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Why Bigger Is Not Always Better When It Comes to Your Place of Living

Small homes have been getting more and more popular as real estate prices continue to climb across the country.

In fact, the tiny home movement has spurred seemingly countless tiny homes to pop up in some surprising places.

The common assumption about people who live in small homes is that the inhabitants cannot afford a larger space. In many cases, however, this is simply not true. Many people opt for a smaller home to take advantage of the benefits it offers, and there are a lot. From saving you money to adding hours of free time to your weekly schedule, living in a small home home can significantly change the way you live your daily life. If you are still unconvinced, check out these nine reasons why bigger is not always better when it comes to finding the right place to live.

Lower Cost

You can save money on your monthly rent, utilities and amenities fees by getting a small home. Even more, the lower cost of living may allow you to live in a much better neighborhood than you could afford with a “normal-sized” home. If you would like to become a homeowner but think that your budget will limit you to renting forever, think again. There are now tons of companies and architects who are designing and building tiny homes at price tags that may be lower than the amount of rent you spend in just one year.

Opting for a tiny home could make you a homeowner years before you ever thought it could be possible. The savings you gain from living in a small home will accumulate from the initial cut on the base price to the monthly savings on utilities. If you would like to reprioritize your budget, spending less money on housing so that you can dedicate more resources to other financial pursuits, choosing to live in a small home could make that possible.

More Time

Do you ever feel like you spend the majority of your free time cleaning and organizing your home? You may be right. With a smaller home, the amount of time you have to spend cleaning each space and each piece of furniture is vastly reduced. If you were able to move to a better location because of the lower cost of small homes, you could also be saving tons of time on your daily commute.

Even more, it is much easier to work on more than one thing simultaneously when living in a smaller home. Multi-tasking becomes limited only by how far you can stretch, since everything will be within arm’s reach.

Being a Minimalist

The average American home carries about 300,000 individual items. Whether it is your intention or not, tiny homes will turn you into a minimalist, as you will not have the space to keep tons of furniture or personal items.

If you are moving from a larger home, you will have to get rid of all the items you do not need anymore, forcing you to declutter your home. It will make you start considering what possessions are really necessary to make you comfortable and happy. Minimalism is believed to help many people lead more calm and balanced lives, helping them have more available time and energy to spend on personal pursuits of their choosing. Especially in today’s homes, which are so often packed with technology and other constant distractions, keeping your small home a calm and simple space can provide you with one of the only quiet spaces around.

Easy Decorating

When you have fewer pieces to work with and a more limited space to operate within, simple home makeover projects can be a lot more fun that you are probably used to. It means you will have to choose whatever decorations you want very carefully, since they will be highlighted as the only decorative pieces you have.

If shopping for new items, you can spend more per piece and finally start to acquire some nicer pieces, since your decorating budget will be divided among fewer items. If you are not sure where to begin decorating a new small home, you can test out different possibilities using a decorating app, which can help you test out everything from furniture to paint colors.

Less Stress

There are many in which living in a smaller home may positively affect your mental health. Some psychologists think the benefits start with the looks of a smaller place. As less visually complex scenes, small spaces require less mental processing for you to become familiar with them and feel comfortable in. Even more, small spaces are much easier to keep clean and organized, providing inhabitants with a clean and streamlined living environment that is good for a productive mind.

A cluttered space may lead to a cluttered mind. Along the same lines, smaller spaces can lend a calming sense of control to the inhabitant. Those living in smaller spaces also have more reason to get out of the house and into the environment, something that is shown to have a significantly beneficial relationship to mental health.

Fewer Social Obligations

When you have a small apartment, your friends and family probably are not going to expect you to host big sit-down meals. While you can still have people over, it may no longer be the best hangout spot for the crew. At the same time, you probably will not have a bunch of friends showing up at your doorstep for a couch to sleep on when they know that your couch also converts into your dinner table in your efficiently planned small apartment.

Tired of everyone asking you to store their stuff while they hop homes or travel? With a small home, those requests are less likely to come. If you were trying to simplify and streamline your life, this can be a huge benefit of small homes and a big social weight off your shoulders. Of course, if you enjoy having many people over and plan to host parties and other events at your place, a small space may not be the best idea for you.

Less Environmental Impact

The environmental footprint of the average American household dwarves those of the great majority of families across the world. If you are building your own smaller home, you will use fewer resources during construction and for the transportation and maintenance of materials and home furnishings. You will also need to use much less energy to heat or cool the space, cutting down significantly on your carbon emissions.

Smaller homes usually only have one bathroom and a small kitchen, cutting down on the energy and water needed to have a complicated piping system throughout the home. With a smaller home, you may have access to a much bigger outdoor area that offers you plenty of opportunities to enjoy your property and the fresh air.

Increased Creativity

When you are given limitations to work with, it often motivates you to get creative to find multiple ways to work within your given limitations. This holds true for living in small apartments as well. Whittling down your life to fit into your new small apartment will inevitably take some a new perspective and creativity. From figuring out creative storage solutions for your belongings to getting your bed to fit through the door, small home living will truly test your creative potential.

It will make you realize how many of your items or furniture actually have multiple uses and how much of what you own is truly necessary. It could even motivate you to lean more on your artistic side as you try to make every inch of your small home serve a purpose.

Easier Relocation

Unless you are buying the place and do not plan to leave, you will one day have to move out of your small home into a new space. One major benefit of living in a tiny space is that moving out will be a cinch, as there may only be one or two rooms to grab everything from. Many of your belongings may already be ready for transport after having been stored in your small apartment so efficiently. If you own a freestanding tiny home, you can even hire a moving or trucking company to actually pick up your entire home and transport it to wherever you want around the country. No matter how you look at it, living in smaller apartments or a tiny home can make your next relocation cost you less time, money and peace of mind.

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