Smaller houses

Check out this house! This woman lives in an 84 sq. ft. home.

OK, so this may be a little extreme, but then again, maybe not. Why do we need big homes?

When I moved to Asia, I thought that a 1500 sq ft home was average. Now I see it as huge! Homes here can be large, but the average Thai family may share that 1500 sq ft or so with 10 or more people! Or, like my neighbors, 400 sq ft for a family of 6.

We are living in 800 sq ft downstairs. This is 2 bedroom, 2 bath, living/family/dining room, kitchen. One bathroom doubles as a laundry room. We also have a 400sq ft apartment upstairs that we rent. It is our guest room, office, storage, multi-purpose room. I'd love to get rid of it... it's too much space! Our friends (and my mom during her visit) think we're crazy not to be looking for a bigger home. Why shouldn't we make it work?

Why do we feel we HAVE to have so much space to live in? I hear all kinds of reasons. Each kid needs their own room, I like to entertain, I have so much nice furniture, I've got the money why not, it's the neighborhood, I want more than I had as a child, who cares there's no impact around me, and on and on! I think the #1 reason is too much junk!!! Look around you and what do you see? Closets, wardrobes, dressers, storage bins in all rooms. Why do we need these? Is there really that much stuff needing storage?

Start thinking of ways to live simply. Not only will you save money, but you can live smaller as well. How is this green living? All of our homes, purchases, and stuff impact the environment, for good or bad. That's to come later.

[Oh, and if you find this offensive, too bad! I would've found it that way too a few years ago. This blog will step on toes unlike my other blogs]