Our last child is preparing to graduate, the family homestead no longer makes sense.
Why?
- We don’t need five bedrooms for the two of us
- We never swim in the pool, but constantly pay to have it maintained
- We have a ½ acre that I might walk around once a month
- We live in a child-filled neighborhood without any kids
- We were ready for a change
So, we thought we were ready for downsizing. It would be nice to simplify life, have more time to enjoy doing things together, like we did before kids. To our surprise, while we did simplify, we did not downsize but rather resized our home. What does that mean?
- We greatly reduced our maintenance by moving into a condo
- We eliminated three bedrooms from our floorplan
- We moved into an area that is very walkable
Instead of downsizing, we replaced the space saved with:
- A major increase in the master bedroom and bath
- A second office so we each have our own work area
- An expanded entertainment area, as we spend more time entertaining friends
- An enlarged kitchen, as we found cooking had become a hobby rather than a chore
The net result was that we eliminated our outdoor space but only reduced our living area by 3 percent. After three years, we couldn’t be happier with our resizing decision.
The space we have is used almost every day and time spent maintaining things we don’t use was eliminated.
As you plan to start your new chapter “After Children,” think about a new way of life focused on things you’d like to do. It doesn’t always mean less – it may just mean different.
