Living in
small spaces
it can be done... here's how
Downsize
Living in small spaces can mean downsizing to a
smaller house, to an apartment, or a boat or RV...This is something you should consider
as another option to frugal retirement living.
If
you are roaming around a big house, you want to retire, but the numbers
just don't look good...Don't worry, please don't stress over this
option, it is very doable.
We have done it to an extreme, let us show you
how we did it, you don't have to do anything as drastic like we did to
enjoy this option...it is really easy.
The first step
Living in small spaces requires a different way of
looking at your stuff. If you make a list of what you have and then
make a honest list of what you need, the list on the left should be
bigger by a factor of 20 to 1 or higher.
Just realizing that you have a very little list
of essentials makes the option of living in small spaces not so big a
deal.
A few examples:
- Your clothes...how many can you wear at once, do
you need suits, cold weather items?
- Your shoes...same deal as above
- TVs...how many can you watch at once...do you
really need one?
- Furniture...do you have a favorite chair, how
often do you use the dining room, outside furniture do you use it?
- Cars...how many can you drive at once?
- Garage...go look and see how often you use what
is in your garage?
Keep the essentials
If you are considering moving into a smaller
house...you are probably thinking of storing the stuff that won't fit
in the smaller space. Storage space is very expensive and you have a
tendency to keep it there forever. Living in small spaces means being ruthless with efficiency
Consider getting rid of it.
Go here
for a how to organize small spaces guide step by step.
Either give it to family, Goodwill (helping others
is very rewarding in itself), put ads in the paper and sell the non
essentials. After you have sold the smaller stuff on Ebay have a garage
sale for what is left and put the cash in your pocket.
This is the hardest step for most people
Disposing and selling the stuff we have
accumulated over our lifetime is not easy...we make no pretense that
your stuff is not very dear to you.
However, if we are choosing between working to
maintain the stuff or retiring...we'll take retirement every time. It
is 2009, drastic times require drastic action, what is more
important, the stuff in the garage and the formal dining room you don't
use or not facing the alarm clock five days a week.
Don't let your stuff control you.
Living in small spaces requires you to control your stuff.
Our story of keeping only the "essentials"
When we decided to retire we had a 1800 two story
home filled with stuff.
What we kept in storage occupied a 8 foot
square room 8 foot high.
We sold or gave away the rest.
We kept our
furniture that could be broken down for storage, photo albums, family
pictures,etc.
It sat there for 9 years before we bought a house
in Phoenix. 90% plus of the clothes that we kept we have not touched so
we wasted a lot of the space taken up by the 8by8by8 storage area.
So
we could have cut back a lot more.
So can you.
One of the few smart things we did was sell all
electronics, tvs, stereos, speakers. Technology changes so fast you
won't be happy with your gear if you left it for a year let alone 9
years. You buy new, better stuff, if an when you need it.
Another item we got rid off was our bedding. A
mattress and box springs takes up a lot of storage room and again can
be replaced with something new if and when you need it.
Going from 1800 square feet to less than 100
square feet
Our new home had a living space of less than 100 square feet, floated,
had curved walls, and limited storage.
If downsizing from example a
2500 square foot home to 1200 square foot home seems impossible...we
assure you that living in small spaces can be done and you can live
very well indeed.
When we started living in an RV we tripled our
living space compared to the boat. Whoopee!!
Let's take a look inside at our new spacious digs.
To show how well space is utilized on a sailboat, here is the "dining
room" on board with the pull down table in place.
We sat 6 people comfortably at dinner. I'm talking
Thanksgiving... a 10 pound turkey (from the tiny galley...see below).
We usually ate on a small table in the cockpit. It
had better ventilation, view etc.
I guess you could say this was our "formal dining
room".
A picture of the same area with the table folded up and secured.
Ergonomics is not just a big word with sail boat
designers. They tried to squeeze utility out of every square inch.
We are biased of course but we think the designers
at Island Packet Yachts
were the best.
Does this great utilization in space give you any
ideas on how to save space in a home?
Here is a picture of the chef preparing to make bread from scratch.
All from this tiny galley...compare this to the
size of most kitchens in a house. We ate great from such a small space.
The "refrigerator/freezer" is at her right hand,
up from the area where she is kneading the dough, which is over the 3
burner propane stove. The refrig did a great job in the essentials...it
kept the beer ice cold.
The sunglasses...?
Conclusion
If you are forced to downsize in order to retire
please don't think you can't do it. We know that you can.
Has the objection to living in small spaces been
removed as an obstacle to enjoying retirement?
Return from
living in small spaces to frugal retirement living
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