benjenn

Since downsizing and moving to a condo downtown, we're definitely living with less. We have less things... less stuff. I would say less clutter but that wouldn't be true. We've never had clutter. It's just not in our nature. In fact, we've always considered ourselves to be minimalists. Right up until we realized how much stuff we had hidden in the amazing amount of storage space our house had... we had stuff, you just couldn't see it. We'd been kidding ourselves and didn't even realize it.

Like in the garage...



Just look at all those bins... 16 of them in all. Yes, they were labeled and everything in them was carefully sorted so it was very organized but still, it was a lot of stuff. We have room in the one car garage we have now - enough for the couple of bins of Christmas decorations and the bikes (not the one pictured above, that belonged to heathen son). But no room for bins and the stuff inside them. So we got rid of all that.

And we do have a storage closet on our little patio. But you know what? It's not overflowing... we've got plenty of room to add to it. But will we? I don't think so. I think we're liking this "less stuff" mode we're in now. It feels pretty good.



And we've got less space, that's for sure. But how much space do two people really need? Our 1,200 sf in the condo is laid out amazingly well. We've had friends who've come to visit say it's much more spacious than they expected. They were picturing it to be small... confining. But it's not. For one thing, we have really big windows that open things up. Tall ceilings, too. Nope, nothing confining here.



Now granted, the kitchen isn't wide enough for two (or more) people to easily be working in it at the same time. Guess that makes me lucky that sweet hubby doesn't cook, huh? I warn him occasionally there's an imaginary line at the entrance to the kitchen while I'm in there working and he's not to cross that line. I will, of course, make an exception to that rule when he's pouring me a glass of wine. Priorities, you know.



We've got plenty of room in the bedroom and the master bath. No worries there. We can both easily be in the closet at the same time, too, which is nice. We rarely go into the second bedroom but it sits ready for heathen children or any visitors that might happen along. We even have 6 drawers sitting empty in that dresser that we could be using... if only we had more stuff.



So yes, we are definitely living with less stuff and with less space. But you know what? We're living with less in other ways, too. We're living with way less responsibility and stress. Not nearly as much effort to take care of a 1,200 sf condo versus a 2,500 sf home. And we spend way less time on things like cleaning. With half as much space it seems like we'd spend half as much time but I actually think it's less than that.

Oddly, in many ways, we're living with way MORE. We have way more time to do things we want to do because we're not so busy doing the things we felt we had to do. We've spent more time together having fun in the last four weekends (since the move was finished) than we have in ages. We've been here just over a month now but it seems we're going to have more money, too, because we're not pouring it into the house. All that means more freedom, too!

And, surprisingly, at least to us, we have way more sense of a community... because we're finding that people who live downtown are way more welcoming and friendly than neighbors we've had in most of the suburban neighborhoods we've lived in. We run into and interact with people in the building, at the elevator, getting mail... we no longer turn into the driveway, open the garage door, pull in and close it behind us, separating ourselves from any other humans nearby.

Best of all, we're finding that with all the "less" we're living with, as well as all the "more" we're living with, there is a tremendous sense of peace that's settling in. We both still love our challenging jobs, but it's really nice to come home and not feel so challenged and stressed. It's nice to not feel like we need more.

Yep, we're okay living with less. A life well-lived, after all, shouldn't be so much about what you have but who you are, right?