10 Reasons You'll Actually Be Happier In a Smaller Home

by Joshua on October 19, 2011

The following post is from Joshua of Becoming Minimalist:

source: surlygirl

This past summer, our family of four moved from Essex, VT to Peoria, AZ. It was a big move. In fact, in almost every conceivable way our new home is different than our previous one: geographically, culturally, politically, spiritually… and I haven’t even begun to mention the weather.

Another change was our approach to house-shopping. Seven years ago, when we moved to Vermont, we had a mental picture of our ideal home. And like many Americans, it included the desire to purchase as large a house as our salary could afford. As a result, we purchased a large home with extra bedrooms, extra bathrooms, extra living space, and extra storage.

We soon began to regret it. We always made the payments on time, but were unable to escape the burden of paying a large monthly mortgage bill. We kept the home clean, but spent far more time cleaning it than we anticipated. And we kept it in good working order, but spent more dollars than we’d care to admit in routine maintenance… and I haven’t even begun to mention the not-so-routine maintenance.

So this time around, the definition of our ideal house had changed dramatically. We no longer desired to live in a large home. In fact, our hope was to find a home as small as possible while still finding one that functioned sufficiently for our needs. As we considered the idea of purchasing a smaller home, we took some time to make sure it was the decision we really wanted to make. It is, after all, a very counter-cultural idea to downsize your home on purpose.

As you can probably imagine, the process of listing the benefits of purchasing a smaller home only strengthened our resolve. Here were our 10 reasons why we may actually enjoy living in a smaller home:

1. Easier to maintain. Anyone who has owned a house knows the amount of time, energy, and effort to maintain it. All things being equal, a smaller home requires less of your time, energy, and effort to accomplish that task.

2. Less time spent cleaning. And that should be reason enough…

3. Less expensive. Smaller homes are less expensive to purchase and less expensive to keep (insurance, taxes, heating, cooling, electricity, etc.).

4. Less debt and less risk. Dozens of on-line calculators will help you determine “how much house you can afford.” These formulas are based on net income, savings, current debt, and monthly mortgage payments. They are also based on the premise that we should spend “28% of our net income on our monthly mortgage payments.” But if we can be more financially stable and happier by only spending 15%… then why would we ever choose to spend 28%?

5. Mentally Freeing. As is the case with all of our possessions, the more we own, the more they own us. And the more stuff we own, the more mental energy is held hostage by them. The same is absolutely true with our largest, most valuable asset. Buy small and free your mind.

6. Less environmental impact. A smaller home requires less resources to build and less resources to maintain. And that benefits all of us.

7. Encourages family bonding. A smaller home results in more social interaction among the members of the family. And while this may be the reason that some people purchase bigger homes, I think just the opposite should be true.

8. Forces you to remove baggage. Moving into a smaller home forces you to intentionally pare down your belongings.

9. Less temptation to accumulate. If you don’t have any room in your house for that new treadmill, you’ll be less tempted to buy it in the first place (no offense to those of you who own a treadmill… and actually use it).

10. Wider market to sell. By its very definition, a smaller, more affordable house is affordable to a larger percentage of the population than a more expensive, less affordable one.

We were fortunate to find a home that met our list of nonnegotiables: 3 bedrooms, dining room/family room sufficient for entertaining, opportunity to house overnight guests, pleasant outdoors, quality school district, lovely neighborhood, and high craftsmanship.

Through the process, we reduced our home size from over 2,200 sq. feet to less than 1,700 sq. feet (and 4-levels to 1-level). But more importantly, we reduced our mortgage payments by almost 50%, we selected quality over quantity (always a wise decision), we removed anxiety inherent in burdensome monthly payments, and we have fallen in love with every square inch of our new home.

I just wish it hadn’t taken a move all the way across the country to finally enjoy the benefits…

What other benefits of living in smaller houses would you add to this list?

	Joshua Becker inspires and encourages others to live with less on his blog, Becoming Minimalist. He has also authored two e-books, Simplify and Inside-Out Simplicity. But more importantly, he loves his wife and two small children.

http://livingthebalancedlife.com Bernice Wood

Lower utility bills!
I wish I could chop off my 2 extra bedrooms and pick my house up and place it on a quarter acre lot in town! Since the kids have moved, we have done nothing with their rooms! Not quite the market for selling, but who knows, we may end up renting it out and moving to something smaller!
Sounds like an awesome move for you and your family!
Bernice
10 steps to clean your house FAST!
AllieZirkle

Love this!! And I didn’t realize you were in Peoria! We moved from CA to Surprise, AZ, and we know what you’re saying. We chose a “smaller” 2,400 sq ft house over the average 3,000 sq ft as most in our area are larger. We have kids doubled up in rooms and are ok with it, even when most people are surprised an make comments about children needing their own space. Please! Sharing is caring! I do love saving on all aspects. This hits right at home.

Ps my husband teaches in Peoria and loves the district too
- http://lifeyourway.net Mandi @ Life…Your Way
  
  I agree, Allie — we have a 3 bedroom, and our 3 oldest share a room. When the baby’s ready to move in there, we’ll add built-in bunk beds and they’ll all share. We make sure they have time to themselves every day (as introverts ourselves!), and there are definite boundaries that we emphasize (special toys, etc. that aren’t shared), but having a room for each of them was never important to us either!
Cynde

We just did the same thing as you. Having a smaller home is so much better! Reading you post was like reading our own story, except for a couple of things….we stayed in the same town and we downsized from 4000 sq feet to 1700 sq feet…how freeing it is!!!
- http://twitter.com/joshua_becker Joshua Becker
  
  I imagine so! Thanks for the comment Cynde.
Melissa

We just moved cross country this summer as well. We ended up with a bigger place, and I am sure missing our smaller apartment. We are only renting, so we haven’t really committed. And the only reason we have this space is GOD has blessed us and a nice lady from church wanted to help a “new, young Christian family” and is charging us less rent than the much smaller places we looked at. That said, the cleaning does take much longer. The kids’ rooms are much farther from us than they were previously, which I hate. Utilities are better, but that’s thanks to climate. (Dallas to Seattle… cut out that air conditioning bill and you have hundreds in instant savings!) But there always more work to be done…

So I love this post. In our family we always say we will happily make the trade for more time together, with less space. It seems to have the extra space, you are forced to live much farther out of the city, and then commit to lots of time commuting each day. My husband’s 10 minute commute is the most worthwhile reason for me. (Although cleaning is a close second!)
Littlegreenbuddha

Another benefit that swayed us to having a smaller home is that we will not have to think of down sizing when our children grow up and leave. I really want to stay in my home forever. I don’t want to have to consider moving when I am old, and leaving my home behind.
- http://twitter.com/joshua_becker Joshua Becker
  
  Nice addition. And to add to it, there’s less need to think about downsizing if income begins to fluctuate.
MsRat

We are just beginning our search for a smaller home. One thing I know is having a smaller home will definitely keep me from acquiring more stuff. Plus I hope to know where everything is, at any given moment. No more attics, and basements full of containers.
Sylvia

totally agree with this. I grew up in a 3000 sq ft house as an only child with an acre yard and all I can recall growing up was doing endless chores (scrubbing floors), weeding (6 wks in the summer from sun up to sun down), mowing the yard and I always looked forward to going to school to get away from my chores. So, when we moved recently from a TH to a SFH in a better school district, we settled with a 1555 sq ft 1 floor house in a great neighborhood. There’s plenty of space for the 4 of us but we won’t be locked down to spending all our free time doing stuff we don’t like to do - chores!
- http://lifeyourway.net Mandi @ Life…Your Way
  
  I think you make a good point about yards too, Sylvia. Having a large lot was our number one priority, because it allows our children freedom to explore, discover, etc. However, we have only mowed a small portion of our lot because we don’t want to be burdened with the work of maintaining 2.5 acres of perfectly manicured lawn!
  
  There’s a house we pass on the way to church with what must be 10+ acres of yard, all of which is mowed, and I can only imagine the time or money they invest in it…and for what?!
Sheila

This is great and so true. We have a beautiful 1 acre wooded lot in Alaska, which I love, and a lovely 1700 sq ft home, in which we pack 6 people (me, husband, four growing kids). I couldn’t be happier! We will have the modest home paid off before retirement. I can’t even imagine being saddled with a huge home and a huge mortgage. We are being minimalist and it is a great life!
Jonatahn

I realize that 1700 square foot is smaller than your previous home, but its far from a “small” home in my opinion. The average US home was smaller than 1700 square foot until 1987. Even today the average home is smaller than 1700 square feet in many countries, including the UK, Ireland, Spain, France, and Denmark. Do you think that these 10 advantages apply to even smaller homes? If not, where do you feel is the point of diminishing returns?
- http://twitter.com/joshua_becker Joshua Becker
  
  The point of diminishing returns begins when your home is too small to accomplish your greatest goals in life… or when it is too big to accomplish your greatest goals. We have specific things that we’d like to be able to accomplish with our home: entertaining guests, hosting small groups, opportunity to house guests overnight, space for kids to have their rooms, welcoming environment for our kid’s friends, work from home comfortably, etc. To that end, especially with two young children, the space seems to allow us to pursue our passions while not distracting from them (as our larger home seemed to be doing).
thebuddinglotus.com

My husband and I lived in a 800sq.ft house (2 bdrm & full unfinished basement) a few years ago. Then we decided to move into a 1500sq.ft home and discovered we hated all the extra space, even with having two dogs. There was so much more to clean, so much more empty space to heat, and it was just plain inconvenient to have so much room (takes more time to go to the bathroom!). Now, we’ve moved to Costa Rica and are very happily living in a smaller dwelling again: 750 sq.ft, 2 bedrooms, and no basement or even closet space to fill up with junk. The best part is, we rent! We always have and may never buy. Just like with stuff, your house really owns you and can keep you from enjoying freedoms you could otherwise have. Cheers!
- http://lifeyourway.net Mandi @ Life…Your Way
  
  My husband and I joke regularly about moving to Costa Rica…I’ll have to look you up if we’re ever brave enough to do it!
http://joyceandnorm.wordpress.com Joyce and Norm

Less to clean is saving my sanity! I would never want a big house. The only reason I can think of is to entertain more friends/family, or have a guest space when we have visitors, but that’s about it.
Michelle

We downsized this year in terms of sq. ftg, bathrooms, bedrooms, levels, etc. It wasn’t cheaper than our old house though, as our old house was a “starter” house and our new house is on a view lot. BUT, aside from the cheaper mortgage we have noticed ALL the other perks you listed and couldn’t be happier. Let’s hear it for cleaning 2 toilets instead of 4!!
- http://twitter.com/joshua_becker Joshua Becker
  
  Thanks Michelle. We upscaled a bit as well, but only because we bought smaller were we able to pursue that as well. A small, quality built house is far better than a large, cheaply-built home.
http://www.townsend-house.com/ Heather

I am all about getting a much smaller house, unfortunately selling our current very large house does not seem feasible I would like to have a small house on a large parcel of land. Then instead of spending time indoors cleaning and keeping all our *stuff* in order, we would spend more time outdoors, really enjoying God’s creation.
- Deb
  
  That’s exactly what we did. Went from a 2800 sq ft house in town to 1200 sq ft on 5.5 acres of land with 200 assorted fruit trees and a huge garden. Best decision we ever made.
  - http://lifeyourway.net Mandi @ Life…Your Way
    
    Deb, that sounds lovely!
Sharle Kinnear

I remember having a 1700 sqft house and thinking it was waaaay too big to keep clean! I raised 3 kids in 1400 sqft, and now live in 1250 (kids are grown). Throughout my life I have upsized, then continually downsized. I dream of a time when I can live comfortably and beautifully in an even smaller home.
Sarah

I’ve certainly never wanted too much home, but enough might be nice. We’d definitely get more for our money if we could move back to the Phoenix area. Someday, perhaps!
http://twitter.com/Annienygma Annie

My daughter and I moved into a 1 bedroom house this time. She gets the bedroom and I get a futon in the living room that is folded away by day. Rent is $250 – much less than we would have paid for a 2 bedroom. As a kid she needed her space but for me I couldn’t see paying extra for a room I would only use just a few hours at night. Instead the living room gets double duty and a spare recess has become my closet. My “dresser” is part of a kitchen cabinet.

Unconventional but it works. Gotta love minimalism!
http://www.facebook.com/iggyearthlizard Iggy Earthlizard

Nice article. I recently went through a similar experience back in January when I had to move my family into a smaller space. You really do not realize how much junk you acquire till you have to put it all somewhere. We have come to really enjoy the small space and intend to build our new house with small in mind.
Anne

Another benefit is increased security. When I lived in a bigger house I could not be aware of the whole house at once. Living in a smaller house makes me feel safer. I am in South Africa so security and the feeling of safety is a big topic here.
Motomome

All of your points are valid. But 1700 is not small. And comparing the house prices in Vermont to Arizona is not even realistic. In Az you can buy a 5000sf house for $130k. At this point anyone’s mortgage would be smaller moving to Az.
- http://lifeyourway.net Mandi @ Life…Your Way
  
  I’m not sure Joshua ever said “a small house”. He said “a smaller house”. For their family, it was downsizing. He also mentions later in the comments that they decided not to go smaller because they want to be able to entertain, allow their kids to spread out, etc.
  
  I’m also fairly certain that his point about a smaller mortgage was comparing the cost of their current mortgage with the price of larger homes in AZ. Surely you can agree that smaller homes generally cost less?
- http://twitter.com/joshua_becker Joshua Becker
  
  You are certainly correct about the difference in housing markets between AZ and VT. My point about reducing our mortgage payments was in light of the fact that many people (including myself 3 years ago) would have used the opportunity to purchase a larger home. Our decision to buy a smaller one resulted in a 50% reduction – which we are understandably excited about.
  
  Terms such as “small” and “large” are always relative. That’s why I chose the word “smaller” in the article.
Hopewell

I totally agree. Our old house became a nightmare–like on some horrible hoarder show only not quite that bad. We moved to about 1000 sq feet, no garage, no basement and storage shed is in use by the landlord so no shed either. Much, much, much better. It can’t get so out-of-control that a morning can’t bring it back to “acceptable,” a day to “super.” We got rid of tons of crap. Less truly is MORE.

Lisa @ http://hopewellmomschoolreborn.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/mom2mykiddos Karen Kelly Sunderland

This spring we moved downtown. We sold our custom built 2600 sf home up in the hills and now live in a home 1900 sf house built in 1946 smack dab in the middle of town. With four homeschooled children, we spend a LOT of time in this not-so-well designed space. It’s taken this six months to make it ours. We’ve had to reevaluate every belonging, every space, and each part of our schedule to see how we can make living here work well for us.

We all agree that we love living in town. We love having this smaller space to maintain and we love this older neighborhood! So many folks are surprised at our decision to “downsize” with a growing family. It seems “no one” does that! It’s worth the work & the change it mindset. Less can be so much more!
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http://yeoldcollegetry.wordpress.com/ Katherine

We just moved from 720 square feet to about 1400 this summer. I don’t miss having to tell my kids to have “quiet feet” or reminding them to play with their toys on the carpet- our downstairs neighbor heard every noise we made upstairs. But I do miss the smallness, the forced simplicity and minimalism, and the ease of cleaning. In our new house, I love that we can have people over more comfortably.

Pros and cons, but I still lean toward smaller being better for us right now. I’m in no hurry to upgrade anytime soon:)
http://www.fortheloveofacottage.blogspot.com Jan

I started my blog http://www.fortheloveofacottage.blogspot.com for this very reason. 4 years after we built a 4,000 sq ft traditional home, I ask my husband to give it up. I wanted a 1 1/2 story, 2,700 sq ft home with a very large front porch. We closed on 9/21 and had hardwood floors installed. So we are just now able to get things put away and bring more and more furniture into the house. We gave up a lot of our furniture. I am still giving away and throwing away. This house was my dream…not the larger home. Building a smaller home enabled me to have a wonderful kitchen that I have always wanted….because it was so small. That’s ok. I really didn’t need 3 sets of dishes
Cat Alford

I loved this post! My husband and I actually live in 270 sq. feet! The catch? It’s in the caribbean 5 minutes from the beach. Smaller makes it worth it!
- http://lifeyourway.net Mandi @ Life…Your Way
  
  Nice!
Storylady1159

selling my 2800 sqft home to build a 1020sqf. I am so excited about all the things mentioned, but am really dreading having to decide which of my furniture has to go as I downsize.
Teresa

We built our home in 1994 when our kids were 5 and 3 and we built our retirement home at that time – 1350 sq ft under roof + 150 sq ft in porch. I planned on remaining here forever even then. It was crowded over the years as the kids grew up, their friends all slept in sleeping bags when spending the night, but now as they are moving off to college I am looking forward to the days when the house will be just right with just the two of us. The payments were always affordable and the house paid off 13 years into the 20 year mortgage. There were times I wished for a bigger house, but sure wouldn’t change anything as I love my little house – it is snug, easy to clean, and really the perfect size for our family.
- http://lifeyourway.net Mandi @ Life…Your Way
  
  I love this Teresa — thanks so much for sharing your experience!
Stefnmaddy

We purchased what we could afford starting out 9 yrs ago. Which for Bucks County, PA at the height of the sellers market was not much, a 1200 sf, 40 yr old rancher. As my children started school and began to have playdates at they’re friends McMansions the question was inevidently posed to us “Why don’t we have a big, new house?” I often thought about moving to “keep up with the Joneses”. However, many things have happened over the years that make me grateful we stuck by our beliefs and conversations we had with our kids. The it’s not the size but the love that makes a home, etc. We have remained stable in this recession with our savings in tack and our lifestyle pretty much the same, my husband became ill a few yrs back which kept him out of work for 2 months. We did not have to take advantage of the many offers for financial help because we bought and lived within our means. (Most of the time). I am so thankful to have come across the article and the comments posted. It reminds me that even though we do not have a Media room we have something way more important… peace of mind.
- http://lifeyourway.net Mandi @ Life…Your Way
  
  Thanks so much for sharing your story — what a perfect example of how smaller IS better!
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Thrifty Mom In Boise

I’m with you. Too soon to give up fall meals. So far this week we have enjoyed pumpkin soup with grilled tuna sandwiches, chili, fried chicken with potato carrot mash, and French Dip sandwiches with Au Jus. It has been a delicious week.
- Jessica
  
  Ooh, that French Dip sounds good! Great idea!
http://livingthebalancedlife.com Bernice Wood

Love these ideas! This is the first year that we are trying to eat more local, more seasonal. Great meals, will be checking it out!
Bernice
How to do LESS laundry
- Jessica
  
  Getting a local-ish produce box has truly transformed our eating. And my family is getting used to winter greens, too! There’s a whole world of vegetables I never knew existed!
Lolly

My husband and I are in the planning stages of building a small home. Initially our plans were much bigger but, for all the reasons you’ve listed, we now believe smaller is better.
Also, we recently found out that we’ll be able to supply most (if not all) our electrical needs with solar panels and that the permits for building, etc. are easier & cheaper to get for houses that are less than 1000 sq ft in our country.
Plus we were able to buy a smaller lot for much less than the first lots we looked at. It’s in a nicer area and, because the house is smaller, we’ll still have lots of outdoor space for gardening, outdoor entertaining, etc.
- http://lifeyourway.net Mandi @ Life…Your Way
  
  I imagine when you’re saving money on size, you can also invest more in getting EXACTLY what you want in your floor plan and fixtures!
http://www.beautifulcalling.ca/ Beautifulcalling

Lower taxes, and utility costs! We have a 4000+ sq ft home which we purchased because we made our basement an in-law suite. Nana will be moving into a home soon and we’ve put our home up on the market for sale. I’m looking forward to selling and having the opportunity to buy a smaller home. Reading this list, it is exactly what we are thinking. Less time spent cleaning really appeals to me because it means more time spent with my tots (7mo, 3, 4).
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Mustikka

Don’t know how many kids you have, but here in Europe is your 1700 sq ft house a generous one… We live with two kids in a house of 1000 sq ft – and this is small.
I totally agree with the mortgage, don’t have any pain with this and can afford a lot of dinner parties or holidays – love that!