I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of Small House Living recently. My blogging friend, Lori, has shared about their family’s fairly radical decision to downsize to an RV and travel around the country as a family.
This in and of itself is impressive. But it’s even more impressive when you find out that they are doing this with four kids in tow.
Part of the idea of voluntarily downsizing appeals to me in a big way because I don’t like extra clutter and stuff. On the flip side, the thought of living out of a really small space sounds like a recipe for lots of tension. Namely, I like to have quiet places to retreat and living in such a small space might make me feel like I’d go crazy after awhile. 🙂
There can be a lot of benefits to downsizing, though, if even for a short period of time.
When I was 10 years old, my parents sold our house and moved all 7 of us (there were only five kids at the time!) to a single wide trailer for 7 months while we built a home in the country. Since our living space was very limited, we put most of our household items in storage and only kept out the essentials.
We have so many memories from that summer in the trailer, most of them good memories. And we discovered a lot of benefits to living in a small space. Such as:
- We hardly spent any time cleaning. My mom divvied up the household chores amongst all of us and with only 6 total rooms in the trailer, that meant very few chores to go around!
- It fostered togetherness. We couldn’t really go off by ourselves because there wasn’t a lot of space, so we had to learn how to get along even in tighter quarters! I have many fond memories of nights spent all together in the living room reading before bed.
- We made our own entertainment. We weren’t able to bring many of our toys/things along, so we had fun using what we had for forms of entertainment. We built an elaborate tree “house” using things left in the old barn. We experimented in the kitchen with new recipes that only used the microwave, crock pot, or electric skillet (we didn’t have an oven in the trailer). And my older sister did a lot of sewing since she was able to bring her sewing machine.
- We became more grateful. My parents were investing most of their money into the house-building project so there wasn’t a lot of extra cash that summer. I distinctly remember it being the first time in my life where we had to do without and I remember how much contentment and gratefulness this helped me develop.
- It taught us the difference between a need and something that’s nice to have. There are many things we had to put in storage that summer that we’d always assumed you needed to live. But we realized that, if you can survive without it for 7 months, it’s probably less of a necessity and more of something that’s nice to have. It’s good to learn from a young age that there are very few real needs in life. I’m grateful for the conveniences of things like ovens and dishwashers and dryers, but you can survive just fine without them, as we did for those 7 months.
I was reading Kathi Lipp’s new book called Clutter Free recently and she talks about their decision not to move up in house, but rather to downsize in stuff.
She lists off a number of benefits for living in a smaller house, including:
- Smaller houses are less expensive to furnish than larger houses.
- Smaller houses are less expensive to heat and cool compared to comparably built larger homes.
- Smaller houses force you to use all of your home.
- Smaller houses force you to be intentional about your possessions.
I love her conclusion that, much of the time, we don’t need a bigger house, we need less stuff. If you’re feeling cramped in your space and like your family is bursting at your house seams, make sure you’ve eliminated all the unnecessary clutter and extras first before you starting shopping for a bigger house.
Have you ever downsized before — even for a short time? Do you think you could do what Lori’s family is doing and downsize your family to an RV? Why or why not? I’d love to hear!
For inspiration, check out this article: 12 of the Most Impressive Tiny Houses You’ve Ever Seen
7 months ago, our family of 6 left our dream property with 30 treed acres, and a fixed up home of 14 years, to take a leap of faith through a door the Lord opened.
We follow a dream of freedom, simplicity, family first lifestyle and fun on the road.
34 states later, we are madly in love and hope to do this a long long time!
Our life is so so much better in a small RV space, then in our 2300 Sq ft home. The “stuff” we found so important, gone and forgotten, given away.
The rat race of life has been replaced with the natural rhythms of a family of 6, seeking a chance to make memories. To read books. Have a picnic. To be still. To live. To forget the clock.
Best chance we ever took!
There are 7 people in my home right now. Myself, my husband, 4 children (17,15,11,7) and a 15 month old grandson. We live in around 1300 sqft. My children try and kill each other now, so downsizing no, not right now. However, the prospect of an RV and traveling with them, yes. I think if we could keep things thrilling for them, exciting, they would fight less. And, we’d have whole lot less room for stuff, and cleaning would be easier. I do think, when the kids are older, I will either convince my husband to downsize, or to buy an RV and go traveling. Maybe both! I love the sound of a small cozy cabin lit and fueled by fire with windows to open to welcome the fresh air.
We are a family of 5 and a large dog in 800 sq. ft. (We do have an unfinished basement, which is nice for storage but I’d rather have a small laundry/mud room than a basement. No garage.
I love it. I would go smaller too. I would travel/live in an rv but its not possible with my husband’s job.
We do not host a lot– for a few reasons. If we do host, we prefer to just have 1 family over, not an enormous group of people. Thats more due to our personalities (both introverts). We’ve had family spend the night. We usually gve up our bed to our guests and we sleep on a blow up mattress in the “office” or living room.
We homeschool as well. I just love living with less stuff and having a small home makes that easier for me to have less stuff. My husband does not lean towards minimalism at all and still is okay with our space.
Our family has been praying about something like this! We have been praying about what I like to call Escaping the Land of Excess (where we were for years) and going to a simpler life. I don’t believe in coincidence, rather I believe in God’s little miracles that he likes to bless us with. Which is why it’s so funny that I’ve been a reader of your blog since the beginning Crystal…and while praying these downsizing/RV/whatever God wants prayer…I see your post and the link to Lori’s RV story) today. You have inspired us to the point where we may actually follow in her footsteps! Scary and exciting all at the same time! Thank you for being such a blessing!
Crystal, I saw this on Twitter (via Kathi Lipp) and it really hit home, so I wanted to thank you.
I just read Essentialism by Greg McKeown (amazing book) and we’ve been working on cleaning our closets (literally) and more. We’ve donated thousands of dollars worth of clothes and other stuff already and have so much more to go.
With baby #2 on the way, we need to clean out the “junk room” to become a nursery and I just don’t like the clutter. I never knew how much it all bothered me until recently.
Last night we had an issue with our daughter. I won’t go into all the details, but we talked about downsizing our home and property. We live in a home that is WAY too big for the 3 (or even 4 or maybe 5 or 6) of us. And the acreage is just too hard to keep up. We either have to spend $300 a week in-season or I spend my entire Saturday keeping up the property. And when it snows…it takes us hours to clear the driveway (with a snowblower).
Back to the issue with our daughter…she was upset about us possibly downsizing. And that scared the crap out of me. I don’t want her to have an entitlement mentality and it sounded a lot like that. It really worries me as a parent.
When I was growing up, I divided my first 20 years on this earth between either a trailer, a one-bedroom apartment, or a college dorm room. Except for that one year we hit it big and got a three-bedroom duplex…I’ve never felt wealthier before or since to be honest.
We fought for everything and more importantly, we cherished everything. I never left my toys out because I only had a few. And I would never have dared to leave my bike out for fear of anything happening to it when I knew how much my mom had to work for it (probably an entire day’s – that means 14 hours – wages).
By our daughter’s age (almost 4), I already knew what it was like to not have a car, to live in a trailer park, to have the lights turned off and the heat not work and (very, very rarely) go to bed hungry.
So I do worry about our daughter now that her mother and I have “made it.”
Any advice there?
I’m wondering if step one is to downgrade our lifestyle for her sake (not to mention, I’d get my Saturdays back and not have to vacuum for 2+ hours every week haha)
Since she’s only four, I’d encourage you to make some changes now instead of waiting a few more years when they will be a lot harder. I think it’s good to talk with our kids, listen to what’s going on in their hearts, address their concerns, and make sure to talk about any fears or insecurities they have about decisions. I think we do a disservice to our kids when we give them everything they want… because that’s just not preparing them for real-life someday when they are an adult.
At the same time, I think it’s important that we don’t just make drastic changes without hearing our kids and what’s going on in their hearts. I’d try to get to the bottom of why she was so upset about down-sizing and that will help you better know how to address it going forward.
Our family downsized to an RV over 5 years ago. We have been a fulltime traveling family since… and with 12 kids in tow. 🙂 (tho we are down to 8 since they keep growing up!)
We love the freedom that small living gives us. We are now able to volunteer with Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief services extensively, and this year we began to volunteer on some YWAM campuses also! We also find other ways to give on the road – my husband is very handy, and he has spent countless hours helping people mod their RVs to fit their families, and to repair them for others that cannot afford to hire someone to do it. Our children are learning to serve while they also learn that you don’t have to buy into the ‘American (consumerism) dream’ to be happy.
We love to share our journey, tips and tricks for family travel, and inspiration, over at our blog: OurTravelingTribe.com 🙂
Those small houses pictured in this article look great. Does anyone know where an interested person might obtain information about purchasing one?
Our family of 3 lives in a 1,299 sq ft house. Most houses around us are 2,500 sq ft and larger. Two years ago we looked for a larger house but we could not find what we were looking for in our budget (larger house with more land). In the end we decided to stay and embrace small house living. Since then we have done some awesome upgrades. Hard wood flooring (Anderson Eagle Lodge) glued down, done by my husband and I. A new solid wood front and back door. A new Tiffany pendant light fixture above the sink (paid for with swagbucks!). We have more upgrades in store, too. We are also purging things we don’t use to simplify our lives and always looking for ways to make more room (ie, ditching the large kitchen trash can for a under the sink trash by the Container Store).
Pros: are closeness as a family, the coziness of a small house, low electric bills, paid off house, less material things. And of course a small house forces us to live within our means. 🙂
Cons: I so wish my washer and dryer were NOT in the garage. I’d do anything for a laundry room inside the house. I’d love to have an entry way so our front door does not open straight in the living room and I’d love for our master bathroom to be a bit bigger. But, as with all things, it’s all in what you get used to and I have gotten used to these things.
I so enjoyed this post. Have you ever seen the show Tiny Homes House Hunters on HGTV? It is wonderful. And it is amazing what a tiny home can offer. While we still live in our home of over 20+ year, I find the entire idea very intriguing.
awesome! I love simplicity and minimalism. This is great by the end of this year I am moving from a 1400 sq ft to about 700. It can’t come any sooner! With all the progress we made this year, I can’t wait to continue my simple living journey. Come check out my journey to a more positive and simple life @ http://www.thisisreallife.co
My boyfriend and I live in a VERY small house…maybe 600 sq ft? It’s one bedroom, one bathroom and a small kitchen with an apartment size stove/oven and refrigerator. I don’t have any of the “modern” amenities…no dishwasher, garbage disposal, washer and dryer or even a bathtub…we just have a standing shower. Of all the things I miss…the bathtub is the worst. I would love one. Other than that we’re content. We even entertain. The rent is really inexpensive and allows us to live on one income for the moment. I think if it had a washer/dryer we’d probably never leave…I do hate using the laundry mat.
When my husband and I bought our home, we had a long list of priorities of what we absolutely needed in a home, and somehow we didn’t include square footage. My house has almost everything we needed: off street parking, a great yard, a quiet neighborhood, a nice layout, 3 bedrooms, etc. But it is only shy of 800 square feet.
A lot of friends and family members expressed concern over our choice because it was so small, yet it has literally been the best financial decision we have (and maybe will ever) made. We were able to completely renovate, and use better materials, because of the small amounts needed. We spend time together, and really communicate, because even if one of us is on the other side of the house…it’s still close. Our utility bills are peanuts compared to our friends with larger homes, and honestly we just love spending time at home.
I know something this small isn’t for everyone, but I think people overestimate the amount of house they actually need. With 800 sq feet, we still have enough room here for when we decide to start a family. And the best part is, I sleep way better now than I ever did renting a 2000+ square foot apartment because I know we’re only paying for the amount of house we need.
I would love to see a layout of your home! It’s hard to imagine 3 bedrooms in 800sq ft. I love the idea of a tiny house but I honestly have no idea how we would manage it with 4 children. One of the things my husband wants to make sure we have is separate space for our son and 3 daughters (boys/girls not in the same room) meaning at least 3 bedrooms. I have thought it would be impossible in a tiny house. (or almost tiny!)
We live in an 875-square-foot townhome–my husband and I and our three children. It also has only three bedrooms. It was a big adjustment for us to downsize from the larger house that we lived in previously. I think the worst thing for us is having only one bathroom for five people. Also, I wish we had more space indoors for the kids to play; it gets pretty cramped when they need to burn off energy, but it’s too cold for them to play outside. I wish we could have people over for dinner or something, too, but we just don’t have room for guests.
Out of necessity my parents and I moved into a travel trailer and traveled the country with the new family business to make a living in the mid-80’s when interest rates rocketed to 16% and construction work was at a standstill in the area we lived. So our family home became a rental income property and the three of us (my 3 older siblings were in college already) lived in a 28′ travel trailer with the excess stuff in storage. There were many good memories of that time period of travel and living downsized, but I’ve always felt that I lost out on those friendships I had growing into the kind of life-long-childhood friendships since we landed in a different state for the 2nd year living in one community for that full year and then moved back to a neighboring town in our home state. So sort of felt like a “military brat” without the military experience.
Small is indeed beautiful! I especially like the lesson about learning the difference between something you need and something that’s nice to have.
We are a homeschooling family of 6 living in a home that’s officially 750 square feet – and I don’t like clutter. Living within commuting range of Boston and having bought when prices were high, we are a casualty of the housing market crash. However, we’ve not let that stop us from having the children we’d hoped for, and we’ve just gotten very creative along the way. It does help that my hubby is a submarine veteran and has a knack for finding and utilizing every inch of otherwise wasted space for storage. We were also able to finish (nicely) half our walk out basement to bring us closer to 1050 square feet of functional living space. The unfinished half and the attic are fully used for storage, exercise, laundry, utilities, and play space. The downsides? ONE bathroom, no linen storage, and an eat in kitchen that barely fits our family, nevermind guests. The upsides include lots of time spent together, limiting “stuff,” spending less on utilities, and forgoing many, many purchases b/c we don’t like the item enough to bother creating a permanent home for it. We even buy gifts for our children differently b/c toy storage is a big issue. Thanks to 10 years of slowly building equity and the tax free income from a recent deployment, we are finally ready to start looking…for a house between 1500-2000 square feet, which will seem palatial to us!
We are in the same boat excerpt I want to downsize from 2000 sq ft to something on public transportation and metro Boston prices are insane (outer suburbs wanting to move closer). We bought in 2005 ouch.:)
This summer I had to move back to my home state to take care of my mom. My son and I packed the bare essentials (a few toys, a couch, a TV, 2 beds and our clothes) and moved into a 700 sq ft apartment for 3 1/2 months. Our family of 3 normally lives in a 1700 sq. ft house. We didn’t take much since we didn’t want to have to pack/unpack and no storage space.
It was wonderful. DS didn’t miss the mess of toys he normally has. I loved having a small space to clean DH came to visit for 3 of those weeks and it wasn’t cramped at all. Although there were some kitchen gadgets I missed (like my stand mixer), overall I was much happier with less stuff!
We are currently planning to downsize with our next move. We already live fairly clutter free, but this helped us realize those other things that we have that are nice, but not necessary!
We went from 2000 to 1200 living space with a wet basement for some storage and Legos. We only have 2 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths. All 5 kids are in one room and love it. We have number 6 on the way and the kids are ready for her to be with them. They will all be so sad when we will need to have separate boy/girl rooms one day. We made the change because of property taxes and to force us to get rid of stuff! It has been one of our best decisions ever!
Yes to all if this! We are doing the exact same thing – living in a school bus while we build a house, and I just had my fourth baby! It definitely had taught us a lot of lessons, most importantly about gratitude!
So inspiring! I am also trying to simplify our possessions in order to make our small home work for us.
We are currently living this way – with less – our family of five moved out of our 2 bedroom 1 bath home into my parents’ home. We have 2 bedrooms here and that’s the extend of our “personal space.” Most of our belongings are in storage, and we homeschool. It’s a daily challenge, but so rewarding and it’s making our goal of being debt free more reachable.
Thanks for this inspiration, Crystal. Love your blogging.
You’re an inspiration! And I’m cheering for you on your debt-free journey!
Our family of 5 lives in a smaller home 1200 sq. ft. and I wouldn’t change a thing. The key is organization and less “stuff”. I have in the past thought about a larger home but focus on the positives and the benefits we are gaining by a smaller home, a couple things that make it all worth it are, We will be able to put our 3 children through college debt free, we can travel, we get along! I also realize that our family always ends up in the same room , we have a small family room and living room and we either all end up watching a TV program together or reading in the living room. We have a large outdoor space that doubles our living space in the warm weather and again all end up out there TOGETHER … 🙂 Less stuff and a close family make our small home worth it!
I got hooked on these after seeing “Tiny House Nation” on the FYI channel. I’ve never lived in a tiny house before, but I’d definitely be open to it!
We are a family of 7 soon to be 8. We came from an over 1,700 sq ft house to staying with my in laws in 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom (yes for all 7 of us) and soon we will be moving in to a townhouse with less than 1,300 sq ft. But we are thrilled to have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms! It will be a challenge to downsize toys and the children’s things but they have been living without everything in storage for 7 months anyway! Now we just have to find some creative food storage solutions and we are in business!
I downsized from a 3 bedroom 2 car garage apt to a 2 bedroom single garage. Lovin it more 🙂
Small houses are not all they’re cracked up to be. We’re a family of 5 in a tiny (2 bed, 1 bath) house, and look forward to more space soon. It’s no fun when the baby cries at night and wakes up the other 2 littles.
I have also lived in a 5000 sq ft house (for 3 years) and that presented its own problems — hard for the whole place to be clean at one time! — but I’d rather have large-house problems than small-house problems.
Either way, I prefer my environments to be clutter-free and organized, and that is a challenge no matter the size of the house!
We have been thinking of downsizing for quite some time. Less is more. Our home is big and people love the size. But we don’t use every square inch of the home. Maintaining a home this size is costly. We really have been thinking about it and is something we might do in the future.
My husband and I currently live in a little house that is about 550 sq ft. and its perfect for us, but if/when we have children it definitely won’t work beyond infant stage, we need another bedroom (just have 1). I think something around 700sqft. would be perfect if it was designed right. I dislike clutter too and find living a somewhat minimalist lifestyle is actually really nice.
I was just talking to a friend about this very thing! It seems that several people we know are downsizing or have downsized recently. All while my husband and I are planning to build a bigger house for our growing family. We have 7 children ages 12 down to 17 months and baby #8 is 10 weeks in the womb. We currently live in a 1200 sq. ft., 3 BR, 1 bath house on 1/4 acre in town.
We’ve been given 7 acres of beautiful land only minutes from our current house. What a gift from the LORD! Our plan is to build a 2000 sq. ft. house on the property. We’ve found that sometimes it’s nice to have a quiet space of your own to get away from the busyness and the noise.
I’ve always been content in my little house. I figured if families could do it 50 years ago then we could, too. Also, in other countries, there are families with multi-generations who have as many people as we do, but in a smaller space. Oh the problems we face in America! However, I don’t feel materialistic for wanting my husband to be able to take a shower without someone knocking on the door because they need to go to the bathroom or for wanting our family to be able to have others in our home even in the winter when the kids can’t go outside and play.
I think the main thing is this: The size of the house doesn’t matter. The hearts of the people who live there do.
For a summer, in high school, my family (parents, me and two dogs) lived in a small motor home and a tent while we were building our house (in a new town). I remember sleeping in the tent with one of the dogs. I didn’t know anyone and was too young to drive so I mostly help build the house or hung out in the tent writing letters to friends back home or reading. My husband makes comments that maybe we should buy a small motor home / trailer and travel (with a large dog). I do like to go camping, but I don’t think I would want to do it for more than a few weeks at a time.
Our family of 4 lives in a 700 sq ft apartment. I do want to have our own home eventually. But the more time we spend in a smaller space, the more I want to have a smaller home with a big back yard. We have simplified our space and I like it that way. Small house living is very appealing.
We moved to China for a year when our first son was 6 months. We had our apartment with only the stuff in our suitcases we could bring and a few necessities we bought for that year. I loved it! And think often about how our son only had one bin of toys (still more than most of the kids in china we knew) and was completely content; maybe even more so than when we came home and he had tons.
We now have 4 kids and I am constantly trying to figure out what we can do without (although I can still be a packrat!) and I usually go back to thinking about what we had in China. Our home is 1600 sq ft, so not huge for our fam. My father in law keeps looking for bigger houses for us, but I just keep saying what this article does: We just need less stuff! 🙂 and I always have to remind him that he came from a family with 11kids living in a 2 (sorta 3) bedroom, 1bath house. 🙂 it’s so much about our culture right now!
Sometimes I do wish our house was larger, but only for having large groups over and extended family staying from out of state. But for our family, it’s perfect!
I agree! I studied overseas for 6 months and only brought 1 suitcase & my backpack and I had what I needed. It was freeing. It’d be nice to cut back on the kids toys & clutter now, I feel like they do better behavior-wise when there are less toys (less fighting & less territorial!!). And, we’re in a similar-sized house situation-a bigger sized living area would be so nice to have for entertaining.
Living in a tiny house does not appeal to us for two reasons.
First, we need space to function well. We are a family of 6 – mom, dad and four daughters. We homeschool, which for us means LOTS of books, microscopes, telescopes, computers, etc. My husband works from home. My oldest daughter has started a business. We do lots of sewing, crocheting, knitting, painting, card making, etc. that involves lots of materials. Together as a family we hike, camp, backpack, bike, fish, canoe, kayak, ski, snowshoe, sled, and play sports – all which involves equipment that needs to be stored. We do evangelism outreach at fairs and other events which involves a whole other set equipment and supplies. We freeze and can a lot of our fruits and vegetables which requires freezers or shelf space. We have lived in everything from a 19′ travel trailer to a 3400 sq ft home and we have found that for our family really function well, we need a good amount of efficient space.
Second, hospitality. We like to have my father-in-law live with us when needed. We like to host family gatherings which can be 20-30 people as well as some spend the night which has been up to 12 guests. We like to have a couple of families at a time over for dinner, but a lot of those families have 6 to 10 kids each. In the past we have also hosted church events and Bible studies in our home which was great. But again, that was 20-40 people each time. Currently we are living in a tiny house with most of our belongings in storage while we try to buy a farm. So right now we cannot do most of these things and we really miss it.
yes! hospitality was one of my main reasons for getting a 2300 sq ft home although we only have 3 people in our family. Also it was a really good deal because it needed a lot of updating. you don’t always have to break the bank for something larger than a typical 1400sq ft ranch. Our main level is 1200 sq ft and we live in that most of the time. perfect size–not too much to clean. 2 share a bedroom. but when we have people over, the downstairs daylight basement essentially doubles the size of the house. we have another family room for games and a ping pong table there as well as another bedroom and bath. makes it really fun and easy to have family or friends come from out of town or for my teenager to have a great party, or for use to host our bible study group (7 families and all kids come). worth it to us. If i lived alone, i might live in a small house, but i would miss entertaining. Also we can rent out the downstairs room for extra money. also since the updating, we can sell the house and make $50,000. small homes don’t appreciate as well.
It’s funny, but I entertain all the time in my small house…it’s chaos but it’s fun and people love it. Some small houses, especially older ones, were built really well for flow. I also have a pretty good size backyard, so it doubles as an extra entertaining space. Since I’m also in a historic district, this 1200 sq. foot house is appreciating just fine…better than a lot of the bigger houses around here. I get why some people want more space, but also think some of the critiques of small houses are based on limited experience with them. I love this place, and never feel limited living here. There are a lot of benefits.
We have 6 (soon to be 7) people living in approx 1000sq feet. I’m fine w the size (I actually enjoy the challenge) Hubby feels cramped. The only thing I would change is instead of 1 1/2 baths I would LOVE another full bath. When you have 5 people (3 of them little guys w “emergency” potty situations) and 2 more to add to the bathroom congestion in the future, it can be problematic at times 😉
I could only do one of those small houses if I lived by myself and were in a warmer climate…where I could retreat outside more than 5 months out of the year. I am fine with our 1500 sq ft place for our family of five. I do hope that within the next 5 years we could move into something bigger. Not for bigger bedrooms or storage, but for a huge family/game room so my boys could entertain (maybe even convert a double garage). I definitely think the key to living in a larger space is making a commitment not to fill it up with more stuff. Only the essentials for the room. I imagined if we had more bedrooms, that I would designate one or two for guests and keep the door closed and heat off in there. Then it would never need to be cleaned unless it was going to be used.
Our house is small for today’s standards (1400 sq ft). With a family of four, we have to limit what comes in and often find ourselves saying we don’t have room for that. We also keep telling ourselves that this size house was perfectly adequate for our sized family in the 1950s and if it worked for a family then, it can work for us now.
Agreed, we have a family of four in a 1300 sq ft house. We have no desire to upgrade, our house is paid for, and is easy to clean and maintain. Americans are fixated on the bigger equals better myth.
I couldn’t agree more.
This is so true! We are missionaries and we travel every summer on mission trips and have to live in very small living quarters, as well as only bringing a limited amount of items with us. It is amazing what you REALLY need and how freeing it is to have less – less to clean, less to break, less to store, etc. Great article!
I’ve downsized twice this year. I stayed in my 1750 square foot townhome following my divorce earlier last year because I didn’t know what direction my life was going to take. I moved out of state in June to a 1050 square foot apartment, then moved again in November to a 900 square foot apartment to be closer to work. I have no pets and no kids, and it feels like the perfect size for just me. My goal is to become debt free by the end of 2018 and get an RV so I can do my healthcare job as a traveler.
We just doubled our house size, and I’m glad we did. Six people in 1050 square feet was just tight, tight. HOWEVER…now the trick is going to be leaving margin in our home. I know that we tend to fill up whatever amount of room we have, so it scares me a bit that we have more room. I intend to be intentional, however, with keeping the extra stuff down, and once we know we are finished adding children to our family we’ll be able to pass on LOTS of stuff!! (yay!)
‘We don’t need a bigger house, we need less stuff’ … so true! We’ve been feeling like we need a bigger house lately so we got to purging. Now, my office is a mess with stuff to list on eBay;0)
I’ve been dreaming of adding on to our house lately, but I’ve recently decided that I need to be happy with what we have because our 1800 sq ft house is plenty big for us and our 3 kids. I’ve starting decluttering and getting rid of extra things and finding fun ways to organize stuff so it feels like I have more space. The challenge has been really fun and I’m looking forward to summer when I will finally tackle our spare room and get rid of all the extra stuff in there and finally turn it into an office or guest room…we haven’t quite decided yet.
Love your post. I would live in a tiny house in a heartbeat. I’m so drawn to this concept. But, my husband would never go for it. My alternative/dream is to some day have a tiny house to go to as a getaway.
I’ve followed this movement for several years and absolutely love it. I love simple living and love the idea of having a tiny house. Someday maybe.
I don’t doubt that there are families who make the switch and are loving it. I’m sort of surprised by this but we appear to be going the opposite direction. I’m wanting a bit more space so that as our kids get older, our house can be the hang-out house with plenty of stuff to do. I also enjoy having people over and though it’s absolutely possible to do it in a small environment, for me, it’s less stressful doing it with more space.
I’m embarrassed to admit this but I’ve seen houses that are quite large and I think, yeesh, no one needs that much space! Then I met one of the families that had said house and learned that they are constantly opening up their home to others. They are the go-to house for discipleship group, youth get-togethers, neighbor dinners, etc. So it’s actually being put to really good use in a way they couldn’t do if they had a small home. We know another family that has a large house that frequently serves as a respite for missionaries who are temporarily back in the states, foreign exchange students and a host of others.
Our first house was very small (not tiny but under 1,000 sq ft) and I absolutely adored it. I like the idea of having another small house when the kids are grown. Of course then I don’t know where they and their families would stay. 😛
My husband and I were just talking about this! There are things that appeal and things that wouldn’t be a good fit for our family. We just watched a documentary on netflix about living in super small spaces. Parts of this appeal to us (less upkeep, minimizing debt, etc.). But things I definitely wouldn’t be a fan of- I would not enjoy not being able to invite groups of people in our home as ministry or housing/hosting people who need a place to stay, etc. I love being able to be a ministry that way and I look forward to my boys always having their friends over. That was our main desire in purchasing a decent size house is that we can have Bible studies in our home (we have 10+ boys in our Bible study under the age of 8 so it gets pretty crazy when our families are all together!) Also not being able to store anything would mean purchasing things when I “need” them and not stocking up on them when I can coupon for them to get them free or cheap. That would add up expense wise for our family of 5….pros and cons, I suppose! I also have three boys ages 6, 5, and 3….I can’t imagine them cooped up in a small house during cold winter months. They don’t sit still too often! 🙂 This week of -20 to -30 windchills in Iowa has been challenging to say the least and we don’t live in a small home. 🙂 That being said….there are things that would be nice about it for sure!! As of now, I like the extra space because I don’t feel all cluttered all the time. Our last house was super tiny and with kids things tend to just explode and always feel cluttered even if you are minimalists, which we were at the time. 🙂
We just sold our 2200 sq. ft. home today. Closing papers signed. We are now ready to spend 6 months on the road in our 308 sq. ft. travel trailer. We have 8 children 15 years old to 3. We are working on building relationships and getter closer with the Lord. My husband gets deployed next November for 9 months. Makes this time that much more special.
I would love to hear how things go for 10 of you in a 308 sq ft travel trailer. Where in the world does everyone sleep?
I actually have a blog. Operationasajoy.blogspot.com
We have a slide out with room for the five youngest. The three teenagers sleep in the main area with a pull out sofa bed, the dinette area, and an army cot set up. It makes for some pretty creative moves to get to the bathroom but it works.
We haven’t downsized but we do live in a fairly small house. We have chosen to live small to keep our expenses down and use our money toward other things (savings, private school & travel). I’m working on getting rid of clutter so it will feel larger. My plan for this year was a kitchen renovation but I changed my mind and have been working hard to reorganize and purge my small kitchen so it works for me better. My brother and his family (4 kids + 1 large dog) have lived in a camper for the last 2.5 years while raising funds for their missionary work. They seem to manage quite well and their kids all get along and are happy. It can be done.
Re. overnight guests: If you crunch the numbers on paying for your guests’ hotel rooms a few times a year, versus a larger mortgage every month, the mortgage may often be much more money. I guess it all boils down to how often you have people come to stay (and do you WANT them to stay??). Everyone’s situation is a little different. I prefer the smaller house – less to clean.
We actually want to expand our house… at 1100 sq feet for 5 people, it feels really cramped sometimes, but that is because of 3 main things: it’s poorly set up for a family (living/dining room combined, tiny kitchen, “third bedroom” that is far too public to be used as a bedroom); we like to entertain and even host people overnight; and since my husband is increasingly working from home, he needs a private space to be an office.
I’d love to do things like teach my children to cook (not enough room at the stove, so they can only help with mixing & some cutting); let my only daughter have her own room instead of sharing with two little brothers; allow people who stay overnight to have some privacy (instead of sleeping in the living room)… we’re hoping a relatively small addition can take care of most of these problems, but we’ll see.
I don’t know what it’s like to not live in a small home. We’ve had to live this way out of necessity, and are now in our biggest home ever, a 1000 sq ft rental with 2 adults, 2 small children and a baby. One of the benefits is being able to keep close tabs on what your kids are doing. For example, there has never been a need for a baby monitor. My baby monitors are my ears, lol.
I am not fond of clutter, but it’s not always so easy to just get rid of stuff. Not earning a lot of money necessitates needing to keep and reuse quite a few things, as well as having things to help occupy, make and do if you’re home almost all the time like we are (for example, you need to have a certain amount of cookware if you eat pretty much everything at home). I think in some ways it’s a nice idea to live in a small house with almost nothing in it, but for us we’d be staring at the walls. Our outdoor space is tiny and our neighborhood is sketchy, so that’s where I’m coming from. I think small-space, clutter free living is probably an easier endeavor if you’re at a certain income level or you know it’s temporary.
What a wonderful surprise it was to see you mention us in this post! Can’t wait to read it to the kids 🙂 We are actually loving our home-on-wheels more than any place we’ve ever lived, and plan to build a “tiny house” when the trip is over (around 1000 sq ft with lofts for the kids). We will try our hand at homesteading as a way to give our autistic son something he can be trained to do when we are gone. We’ve grown so close as a family, and I can’t imagine going back to a regular sized home!
I can understand how a small house may be for some people but it is not for us, at least not in this stage of our lives. We are saving and planning for a large addition/upgrade for our home and hoping that we may be able to do it this year. One very important reason for us is to have room for our someday teenagers (our kids are ages 12 to almost 9) to have their friends over. I would so much rather have them hanging out at home than not knowing where they are.
Im really loving this conversation…I am renting at this time and would be looking for a small home. I had a big mortgage before and a nice size home but after selling due to husbands work transfer I realized I dont need a big home.
These tiny homes are so adorable! My husband and I lived in a 200 sq ft apartment for three years before recently “upgrading” to a 350 sq ft place. It has been a journey for sure, but overall it’s given us so much financial freedom that it’s been worth it. The biggest thing has been to cut the clutter wherever possible, and have an open mind and sense of humor 🙂
We chose to move out of our 2000 square foot home into a travel trailer so we could rent out our house and use it as income. My husband was being led by God to be home and more involved in our boys lives as they are growing. We spent 2 1/2 years in very small living quarters with 4 of us. We have chosen to build a shop home out of mostly used building materials as we can afford to. I have to say, I was dreading the small space issue. However, this has been the most blessed, treasured time of all of our lives. We have grown so much closer to each other and to God in the process, that I would do it again in a heartbeat!
We downsized to a (poorly-designed) 650 sf duplex when my husband was in law school. We only had one child at the time, but had three before we moved out. 🙂
It was cramped at times, but we did learn a lot and made so many fun memories. The funny thing is that I think we had more company then than we do know and tons of overnight guests. It was fun, crazy, and crowded and we learned to stop worrying what other people thought and make the most of what we had.
We have had the same experience! Many more guests (including some that stay for days or weeks) since we moved into the RV than we had when living in a regular sized home. I think if people feel welcomed, they are always very happy to share tight quarters!
I’m glad that it worked for you-that sounds like so much fun! But I wanted to clarify for those of us who are concerned about hospitality (or at least for me, but I’m better other commenters would feel the same!) that it has nothing to do with what people think of us!! I’d be happy to entertain in a brown paper bag if that’s what I had. 🙂
We do have people over to our small apartment, and it does get crazy-crowded, but it makes me sad that the space just doesn’t allow us to have that many people at a time. (My family, for example, always has to get a hotel room when they visit. There’s only just so much space to lay out sleeping bags, even if we put people under the table. 🙂 )
This is so inspiring!! Not everyone can upgrade to a bigger house, but we all can look with a critical eye on the stuff we have and try to make more room. What a great perspective!
Hmm…I think we could do the RV thing (a large one) if we didn’t have so many pets. But with 3 dogs (two fairly large) and 4 cats, I don’t see it happening. For just us and the five kids, though, absolutely!
We have not downsized our home yet, though to some it would be considered “downsized” already (1257 square feet with seven of us plus the pets I mentioned). However, we have downsized the clutter considerably and continue to try to find ways to do even more. I did Project 333 with my own clothing last year and loved it!
I had just recently checked out a book on tiny houses from the library and find it fascinating. While I don’t see us ever going quite that small, my husband and I have discussed a very small house for once the kids are grown. If you don’t already read it, I’d highly recommend the blog Assortment. They are a family of five living in 665 well-designed square feet. Super interesting (and she is coming out with cabin plans before long!).
My perspective is a little different. Without trying to sound prideful, I’m gonna admit that we own a fairly big house. When we were looking for a house, we had to have land so that my husband could park his commercial vehicles. So we bought our current house based on that more so than the house itself. I often find my self dreaming of downsizing so that I have less to take care. So while many become discontent because of having a small space, I find myself being discontent with a large space. But God has been showing me that there are many reasons why, for us, a large house is His plan for us in this season. The biggest one is being able to host church functions since our church meets in a high school. I think the most important thing is to find contentment wherever you are, and be thankful for what you have!
Michelle – I love your last line…being content with what you have and where you are really is the key.
While there are definitely some benefits to having a small home, there are also reasons for having a larger place. Hospitality has been mentioned in some of the posts above; specifically it was always important to me to have a place where my kids could have their friends over, sometimes quite a few of them at one time 🙂 Three of my six are now adults and I have considered down-sizing but I also want a home where all my children and their families are welcome to visit, maybe even at the same time!
My husband and I did that in a way this year. We sold our house in the suburbs and moved into an apartment in the city. We had to get rid of a ton of stuff, but turns out, we don’t really miss it. We don’t spend nearly so much time managing out stuff.
Ironically, it was my father splurging on the purchase of a vacation home at the beach that first started me thinking about downsizing. Our family of 5 would go down to the 1200 sq ft beach cottage and be perfectly fine size-wise, even with the addition of my dad, two dogs, and a cat. Fast forward several years and the economic downturn, and we downsized out of necessity from 3700 sq ft to 1900 sq ft, and two years after that, to 1600. We are much happier in our smaller, cuter, cheaper home.
I love this post!! We just upsized, but it’s a rental home. We’re not quite sure what size home we want to purchase when we go to buy.
We moved from AZ to NC a few months ago and got rid of SO much stuff. That felt wonderful!! We moved into a small apartment (we have two kids) which was fine, but it was definitely very crowded. Now, we’re in a 3000 sq ft home and there are a lot of perks to having more space, too!
Being completely honest, if it were just my husband and I we would do fine in a tiny space, but with kids I would prefer more space assuming we can afford it 🙂
– Sarah http://www.thefrugalmillionaireblog.com
Tiny houses just do not appeal to me. For one, I echo the others who said there is no room for much hospitality. My husband and I love to host and open our home to people without them having to feel uncomfortable sitting on top of each other, and we definitely need somewhere for family to stay when they’re in town. We host a large Christmas party every year, where we invite ALL of our friends and it is one of the highlights of our whole year. I cant imagine choosing to live somewhere so small where these activities are not an option, unless I was a single parent and lived in the same city as my family.
For two, I read an online article awhile ago (which I can’t find now) which discussed how the wealthy can better afford to live in tiny houses. There may be some ways that living tiny saves money, but on the other hand, I need room for my grocery stockpile and to store things that I can’t afford to just go out and replace when I need them. Could I go buy a streamlined closet organizer so that I use up every single inch of my closet? Yes, if i could afford it, but cardboard boxes are cheaper and maybe don’t use the space as efficiently. I use every single item in my kitchen… they aren’t just extra appliances taking up space but tools I use to make my family a variety of homecooked foods of all ethnicities.
Just some examples of why this is not for everyone and certainly not for me! (BTW, I’m speaking as someone who has a family of 4 and lives in 1200 sq feet so we aren’t living large either)
For the past 5 years we have been living in a tiny house with 3 bedrooms and 3 kids. It has been rough. I need the extra space to have some quiet time. We homeschool so we are always with each other. Plus my kitchen was so small that I hated to cook and bake – and I usually love to do that. We are moving next week into a house much bigger than this house and I can’t wait.
Yes I have lived in a camper for a brief time after we sold our house, and while our new house was being constructed. It was me, my husband, and our then 18 month toddler. Also I was currently pregnant with our second child. We borrowed my grandparents’ camping trailer and lived in it for 4 months. Our new home got completed and we moved in exactly 1 month before our second was born. Actually the house that we built could be considered ‘small’ just 1400 square feet with 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, kitchen, living room, laundry room, and play room for the kids. It is an earth contact house, so it is efficient on heat in the winter which is nice. It is the perfect size for us now, but I do have plans to build “up” eventually by adding on top so that our current house would become our basement, and while construction would be occurring we would still have a place to live comfortably. But that is still several years away…
We lived in a 760 sq ft campus apartment for three years. We had our 3rd baby 6 months in, and our 4th baby six weeks before we moved out. Now we’re in 1000 sq ft rental with four kids, and we’re starting to look for a home to buy. It’s been great that we’re used to living in smaller spaces (not radically small, but still small), so that kids sharing bedrooms, multiple uses for one space, etc. are familiar and comfortable for us.
We’ve also learned to use more community spaces. The pool and gym at the Y, the parks and playgrounds, local trails, the library, etc. all allow us to have more space when we need it.
Oh, my, I can’t imagine living in a small apt. with 4 children! We lived in a 1 bedroom apt. that size and had 2 babies. They were ages 2 1/2 and 1 when we moved to a 3/2 950 sq. ft rental. I felt like we had SO MUCH space! Even with my brother in law moving in with us. At least the kids had a bedroom to share, instead of one sleeping in the living room and one in the kitchen. lol! (my kids were horrible sleepers as babies and needed to be in different rooms. It was tough, but we made do!) While sometimes I wished for a bigger living room, or some storage space, I really was content in that “smallish” house.
Now we are in an 1800 sq. ft house. It’s nice to spread out, but it is easier to have too much stuff. I’m in the process of purging everything. While I do want to paint and decorate, I feel no need to fill every space with things. I like empty space.
I think you can live simply even in a “larger” home, though I’m not there yet. You just have to be more diligent about purging. (I’m reminding myself! lol) The problem with super-tiny homes is no room for having family and friends over. We never had family gatherings at our apt. There simply wasn’t room.
I think that’s such a great point, Lyss! It may be harder, but you can live simply in a larger space. 🙂
That little green house oozes charm! I think it is so wonderful when people choose to live this way – it’s admirable! I won’t be signing up anytime soon though! I love my little house, but it seems like a mansion compared to these tiny homes.
The key really is simplifying and getting rid of stuff you don’t use. And that is something I’m doing quite a bit as of late!
I grew up in an 800 sq ft house with my mom, dad and disabled sister. There was not enough space. My husband grew up in a 1300 sq ft house with two sisters and his parents. When my husband and I bought our house 11 years ago, we bought a 2,054 sq ft split level house with 4br, 2.5ba, 2 car attached garage on a city lot. We have 3 little kids. We use all of our space. I wouldn’t go smaller unless forced to.
While we were on vacation over Christmas I watched show after show on small house living, staying up way past my bedtime (paying for that this week). I couldn’t watch enough of these people signing up to live in homes of less than 200 square feet, most single or just a couple. There was one family our size (2 adults 3 kids) buying a home of 800 square feet (or it might have been 600). I love the idea of less to clean and keep after, but I have to admit for me the hardest part would be personal space, just as you said it would be for you. I love my kids, but I need a few hours a day alone to recharge my batteries. I suppose if you lived in an area where it was warm all year, you would get that need filled by going outside. It was that small home living marathon that sparked my goal to hit every area of our home this year and get rid of all we don’t use.
check out this woman’s house she shares with her husband, 3 boys and large dog.
http://www.assortmentblog.com/assortment/665-sq-ft.html
Wow that is cool. Pinned a picture so I can check it out later, thanks for feeding my fascination.
However, who will host your out of state family if you have no extra space? Are you counting on friends to do it for you, or do expect your family and friends to rent a motel? Can you offer hospitality and home cooked meals to other families? Our home isn’t big, but we can host others in the basement and host a church small group. I can see going super small if your finances are super tight, however. Going super small would cut on the expense of hospitality for sure which would be another blessing if your finances are tight.
When my crew of four lived in a small 900 sq foot house and only had two full beds we had family stay in the b and b down the street. Or when it was warm we pitch a tent in our backyard.
Sometimes we paid other times our guests paid. Our friends that ran the b and b gave us a good rate.
We still could be plenty hospitable. The place had a nice sized eat in kitchen.
I’ve definitely been feeling the need to eliminate “stuff” to make our house feel bigger instead of buying a bigger house. I’m looking forward to cleaning out more. (One goal for this year is to stop having long-term storage in living spaces. If I only use something every month or two, it can go to the basement or attic storage. It doesn’t need to be in my living room.)
I have 1600 square feet now and would probably not go a whole lot smaller, but I would get rid of more possessions. My personal experience is that you MUST have a living works best in the long term when each fair amount of outside space, and that each person (kids AND adults) have at least some small space of their own to be alone when and if the need arises and is private to them.
I am in the process of figuring out if I am going to downsize into a smaller home. Single parent with college age daughter transferring to a 4 year in the fall. I have a 1,400, 3 bedroom, 2 bath house. My first step in the decision making process is downsizing the clutter.
Early in our marriage, my husband and I built a “starter” home that was about 1,100 sq ft. We had one child and one bathroom at the time. Over the years, it felt like we were outgrowing the house (especially after the second child came along)
The intent when we bought the house was that we would move up into a larger, nicer home when we could afford it. However, during our house search we realized that if we just put a little bit of money into our home we’d be better off. We finished the basement (adding a second bathroom) and streamlined our belongings (finishing the basement removed a lot of storage area).
Staying put in our small house was the best thing we could have done. Now that the kids are starting to leave the nest I realize that we really do have all the space we need. While we do sometimes have the desire to move to a larger, nicer home (especially my husband), the smaller house payments has allowed us to take some amazing vacations with our kids (as well as without them!).
I think the key to really small living is outdoor space. We moved to NYC a couple years ago and now live in a two bed two bath 850 sq ft apartment. Its actually large for NYC. We spend so much more time outside than we ever did when we lived in Ohio. It’s helpful that we have so much amazing outdoor space just steps away from our door. Kids bouncing off the walls, take a walk!
Good thought. We went ahead and bought a small home when most of our friends bought a big/new houses. We are quite happy with out purchase and no plans to upgrade our house anytime soon (probably never). What I learned is less things will enable you to appreciate your life more.
Almost 9 years ago, we moved from a 3200 square foot house into a 2000 sq ft one (technically downsizing, but still a good sized home). We got rid of a lot of stuff then, but since then more has crept back in. May have had something to do with having another baby…. We are possibly moving again in a year or so, so I have a goal this year of going through all our stuff and getting rid of a LOT. We still have stuff in boxes from when we moved 9 years ago, so obviously since it hasn’t been used, we don’t need it! I keep telling my girls to be careful how much stuff they have when they are grown up and have their own places. We spend a lot of time taking care of all this stuff that we have.
HGTV has a show now about people who are moving into these really small homes. While I love the idea of having only what you really need, I would get too claustrophobic living in that little of a space.
We lived as a family of 3 for 2 years in a travel trailer: http://purposelyfrugal.com/2011/03/23/small-space-living-tour-my-little-home/#.VK1lwCvF_wg
We are looking to downsize in the next few years. We raised 5 and home schooled them in our big house and while we still love our house it is the big 2 story exterior and the acres that we have to maintain that need to go. This year we are going to really clean out with that in mind. A house that is much smaller and not on an acreage may soon come available across the street and we would be interested in just moving over there. Our kids said we could not watch someone else live in our house and we said that we will set up lawn chairs and watch someone else spend all weekend every weekend maintaining this big house and yard!
Very interesting. We are in year three of being an international student family in the USA from New Zealand. We left ALL of our stuff behind in New Zealand bar clothing which took on the plane. Our worldly possessions here in the USA are quite less than what we own in New Zealand. It is amazing on how much you can live without for three years. Our house here in the USA is quite a bit more spacious than our New Zealand one. One negative I would have in down sizing is the bible’s command to be hospitable? Since the seasons here in the USA (we live in the north west of the USA) are more extreme than some parts of the world. How do you have large crowds in your house no matter what the weather? How do you have friends/families stay for weekends? I’m extremely grateful for a lined basement, plenty of space to do laudry, a large kitchen, big dining/living room. All of these spaces are very sparely furnished (we are (seminary) students and live on other peoples generosity) which I’m sure would drive people who like their material possession nuts but it works for us. I agree with memories being made since the four girls don’t have huge amounts of toys they use what ever is available! A huge box of fabric has entertained them hours! Being a student family and being forced to downsize in stuff has been one of the most memorable years in our lives!
You know, honestly, that’s why I’m hoping we can find something mediumish instead of small when we eventually look for a house. My husband and I live in an apartment now, and it’s so frustrating to not be able to host more than a few people at a time. (Yes, you can be creative, but no matter how creative you are there’s going to be a limit to the amount of people you can fit in a small space, especially if they are visiting for any length of time. I suppose if you have a small house with a large yard you could do more in the summer, but it would definitely limit you at other times.)
Totally agree! We live in a smaller house than many of our friends and while I love it in some ways, I really dislike how hard it makes it to have people over. When we are ready to get another place, I’m hoping we can find something somewhat small but that is laid out in such a way that we can host people more easily.
Agreed, we were able to move out of our rental to a modest sized home and we love the extra space to be able to have groups of people over or have overnight guests.
I am a single mom of 4 children, living in a 2 bedroom home that is less than 1000 square feet.
Aside from not having much outdoor space of our own, I absolutely love our little space.
It takes hardly any time at all to clean each day, we are always together even if we’re doing our own thing (homework, projects, etc.), and our monthly costs are kept to a minimum due to the lower lease amount and smaller utility bills.
An added bonus, is that we have fewer possessions, and therefore less clutter.
We were recently housesitting for a relative with a large split-level home, and we all agreed that it felt like too much space. It had so many unused or unnecessary rooms.
I would also add that smaller house usually means smaller mortgage and smaller property tax bill! I love that we use every room in our house on a daily basis..no wasted space to heat or clean. It is funny how older homes are smaller and have less closet space, and yet people used to have larger families than they do today! Makes me think people years ago must have had less “stuff.” My mom talks about how her family was not poor by any means, but the kids each received one gift at Christmas! How times have changed.
Been there, doing that. Superhubs and I are full time RVers. We live exclusively in our 29 ft. motor home. We went from a 2,000 sq ft house to 200 sq ft of space in our motor home.. Two words, LOVE IT. Of course, we are empty nesters, no kids, no pets. We frequently stick our rig in storage and head abroad for a few months at a time. You have to be VERY intentional about your “stuff”, something in, something out. Beyond the benefits of freedom to travel, it’s very freeing to be rid of so many possessions. Wouldn’t go back to a big house if you paid me.
We lived in a 28′ camper trailer for 2 years with 4 kids. I have some of my fondest memories from that time. I spent hardly any time cleaning during that phase of life. The kids and I did so much more together. I miss having the kids underfoot constantly. I miss a simpler time when I didn’t have to constantly deal with “stuff”. It had it’s challenges but I’d definitely do it all over again.
Three years ago we sold our home that was much larger and moved out of state to a home with considerable less space and storage. I still have more than we need and continue to downsize. We would not change a thing and both talk about less is really more. Bonus!
We just moved out of a large single wide, which was large enough for our family of four, briefly into a camper-trailer, and now, into the largest house we’ve ever lived in.
I totally agree with the extra cleaning – there’s so much of it! I’ve also found that having a large kitchen isn’t what I’ve always imagined it would be. (although I know it’s mostly just an inefficient set up). I loved being able to stand in one place and reach all my dishes, the stove, the sink, and spices and such from one spot.
It’s so ironic, but now, one of my ambitions is to go back to a smaller house LOL!
I also love your point about being forced to be intentional about your possessions. That’s something we’re still trying to be very conscious of – but it is definitely easier to just throw things in the extra bedroom here. 🙂
We are in the process of downsizing everything in our house and moving to a smaller house in order to save money. I originally dreaded it because I like our house. Now I finding it freeing to sell or donate so much stuff to live a more decluttered life.