Day 65: How To Live With Less Home

HOME SWEET HOME

What: Our Homes

Why: Have you ever thought how houses these days just continue to get bigger and bigger? You may not be that far off your rocker because that has been the case for YEARS. Think of the show “Little House on the Prairie.” We look at that little house and are thankful we do not need to live like that today – or do we secretly wish we could? In the 1950s, the average home was about 1,000 square feet, with two bedrooms, one bath. In 1970ish, the average house size was at about 1,500 square feet, and then in the turn of the century, it was up to 2,000 square feet and now rising. Ironically, the size of families has decreased. Is there something odd about this? It is said that you should not spend more than half of your income on your house – in fact, it should be closer to ¼ of your income. So have our incomes increased THAT much over those years?

Is bigger always better?
The large houses, with a bedroom and bathroom for each, have only separated families. With houses increasing in size, time spent together is decreasing because there is no need to see each other. Many kids have a television in their room. Many may even have cable, a computer, internet, all of their “toys” in their rooms, leaving eating as the reason to leave their rooms. Families are becoming less involved with each other because they are spending their time AWAY from each other.

To build a larger home, it is a given that it takes more property, which typically requires you to live further away from everything. Not only does your home become more expensive, but it will take more gas to get to your job, more heating and cooling costs, furniture to fill the rooms, and stores are further away. So what becomes an increase in your mortgage also becomes an increase in other areas.