freeing that is.
Karen says
My husband and I did something “unconventional” last year…we sold our dream house and downsized into an apartment. One day we thought about how many rooms in our house did we actually use? We were surprised how much space we had that we really didn’t need. And while I loved yard work with my busy schedule I couldn’t do it justice. We were able to sell our home in three weeks because we priced it to sell. We realized too that in todays world real estate is no longer the investment it may have once been. With the money we made on our house we paid off what few bills we had and now live totally debt free. Small works for us!
coco says
We live in about 1100 sq. feet with 3 kids and 4 dogs. we are also hoping to adopt 1-2 more kids. it is tight quarters, but it forces us to only have what’s really crucial. i tidy up every day and the kids have chores to do. i’m constantly re-evaluating and getting rid of stuff. years ago, i had a pretty big amount of books, now i’ve pared it down to about 5-6 books. i love to read but with a baby there is not much time for that. we have minimal furniture also. just beds, couch, a couple rocking chairs. the tv’s are on simple stands, not big “entertainment” centers. it works for us and we are all on board with it. the kids and husband are fine with it as long as they have a TV, computer and game system they don’t care what else i get rid of!
Rachel Grey says
Many of the advantages you ascribe to small houses apply even more to condos. When you share walls, floors and/or ceilings with other units, you get serious reduction in heating costs.
I’m hoping to pay off the mortgage entirely next year or the year after, while friends in larger houses outside the city will still be stuck paying for their large houses AND their cars. It kind of makes me wonder what they’re seeing in that lifestyle that I’m not!
Matt says
Wow, what a great and simple post. I wish someone had said these things to me 4 years ago when my wife and I were looking for our first house. Needless to say, when the market turns and we can get out of the oversized box we live in, a small home is definitely our next move. ^_^