but really, enough about me
16, September 2009
I’m curious to know if there are any lurkers out there who read my blog because they have their own small-living thing going on and what small living looks like to you. If this is you, and you’re feeling brave, tell me something about your small-living path in the comments. I’d love to hear about you.
[ETA: even if you're not living small yourself, step right up. The bar is open.]
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I lurk because I want to know more about small-living, not necessarily because I’ve done it myself. I haven’t been lurking very long… ever since XUP’s post about education.
I certainly don’t live as small as you, but I live way, way smaller than pretty much anyone else I know. My daughter and I share a small apartment in a low-rise. I’ve pared down our belongings so we don’t need much room and we don’t have much room so we don’t need many belongings. I don’t have a car or any of the electronics that seem to be standard in most homes. We don’t have a washer, dryer or dishwasher. Our furniture is odds bits collected here and there. We don’t have “bedroom suites” or a “dining room set” (or even a dining room) or “an entertainment centre”. If we had to move tomorrow morning, I could pack up, dismantle and fold up everything we own before bed and carry it all out the door myself…well, maybe the sofa would be a bit awkward. And still, you’ve got us beat all to heck in the “living small” department.
@XUP – oh, i dunno. i lived in an apartment not much bigger than this house when i was twenty. maybe there was a bit more floor space, but it wasn’t used well so effectively it feels the same. the facilities and comforts are the same, except the running water i suppose. this one just doesn’t have its own real estate. my house is huge, seriously. all four of my friend’s kids pile in here without hesitation. it feels like an earthquake because the twelve-year-old is taller than me and has a lot more energy, but it feels really spacious. especially since fixing the layout.
i think we generally in this country *have* way more space than we *use*. i mean, do we really need to walk forty steps from the front door to the sofa? what’s the purpose of all the extra space? especially since most folks don’t entertain to a level where that much square footage is needed. only my dearest friends visit, maybe, because it’s a very intimate setting. if you didn’t like each other much, maybe it wouldn’t work out. but running off people i don’t like much is a fine social goal i think. i like how cozy it is. i don’t really like rattling around alone in a huge house, i noticed while house-sitting. i sort of want a den to curl up in and that’s it. any activity i want to do can be done outside. oregon is a beautiful place with really mild weather. dress right for whatever’s out there, and there aren’t many times of the year where you just can’t get out, you know?
@Meagan – welcome! There’s not much to it, as you can see. Getting rid of stuff is always a fun first step. You know, just picking through what you already have and really putting it to the test: do I really use this? do I love it? and all the ‘no’ items go in a pile for the charity shop, and it’s so liberating.
Well, what about living relatively small? Or smaller? I mean, I think that there’s something to be learned when you read about people who live smaller than you do. What can I really get away with, here? Now, you are a single person, (occasionally a pair when G is around
) and I think maybe it’s easier to imagine how little you need when it is *just* you. Most of us can remember back in the day when we were living on our own and how little we really did need. It’s more challenging when you start accumulating spouses (with their own ideas of what is *needed*), and kids who need a few extra thing, (though certainly not nearly as many as we are lead to believe…)
I think for a family, we live pretty small- there are certainly things we could do to live smaller, and we’re learning all the time. We have prioritized things, like you have, so that we’re putting more of our resources toward things that we really want rather than things we think we have to have.
For Megan (hi) and any others who are out there wondering where to start, I think what’s made it more possible for us, as a family of four to live a little smaller, is the financial structure. That makes it easier to clear out and get rid of things or services that you don’t really need and still not feel too deprived. Like my sis here has demonstrated quite well over the years, you can live on frightfully little money, if you don’t need so much in the first place.
And as a little reveal, here’s where we break down:
Priorities: Travel (to friends and family out of town), entertaining friends and going out whenever we feel like it, organic/local foods, own home on a nice little lot, gear (bikes, camping, sports, etc..), entertainment (cable, wifi, music, etc..), planning for the financial future (retirement savings)
Things we’ve learned we can do without: Two cars, bucolic neighborhood, private school, matching furniture, professional home renovation, new clothes every season, two incomes (even though we have one and a half), large(er) house.
There are others, but that’s a start.