Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Bigger is Better?

Have you noticed how houses are getting bigger and bigger?? People want more space and more space... and yet more space. But all of this extra space... does it buy us extra happiness?? Extra freedom??? Or just give us extra work and extra worry??

There is a counter-movement undereway and it is epitomized by http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/... You might have seen this on Oprah or on the news. Jay Shafer designs custom tiny houses... anywhere for 96 sq ft (the one Jay lives in) to slightly larger (837 sq ft)... Maybe we don't need so much space... maybe we don't need so much to take care of! Maybe we could get by with less... If we had less space to live in, we'd be less tempted to buy more things... We could get by with just a bit... and not a lot...

That seems like an impossible thought in our society where 2000 sq ft homes are the norm... that would include the basement too... Something that is half the size seems small... a 600 sq ft apartment seems tiny... and 100 sq ft... well... that seems impossible!! But maybe... Mind you, I'd need to get rid of a lot of my stuff!!! A lot of my stuff... Mind you, I suppose one could always have a storage locker for some things... and if the house is so tiny then the utilities would be tiny as well...

Hmmm... how much space would you need to live in comfortably?? What could you do without? What could you not do without?

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