7 Reasons Why We Downsized in 2021

In early 2021 we downsized to about HALF of that square footage for many reasons.

Our old house rang in at just under 3,000 square feet. The extra space was nice… but ultimately our old home didn’t match our values of minimalism and sustainability.

And considering my journey with minimalism started in 2013, it obviously hasn’t been a perfect path since then—so it was time for us to re-evaluate our situation!

Watch the video below to hear why we downsized our house in 2021.

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1. Too Much Square Footage

Our old house had too much space. It had just under 3,000 square feet of livable space… and while it felt like we were spoiled or really lucky at times… most other times we felt like it was just a waste. Corners of rooms, or entire rooms in general, would go unused.

2. Duplicate Spaces

Who really needs a formal living room and a family room? Who really needs a formal dining room and an everyday dining area?

The duplicate spaces annoyed me because it was just duplication. We rarely used the formal dining room at all… and with the living spaces, we were always in the same area anyway.

It’s a good thing we just decluttered our kids’ toys, too, because then most of their toys can go into the main living room now.

3. Smaller Carbon Footprint

With less square footage to heat and cool (and clean, for that matter), we will save on utilities and ultimately our family will have a smaller carbon footprint. Win win.

4. Walkability to Town

This is mostly our dream house because we’re within walking distance to the center of town, so we can easily walk to Trader Joe’s, the library, the elementary school, playgrounds, the post office, etc.

5. Outdoor Space

With half an acre now, we will have tons of space to enjoy outside. We’re also lucky enough to have a small creek running through our property.

We’ll be able to create a compost pit, a garden, and the boys will have tons of flat area to run around.

6. No HOA (Home Owner’s Association)

The HOA in our last place was a bummer because we couldn’t really do anything to the house on the outside without asking first. Now we’ll be able to make this house our own with paint colors of our choice, plants and bushes and trees, and additions later on.

7. Togetherness

What this smaller space will ultimately do is promote togetherness. I know that’s super cringe, but this matters to me a lot. Even if we’re all doing different things, we can all be in the larger living area together where the dining area and living room is, and do our activities alone while still having the company of one another.

And because of the configuration of the house, this one larger living area will allow for gatherings once it is safe to do so.

Click to Read Video Transcript

• In this video, I'm going to be going into the seven reasons why we downsized in 2021.
• Hey everyone, I'm Jenn Palandro. Hello Brio is a community of conscious creatives. And if that sounds like you make sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel to be notified of new, weekly videos about intentional living. And I know asking you to like, and subscribe and comment and all the things can be really annoying. But what that does is it lets YouTube know that you liked the video so that it can show it to other people who might find the video helpful. So I hope that explains a little bit as to why I ask you to like and subscribe each week.
• So between the old house and the new house, the payment was roughly the same and it really wasn't about the money. What we realized is that we needed to change so that we could find a house and live in a house that matched our values.
• Number one, the square footage was too much when it comes down to it. When you account for the finished basement, I think our old house was nearing 3,000 square feet. And that is way too much for family of four if you ask me. Our new house comes in at about 1,400 to 1,700 square feet, I'm not really sure. But it's about half of what we had before. The deal with the old house is that there was just too much unused space, whether it's corners of a room, rooms entirely, or what have you.
• And to go along with that, number two was the duplicate spaces. So in our old house, we had two dining rooms and two family areas. The family area issue was that we had a big sitting room upstairs in the main level. And then in the basement, we had a TV room with another couch, but really whenever one person was in one area, the whole family followed that one person. So whether we were all sitting around watching TV or all sitting around, playing in the family room upstairs, we were always together. And I know that'll change as our family gets older because right now our two boys are under five. But really what that means to us is that we can all be together and I'll go into that a little bit more at the end. But the other thing was the dining area. We had one dining area in the kitchen that we used every day for every meal. And the other dining area was the formal dining area that we only really used once a year, whatever we had a family gathering. So it was pretty much a new space.
• The third reason we downsized is to lower our carbon footprint. And what that means is because we have less square feet to heat and cool, we're going to be having a lower energy bill and therefore having a lower carbon impact.
• Number four was the walkability of the town. So to piggyback off of the last reason, because we'll be able to walk into town to go to the grocery store, go to the library, go to school, go to the playgrounds, et cetera, we're going to be using our car a lot less, which is really appealing to us.
• The fifth reason we downsized was for the outside time in our old house were in a townhouse. And while we were really lucky to have a corner unit with more outside space than the average townhouse in that community, we still didn't really go outside because it wasn't really our space to have people would walk through it all the time. It was considered public space and we just didn't spend a whole lot of time outside because it wasn't really appealing to us. So with this new house, because it's on a private spot of land, we have the whole yard to play with and we have even a Creek running through the arch, which we're really lucky to have. So the whole family can enjoy the outdoor time and we'll be able to do a compost pit, a garden, and other things that we might want to do outside.
• The sixth reason we downsized is so that we can make this house our own. The neighborhood is really great and quiet and we'll be able to do whatever we want to the outside of the house without having to worry about homeowner's association restrictions.
• And the seventh reason we downsized is the super cheesiest reason, but it really comes down to togetherness. In having a smaller space, even if we're all doing something else, we'll still be in the same area, which will really promote togetherness, which I believe is a solid foundation to a strong and healthy family and children.
• I hope this video might've helped you see that downsizing can be a really positive thing and that it might be the right choice for your family. I'd love to know what you think in the comments below… and because we will be moving tomorrow, you know, if you want to see a house tour in a couple of weeks, let me know, too. I'll see you next week.

I hope this video and post helped you see that downsizing might be a good option for you and your family. We can’t wait to move into our new (forever?) home! Do you think you might want to downsize, too? Comment below.

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