Have you been thinking about scaling back, trying to live with less? Whether you’re doing it as a way to save money or as part of an overall minimalist philosophy, you’ll be joining a lot of people who are shifting to tiny homes and significantly decreasing their possessions. Even if you aren’t doing anything quite that drastic, you might be considering moving to a smaller house or apartment to save on rent and utilities or following a significant change in your family life, like a divorce or your kids moving away. Going smaller can be a challenge, but there are advantages as well.
Build Your Savings
Have you heard of the 30% rule? It states that you should spend no more than 30% of your rent on housing. Many people these days pay a lot more than this. You’d be surprised at how much of your income you free up when your rent goes below 30%. You can put away the money you save in investments, a retirement fund or emergency savings if you don’t have any, or you might have a long-term goal, such a buying a sailboat or traveling the world, that you’d like to start working toward.
Less Maintenance
You may be surprised to find that in addition to saving money, you save a lot of time. There simply isn’t as much square footage to clean and maintain, and if you often found yourself looking for one thing or another in your bigger home, you’ll find that just doesn’t happen in a small place. Whether or not you want to be organized, small spaces require it. Overall, you’ll just spend a lot less mental and physical energy keeping your household in order.
Building Closer Relationships
If you’re moving to a smaller house or apartment with your family, you may find that it brings you closer together. There simply isn’t room for everyone to go off and do their own thing in separate parts of the house every night after dinner. You’ll probably have to do more problem-solving as a family. Be sure that there is still some privacy built in for everyone, but you can also work toward compromising to find activities that everyone can enjoy.
New Strategies for Smaller Spaces
You’ll probably need to put some new strategies into place to deal with everything from interpersonal conflict to what you’ll do about accumulating more stuff in a space too small to accommodate it all and more. Don’t give in to the temptation to get offsite storage space since this just offloads the problem. Some families instigate a rule that something must go out for every new thing that comes in. You might also look to interior design for ideas about how to make rooms look bigger. There is some disagreement about whether dark or bright colors open up a room, so you may want to experiment and see what looks best to you. Try to get furniture that has multiple uses, particularly as storage. Mirrors are a great way to lighten up any dark colors and make them feel more spacious.