Have you heard of the tiny home movement? There is a small percentage of people who have chosen to trade in their standard sized house for a one-room house. This is appealing to me. What if I only had one room, how easy would it be to clean? How easy would it be to save money on the property and the heating and cooling? It would be so cozy.
I sometimes feel that we buy bigger houses to show others that we have so much money that we can heat rooms we barely use.
It would be harder to hide from my family members in a tiny home, but I think we are supposed to live closer to each other.
What rooms in your house do you barely use?
Even with the appeal of the tiny home, I don’t think its for me. Though, I don’t think I need as much house as we have. What is causing house size inflation?
Previous generations used to live in smaller houses and I don’t believe they were less happy (some research says they were happier back then, but not because of their house, though). The house I spent the first 10 years in was 945 square feet and my brothers and I shared a bedroom. When I was 10 we moved to a 1,700 square foot house. I remember happy times with my family hanging out in the kitchen and never thought my room was too small. We had enough. Now we live in a 2,000 square foot with fewer family members that we are considering a bigger house.
Why do I need such a big house? Part is status and part is to warehouse our stuff and part is just following the trend. If I was to move into a 1,700 square foot house, my family (along with many others) would think we are sacrificing (hedonic adaptation). We don’t need as much house as we have.