The ultimate package. Your home or apartment. What contains you and all your belongings. Americans have a love affair with space, the more one has the more powerful one is. I have spent many days babysitting for wealthy families in Newton, and Welleslely. The smallest house was perhaps 5,000 sq. ft… For a family of 4. One house in Newton, we were playing hide and seek and I could not find the kid for a good 20 minutes, she was on a separate floor of the house that I had never even seen before..
My boyfriend and I are looking to buy a home. I want a small condo. He wants a single family with a yard. I would be happy with 1100sq ft. He would like more. I do not want children. Why do I need a bigger house than that? A bigger container, or home, just holds more stuff. Stuff that I don’t need. I would like a condo that leaves a small ecological footprint. This home only has to fit the two of us, and a 100 lb lazy dog. I would like a smaller place, because it costs less. I forget which book it was but it showed us how living in spaces with shared walls saves energy costs. Makes sense. I thought it would be cheaper to buy but we are debating between a few places in Watertown, MA where for the same price you can get an extra 800 sq. ft. Why buy what you don’t need? Im sure there’s someone out there with a kid or two who needs more space. Why not try and sell it to them? When the realtor was showing it to us, it had another living room and 2 bedrooms downstairs. I asked why someone would want two living rooms. He said incase we wanted to watch different things on tv. Yeah, no. Then he said the dog could play down there. We have nicknamed my dog Jasper, Velcro dog. He is where ever you are, lying at your feet. So no, I’m still not sold. I told him that was more sq. feet that I would have to clean and heat. That does not sound like fun. So I want a smaller place, because it keeps the amount of “stuff” down. Therefore less packaging, less crap. Win – win. Plus less time on maintenance, I’d have time to ride my bike, go skiing, etc. So we shall see, who wins the housing argument between us, but I hope I do!
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I hear you, Liz! We were renting a small single family home and thought we definitely "needed" that yard and more space in the house. We started looking at places to buy and they were townhouses in the burbs with two or three floors, three or four bathrooms, and multiple living rooms (your realtor's TV comment cracks me up! Americans like bigger houses so they can get away from each other!). We almost ended up out there with a bigger house and place to put more stuff...and then we thought again and found a small condo in a much cooler neighborhood that's better connected to public transportation. I have to say this 800 square feet is the homiest, sweetest place I've ever lived! We had to get rid of a lot of stuff, but I really love living in a small space, for energy savings as well as the lifestyle that it gives us. I will be rooting for your choice! ;-)
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