I always loved the idea of keeping a clean and tidy house. Now, I still like that idea, but I don’t always have the time to clean; or when I do have some time, I would rather relax or do something I enjoy more. Small houses can limit the amount of time it takes to clean. Although our house could be “downsized” even more to make it easier (I will talk about this in future posts), it’s a lot easier than a large house. That’s just one advantage to living small. There are many others that we will continue to discuss in this blog, but for this post I’ll talk about my love of living small.
Last weekend, while Ron and I were sitting on the porch enjoying a beautiful fall Sunday and having a Great Lakes Oktoberfest, we began talking about this blog and how living small is just a part of our lives. As usual when we have these conversations, I talked about how I began loving small living when I was young. My mom, dad, baby brother and I lived in apartments and with my grandparents until I was four. That’s when we moved to Canton, Ohio and into what I viewed as my house. It was a small ranch in the suburbs, but I thought it was heaven. It was a brand new house, but my parents purchased it partially unfinished to save some money. That meant several trips to Stambaugh’s Hardware to pick up materials to work on the house. Those trips to the store and the times my parents spent making a family home are special to me. I’m not sure about the square footage of the house, but it was a small, 1960’s ranch. That was enough for me; that was enough for us. When my sister came 3 years later, we arranged the three bedrooms to fit us all in. She and I shared a room until I was in middle school when my dad made a room for me downstairs. My grandma and grandpa even moved in with us and lived in our renovated basement 
from the time I was in early elementary. We converted the garage into a family room when I was a freshman, and that gave us a little more space.
That small ranch developed my love for building small and cozy and creating a comfortable home. To me, a house should always feel like a home. When you walk into your house, you should feel all of the cares of the world melt away because you are in your place that you have created. Building small has many benefits, but to me the biggest benefit is having a place that is special to you.
Until next time, stay small and prosper, and share the love.
~Susan
I think as children we generally all liked playing in small spaces – chair tents, boxes, behind a shrub, up in the crook of a tree. And then we got big and thought we shouldn’t play small anymore; in fact we thought we should mostly work, and work big. But it turns out that many of us long for playing again in small spaces.
As adults we also generally like things clean and maintained. It is so much easier in a small home. More time for playing.
I agree LR! If we would all “play” a little more instead of being so damn serious knowing that our world views are the only correct ones, this tiny planet would be a lot better off ~(;>)~