Over the last couple of years, we’ve spent a fair amount of time bemoaning the fact that the bad economy has us stuck in a one-bedroom condo with a serious lack of storage. To be sure there are some drawbacks. However, there are many reasons that this is a great place for us to settle into our lives as a family of three.
1. Family Togetherness
No matter where I am in our home, I am still only a few steps away from BabyE. We do use a baby monitor on the rare occasions that he naps in our bed without me. We don’t really need to though. I just don’t feel right if I don’t hear every little breath. In addition I am never far from DH when he’s home either. It’s more natural to start up a conversation or just say “I love you” when you’re always within earshot. Sometimes it’s annoying that our kitchen is so small, but rarely do we bump into each other without exchanging a smile.
2. Less Time to Clean
I don’t know about you, but I do not enjoy cleaning. I do love the feeling of having a clean and tidy house. I’m just not going to go around dusting, vacuuming, and scrubbing toilets for fun. Living in a small space frees up lots of time that I would otherwise have to be cleaning to enjoy spending time with Baby. One time DH said, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have two bathrooms?’ I just looked at him like he was crazy. To me, that would just be one more bathroom to clean!
3. Less Energy
Small spaces use less energy. There is simply less volume to heat. Multifamily buildings especially use even less. Our unit is insulated by the units above, below, and to three sides of us. Of course this is green and save us money.
4. Less Stuff
As I’ve been decluttering, I’m amazed at how much stuff we actually do fit into our small space. I can only imagine if we had more bedrooms, closets, and (gasp!) a garage! A tiny home makes it harder to accumulate unnecessary possessions. It also takes less and is cheaper to furnish.
5. No Yard Work on the Weekend
One of the draw backs of our current home is that we have zero outdoor space. Still, on sunny summer Saturdays I am thankful we can walk to the park and enjoy the “yard” maintained by someone else rather than spending time weeding and mowing. Not that I’d ever want lawn no matter where we live, but in theory it saves time.
Someday, in the hopefully not too far distant future we will move to a (slightly) bigger place. For today I’m counting my blessings to be living in a small cozy space with my two favorite people.
Update June 2, 2014: I wrote this post almost 2 1/2 years ago. Since then we have moved (to a 730 square foot home in the country) and added another child to our family. The joys of small house living ring just as true for our family today, with one big addition…
When we moved we were presented with the huge blessing of living in a small house with wonderfully low rent. We didn’t quite realize what a great opportunity it was at the time, but when we caught the get-out-of-debt bug, we were able to pay off our student loans way faster than if we were spending beyond our means on a bigger house.
