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PROS AND CONS OF SMALL HOME LIVING | The good and bad of living in 950 square foot, family of 5
Jul 3, 2024
I am sharing several pros and cons of living in a small home. We live in a 950 sq ft house and have found to enjoy the small home living.
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Small home living this seems to be coming a bit more
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Practical for the way the economy is right now and I'm gonna share the pros and the cons that I have found living in a
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950 square foot home as a family of five So we've been in this home now for seven and a half years
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Started with no children and now we have three five three and one so our kids are little but we have
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950 livable square footage space that we live in and I want to share what I found to be
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Really good about living in a small home and a few of the things that are cons
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so as I have shared in some past small home living videos I have
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Put tips on living in a small home. I've done frugal living videos
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I also shared my small home tour all organized for you and
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That seemed to be a popular one that you guys enjoyed watching So right now economy is not looking great
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it's hard to find housing affordably interest rates are sky-high and so I
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Don't think many of you have put out of your minds that maybe a small house would be a good
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Place to live and not just as a starter home either. I Often get asked the question after we had our third
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aren't you gonna move into a bigger place or you're gonna have to build onto your house or
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Things of that nature where we need bigger as a saying in America goes bigger is better
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That is not always true So let's jump into the tips that I have or the pros and cons of a small home living
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Let's start with the pros First and foremost for me as being a stay-at-home mom and homemaker is less cleaning with a smaller space and square footage
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It is obvious that you would have less cleaning to do less space to clean one bathroom two bedrooms
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That's what we've got kitchen living area So truly cleaning does not take days and days or hours and hours on one cleaning day
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It is much more manageable to clean. There is lower electrical AC heating cooling cost
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this comes to show because you have a smaller square footage to heat to cool and
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So that just makes sense again because it is smaller and also it just
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You know, you don't have to have a ton of windows letting all the heat in in the summer
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And so your AC bill doesn't skyrocket So you have a smaller space you're gonna have a lower AC heating cooling electrical bill
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Less furniture and pieces to buy for your home. I am a thrifter. I love thrifting. Don't get me wrong
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I do buy some new pieces and So I feel like with a small home you do not have to fill it with a bunch of stuff
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You don't have two living rooms. You don't have two bathrooms You don't have multiple rooms or even a guest room
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And so you don't have all that furniture to buy this goes hand in hand though with decluttering
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if you have a smaller space, there's less to declutter, hopefully you keep it minimal and
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Simplified which I have talked about in some of my tips and tricks for living in a small home keeping it more minimal
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So having less furniture and pieces to buy for a home Another pro is it creates more bonding. So with one living room
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We're often in the same space a lot or in the kitchen area We all sit at the table together
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The girls are my kids are working on crafts in the kitchen while I'm doing projects in the kitchen
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It just creates a better connection and family unit, which I think we do need a lot of this day and age with so much technology
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It's just so nice to actually have that person-to-person Contact and even when friends come over you get to bond more
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Because your space is smaller you get to have I feel like more intimate conversations and for a married woman
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I love having the time with my husband in the same space
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We don't have room to go to our different places. There's no man cave and there's no place for me to go to
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We just hang out together So that is part of creating better bonding in a small home
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Another one which kind of goes with electrical is lower upgrade costs. So you have less windows usually in a smaller home
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so when you have to come to replacing those it's a lot cheaper because you don't have to buy as many or
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When you have to redo a room like a bathroom you only have one bathroom to redo or renovate and so it's just
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upkeep and maintenance is cheaper because you have less to Maintain and upgrade. I think the big one and one I am an advocate for is less debt
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So buying a small home it costs a lot less than buying a larger home
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Yes, there's a factor of where you live. I live in a rural town in South Dakota
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So our cost of living is a lot lower than let's say in New York where you live in an apartment or
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The same size apartment that is under 50 square foot cost way more than we pay on our home
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And so, you know, it was just cost of living and cost of where you live makes a big factor
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But if you are buying small it would be cheaper no matter what and it list lines itself than to you often
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With a smaller home since it's not taking up as much space your yard is a little bit bigger
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So then you get a little bit bigger yard at least that's where it is Where we are in South Dakota because your house doesn't take up the entire lot that you have purchased
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So all the pros tend to lead lean towards one thing and that is money
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So most of the things involved in living in a smaller home is less spending less cost of
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things which is so important too because everything is so expensive right now in
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middle of the summer 2024 so I think just if you think about all the pros and
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Finances it is a win-win all around. Okay, let's get to the cons
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Which you'll tend to see it often tends to lead with the people and lean towards
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Involving people which I don't have a lot of cons actually and maybe that's just me thinking more positively about things
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But here are some cons I did think of with a small home. We have a two-bedroom home
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So our one-year-old is still in a room in a pack-and-play and our two girls share a room
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Here is the issue get in the middle of the night if the little one wakes up crying
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Sometimes it'll wake up the other two, but they have learned to sleep through it
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So oftentimes it trains them to sleep with noisier environments as well because
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They have other ones sleeping with them And if someone else wakes up crying in the all night, they just learn to sleep through it
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So I kind of turned that into a positive there But it can be a con if you really want it to be
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Sleeping is a little bit more challenging in a smaller home. Another thing is the one bathroom situation
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So as we are getting older and there's more girls in the family and needing to use the bathroom
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we have to try to make sure we can either hold it or
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That we go At different times so, you know, you run into the issue of someone needs to go at the same time as others
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So you just hope and pray they can hold it or you don't have to go at that time
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But we have never really went into the issue of stumbling over each other
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Like I need to get ready. My husband needs to get ready. The girls need to get ready I'm sure as my girls get a little bit older and they're more into fashion and makeup and things like that
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Then that may become an issue. But right now it tends to work for us. And again, that's a little more bonding
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You're bumping into your sibling. You're bumping into your spouse. Just a little bit more love all around
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All right. Another con is hosting. So I love hosting in our home and I have gotten
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25 ladies in my home for a progressive dinner Dessert time and 25 ladies did not feel that crowded somewhere in my kitchen somewhere in this living space
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Somewhere in my open area that is by my piano if you have seen my home in my home tour
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And so it really did not feel that crowded I even was able to set up extra folding tables and have extra chairs. And so really
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It is harder for more movement in the home But that's again where it lends itself to having a bigger outdoor space so summertime is great for hosting
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so really most those cons they're related to people and Yes, it can be hard sometimes
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Running into people not being able to have large gatherings in your home and feeling like you have enough space
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But I'm all about bonding connection creating community. And so, you know, those cons can be turned into pros, too
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But those are my pros Before and those are my cons so the pro list outweighs the con list
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So if you've been really considering Downsizing or if you think a small home would be a good place for you really really consider it
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Because there are so many positives to living in a small home. You're wanting to
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Not spend so much time and money on things in the home
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You know, why not think a little bit smaller? It doesn't have to be 950 square foot like me
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It could be 1400 square foot, whatever 2,000 if you have a 5,000 square foot home, but you know finances are important in this day and age and staying
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Savvy with your money and being frugal is important. I think for all of us
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So anyways, I hope this encourages you let you have a little insight on to small home living
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And give this video a thumbs up if it helped you out And if you enjoyed watching check out my small home to our video I'll put in the description box as well as some of my other
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Homemaking simple and thrifted living videos that I do here on this channel
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You can also see this video and writing form on my blog at Davie Killian
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Comm I hope you all have a blessed and wonderful day
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