3 Benefits of Downsizing Your Home Even with a Family
We thought we were moving way up when we moved out of our 749 sq. ft. apartment into our 2,500 sq. ft. home on a quarter-acre lot. Our five bedroom home (for just my husband and I) needed a lot of TLC since it was foreclosure. But once we fixed it up enough to move in, the house seemed empty. We didn’t have enough furniture and decor to fill the space. So what did we do? We filled it up of course. We bought couches, end tables, blinds, and all the things to make the house feel lived in.
The huge house and massive lawn seemed idealistic when we were looking at homes, but in reality, it was SO much work. I never could keep the house clean and this was before I had kids. If I’m really honest, I felt like I was doing good if I vacuumed the basement once a month. Yikes!
Instead of having tons of house guests over to stay in our large home as we planned, we had house project after house project that took up our precious time. Rarely did we have people stay in our guest room that we felt we had to
The home we tried to fill so it wouldn’t be empty, quickly filled and now we had to make space for our child’s arrival. I wish I could say I purged, but we didn’t. We just rearranged and reorganized our possessions. We put our guest bed on risers so we could store more stuff under it. Our poor guests had to take a running leap just to get into bed.
In the five years we owned our large home, we learned so much. When we decided to move, we knew we didn’t want a big house or the large yard. We didn’t want a fixer-upper or a place that was hard to keep up. If we could live by a park where OTHER people maintain it, that would be ideal.
We ended up buying a 1500 sq. ft. home with two less bedrooms and a way smaller yard. Not only that, we have added another child to our family. Even with our 1,000 sq. ft. down grade, our smaller home has felt like such an upgrade and here is why.
Here are a few of the benefits of downsizing your family home.
3 Benefits of Downsizing:
ONE
A smaller house is so much more manageable when it comes to keeping the house clean. The average home in America is 2,641 sq. ft. according to 2018 statistics. That is quite a bit of sq. footage to clean.
Since our house is 40% smaller than our first home, that cuts out 40% of the cleaning I would have had if we never moved. I don’t miss that extra space or mowing the extra lawn. I have more time to do what I want with my family instead of cleaning and working on our home.
TWO
My mom has this saying, “People are like jello, they mold to fit in whatever size home they are in.” This statement is so true.
When we had a bigger house, we bought so much to fill the space. By having a smaller place, it limits the amount we own. We only have so much space and storage, which forces us to keep what we need and let go of the rest.
THREE
This is a simple fact, smaller homes cost less than larger ones in the initial home price. The average new home price in America (July 2018) is $394,300. In most real estate markets, smaller homes will sell for substantially less.
The amount of savings by downsizing shaves years, and perhaps decades off of a mortgage. Beyond that, smaller homes cost less to maintain with utilities, giving you more cash in your wallet each month.
If you are on the fence with the idea of downsizing your family home, I would recommend taking the leap. Downsizing has been one of the best decisions we have made.
My husband and I would have never guessed that our smaller home would house an insane amount of guests even without a guest room. We now have people over often for dinner without having a formal dining room. The world tells us that we need the newer, bigger and better home. Let’s stop buying that lie literally. Less is more. For us, a smaller home has been a financial blessing and has encouraged us to get outside more.
We are living in our dream house. It doesn’t look like a dream home you would see on HGTV and we are ok with that. We didn’t need a big home or a large yard. Our downsizing, upgraded our lives.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the
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