smaller-simpler

[Frank]

These thoughts have been tossed around here often....be it "boat" or "homes"..the same mentality applies.
I came across this in a "Money Sense" blurb....thought everyone here would enjoy it :

How much house is enough?

Smaller homes mean lower maintenance costs.



I was driving through a new subdivision with a girlfriend when she pointed to a big house and said, "Thats our next house".

You've put in an offer I asked.

No, she said, but we've looked at it five times.

How much??

$459,000.

Holy poop, I said, astonished that this woman in her early sixties would be looking to take on a new, bigger and more expensive house at this point in her life. I guess she's one of the almost 60% of retirees who plan to hang on to their debt with both hands.

What is wrong with us? Why is new, fancy and bigger getting in the way of common sense? Why is it that what we have pales against the allure of all the stuff we don't have? Are my Formica counters really so horrible that I'd spend money I'll need to eat later in my life on granite countertops? And when did we start taking the perfectly good (my old oak cupboards) and start tossing them away for the sake of a newer, fresher style??

I just don't get it. You can't whine about not having money for retirement or even an emergency fund if every time you turn around you're letting the gimmies get the better of you. Financial security is about balancing today?s needs and desires with tomorrow's. If you push the future out of your mind while you're scratching your consumer itch, you're going to be old and poor. Old is bad enough, but poor too?

My Little House (yes, that?s its name) comes will all kinds of benefits today and in the future. I've paid that sucker off, so the albatross of a mortgage payment is gone! My smaller house comes with lower property taxes than the monster homes people seem so attracted to these days. That's going to eat less of my fixed income when (if ever) I retire. And My Little House eats less energy. The average household in Ontario uses between 800-1000 kWh per month; I'm down to about 550 kWh. Smaller often means less can go wrong, so my maintenance fund can be smaller too. And a less expensive house means lower insurance costs.

My Little House still costs me almost $1,000 a month to carry. But I'd have to pay that to rent a comparable space in my area, and you have to live somewhere, right? So I'm focused on loving and caring for My Little House. And every time I see something that catches my eye and makes me think about what's missing, I change my focus and remind myself how happy I am in My Little House.

[Bill W]

Phew, at first I thought that it was YOUR girlfriend you were talking about.  :)
Had to re-read a time or 2. Then I looked up the MoneySense article as well.
Some truisms in that piece.

[CharlieJ]

with you completely on this Frank.

My house (paid for) is around 950 square feet. Self built, and paid for as we went.

But I got you beat on electric- my last bill showed 235 KH ;D ;D


House pics- front, and rear

[Chattcatdaddy]

Nice House!

Perfect size and really nice style!

[Travelnik]

Our place is a small, simple house too, and it's paid for!

I'm glad that my wife doesn't care about a bigger place, especially now that we're almost "empty nesters" now that our son moved out (again) and our daughter is an adult.

I am the one with all the stuff cluttering everything up. Too many projects.  ::)

The original post does sound like the mentality of a lot of wannabe cruisers though. Bigger=better. I used to think that way too. When I was younger, I thought a 50' boat would be perfect for a liveaboard. Then as the family grew, I wanted a 65' boat.

I didn't get either one because I couldn't ever afford one.  :(

Now, I'm happy with my little 22' boat, and I see that the maintenance costs won't eat me alive (I hope!).

Now, my new equation is: smaller+simpler=better!  :D

[Frank]

We just "self built" a new home. ..600 sq ft smaller than the last one and even it was far less than the typical 2000+ ft. Built this one with mega insulation and details to make it as cheap as possible to keep cool and warm. I'd much rather have more spare time and the extra funds to "live" rather than "pay".     Boats and homes....same stuff....different pile  ::)  PS...I drive a 6yr old toyota yaris. Not fancy...but I smile at the pumps ;)

[maxiSwede]

with you completely on this Frank.

My house (paid for) is around 950 square feet. Self built, and paid for as we went.

But I got you beat on electric- my last bill showed 235 KH ;D ;D


House pics- front, and rear

Hey, gorgeous house!  congratulations...

as for the thead; as small as one feel comfy with works for us  :)

[mrb]

We have been on the cash as you go life style for over 25 years now.  So nice.

[Cruiser2B]

Great Post.....With that said, wife and I have a 4bdrm house with 2 baths, just the 2 of us! We use 3 rooms, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. thats it. We have a whole upstairs we never go up to. We fell into the standard american consumerism trend. Luckily and unfortunately we were hit by the economy and have learned from our past indulgance. When looking for a boat we went small. We are finding ways to make what we have work and keeping our money where it belongs. In our pockets!

[CharlieJ]

Hey, gorgeous house!  congratulations...

as for the thead; as small as one feel comfy with works for us  :)

Thanks- first house I ever really owned and I was over 50 when we started building. Still not totally complete, but progressing

[Frank]

I forwarded that lil blurb to a friend. His wife sent this back:


""Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little. Epicurus
Greek Philosopher: 341-270 B.C""

She added "I think Epicurus would have enjoyed those comments as well"

[marujo_sortudo]

Land home is a 500 sq. ft. "shack.". No running water, but electricity, high speed Internet, and an outhouse.  Very affordable living that's helped keep the boat fund quite healthy.  Paid off all my debts years ago and can say it was the best thing I ever worked toward.  The freedom and piece of mind you gain are priceless.  One of the ways I taught myself to save money was to wait 3 days on any purchase over $100 or that involved a new monthly bill.  Saved a ton that way.  It's amazing how many things you just don't want later.  Also, pays to realize how expensive eating and drinking out is.  Get away from advertising  as much as you can...to many needs are brainwashed into us.

[Jim_ME]

It isn't just boats.

There is a lot of truth in this.

"The average American house size has more than doubled since the 1950s" says this article, which has an interesting chart.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525283

[CharlieJ]

Wow- I guess I'm REALLY being shorted ;D

My two bedroom, one bath house is just UNDER 900 square feet, and we cut it DOWN in size when we built it.

Of course the 12 xx 20 front deck does add a bit,as does the 20 x 4 foot rear deck.

But still :D

Oh- and it's been paid for for over 10 years now :)

[Travelnik]

Wow- I guess I'm REALLY being shorted ;D

My two bedroom, one bath house is just UNDER 900 square feet, and we cut it DOWN in size when we built it.

Of course the 12 xx 20 front deck does add a bit,as does the 20 x 4 foot rear deck.

But still :D

Oh- and it's been paid for for over 10 years now :)

Our place is a 3 bedroom, 1 bath, made in 1968, and it is still under 1000 sq ft.
No decks, but I do have an 18' x 25' carport that I'm going to enclose and make into a workshop.

I bought it in 2003, and paid it off in 2009.

(I am planning on renting it out to help finance our 2 year ICW cruise, and then we can decide if we want to cruise full time.)

:)

[CharlieJ]

Well, I must admit to my 24 x 24 metal shop building sitting next to the house. But that's where i made my living before I retired- still a full fledged wood shop though, although a bit more junk filled than when it was a working shop.

And Laura's now abandoned art studio is out on the other side. Now a junk place- don't know what will happen to it- unused except for storage

[Jim_ME]

[Edit Note: I wanted to merge these posts on smaller-simpler [house size] with this thread so that we could continue to add to it without hijacking the other thread on "Small boat prejudice: experience, causes & prevention."]

For me, this is a very interesting and important topic, since it has become obvious that one can only do so much (in terms of cost and labor/effort) and having a small-simple house [if any, or an apartment, RV, etc.] is a great way to conserve and free up resources to put toward the boat(s) and cruising lifestyle.

In my own situation, I have responsibilities to an old house that is larger and requires more maintenance work than I have come to want. Took this on 30 years ago when I had more time and energy than I seem to now...and different priorities. Now, when I look at the photos of Charlie's place, or read about others' small houses, I very much appreciate what a wise choice that is--and how it has such a direct benefit to the freedom to go cruising.

The other thing is... that no matter how big your house is, your stuff will expand to fill it. Like nature (as the saying goes)...stuff abhors a vacuum. A too-big house, rather than being a positive thing, can become a ball and chain...[which, it occurs to me, is just a Land-based Anchor...]

Personally (again like CJ), I believe that I could do with considerably less house, and a decent shop for the Do-It-Yourself boat, vehicle, and other projects.

Another thing...30 years ago this was a rural area, with a live-and-let-live philosophy. Now it has "upgraded" itself into something more toward an "edge community", and with the growth and influx of people from other areas that had more zoning restrictions [such as against boat(s) in your own yard. People used to more services and higher taxes to pay for them. So this place has become more like that. It's one thing when you have the choice as to whether to move into such a place, but quite another when (over time) it changes right out from under you.

Another advantage of a boat over a house...it's a lot easier to move.  :)

[DarrenC]

Whether it be houses, cars, clothes, boats, etc, to me it is all about return on investment using work as a currency. Bigger/more/fancier/newer = more work in one way or another.

I am not afraid to openly admit i am a slacker and leisure specialist by nature and am more than willing to adopt a simplified lifestyle to accommodate this proclivity.  The problem i seem to have is that in an attempt to live the "normal" adult life expected of me, I have continually loaded myself down with responsibility and obligation which has kept me working since i was seventeen years old.

Maybe it would be different if I was one of those fortunate folks who feel their work is their calling and gives them purpose, but alas I have never been able to view work as anything other than something i "have to" do to meet the obligations i have created for myself. In truth i have a really tough time meeting new people out of dread for that insipid conversation starter "So, what do you do?". Ive never understood how folks identify themselves  and others by how they earn a living. Am I completely in left field here?

Apologies....to get somewhat back to topic, I can appreciate the small luxuries and creature comforts my home provides, but at the end of the day that appreciation is outweighed by resentment for how much work it takes to maintain that level of comfort. IMO it is a poor return on investment.  A small paid for shack wouid have far more value to me because i would have to work far less. Does that make sense?

[w00dy]

Absolutely. Here's the backyard shack we restored and lived in for a year. Best ROI so far! Not sure how many square feet, but probably measured in tens, not hundreds :) The insulation did a good job of keeping the heat out, but when the chickens got tired of the buffet in the compost pile, they would squawk and crow loudly enough that I would want to boil them up. So maybe a home with soundproof walls would have been nice....There is no perfect world.

[Cyric30]

hay Woody,
nice looking little place there, was wondering if you knew what type of chickens the black and gold ones where like the looks of them if nothing else there a treat to look at, although the crowing of a morning does get very annoying for sure.