Have You Ever Thought About Simplifying?
It started out innocently enough.
My husband and I, along with our two adorable kiddos, owned our own home, with plenty of room and in a great suburb. Being the geek of organization and simplification that I am, I found tiny living online and suddenly, I was hooked. This was at the beginning of the tiny house movement, mind you. There were only a handful of examples to read about, and I poured over those pictures and tales of bravery. I loved the idea of being free and living simply. Off grid? No problem. (Okay, that part was a tad unrealistic for us.) But I began to dream.
The Seed Was Planted
Many cups of coffee and tiny living articles later, I began to notice some things about our life that could use improvement. Our home was a four-bedroom house, with two and a half bathrooms that hung out on a quarter of an acre. All that space meant that my husband had to commute an hour to and from work every single day. It also meant that we had more space than we were really using. (You're probably thinking I am nuts already, but hang in there.)
If I was being completely honest, I did not need the entire fourth bedroom for an office. Nor did I relish the idea of cleaning two and a half bathrooms every single week. (Here is a great moment to let you know that I like my house clean, and so not cleaning was simply NOT an option.) To frost the cake of curiosity, I began to imagine selling a lot of the 'stuff' that tends to dwell in all of the extra closet space, nooks and crannies that come with too much space. When you begin gazing at certain items in your home and thinking, "Do we really need that?", then you can be absolutely sure a purge is not far behind.
What If?
Suddenly, that little tiny seed sprouted a leaf, and I was asking questions:
What if we got rid of everything we don't need? What if we sold our house? What happens if we are brave enough to do something crazy?
Not that I think any of this is crazy, mind you. But in much of today's society, if you are not after the next big bone, you aren't doing your due diligence. This idea of downsizing allowed our family to toss the idea of 'keeping up with the Jone's' right out the window, and we were ready. Following our decision to move closer to my husband's job, we put our house up for sale, and began looking for a property that was much smaller than most people's idea of a good time.
672 Square Feet Of Awesome
Our search led us to many different places-- different houses, condos and apartments all over the city. None of them seemed quite "it" until the Custer House. When I first walked through the door, I knew I was home. It was everything we were looking for, without anything extra. That sweet little house held just two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a living room. The crowning jewel was the corner gas stove that I would enjoy for the next two Fall and Christmas seasons. Pure bliss.
A giant garage sale, several trips to the Salvation Army and a moving van later, we were in! We had done it! We decided to not give one ounce of feeling to what others thought we should do, sold our house and began living tiny. A family of four, accompanied by a dog and a cat, we were off on a new adventure.
We Learned What We Didn't Need
The freedom that came from this decision was immeasurable. Before we sold our house, my husband was working 12+ hour days, at two different jobs, just to make ends meet. We would only see him in the evenings, and he was completely exhausted from working and driving. Activities on the weekends were limited because he needed to rest to prepare for the next week. (This sort of scenario is very typical of a lot of families today, because living expenses are just that-- expensive.) In our perspective, our freedom and time as a family was more important, in this season, than all of the stuff we were working so hard to maintain.
Additionally, a smaller home meant smaller monthly payments, less to maintain and more time as a family. It gave my husband the freedom to quit one of his jobs and start his own business. (Huge plus!) We were also able to take several trips as a family. Choosing to believe that there is another way to do things opens up a world of possibilities. For our family, we knew that this was only a season, that would own a home again in the future, and we absolutely believe in working hard to achieve your goals and dreams. None of that was affected by our decision to simplify. What was affected was learning to live without lots of excess in our life-- less stuff means more living!
Tiny Living = Big Success
We lived in the Custer House for 18 months, and enjoyed every single minute. Every last inch of that 672 square feet was used, and in the best possible ways. To this day, David and I still say that we have zero regrets about the decision to go tiny, and if we had it to do all over again, we would! When you choose a different path, you are able to discover what you are truly capable of learning and doing-- things that others would say are impossible. You will find that indeed, they are not.
In a follow-up post, I will share some photos and organizational tips from our tiny living adventure, so stay tuned! In the meantime, if this encouraged you to accept a new challenge in your life, big or tiny, I want to hear about it! Comment below, or share this post on Facebook!
