Comments on: Downsizing: Millionaire edition

By: tod

tod — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:48:28 +0000

I’m not sure this (selling 2 of 4 houses) is a good example of celebrities living simply. I’m just sayin…

By: Battra92

Battra92 — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:28:10 +0000

I like Mitt, I really do. I’m glad he’s not leaving the state (we could sure use him back now.)

If I was as rich and successful as Mitt is (I mean the guy basically made Staples IIRC) I can see needing 3 houses in the same way I can see Warren Buffet needing a private plane (or the president needing a fleet of cars and private jets.) It’s all relative to your needs.

Also put me down as another one who isn’t buying the class envy rhetoric out there. I think the goal of being uncluttered is also to not clutter our lives with hate or envy of those with more. In fact I’d just rather unclutter this country of the politicians who want to stir up that mayhem and foolishness.

By: Gayle

Gayle — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:05:53 +0000

@ Karyn… Yes, I do hear you on the spare space for a guest. I have a small 2-bedroom home for my 3-person family. It would be nice to have a room to fit a spare bed. However, trying to live frugally, guests have to either sleep on the couch, the floor, a cot we have, or – until recently – the unused bunk in my son’s room. Or they can get a room at the hotel down the street.

I think I am reacting to this, “the economy problems are all the rich people’s fault!” talk I’ve been hearing. Well… define “rich”. I’m incredibly wealthy when compared to someone living in a cardboard box under a bridge.

Charity is the giving of our excess resources. And when I look around, there is much excess. What can you give today? A dollar? an hour? a can of peas? a smile?

By: Karyn

Karyn — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:29:02 +0000

Gayle, I largely agree with you. I’m living well in an inexpensive studio apartment which, if I recall correctly, has about 240 square feet total space: a main room, a galley kitchen on one side of the main room, a seven-foot hallway connecting main room to front door, and a bathroom on one side and a seven-foot closet on the other side of the hallway. There’s also a small storage cubby in the laundry room, which means I don’t have to keep seasonal stuff in my main living space.

The only down side is that I have no space to host guests. And that’s one reason I might want to have another room or two, eventually: the ability to give someone a place to stay, short term, should the need arise. In an economy in which women’s shelters and homeless shelters have to turn people away, having the abundance to share is one way to “balance the scales” in society. When we look at our own lives and say, “I really have enough, and then some; I am content,” we then have the choice to look beyond ourselves and see whom we can help.

Of course, we don’t have to wait until we are millionaires with three homes to do that.

By: Gayle

Gayle — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:18:05 +0000

Not everyone is going to agree with my logic, but bear with me:

If one believes that everything in nature is balanced, or attempting to come into balance, then for every one of your spare bedrooms there is a person with no bed to sleep in.

It’s not just millionaires. How many spare bedrooms do you have? How much food is in your pantry that you don’t ever get to using? How many clothes hang in your closet that you never wear?

I believe that if everyone used only what they need, there would be a lot more resources to go around. And if that is what you’re already doing, then applause to you!

By: SavvyChristine

SavvyChristine — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:59:22 +0000

I’m trying to have some perspective and not mock Romney for having four houses. It’s good he’s downsizing to three (net) homes. It’s GREAT when you consider John McCain didn’t remember how many houses he owned during the election. Still slightly ridiculous? You bet.

By: Springpeeper

Springpeeper — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:03:06 +0000

Ha! The article says that they’re selling two of their houses and keeping the two others, but they will soon be buying another house in Massachusetts! It will be smaller than their current Massachusetts home, but the net result will be (only) three houses down from four!
Downsizing: Millionaire edition, indeed!

By: Sue

Sue — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:28:46 +0000

BriAnna, the house in Utah is one of the 2 he in selling, not one of the 2 he is keeping. The keepers are an oceanfront home in California and a lakeside home in New Hampshire. The New Hampshire home may not be ocean-side but N.H. is generally considered part of the east coast. Just saying.

By: BriAnna

BriAnna — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:14:02 +0000

The house in Utah is about 15 hours from a coast. Just saying.

By: Matt from Minnesota

Matt from Minnesota — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:10:41 +0000

John of Indiana, I don’t believe that “sympathy” was asked for. As the author pointed out American’s are voyeurs when it comes to celebrity lifestyle. I could be wrong but I do not believe the author was trying to make a political statement on success.

Your bond between the business achievement of Mitt Romney and the criminal activity of Ken Lay is bias and unwarranted.

By: Peter (a different one)

Peter (a different one) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:09:03 +0000

Man – I wish I had this problem. With the housing market the way it is, how much is he losing?

By: John of Indiana

John of Indiana — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:51:27 +0000

Bet his smallest bathroom is still larger than my whole flat.

This arouses about as much sympathy in me as the news that “Kenny-Boy” Lay had to unload his homes in Aspen when he imploded Enron.