When we size up our lives, we often realize that they’ve become too large, cumbersome and unmanageable. Whether it’s a home that has more rooms than we spend any time in or a second car that doesn’t get much use, living to excess costs more than necessary and keeps us working longer too.
Here are a few different ways to downsize your life to live smaller.
Return to a One Car Household
At a certain point, a couple decides that two cars are better than one. For car enthusiasts that number can even grow higher. Depending on how far away you live from work and the length of the commute, it’s possible to go back to being a single car household. Even when adding in the occasional taxi fare, you will probably be saving money.
Adding up the cost of ownership, one should remember the car’s original cost, any financing like interest and loan origination fees, gasoline, repairs and maintenance, state car taxes, and the replacement cost of the vehicle in a few years’ time too. It all adds up and it is money that can be better spent (or saved) elsewhere.
Tiny Home or Downsizing
Whether you find yourself walking from room to room not knowing why you need so much space or just hating having to redecorate so frequently, the answer is often to downsize. You don’t have to follow the trend to move to tiny home, but a more reasonably sized home would certainly be a good idea. Just think of all the cost savings you can make this year and for all the years to come.
Be careful with your belongings. Good movers in Rockville MD and elsewhere make certain that your valuables are wrapped up carefully so they arrive safely at your new home’s address. It doesn’t take as long as you think to pack up and go. You’ll feel lighter and freer once you’ve done it too.
Have Your Worn That Outfit in the Last Year?
Depending on whether you’re a pack-rat or not, you could have a wardrobe full of clothes that you haven’t worn (or even tried on) in years. Whether you’re addicted to clothes or shoes, we all have our particular things that we loathe to get rid of. It’s fair to say that the more we keep, the larger the wardrobe (or two) that we need just to store everything. At a certain point, this justifies the larger home, the extra bedrooms, and so on.
A declutter ahead of a move to a smaller home often requires serious pruning of what’s in our wardrobes to free up space. Keeping last year’s fashions ready for the change of season when you know most of it you won’t really wear again anyway is just taking up much needed space.
At the end of the day, owning a home that’s too large costs more on the mortgage, the possessions we use to fill the home up, and larger heating and cooling bills. Downsizing life, starting with our home and what’s in it, is a great way to lighten the load. You’ll also be able to save more towards retirement too.
