Think Small!

Bigger is better, right? Well, I'll take a bigger piece of cake, a bigger salary or a bigger blanket to avoid cold toes, but I don't think bigger is always better. For instance, take housing.

Since we've had baby on the brain for the last 9 months or so, people keep asking us what "stuff" we need. Baby stuff can be endless and take up a lot of space in your house. But my husband and I have been pretty good (in my opinion) of avoiding "stuff" for stuff's sake, primarily based on the fact we don't have room for it in our 1400 square foot house. It got me thinking that maybe having a small house is the way to go. How else can having a small house save you money?

*Energy costs - this is kind of a no-brainer, but the less space you have to heat or cool, the more money you save! Right on! Not only that, but if you have fewer rooms, you likely have fewer electrical appliances plugged in, meaning the "vampire draw" (or appliances that suck up energy without being used) will be less!

*Less space to fill - just like my husband and I refuse to get "stuff" for our baby because we don't have room for it, this can apply to just about every space in our house. We have a small kitchen, so our cabinets are full of things we use frequently instead of the random appliances that we'd use once a year. I can't be a crazy bag lady and have multiple half-used bottles of beauty products in the bathroom because we have 1 bathroom with 4 shelves of storage. If I don't have 7 rooms to fill with furniture, I'm saving thousands of dollars! It keeps us conscious of what we buy and helps us better identify when it's time to give other things a better home when we're not using it anymore (tax deductions or garage sales put money back in your pocket!).

*Less upkeep - whether you do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you, the less space you have means the less time and money you spend on cleaning, renovating or replacing. I can tell you I already hate spending half of my Saturday cleaning my 3 bedroom home (and I'm too cheap to pay someone to do it)...I would absolutely cringe spending my entire weekend cleaning a 5 bedroom and multiple bathroom home. Who wants to clean more than one shower? Not me.

*Healthier in a small home? - I could be reaching here, but I would argue you could be a healthier person if you live in a smaller home. Think about it - a smaller home is easier to keep clean, meaning there would be less germs and air pollution. Although I guess you could argue you might be in better cardiovascular shape if you had a bigger home (walking further, climbing more stairs, etc).

Image from MyBallard

Obviously, you have to have a space that works for you and your family. But if you can get by with a smaller home, it will benefit your bottom line in multiple ways.



Anyone else who loves living in a smaller place and saving money? Anyone who lives in a big space that feels it's worth it?

How Much Should You Save for a House?

Now that my husband has a good job and the real estate market is friendlier to first-time home buyers, we've decided to start the search for Our. First. Home. Exciting! Scary! Nervewracking! EXPENSIVE!!!! All of these words come to mind when buying a home and definitely the last word...here in Seattle, the median price for a home is between $400,000 and $500,000! Not a super affordable place to live, but I know those of you who live in California are going to tell me I'm lucky prices are so low.

So we've been doing a little research about how much to save. As mentioned before, we did a really good job of saving over the past year, but factoring in all of the costs for a house, I'm not sure it's enough.

I'd love to get some tips and hear stories from those of you who have been in my shoes before. Besides a down payment, what else did you save for when buying a house? Closing costs? House emergency fund? Anything you wish you did differently in your search? I'd love any of your advice! Thanks, readers!