Top 10 Benefits of Moving into a Smaller Place

I recently moved into a smaller place:  fewer bedrooms, smaller living room, smaller family room.  Here are ten benefits of moving into a smaller place.

I love saving money.
1.  Lower rent
2.  Lower deposit
3.  Lower utilities
Yes, these 3 are all related to money, and they are all wonderful.  Lower cost-of-living was one of the main impetuses for the move, after all.  


I do not look this happy when I'm cleaning.

4.  Less to clean
This is something for which I feel grateful almost every single day.  I hated cleaning the last place.  

5.  Less room for all your stuff, so you have to get rid of some
I sold many things on Craig's List and donated bags and bags before the move.
Do I really want a Cuisinart Food Processor?
6.  Less room for all your stuff, so you think hard before you buy something new
In my opinion, this is a huge benefit of a smaller place.  If you already feel like the kitchen is a bit cluttered with all your cooking paraphernalia, you think long and hard before bringing home a new kitchen gadget.



7.  Smaller footprint
One of the side benefits of buying less is that it is almost always better for the environment.  A smaller house means less materials used, less energy consumed, less products purchased.

8.  More togetherness 
Since I spend less time cleaning, I have more time to enjoy with my kids.  And now that we live in a smaller place, we are always in close vicinity to one another.  This makes certain things, like potty training a toddler and an infant simultaneously, easier.  It also means you'll still hear the baby wake up from a nap, even if the battery in your monitor dies.

I hate moving, especially packing.
9.  Less to pack when you move again
10. Less to clean when you move again
I've moved 4 times in 3 years, folks, so now when I move into a place, I'm already thinking about how big a pain it will be to move out of.

I really do prefer our smaller place.  It helps that we have a great backyard.

This post is part of Top Ten Tuesday.

14 comments:

  1. We were just talking about the same thing last night. I think living in small spaces for so long has helped us keep our stuff to a minimum. It seems like you end up filling whatever space you have.

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  2. yes, we have a small house too...but it's a great size for us right now.

    We actually just got rid of a few bags of stuff this weekend!

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  3. That's a lot of moving. I hope you're there for a while.

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  4. I do agree with you---smaller houses are more manageable. I miss the days of plugging in my vacuum cleaner once to vacuum the whole place!

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  5. When we moved overseas, we lived in about 1500 less square feet. I loved it. It freed up so much time and energy. The only time I wished I had more space was when I had my friends with their rambunctious boys over! But there really could never be enough space for them!

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  6. All good points!! For my next house, I want super small bedrooms & no dining room ... just a big family room & kitchen;)

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  7. I'm with ya! We live in a two-bedroom 700 sq ft place, and I love it for all of the above reasons. Our utility bill was only $80 last month! For FL in July, that's pretty much a miracle.

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  8. I love reading posts like this because it reminds me to be grateful for the small house that I have and to learn to live with what I have. I'll admit, I hate my house! I do feel like it's too small, although I"m sure to some it's not. It's a 1400 squ ft old, up an down colonial. Everything is narrow and small. I have to go up 2 flights of stairs to put laundry away.I feel like we're bursting at the seems with the four of us and one on the way. I'm already dreading trying to find a place for the baby stuff. We do have a lot of clutter and I'm desperately trying to get rid of it. Anyway, thanks for this list!

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  9. I agree! We have a smaller house by necessity right now... moving from Indiana to Connecticut gave us some sticker shock with home prices. When we talk about moving some day- to someplace less expensive- I always tell my husband that I do not WANT some ginormous home. I like my cozy spaces and my family togetherness! Great list!

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  10. So I used to live in about a 1500 sq ft home and now I live in about an 1100 sq ft -- that's 1100 sq. ft. for 3 adults (me, my husband, and my sister) plus 2 children. I think that's about the right size for us.

    I agree, Mandi, no dining room. Just a dine-in kitchen. I like having smaller bedrooms with both a living room and family room (both modest size -- I think it actually used to be one big room) so I can have a room just for playing with all the toys. Keeps the toys contained. Sort of.

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  11. Alicia -- congrats on that awesome utility bill. We used a/c a few days in the old place and it was SO EXPENSIVE. Now we don't have a/c.

    Melissa, my place is smaller than yours, but only one story, which I really prefer. I can't imagine 2 flights of stairs with kids. Ack! Good luck, cleaning out the clutter.

    JessieLeigh -- I've had other friends tell me the same thing. They downsized b/c they moved to a more expensive area and actually liked it better.

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  12. We have a dine-in kitchen too -- that and the lack of counter space in our galley-style kitchen are the down-sides of our small house. But... it's more of a layout issue, not a size issue. During the summer our back patio becomes the bonus room for entertaining. ;)

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  13. Agree with the benefits of a smaller place. Nice post.

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  14. Our house is a tiny cape cod with 4 bedrooms for all 8 of us with one on more on the way! In some ways, I feel like it's crazy, but in others, I love it. The kids share rooms, which let's them have deeper relationships, and you are always close to someone! What I don't like is not having a separate place to homeschool or do crafts, and not having a place for our teenage daughter to be with her friends when they come over. But all in all, how very blessed we are to have a roof over our heads at all!

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