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| 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.
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| Do I really want a Cuisinart Food Processor? |
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.
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| I hate moving, especially packing. |
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.
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.
ReplyDeleteyes, we have a small house too...but it's a great size for us right now.
ReplyDeleteWe actually just got rid of a few bags of stuff this weekend!
That's a lot of moving. I hope you're there for a while.
ReplyDeleteI 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!
ReplyDeleteWhen 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!
ReplyDeleteAll good points!! For my next house, I want super small bedrooms & no dining room ... just a big family room & kitchen;)
ReplyDeleteI'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.
ReplyDeleteI 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!
ReplyDeleteI 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!
ReplyDeleteSo 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
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.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, 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.
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. ;)
ReplyDeleteAgree with the benefits of a smaller place. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteOur 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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