Downsizing...can you really???
- Thread starter Zee09
- Start date
I'm not sure I agree with that...I mean, if that were true, those that have garages, why don't they park in them? (Well, some do but many do not.)
Also, I bought a 2000 sq. ft.+ house before marrying and having a kid...thought I had plenty of space. For a single guy, yeah...but after marriage and having kid...barely can park in the garage and every closet is overflowing with 'stuff'. Yeah, yeah...probably have too much...but it accumulates fast before you know it.
Including the finished basement, I have 3600sqft. I use approximately 1000sqft 97% of the time. Now that Christmas is over I will probably go into the living room twice in the next year. I only go into the dining room because it's the quickest way from the kitchen to the stairs. I'll go in the basement maybe a handful of times per year. Once my kids are gone there are another three bedrooms I don't need. I haven't used the upstairs hall bathroom in years because I have three sons who use it.
So, I use the kitchen, TV room, my bedroom and bathroom on a regular basis. Oh, and the first-floor powder room. Yup, my wife and I would do just fine in 2000sqft - probably would be fine in 1500sqft.
So, I use the kitchen, TV room, my bedroom and bathroom on a regular basis. Oh, and the first-floor powder room. Yup, my wife and I would do just fine in 2000sqft - probably would be fine in 1500sqft.
It's all relative. I have 3600sqft which is a good size house for my town but my wife is from a town where +6500sqft is the norm and my house would look "quaint". I guess you do it because you can...
This is the plan for us too. I have one SIL in Boston and another in Manhattan and my wife and I have spent the last +20 years trading time with them - they come to our "country house" and we go live "the city life" in their apartments. It gives you just enough time of "living" there, not in a hotel room as a tourist, to really get a sense of how different that life is compared to the burbs, and my wife and think that will be a nice change.
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2021
- Messages
- 342
I tend to view the topic of downsizing as a matter of the property plus school tax load. I’m considering downsizing by moving to another state where I can buy a house 3 times the size of my present home on 20 times more land for 1/4 of my present taxes. Now that is downsizing in my book.
My little house is 897 sq ft and just right for me
Yeah, I hear you. We sometimes think about northern Florida... at the same time we really like our home here in SC. Kids are grown and on their own now, just my wife and I. We have a 3000 sq ft 5 BR home with really high ceilings in the main areas and just love it. Nice open home, lots of light, high ceilings ect... Oh... and property taxes under $3000 a year. Actually under $2000 but I use a NY formula (where I was born and raised and had kids) and add a $1000 since they tax your vehicles here. *LOL*
We use two of the 4 second floor bedrooms, one make a perfect office for my wife and I and my wife has a work station in a spare bedroom also supplied by her company. Plus we have plenty of room for any company whom may want to stay a night or two.
Anyway, as much as we think about it, a new adventure, maybe northern Florida we cant imagine how we would be happy without the room to roam that we have now and Florida prices have gone up so much I cant see ourselves paying more then double for what we have here.
Sooooo... staying for the foreseeable future and that isnt a bad thing either, all our kids are less then a two hour drive away, one only an hour.
Then why are you considering a 2000 sq foot home?
If you currently live in a 6000 sq ft home or more, down size to a 3 or 4000. You would never be happy in a 2000 in my mind
I would like a small house with a 4 car 24ft deep garage and 30 X60 ft shop in the middle of 50 acres chain linked fenced with razor wire on the top and some Pitbull type dogs . I talked to the guy across the street the other day and it didn't add much to my life.
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I guess I'm trying to understand, how and why, you've opted to live in ~375 s/f each? That's barely larger than a generous dorm room or barracks room. To each their own, but I would go bonkers. You have no space, no privacy, constant noise, tripping over each other, own practically nothing, everything is shared, etc. No thank you, not for me.
I suppose with flat TVs, streaming, internet, cell phones, laptops, one could make it work better today than 30 years ago. But I live alone in 2000 s/f and I can barely make it work. Granted, this current house is inefficiently laid out and wastes probably 50% of the space. I'm looking at a well laid out 1700 s/f home to move in to and will have to get rid of about 40 items from sporting goods to furniture, and hope it can work.
This is part of my scheme. A smaller house, but a larger workshop and garage. Save on taxes. Heating. Insurance. Etc. I can live in smaller spaces (I need probably 1500) if I can have a large workshop/gym area where I can spend time so my stuff and I are not so cramped into a house/garage.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
Well, it wasn’t exactly according to plan.
My grandpa is on Hospice care, I’ve lived with him for some time to take care of him. He has 2 dogs and I have 1. My aunt had to move in to help me take care of him, and she has 3.
Then I had to adopt my younger sister (she’s a minor).
Do I wish it was different? Sure. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
So true- taxes were fine when I was younger, and I worked 24/7
Getting too old with other issues and have too much property and I need to dump all of it
and now live while I can. Florida will give me a few $$$ with the no state income tax.
All I needed for my American dream was a garage to turn my wrench, land to cut my wood, and a house to shag my wife. I made it.
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1200ish here with full basement, not sure I could downsize, I'm kind of attached to all the crap I have after 33 years. The only thing I've ever wished for was a bigger garage.
Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
Because I am walking away from the multiple businesses and properties I have, and semi retire but still
be in a very small business at home. Now I am still going with tons of required machines etc. that I later will not need.
I know of one that is 2300 sq ft living space only with a 2-car garage which the builder and I talked about making that an extended 4 car garage so
I can run a business in the garage and another bay for a few machine tools that I will buy there and not move.
My car will have a garage too- once in my life. This builder builds up to 7000 sq ft and honestly the best value I have seen.
Below is the 2300 sq ft house I toured as it was a spec house but sold last year or so. Of course, Florida calls this over 3000 sq ft
but we don't include garages etc. in our number up north.
Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
If @OVERKILL and family visit in the spring before I leave, I can put them up in the east wing.
I will apologize upfront for making him live in a dump on vacation but @AutoMechanic didn't seem to mind.
Oh well sorry Overkill...
I will apologize upfront for making him live in a dump on vacation but @AutoMechanic didn't seem to mind.
Oh well sorry Overkill...
Not sure what you'll be giving up in Maryland or what part of Florida you'll be in, but most likely you can expect...bugs (lots of them...I'm talking about roaches from hell), hot sticky weather (summer time...winters are pleasant), fire ants, spiders, lizards (maybe in your bed...don't ask), snakes, gators everywhere (in people's pools, too), red light runners, palm trees, the occasional hurricane and worst of all...tourist.
Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
None of that compares to a woman
