“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.
Andrea says
No matter what you still have to pay the bills in your big houses. And keep it filled with furniture.
Not only what matters how much is it worth but heating costs, electricity costs, commute costs. Or air-con bills :)
Amy says
After 18 months of decluttering our house, we (a family of 6) sold our 1550 square foot house and paid cash for our 921 square foot, 2 bedroom 1 bath, 1920’s bungalow. We moved to a smaller town, with a smaller school system, and less pressure to “keep up with the Jonses”.
We love it! Our kids (6, 4, 2, and 7 mos.) get along better, enjoy more creativity in their play, and spend more time outside. Cleaning the house takes less time and maintenance costs are much lower.
My husband got very ill and has not been able to work for the last 6 months. If it weren’t for our move, we would have sank financially. We absolutely love our minimalist journey and grateful for the many benefits that accompany it!
Debbie says
Just curious as to where you put 4 children in a 2 bedroom house?
I hope your husband has recovered fully.
Jary Quinones says
I grew up with 8-sisters, 2-brothers, & a set of parents. We lived in a 2-bdrm Apt. My parents had 1st-bdrm, sisters had the 2nd Bdrm, the couch was used & I had the food pantry as my sleeping quarter on a cot. The size of the apt was about 900 sgt ft. Growing up I never experienced having a Bdrm until I went off to college and lived in the dorms.
You can fit 4-kids easily in a small space. The hang up today, is that we all feel like everyone has to have their own Bdrm..
Lj kiers says
We did it for years. Bunk beds are a huge space saver. Bedrooms are for sleeping, outdoors for living!
Kathryn says
Our house is 1040 sq ft. Three bedrooms upstairs and two rooms downstairs that could be turned into bedrooms. For the majority of our kids lives (3), they lived upstairs with the girls sharing. It wasn’t until middle school that the oldest wanted to move downstairs. I cringe when people say they need a bigger house. Usually it is more like clean out your stuff and your space will be fine. My husband grew up in the top half of a house less than 1000 sq ft for many years (4 kids shared one room) until the other family moved out of the basement. We only have one left at home (23) and are in the process of cleaning out our house. We moved into a fully furnished home, over the years we have replaced things, but there are things in the garage that I don’t think my husband has even looked at in the 25 years we have been in the house. Oh yeah it is time to clean house. It is very liberating I am finding and I don’t miss anything that I have gotten rid of so far.
Debbie says
When I move this past summer I was able to downsize from a two bedroom apartment with a storage unit to a one bedroom apartment with a corner of the garage. As I unpacked I found plenty more make its way to the local thrift store.
That extra room so often became a dumping ground for “I’ll deal with it later” messes. I miss having a desk to make work from home easier but since I don’t do it as often as I expected, I can adjust. It makes life much easier to overcome my messy nature and make a quick pass through before bed and put everything in its place.
I’m so very glad I downsized.
JF says
Unfortunately builders build smaller and smaller houses and charge the same cost from year to year.
Kathy @ SMART Living 365.com says
Hi Joshua! Yes! I write about this issue all the time and call it “rightsizing”. In fact I even wrote a book about it! If we take the time to realize how most of us have traded our precious time and resources just to “look good” with a big house I think we realize that it is a lousy deal. Good for you for continuing to remind us all that this is crazy! ~Kathy
Agnes says
Yesterday we visited one of numerous bastis (a slum) in Karachi. The homes, tiny in size are so closely built together that alleyways between them are dark even in broad daylight. A group of friends and I had been invited to see the local school there which we have been helping out and despite the degree of poverty we witnessed we saw hope and drive. These people have to live with so many difficulties and are often deprived of items we take for granted, a clean environment, electricity, running water, education, yet they are a people living with purpose and determination. Puts life (and the importance of owning more and bigger and better stuff) into perspective.
Sylvia says
I’ve been down sizing since February 2016. It has been the most freeing experience ever. The things I can do without. I’ve had the opportunity to live in another country off and on through my life. People live without so many things. They’re already minimalists. They have time everyday for quality of life. I’m almost done with my downsizing. Then I’ll be taking two hours each day for a special activity. This has been a wonderful change for me.
Soo Leong Liu says
De-cluttering is my first priority. I see progress and that alone has my home appearing larger!
We plan to eventually downsize to a one story with three bedrooms ( and less formals) for when our children and their families visit.
Yes, in this instance, less will be more!
Nicole says
This is spot on. A lot of life is about your perspective. My husband recently lost his job and we could wallow in self pity, but we chose to rise to the challenge and cut as many expenses as possible to minimize the financial impact of a reduced income. It’s actually been rather fun, not to mention eye-opening, how much we spent and on what.
ML says
Great post! I love reading your blog, I always get lots of inspiration. My family is actually in the process of doing exactly this, we’re downsizing our house to upsize our life. We have 3 children and live in the Toronto area in Canada. The housing market is crazy, so we’ve decided to take advantage and get to a more comfortable place financially. We have recently bought a smaller house about 15 mins further away from where we live now, the new place has more land and shared water-front. We’ll likely make approx. $300,000 by moving and we’ll be able to take our kids swimming on the lake in the summer. We will finally be able to save some money for retirement and not be so tight with finances. It will take some adjusting as I have become emotionally attached to our current home, the memories we’ve made here and it’s convenient location, but the pay-off in lifestyle is too big to turn down!