Why We Live Small…
Here is my house. All 1283 square feet of it. To some people that may seem decent size, but to many with a family my size seems tiny. Which it can be. We live in a “townhouse” but luckily we do not share a wall with our neighbors like most in the community do. We are tucked away in the back corner lot so it is somewhat private. We have a 2 car garage and no yard. We chose this and we still love it. Somedays I do dream of a bigger house. One that has an office, a playroom, a formal dining room, a guest room… all the things my current house lacks. Then I start thinking about all the crap it would take to fill the house, maintain it and run it. I want a yard full of chickens and a goat and a playhouse. I shudder at the thought of what the upkeep of that looks like. The cost of watering a yard, feeding livestock, all the jazz the comes with more space. You see we live small on purpose. Our tiny little house does not hold a lot. That means I need to be creative and picky about what comes and out. My kids don’t have a bunch of toys because A). Most of them wouldn’t get played with B.) I think it is totally wasteful to spend ridiculous amounts of money on toys that kids just grow out of C.) We have no room for them. I have learned to maximize as much organizational techniques as possible.(You can read a bit about it HERE) It is not always easy but it something we do on purpose.
You may be asking why… well there here are few reasons:
- Money- Our mortgage matches our square footage. We live small so that we can live the way we want. We aren’t in over our heads.
- Energy- Since our house is small our energy bills are lower. We live in AZ so a big house in the summer could cost well over $300 to keep cool. We would not be able to afford that. Plus it is wasteful. We have concrete floors on the top floor and that has helped with keeping it warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We installed solar blocking window shades two summers ago and it paid for it self in less then a year. Someday I would love to install solar panels to generate our own electricity plus some for the neighbors around us.
- Eco-friendly- We have a VERY small footprint. I think it is maybe 700 feet total. The fact that we have no yard that belongs to us around it means that is all the space we are taking up. Let’s face it… we are overpopulated, especially here in AZ. We will run out of land to farm, grow, play, and live on if people don’t learn to live simply. One day we want a bigger house. We also want one that makes sense from a sustainability stand point. I would love something that creates it’s own energy and a place to grow food. I would not buy brand new either. I would take what is already here and make it new to me. Someday…
I know that for some this is totally an unrealistic thought but it works for us. What works for you?
Living small is fabulous! I like to tell people who visit our house we are minimalists. I told my husband the other day “you don’t need to live that way just because you can”. Even though we can’t live large, I don’t think I’d ever want to. Though I do dream of chickens in my backyard too. I’m happy I found your post via The Mommy Dialogs!
Love this post! I know you and Jessica (and I think Kelli too) write about living small. It really puts things into perspective for me. We have a 1600 sq/ft house for the three of us and I think it’s too small. :/ I go strongly agree with your comment about having less belongings, especially toys. You have an adorable house!
Question though, if you don’t have a yard, do you have a common area in your community with a playground? Where do you take the kids outdoors to play? Or is it too hot in AZ to do that? Lol.
We have a teeny tiny patch of grass and a side area in our front space. It’s still considered community property but the girls play out there all the time. We do have a few park areas really close that we take them to occasionally. In the summer it is so hot! So they would rather spend their time in the community pool then the park.
I love this post! When I moved in with my husband he had a townhouse which I miss everyday! He wanted a bigger house and so we did! Vegas with a two story house and vaulted ceiling and a huge back and front yard comes outrages power & water bills! We ended up losing the house after 5 years. Now we are living in a 3 bedroom apartment with 3 children (20, 7, & 8 mo.) I love the small space. So much easier to keep up on and the bills went down tremendously! I love how our family has become so much closer! We use the pool during the summer and visits parks during the cooler months. The biggest perk to all of it — me being able to be a stay at home mom!
Right now we are in a 2bdrm apartment I would love a town home my husband wants the house Lol I just worry about getting in over our heads with bills and I want to be done with college and starting my career before committing to something so huge.