We have been living in our 900 square feet apartment for five years. When we purchased our first home, it was with the intention of living here for only five years and then hopefully moving further from the city and upgrading to a larger place. At this point, we have no plans to move for at least another 1-2 years. 1. Low maintenance
We don't have to worry about replacing our roof or repainting our siding. We have a strata for that. Even our windows are strata responsibility. Other than maintaining a standard of cleanliness, there is really little maintenance that is our responsibility. Even our smoke alarms and fireplace get checked by the fire department regularly.
When we are ready to sell, it'll be pretty inexpensive to upgrade the paint, floors and fixtures. That's where smaller will equal better.
2. 900 square feet
Often I can feel very limited by our lack of space. But limits are good. Limits keep me from spending money on things that we don't really need. Limits keep me from feeling like I have to compete with others that are constantly accumulating new things. Limits challenge me to be content with what I have.
To keep things tidy, I am forced to be very organized and selective about what enters our home. Those aren't bad skills to have.
3. Shared living expenses and amenities
We have gardens that we don't have to take care of. We have grass that we don't have to maintain. We have a playground that we didn't pay for. We don't spend much on heating costs. We share a pool, hot tub, sauna, exercise room, lounge, and rentable suites. We have a 24-hr caretaker who is available for emergencies.
4. Underground parking
When the rain hits, I am grateful for never having to load and unload the kids/groceries/strollers outside. On bad weather days, we often go from covered parking to covered parking and don't ever get a drop of rain on us. When it snows, we don't have to clear off the snow or ice. We don't even own a windshield scraper! And if you're thinking that a garage offers all these benefits, well, we don't have to shovel a driveway either.
5. No stairs
When you live in a place as small as ours, you wouldn't want to be wasting any of that precious square footage on stairs. And when you have a son as daring as ours, you wouldn't want to have stairs for him to surf down. And when you do laundry as much as I do, you wouldn't want to be lugging the laundry basket up and down the stairs all the time.
Now you know why I love living here. Most of the time anyways. (This is character-building... this is character-building)
What's your five things this week? Write a blog post and link up to join the fun. Or, if you don't have a blog, leave me your list in the comments. You don't have to copy my topic, but feel free if you need a little direction. I can't wait to hear what y'all have to say!
Some of those things would make my life so much easier. OK we have our own house but it is only 1300 square feet so it isn't much bigger. I am glad it is smaller because I can't have everything I want and it does make you be more organized. Now we do have a huge yard that we do have to up keep and I hate cutting the grass. Also have to clean off the cars and shovel the drive way when it snows. Sounds like you have some major perks. I like how you are reminding yourself of those things.
ReplyDeleteWe lived in a condo for about six years... one thing I miss - cleaning took, like, 2.6 seconds. Hee hee! Enjoy your small space - you can pt yourself on the back for being eco-friendly!
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