My wife and I, after two years of being married and living together, are being forced to move. It’s sad, because we absolutely love the place that we are currently living at, and we got a phenomenal deal for the space. However, if there is a silver lining, it is that all change brews opportunity. After a number of weeks of trying to find the best rental apartment and long conversations, we have decided that we will, for the short term, downsize our living space in order to save some money.
We currently live in about 900 square feet, and we use every inch of it. Our storage cupboard is full to the point of bursting, our closets are full, and our outdoor space is packed. After two years of wedding presents, purchases, and new furniture, we have filled the space that we live in. So when we started looking for a new place to live, we knew that we would need at least 900 sq ft, plus outdoor space, in order to put all of our stuff. Once we realized that we would probably end up paying 30-50% more each month in order to keep that square footage, we had some more conversations and came to the conclusion that perhaps we should try to live in a smaller space.
This, to me, is the easiest and simplest way of explaining that my stuff costs me money. It doesn’t just cost money to purchase it, it costs money to store it, maintain it, move it out of the way, move it back again, and relocate it. It might be hard to put a particular price on any of these things (just how much money is your time worth? What about your energy? What could that space be used for otherwise?), but the simple reality is that if you own less stuff, you have more money in your pocket.
The simple reality is that I love to be at home. I like to be comfortable, well fed, and entertained. For me, there is hardly anything better than going home after work and relaxing for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening. I do not become bored if I am left at home, sometimes for days on end. In addition, my wife loves to cook and to bake, and those things take up a significant amount of room in the kitchen. A small apartment sized kitchen is difficult to deal with when those are two of your main hobbies, and the room in which you spend most of your time. Therefore, we have, to this point, been okay with spending more money on our living space, and therefore, more money on our “stuff”. Faced with the realities of the housing market, however, we have been forced to make a tough decision, and as mentioned, will be temporarily trying to live intentionally in a smaller space, and therefore, at a smaller cost.
In order to deal with the transition, one of the things that we will be doing over the next few weeks is to start packing – but with two intentions. The first being the things that we will be bringing to our new place. These are things that we have been using everyday for the past two years. Our computers, TV, certain kitchen appliances and clothes, for example. The other intention will be to pack things away that we don’t regularly use. I know that I could go through my closet and pull out 30% of my wardrobe because I haven’t worn any of them in 6 or more months. Why would I waste my time and energy bringing them to my new place to not wear them there? I know that a lot of the things in our storage closet are just that – storage. They aren’t regularly used, and while we can’t exactly throw them out or give them away, they don’t need to be stored in our new place. We may attempt to unload some things at family or friend’s houses, or we might look into renting a storage locker for a few months. Our outdoor furniture, while useful, will serve no purpose at a place with no outdoor space. Again, we may simply put it away for a day when we do have a patio again, or we may get rid of it altogether.
While none of these decisions are easy ones, they are ones that could result in our family saving some money, and during this point in our lives, that is what we have chosen to pursue. What tough decisions have you made that have saved your family some money?
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Alan Schram writes about personal finance and his encounters with it in his everyday life. Alan is recently married and is looking to save money on expenses and reduce his debts.
Moving is so difficult. It forces you to face up to how much ‘stuff’ you have unknowingly accumulated and sometimes you have to be ruthless. Moving into a new place with my boyfriend was a revelation. It made me realise, for example, just how many unworn items of clothes were littering my closet. Following a much needed cull, I’ve started to evaluate my purchasing decisions a bit more; will that top be a favourite or could it wind up at the back of the closet to be unearthed come the next time I move house?
I wish you the best of luck with the move and I hope adjusting to a smaller space isn’t too tough.
We tried this when we rented a townhouse. We were moving out of a 5 Bedroom house and downsizing. We rented our house out for two years and wanted to see if townhouse living was going to work for us. It turns out the townhouse we ultimately bought was a little larger, but we learned from our experiment. It was better to rent in this instance than buy right away. Good luck.
Hi there.
Sounds very familiar. I went a one step further and calculated the staff we bought recently and how much we need to spend, just to maintain current position.
It is eye popping experience. Your stuff will own you : -)
We do this kind of sorting every time we move but I try to get rid of (donate/sell) things we don’t use within six months. I’d consider selling one or two pieces of furniture since they take up so much space. We got donated a ton of books during our last move and are down to less than a dozen. I’ve been enjoying the flexibility, breadth, and depth of our local library system instead.
If you can bear to part with it for over six months to storage and it has no sentimental value or enormous financial value, odds are you should get rid of it.
I’ve had the humbling experience of having to sell or leave most of my ‘stuff’ behind in a move. It feels go to start fresh, however, and the money you make selling the ‘stuff’ you don’t really need or use anymore could feed your savings account.
Well it really depends on how much you paid for your stuff if everything is highend and it goes with the decor of your new place then it should be worth the money to o pay to move it.