How Small Could You Live?

I really believed until yesterday that we lived in a smaller home, having just less than 1000 square feet of living space for the four of us Smiling Green Stooges! I am very much aware of some of the drawbacks to living on a tight budget, feeling financial pressure, wishing we had a little more space and seeing much needed updates and improvements that we just can’t get to. Pretty much all the things that I am certain many of us see when we look around, right? I don’t think our living situation is any different than the next person.

It seems as though no matter how much money we make – we have this funny way as humans to never feel that it’s quite enough?  And if it is enough for awhile, we still end up wanting more! Then we get more and it’s great for awhile again and then suddenly – not enough again. This little Merry-Go-Round can surely get the best of all of us after awhile – three or four quick circles and suddenly the world is spinning wildly out of control.

So what side am on? Do I want money? Do I want a big beautiful home with lots of luxurious ammenities? Well I would be a big fat liar if I said these things did not sound fabulous! BUT!

Yes, of course I have a butt. It’s a little on the jiggly side but other than that – it’s all good!

Really – my but is that the price is great on so many levels – more stuff more stress. I have to ask myself at what price do all of the “wonderful” things come at? Do we work and work and work to get there – suddenly realizing when our children are moving out at 18 that we made it but yet there is no one left at home to even care? Maybe some of us are more fortunate than others and we were the “lucky” finder of the Wonka Bar with the golden ticket!

Would that not be genuinely perfect? Pack it all up, move into our great big beautiful house with a hot tub, swimming pool, maid service – oh but where on Earth is my family? This house is so big I have no clue which room or floor to look! {exaggerating sigh} And think of the HUGE footprint on our Planet that this style of living has!

So I am left to wonder, at what price does this come?

Granted, we all have different values and ideas of what is important, But think for a moment – the level of simplicitiy that a teensy-weensy little home like this could provide. Do you think the stress of living “on top of” each other would be too great – or do you think the pleasure of family time, quiet conversations and low-financial stress would be pretty groovy?

I don’t know what your answer might be – but  I certainly think a small home with low expenditures really brings sustainability and simplicity to the forefront.  As the lovely, awesome, gorgeously brilliant @moira stated on my FaceBook page…

“There are so many benefits to a smaller home – cheaper utilities, less to clean, less to fix, less to worry about. And of course small houses use less water, less electricity, and take up less space on the earth.”

So. Well. Said.

In so many ways, ways that are ingrained into our lifestyles, we live above our means. We over-consume, over-extend, and over-exert ourselves focusing on the result – rather than enjoying the journey.  I would love a little (and yes indeed it is little!) log home for my family on some land overlooking the water and the hills. Would we get on one another’s nerves? Yes, probably but those tender moments together would never become a regret. I don’t know of anyone who could say they “regret the time they SPENT with family” but I am sure there might be some who “regret the time they DID NOT spend with family” you know?

This simple little house holds many possibilities – whether it might be a primary home, an extension to your current home or a small little getaway in the mountains. Imagine the joy of a simpler life that might be waiting….

Could you do it?

For more information on a teeny house like this – check out resourcesforlife.com