“Your home is living space, not storage space.” —Francine Jay
Recently, the New York Times referred to our generation as the most stressed, tired, and rushed generation of all time.
“A Portrait of the Modern Family,” is how the author chose to title the article. She is, of course, correct. We are tired, stressed, and busy. In the article, the author cites a number of reasons why this is the case: public policy, workplace structure, unrealistic expectations, just to name a few.
Around the time that article was being published, a different kind of report was being produced, The 2014 U.S. Department of Commerce Report on New Housing, an annual study surveying the size and cost of new homes being built.
I couldn’t help but wonder if there might be a significant correlation between the two.
Certainly, there is a direct link with the number of possessions we own and the stress we experience. Every increased possession adds increased anxiety unto our lives. There is a direct relationship also with excess possessions and an overall lack of time, energy, and focus.
The 763-page study on the homes we live in confirms what most Becoming Minimalist readers already know to be true: We own too much stuff—and yet, rather than getting rid of it, we just build bigger homes to store it all.
Here are some findings from that 2014 report and other related sources:
- In 2014, the average size of new homes built increased to an all-time high of 2,690 square feet. In 2015, the average grew another 30 square feet to 2,720.
- While our houses have gotten bigger, our families have gotten smaller. Because of these two factors, since 1973, average living space per American person has doubled.
- The growth in square footage of new homes has wiped out nearly all the efficiency gains. In other words, though energy efficiency has developed rapidly, we’ve increased our home size to the point that we’re still using almost the exact same amount of energy.
- As would be expected, housing costs have risen alongside square footage. In the U.S., the existing home median sale price is $356,700 (up from $154,600 in January, 2012).
- Housing expenses, all totaled, accounted for more than 33% of the average consumer’s total expenditures during 2014.
- Renters aren’t doing much better. In fact, it’s the worst time in 36 years to be a renter in America. The median rent nationwide now takes up 30.2 percent of the median American’s income, the highest cost burden recorded since tracking began in 1979.
- Meanwhile, Americans aren’t even building the largest homes in the world. Australia holds that honor (they are even filming television shows about it). The U.S., Canada, Denmark, and France round out the top five for largest home sizes in the world.
Our homes continue to increase in size, cost, and responsibility. Our biggest investment has become an ever-increasing drain on our resources.
But this doesn’t need to be the case.
Your biggest investment also represents your greatest opportunity.
Consider the benefits of living in a smaller home: less expense, less worry, less upkeep—more time, more money, more freedom, and more opportunity.
When we first began pursuing minimalism, we made a lot of changes in our home. We removed the excess from every room in our house. But when we began removing entire rooms from our home, we started to experience even more significant benefits.
Four years ago, we intentionally decided to downsize to a smaller house. Our mortgage payments were sliced in half. Our insurance and taxes were also lowered. Our energy bills were slashed. Our ongoing repair and maintenance is a fraction of the expense it was before. And our cleaning responsibilities are noticeably easier.
Recently, I was asked by a friend how we are able to make ends meet financially while still doing a fair bit of traveling as a family. My answer immediately centered on our decision to minimize—not just our possessions, but our home as well.
“When the rest of the world was building bigger and bigger, we decided to buy smaller. And that decision has freed us to do many wonderful things.”
Choosing to buy a smaller house is a decision I have never regretted. Likely, neither will you.
Jill says
Our home is about 1100 sq. ft. When we bought our home a few years ago, EVERYONE thought it was too small. To us, it feels just right.
Ari says
Ours is about the same and the most frequent comment, when people had their first look through was ‘You could add an ensuite onto the main bedroom here, it’d be great’
I love it partly because it only has one bathroom to clean!
The house ended up feeling pretty big after we’d been here a while, there’s always at least three empty rooms even with everyone home anyway.
Bonnie says
I agree wholeheartedly. The problem I see is that builder’s aren’t designing smaller homes with nice outdoor space – instead they put smaller homes crammed next to each other and charge outrageous HOA fees for a strip of grass.
Karen T. says
Bonnie, you’re so right! I hate the big box homes with teeny tiny yards. I’d rather have a small home with more yard for trees and a vegetable garden.
Peggy says
We live in 1150 sq ft house (3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bath). Built 1950s. 3 adults, 2 grandchildren (3 & 2). I am continually “minimizing” through donations and use it up challenges. When one of our daughters recently married and left home, we said for her to take any kitchen stuff she wanted. She took Brita water filter & extra filters, bread machine, coffee grinder, and crockpot. We replaced the crockpot because it is great for making vegetarian chili! I have been decluttering slowly for a few years and been very careful with any purchases all that time. We need to do more but we are getting there :)
Christina says
We went from 2200 square feet to 1200 square feet and that was even overwhelming. We are now renting a 400 square foot house but we take showers and wash dishes in a common house that we share with others in our community. We also have an outhouse! Just the time that I save in not scrubbing the shower every week….
John P. Weiss says
We sold our condo and moved into my mother’s house when she relocated to a retirement community. Having a bit more space is nice, and we don’t fill it with junk. But, our old condo was cozy, simple and perfectly sufficient. We would have stayed there but for the opportunity with my mother’s house. I know a lot of people who upsize to bigger houses and bigger mortgages. My Dad used to say, “Do we own our things, or do they own us!”
Cara says
Perfect timing for this article. We are in the process of selling our house and moving into a converted bus. Housing in Australia is a nightmare. We have three part times jobs between us so we can look after our toddler and the very scary fact is that after mortgage, insurance, rates, utilities etc half of our income is gone. We only live in a 98m square 3×1! In a lower socioeconomic area too. We decided that it wasn’t worth the time, money and paycheck to paycheck stress of owning a house.
Krista Stracuzzi says
I love everything about your newsletters, website, twitter, etc. As a collective whole, my family works together to reduce, reuse, and save as much as possible. I have toyed with idea of selling our home (@2500 sq. ft. for 5 people) and buying a smaller one. What I get stuck on is this…I LOVE our home. I LOVE our neighborhood and our schools. We live in one of the most desirable, albeit not expensive, neighborhoods in our city. I get that there are trade-offs and maybe leaving our home is not the best solution for our family. At the same time it is a total money pit and in need of so many repairs. None of them threaten the integrity of the house but if we tried to sell it, well..you get the idea. I guess I am not looking for an answer but, maybe some feedback and others thoughts on our situation.
THX!
Rebecca says
I want so much to downsize. 2 1/2 years ago my husband was transferred and we moved out of our 1200 sq. ft. home to a 2800 sq. ft. It was too big and I did not want anything that big but we felt we really needed a bedroom for each of our 3 kids (2 girls and 1 boy, with big age differences and personalities). After 2 1/2 years, I am more convinced than ever that this house is just too big. I am tired of cleaning and going up and down stairs. I can never get the whole house clean at once.
We are now moving to a new area because my husband got a new job and have the perfect opportunity to downsize. I have been house hunting, but all the houses that have seen with the bedrooms we need are the same size or even larger than the one we have now. I think approx. 1800 sq. ft. would be perfect for us. We are considering building but I am struggling with that because it cost so much to build custom.
I would love opinions on building in order to downsize.
Krista Stracuzzi says
Building could be your opportunity to downsize and get what you want. If having 4 bedrooms is at the top of the list then take space from somewhere else. living room? kitchen? Do open concept to make a smaller space feel bigger. At the some time, the kids rooms will have to be just enough for them now and as they grow. How does that idea sit?
Jan Ramsey Brick says
We cut the size of our living space in half last year by downsizing from a big house to an apartment. We haven’t regretted it a bit. Thanks to lower rent (than our mortgage), mush lower utilities and many bills that don’t exist anymore (i.e. yard care, household maintenance), we’re able to do much more as a family.
We’d like to buy a small house but can’t find one in our area. They are snatched up like hotcakes as soon as they’re put on the market. All the new construction is of huge houses.
I hope the housing industry catches up with the less is more mindset soon!
rita says
Even before I stumbled upon the Minimalist lifestyle I had decided against a large home. I did not see the point of buying bigger or spending more.
I have a lovely little cottage house (750 sq ft). Not only is it the right size but also the right price! When it starts to feel crowded I know it is time to remove the excess and I do not have the added weight or high mortgage payments.
There is a lot to be said for simple living!