Comments on: Positives from downsizing our home

By: Tiffini S.

Tiffini S. — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:12:37 +0000

We are closing on a smaller home on Thursday 8 October. I can’t wait! We bought a monstrous old home 3 years ago, intending to renovate and update it. We had a baby exactly 9 months after moving in, and our plans went to heck! I thought a nice, big older home would be perfect for a baby, but it’s a pitfall of dangers. Plus the amount of time we spend with upkeep has totally negated any possibility of spending MORE time renovating. We are moving from 2800sf – two levels and basement to 1200sf – one level and basement. The thought of getting a glass of water from the kitchen in the middle of the night without traipsing down a huge staircase (we have 10 foot ceilings) or hauling laundry baskets up and down 2 monstrous staircases is making me positively giddy! Not to mention saying goodbye to $700 heating bills and a solid hour to clean the dining room floor! AND not being forced to host all the family functions because I have the room! Downsizing rocks!

By: jan

jan — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:34:50 +0000

Downsizing is definitely something we want to do but there is no market here in rural Maine for our home and 70 acres. We have closed off rooms and only used part of the house but would love to be in a smaller place. The space works best the two or three times a year we have family here otherwise its too big and hard to clean.

By: The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Nature Exploration in Winter Edition - All web resource stuff

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:09:18 +0000

[...] Positives from Downsizing Our Home Most people want to upgrade their homes to something larger. Matt found great joy in downsizing – it saves money and needs less maintenance, providing more “life space” for other pursuits. I’d like to … “go sideways” with our home. The square footage is right, I think, but I’d really like to rearrange the rooms. (@ unclutterer) [...]

By: rayruth

rayruth — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:41:28 +0000

My husband and I have found that the smartest thing we have done in all of our past homes (14 of them) is select one of the smallest bedrooms as our Master and use the larger bedroom as our office! Think about it…We go to bed after dark and get up early in the morning , while it is dark. Why would I waste the larger space just for sleeping? It is so nice to have the larger space for our office and computers. Try it…you will like it!

By: Bonnie L.

Bonnie L. — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:19:54 +0000

I live in 120sq ft in Sydney, and I love it.

- It takes me 5 minutes to sweep/vacuum
- I spend less because there is no physical space to actually store my purchases
- Because my place is so tiny I can afford quality fittings (I managed to wallpaper with roll remnants that I got for a song
- Heating and cooling costs next to nothing
- A significantly less mortgage + because I brought small, I was able to afford a much nicer area, closer to transport and shops.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:41:58 +0000

@ Diane, our home includes three of us. Myself, my wife and our 2 year old daughter. One of the bedrooms is my office. If we had a second child, which we don’t plan on, I would have to find a new office area. It would definitely be a much tighter fit with one more occupant.

By: The Simple Dollar » The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Nature Exploration in Winter Edition

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:45:28 +0000

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:38:35 +0000

The first apartment I ever lived in alone was 120 square feet. It’s still my favorite place I’ve ever lived.

Now, I share 10 times that much space with another person, and my stuff has definitely expanded to fit the space available.

By: Verbal

Verbal — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:20:39 +0000

I often miss the apartment I had when I was single — just 325 square feet. SO easy to clean! Now that I’m in about 1000 square feet it’s nice to have room to entertain, but cleaning can take a couple hours, especially if I want to mop as well as vacuum and dust.

By: Kira =]

Kira =] — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:21:39 +0000

We are a family of 5 (with 3 very little children) and currently in the process of downsizing. We’re going from 1424 sf to 1091 sf. And I love the cozy feel of our new home and can’t wait to move in. My biggest concern is actually going down to 1 bathroom w/ 1 potty trained child and 1 on the verge of potty training. lol =]

By: Another Deb

Another Deb — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:29:03 +0000

My husband and I debated whih house we could keep when we got married. His 1800 sf house won over my 1680 sf house (smile) The issue now is that he wants to hang on to a lot of stuff we never use, like all of the fishing gear, the motorcycle, two file cabinets full of papers from a career he swears he will not return to because: “we have the space”

Luckily we have enough closet space for all 200 tee shirts he wants to keep.

By: Diane

Diane — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:16:16 +0000

To understand what we’re talking about here – how many people & what age children live in your “just under 2000 sf” home?

We’re in a 1500 sf home (ala) with 2 adults and 2 nearly grown sons – 17 & 22, plus running a home office where we both work full time.

We plan to move when the boys are both out of school, but I don’t know that we could be comfortable in anything smaller, even then. We really need at least 1 room for an office, plus 1 spare room.

We’ve decluttered, which makes it roomier and easier to clean, but its still a tight fit, especially when the kids have friends over.

By: Louise

Louise — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:30:01 +0000

Yes! Those of us who live full-time in our RVs sing these praises to smaller spaces all the time. Especially the part about cleaning taking less time. 300 square feet takes about 15 minutes total to dust, vacuum, and mop. And yard work is non-existent.

By: Sky

Sky — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:58:06 +0000

We downsized from 3000 sq ft to 1700 sq ft. Our electric bill dropped from $450 a month to $150. Everything is easier to maintain and keep clean. I would like to go smaller one day.

By: Peter (a different one)

Peter (a different one) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:32:03 +0000

I love the fact that my gas bill is $78 a month. Not bad for Northeast Ohio

By: nicole86

nicole86 — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:30:31 +0000

According to a French standard, 2000 square feet look quite large for a family of three !

I was used to 1500 square feet house for the four of us and I needed a home office since I am a teacher ( in France, teachers don’t have any office at school, they do all their preps and marking at home). When we bought our house, 30 years ago, it was considered as very large !

By: Jean

Jean — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:00:45 +0000

I apply the “unitasker” idea to the place where I live. If any room has only one purpose, is merely a “walk through room”, or is used just on special occasions, I downsize.Our house is on the market now because we have two unnecessary rooms. What we really want to do is return to the original two room apartment where we began our life together!

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:11:39 +0000

@ Chris, Our old home was just under 3000 sq ft. Our new home is just under 2000 sq ft. So we downsized by 1/3.

@ Lauren, we used to live in Shadyside and now we are on the North Side in East Allegheny also known as “Central North Side” for real estate search purposes.

By: Michele

Michele — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:05:42 +0000

It is incredible what an old, drafty house will do to your energy bills. The home we bought is three times as large as the tiny ranch house we rented, yet our electricity bill is less than half of what we paid there.

By: Vicki K.

Vicki K. — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:48:43 +0000

Thank you for this post. I love to hear the results from real people about ideas that are on my list…right now our home is a very good size – we use every square inch on a regular basis. I am in the middle of ‘rightsizing’ as well.

After a kitchen/family remodel I have only returned the items that I use to these spaces. It feels great! AND yesterday when we had company it was much faster to clean and vacuum. Yes!!! I still have to go through the residual items that remain in the garage…

Also, I love the post about photos, as it is another thing on my list to work on. I’ll be referencing back to it as I go about that project. Keep us updated on what you find. Thanks so much, Matt.