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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.
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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. |