Thursday, September 11, 2008

the american ideal: more is NOT better people

i really say that i grew up in england. i lived there from when i was barely 19 years old to 24 years old. it was such an amazing learning experience, i like to think that that is where i really learned about my true self and shaped my ideals and ethics that i have today. i guess you really can't live overseas in a different culture and environment without being impacted.

i had always been raised in pretty large homes, with a family of five, you kind of have to! i was used to a two-story house with a large basement when i lived in the midwest. and when i moved to england all i could think was, omg, these houses are way too small. i couldn't believe i was going to live in such a tiny house of 1000sqft or less. with one bathroom. and no closets.

our first house was so tiny. we had 3 bedrooms (one was a glorified closet) and absolutely no storage space besides a garage or attic. kitchen had about 3 feet of usable working counter space, if i was lucky. and no closets in any of the rooms and a tiny linen closet that was basically 2 shelves squeezed above a water heater. after our landlord (god rest his soul) passed away, we had to move. we found this amazing house way out in the country and it was bigger. 3 bedrooms (ours had a closet, yay!) and a small storage space under the stairs.

anyway, my point is.. and i'm getting there. after a while, i started enjoying my house and becoming house proud. i loved cleaning it and finding new and creative ways to organize. when you live in tiny places, you can't have a lot of stuff. well, i guess you can but then it can turn into this:


anyway. i realized (and this took years, folks) that i really enjoyed living in a small place. i mean to clean my house from top to bottom took maybe two hours and that was a really thorough cleaning. half hour to do the basics. when i moved to arizona i knew i wanted to live in a small place. and well, thanks to tucson we have amazing 1950s bungalows that are tiny. i came to the conclusion that why live in a huge house with a dining room, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, basement, etc. when it's just me and the pups (and toddy). i found the best place on craigslist (well, they found me, whole other blog) that i now reside in. it's two bedrooms, one tiny bathroom, and a very open kitchen/living area. oh, and a super sweet large backyard for the girls.

well, going back to why i originally started this blog, bigger isn't always better. more rooms mean you have to buy more things to fill the room. you have more wall space to fill, it consumes more energy, and really, why do you need such a big place? what is your mortgage payment? wow. really? consumerism and debt are sucking our fellow americans dry. we are in debt up to our eyeballs in order to keep up with the joneses and it's completely unnecessary. i think now people are starting to realize that.. people are starting to cut back. and that's a good thing.

all i can say is, be aware. be aware of what you buy. recycle goods if you can. and buy SUSTAINABLE furniture that will last you decades as opposed to a few years. just reduce in general. as many people will point out, you will be happier in the long run, your head will be clearer, and you have more time to spend.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh do I know this is so true!!! I loved having a huge house at first, now that the boys don't give a crap about picking up after themselves, I hate it. I'm always the one to clean as you say the four bedroom, three bath, full kitchen, living room, formal living, and dinning room. I would much rather have half the size house and half the cleaning to do. Now i have all this crap that I wouldn't of had before we moved into this huge house. It sucks dude, you are correct all the way!!!