Yesterday, I went to Ada, Ohio with my daughter and son-in-law to see their new house. They are renting a little place there while he attends law school at Ohio Northern University. It’s too cute! It has a spacious kitchen, (but not too big to keep clean), a large living room, a laundry room, a study alcove, a HUGE bathroom, and two tiny, tiny bedrooms. They have their own yard, with a swingset for their little boy. Their apartment in Florida was bigger, but it cost more, too. My son-in-law is very excited about living there. My daughter is happy to be starting back to school herself, in the fall, and likes the ambience of the village of Ada.
I have been giving some thought to downsizing the last few weeks. In our case, downsizing doesn’t necessarily mean saving money, but it would give us more leisure time together, instead of in the car. If we were to move to a place much smaller than our house in the ‘burbs, but in the city, it would probably not cost a lot less than we are paying now. We would only need one car, but insurance would be a lot more. Property taxes might be less (that’s a total crap-shoot in New Orleans) but we would probably have to pay for private school for the little boy, as the public schools are REALLY a crap-shoot.
If our lives are going to be centered in the city, though, it would be best to actually live there. I don’t want to do anything, though, until I get my employment situation resolved. I’m going to aggressively address that when we get home.
Tying these two ideas together: my daughter’s family is actually LARGER than mine (since my older son will be moving out in mid-August). Why do I need three times as much space as she does? Even with all the room I have, there’s still not a place I can go sit in a chair and read a book without listening to the TV. If we’re going to only use five rooms, why do we need nine?
Good observations about downsizing. Hubby and I originally wanted a bigger home. We had more kids living at home at the time. But because of threats of layoffs in my job we went with a smaller home. I am glad we did as now we only have two kids living at home. Our home is the perfect size for us. I still think we need more space at times (for storage purposes) but after they are gone the home will feel too big. And plus with a bigger home there is always the threat of them coming back…heeeeheeee
It’s common to want big. Big is impressive. Big usually costs more, though. And takes a lot more work and upkeep. Our home is just under 1900 sq ft. 4 bdrms. I wish the living room was smaller and the kitchen was bigger. But I can always fix that one day. The family room is big. The bdrms average. The yard is just right. I can mow it in 30 minutes.
I will look forward to hearing about your downsizing adventures.
Simplify! Wasn’t that a buzzword a few years ago (or maybe longer)? Seriously, I don’t know what makes people want more room than is absolutely necessary. It’s just more to take care of.
My wife was talking yesterday about getting an exercise machine (a treadmill or something). I told her I didn’t want one in the house. It would just take up more space, and after a month (tops) it would start collecting dust. A machine will not motivate you to exercise… only you can do that for yourself. I’d rather save the space in the house, and do a few situps on the floor if I feel moved to workout, or go for a walk.
I like my life to be simple, so I can certainly relate to wanting to downsize.
BE CAREFUL! I love New Orleans, but it’s a major pain to actually live in the city proper with a family, unless it’s in a certain school district in Algiers. Forget Uptown and Mid City, unless you don’t mind living in a marginal neighborhood. However, I do know a very white LDS family that lives in one of those neighborhoods and they seem to be happy there. It’s actually very close to where you attend school. Property taxes are high, the schools are a total crapshoot, and car insurance is through the roof. Moreover, shopping is a real pain in the ass, much moreso than where you live now. Unless you’re in Metairie — which is expensive — everything is spread-out and difficult to access. There are certainly plusses, as you mention, but I just wanted to give you a caveat.