Twelve years ago, our family moved into a smaller home.
We made the decision because we recognized the benefits of owning a smaller house: less expense, less stress, more freedom, more family interaction, and more opportunity to spend our lives on greater things than square footage.
One of the most attractive advantages we have experienced in a smaller home is the extra time that has been returned to our lives. All homes require maintenance and cleaning, regardless of size. But smaller homes are easier to clean than larger ones. Consider these practical examples.
11 Household Chores Made Easier in a Smaller Home
1. Tidying-Up. In every home, items get moved and things get used. But in our smaller home, tidying up and refreshing the home for a clutter-free morning takes much less time and effort.
2. Dusting. Fewer rooms, fewer walls, fewer shelves, fewer decorations and fewer knick-knacks. Dusting has never been easier.
3. Taking Out the Trash. Because there are fewer rooms and each of them are closer together, taking out the trash/recycling each week is never difficult.
4. Doing Laundry. A smaller home does not mean less laundry—we still wear clothes everyday. But gathering the laundry from different areas in the home and returning the clean clothes is much less burdensome than completing the task in a larger home.
5. Cleaning Floors. Floors need to be vacuumed and/or swept on a routine basis. They also need to be mopped and scrubbed to be kept clean. Less flooring in our home makes this chore easier to accomplish—and easier to find the motivation to even start.
6. Washing Windows. Fewer windows means less time to clean them, both inside and outside. Of course, our single-story home also makes this chore significantly easier.
7. Putting up Holiday/Seasonal Decorating. We still decorate our home for the Fall and Holiday season. But changing the environment of our home takes less time today than before—and it takes fewer decorations to accomplish that cozy feeling.
8. Scrubbing bathrooms. Because who wants to clean more showers and toilets than they have to?
9. Cleaning the furniture. Because we’re not furnishing unnecessary rooms in our home anymore, cleaning furnishings is less burdensome (also cleaning behind/under the furniture). This is a job that gets neglected in many homes—but not ours.
10. Deep Cleaning Baseboard, Cabinets, Corners. In our previous home, the thought of cleaning baseboards and cabinets (especially in lesser-used rooms) was enough to keep us from ever tackling the chore. In our new home, we complete it on a regular basis.
11. Professional services. Stuff breaks and things wear out. And some home repairs are definitely outside my expertise. Each time we have needed a professional service in our new home (new carpets, exterior paint, spraying for insects), our expense has been far less than a comparable service in our previous home.
Because of the numerous practical benefits, I’ve never regretted the decision we made five years ago. We are far happier today living in a smaller home than if we’d purchased a larger one just because we could.
And I continue to recommend the idea to anyone who is listening.
David Y says
My house isn’t huge by any means. But, it is more than I really need. One bedroom has the door closed, and is never used.
My plan is to downsize to a smaller condo next year. All the reasons listed in this post pretty much sum up my reasons. It will make life easier. Have identified most of the stuff that needs to go when I make the move.
Laps says
We did the cycle from the 1300 sq foot townhouse to the 2300 Sq foot house to the 3200 sq foot house with the pool and the hot tub. The cost in time and money to maintain such a large house was stressful and unhealthy. We then downsized to a 1400 sq foot apartment – bigger than what we need now, but I worked from home so I needed the home office and some storage space. We now live Ina one bedroom apartment, and frankly I don’t miss anything from the big house – well maybe the hot tub. Owning and maintaining stuff is exhausting and takes away from what is truly important in life. Thank you for the blog on minimalism. Whenever I feel the urge to go back to my old ways of consumerism i go this website to ground myself.
hashmo says
My mum died two months ago.
We lived together and had a great relationship.
But there would be times when I was going to bed at night and she’d say “no time for one more hug?” and I’d say “no mum I can’t its already so late I need to go to work in the morning”. There’d be times when I’d be leaving for work in the morning and she’d say “sit with me for a while” and I’d say “I can’t I’m already late and I need to work to pay for our life in this house”. I’d part from her leaving a look of sadness in her eyes and guilt in my heart.
The more often I said that and the more I read about minimalism the more I realised we didn’t need our “life in this house” and that by giving up ‘this life’ I was actually gaining a better life I actually really wanted to live. So I embarked on my minimalism journey with the aim to declutter, downsize and spend more time with her.
This was three years ago and I never got to the point of downsizing what with juggling work, chores, care, family commitments (I’m almost there though). But my point is I never got to the point where I could give up my job so that I had time for those extra hugs. And I’ll never get a chance to do that now. I still intend to continue with my journey and downsize (albeit on my own now) but I would give EVERYTHING that I owned (including any time that I had remaining on this earth) to sit with her again for 10 minutes and press my cheek against her forehead. I will never experience that unconditional love from my best friend during the time that I have left on this planet and as much as I am thankful for God for Him allowing her to be in my life and accept the situation He has decided, I still wish I had made better use of that time and not let owning big house detract from it.
Minimalism (and that means your advice too Joshua!) gave me so much, our last couple of years in an increasingly clutter free home meant so much less stress and happiness.
To anyone reading, never give up on your journey and never put off starting it if you haven’t embarked on it yet.
Janete Canteri says
I really liked your post Hashmo!
hashmo says
Thank you Janete. Peace and love from this side of the world.
Tom J. says
A thoughtful post. And one that points out a moral that many, including myself, are slowly coming to be aware of: That too often we discover what’s important when it’s too late or nearly too late.
hashmo says
Thank you Tom. This whole experience has taught me to put what is important first and then use minimalism in all areas of life as a tool to slice away things that eat up my time/energy/space/money preventing me from focusing on the important things.
Penny L says
Thanks Hashmo. Your comment has really made me think. I’ve been trying to sort clutter for the past twenty years, but not really done it. You have given me the incentive I need. So I am going to start now !! PennyL
hashmo says
Go for it Penny! You’ll never regret it. So much of the past three years has been delayed by the “what if I need it just in case” syndrome. For me at lest, the biggest progress came when I did two things
1. I pinned up a single reason for why I was decluttering (what was the clutter preventing me from doing/achieving or what an uncluttered life would mean – push/pull factors). I read that reason every single morning and kept it on my person during decluttering sessions.
After a while I felt like even that wasn’t working. I read an article on the Minimalists that advised de-owning rather than decluttering. You see with decluttering you still secretly want to keep the item but you try and find a more important reason to get rid of it. But that niggling desire for keeping the item is still there. This, coupled with days when I couldn’t focus/had anxiety with all the objects around me, led me to try the Packing Party technique as an experiement. I boxed up EVERYTHING that I hadn’t used in the last year, labelled and stacked them in the garage. No tough decisions at all because it was always there when I needed it. This instantly gave me a minimal room and allowed me to taste the benefits of time/energy/space without those items and proved to me how much better life was without the item and how I never needed the item just in case. This is what helped the most progress for me. Because then I didn’t even want the item back in my life anymore and decluttering it from the garage was super easy. I hope that might help you in your journey!
kim domingue says
….so quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep….
It was written by a mother after her fifth child was born. I read it before my first child was born and took it to heart. My house was NEVER spotless but there was always time to make a lap for a child, to listen to a story, to make things together.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were a poem to remind us that time with our parents, grandparents is fleeting as well? And a magic wand that we could wave about to declutter our homes and shrink them to a manageable size?
My Grandmama raised me. She died six months after my first child was born. That was thirty-three years ago and I still miss her ever single day of my life. I regret the times that I didn’t make the time to visit or talk on the phone. And what I wouldn’t give to sit on the front porch swing with her, sipping a coke and holding her hand. But I learned from that to make time for those I love just as I did with my children. The dust bunnies can wait.
hashmo says
beautiful words kim.
In the last year of my mums life I read a quote from a saint in my faith that said “those who are good to their parents will never face poverty or hardship in life”. It changed everything about our relationship. I could suddenly breathe and stopped worrying about things that were less important.
I hope that one day God willing I am able to take your advice with my own children.
Angela says
I’m sorry for your loss Hashmo.
I’m sure everyone of us at some time in our lives fall short with the ones we love the most.
Don’t be hard on yourself, be grateful that you loved your Mum so much.
I’m sure she knew that you loved her x
hashmo says
Thank you Angela. I teared up when I read this on the train home last night. Thank you xxx
Roxanne says
Thank you for sharing your heart and thoughts so openly. I so appreciate your story and the message.
Mel says
When our kids were 1 and 5 we moved from a 600 sq ft apartment to what we thought of as our “starter home”; a 1000 sq ft three (tiny) bedroom house. Four years later we are still here and have no plans on buying a bigger house. Having a small house means we have money and time to do the things we love, like travel. It’s amazing how freeing that feeling is.
Kels says
The easiest way I’ve found to cut the time it takes for dusting is to not dust. :P
Sunshine says
Hee! Love this. Some of us are highly allergic to whatever is in the dust; so we have learned to stay on top of it better and run helpafilters to catch the extra. That reminds me…I need to get dusting!
Joan Zetka says
I agree. Not being a fussy housekeeper ( I can’t remember when I last dusted baseboards) I wouldn’t be much better in a smaller house. I do consider myself well organized, however, and as long as I have enough space to keep my necessary belongings in order I’m happy.
Pat says
We just spent five months purging and selling most of what we accumulated over 35 years, then sold our three-story home, and moved into a 31-foot travel trailer. We stored only our real “keepers” in a storage unit. Already we feel lighter, more peaceful, and less stressful. Yes, less stuff means more life!
Susie says
Joshua loved this post. We are in a larger house with 3 kids and hoping to downsize next year. Thanks for giving us more ideas to focus on as we go through this journey. Thanks!
james richmond says
20 years we lived in 600 sq foot house with a family of 4 now it is just 3. It is so true about time and money savings plus are family was and is always close.
Ann says
I spent 10 years (my whole 20s) cleaning a 4000sqft home. So that’s time, youth, energy and money (the ridiculous mortgage for the MacMansion).
At 30 I had an opportunity to leave the country and rented a 1000sqft apartment with my four year old and newborn. Still hectic, understandably but so much better. No double storey homes for me ever again.
A few years later we bought a 2000 sqft apartment which is lovely to look at but I would downsize the next time. At 40 now, I only have energy to vacuum 1/2 of it at a time by the time I pick up the umpteen things left around, wipe the dust, you get the idea.
What will l do with the next 20 years.
Philippa says
Eighteen months ago I made the move from a 5 bedroom house to a 3 bedroom one. Previously I had one room that was literally full of junk, and everything I didn’t know what to do with went in that room. Moving was difficult, as I had to get rid of lots of things (and still have some to go), but I have never regretted it. Cleaning and looking after my now tiny garden is much easier and quicker. In addition, I think living in a small space encourages tidiness. I now make decisions about items as they come in to the home, and I’m much better at dealing with the post as it comes in too.
Jane says
Agree! Well done for downsizing. We just bought a 3 bedroom place but I don’t see myself upsizing as the family grows.
Extra rooms can soon become junk rooms. It is so much quicker to clean not only a smaller home but a clutter free one.
hashmo says
totally agree. Also seeing things on the net about the Graham Hill Life Edited apartment and also how the Japanese approach life with multifunctional rooms has made me realise that a 3 bed home is plenty big enough even for a large family.