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:
I have a small home. As far as entertaining, when I lived overseas in Europe, more people met somewhere to hang-out. I think it can be ridiculous to have a bigger home just so you can have more people over a few times a year. I understand if you are people who have people over constantly but otherwise have the birthday parties and whatnot elsewhere or outdoors weather permitting.
I have to say that for the past couple of hours i have been hooked by the impressive posts on this website. Keep up the wonderful work.
You know, I’m all for the small home movement. I think it’s so key to looking forward to a sustainable society. For most people, it means de-cluttering, spending less money, and making a mental shift to be less materialistic. But…
I just moved from an old student rental house that was horribly energy inefficient to a larger home that better suited by family. I have a 1/4 acre lot in the city, can keep chickens, have a beautiful naturalized garden, room to play, work, and grow.
My point is that moving into a smaller space doesn’t necessarily mean that you can benefit from your list in your post. I think some of the points you’ve made come from the mental shift that you make when you downsize, but some of the energy savings can also exist when you outfit a larger home with better tools.
Just my two cents :)
You are absolutely right. When i was with my parents, i had only one complain: This house is too conjusted and when i moved out of my parents, i again have a complain: This house is too expensive to manage. Although, i live in a lavish big house, as the time passed by, i realized that small house is always easy to manage and peaceful to live.
Thanks for stopping by.
I live in SD! Glad you vacation here! ;) and loved the article…thanks!
We bought a “starter townhome” with enough room to grow into and it was what we could comfortably afford. Nearly 19 years later, it’s our permanent home. Losing income due to becoming a stay-at-home mother, job changes, brief unemployment and an unstable real estate market kept us from being able to purchase a larger single family home. But through it all, we have been able to remain in our current home. Today we couldn’t be more thankful for those experiences which have helped us learn that more is not always better. We both work and our children are active in sports which leaves us little time to be worried about weekends full of yard work and house cleaning. Yes, reducing clutter definitely keeps us organized and happy. Your posts are terrific–I enjoy reading them. Thank you. :)
Great blog, good ideas. My husband and I live in a 1000 sq ft empty nest and we are de-owning to downsize. I don’t want to spend our retirement years on upkeep or our money on more living space than we need. Keep those ideas coming.
We lived in a small three bedroom townhouse. We had two small kids and WAY too much stuff which my pack-rat self couldn’t let go of. Three months ago our house caught fire and we lost everything. It forced us to downsize and really take a look at what we were purchasing. We are currently in a three bedroom single family home with a large basement. As far as living in small place, I totally agree with the cleaning and the utilities BUT I can’t say I am thrilled about the lack of storage space. I LOVE the basement at this rental place and will certainly miss it, but I HATE the large yard and all the work it entails. I guess it’s a catch 22
I’ve been reading through the archives for the past weeks and I’m so inspired, so thank you! I live in one of the richest counties in the US, which is pretty interesting. You see that rat race culture and it’s not pretty. There’s a good mix of housing options -we’re in a smaller, older townhome. I do slip into that comparison trap, but this brings me back to reality – and contentment :) Small is beautiful!! Thanks again!
I raised three kids in a 1200 s.f. ranch with one bathroom, on a half-acre suburban lot. Most of the houses in this 1950’s neighborhood “built up” over time, but our home has only minimal additional work (porches). Fast forward 25 years, most of my neighbors now have very expensive empty nests in a town with great schools and an 18%+ tax rate! Glad I was a minimalist before it was called minimalism, lol. Also, I have to say having a back yard that was not developed allowed my kids to grow up gardening, raising chickens and running around with the family dog. The mud castle builder is now a civil engineering student, and honestly, cramped quarters meant more time socializing, negotiating, prioritizing. The oldest is a 2nd year law student. I will rent this out in my retirement to a young family at an affordable rent in my retirement while I live with my boyfriend near the city of Boston and thank God for all my blessings all these many years.