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Size | |
April 09th, 2018 | |
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tfurrows recently wrote [0] about about the American need for more | |
space, more square footage, and generally bigger and better | |
things. You might harken it back to the "go West" mentality and an | |
assumption born from multi-generational standard-of-living growth, | |
but I have no real clue where it comes from. And tfurrows is | |
absolutely right when he says you get looked at funny for defying | |
that pattern. | |
[0] tfurrows - square feet | |
My dad certainly doesn't understand my desire to simplify, | |
downsize (right-size?), and work less. It's really frustrating | |
with him in particular because he worked so hard to achieve more | |
and earn more his whole life so that he could enjoy it later, but | |
he was diagnosed with a death sentence nearly the day after he | |
retired. How can that not wake you up to the here and now and say, | |
"use it while you've got it"? | |
I want a smaller house. Much smaller. This is my first home and | |
I got it for a ridiculous price because the housing market had | |
tanked two years before and the owner had been dropping his | |
selling price ever since. It's now worth double what I paid and | |
I can't wait to sell it. It's fantastic to have a bunch of space, | |
but we just fill it with things we don't have time to use. More BS | |
filling it up is no help to anyone. It's also a huge burden on us | |
maintaining it and paying utilities. I don't need to work harder | |
and longer to pay for things I'm not using. | |
Once we go to Iceland I plan on renting again (if their rental | |
situation gets cleared up, that is) and eventually working up to | |
a small home. I don't want any more space than I need. If that | |
means I have to go outside more, even better! Lowering my | |
cost-of-living means I can enjoy the same options or more and | |
still lower my workload. I'm not going to be able to match my | |
current salary in Iceland anyway, so it all aligns. Work less, | |
live smaller, enjoy things today instead of putting them off for | |
later. |