We have passed around the thought of building a smaller home on the land but I’m more determined than ever to go small. This is probably for a few reasons:
- I don’t want to be in debt. The smaller the home the more likely we’ll be able to kiss the banks goodbye
- I don’t think we’ll have the time it takes to maintain a mansion. At least I won’t have the energy to clean 4 bathrooms. And we are probably too poor (and practical to hire a maid). (Side story-we have some really good friends that have a maid and the husband is always complaining that he has to clean up more now because they have to get ready for the maid to come. It would be too embarrasing to have the maid see what slobs they are so they clean up before she comes. Go figure.)
- I want my kids to grow up in a modest home. I think it adds character to not live in a mansion
- The smaller the house the less it costs for utilities, maintenance, etc.
- I can have a much nicer home if it’s smaller. I like well built, hand crafted places. It’s like going to chuck-a-rama versus Ruth’s Chris. I’d way rather have nice versus bulk.
So what is a small home? We’ve looked at Tumbleweed Tiny Houses. That’s really small. I like the idea of making really nice looking homes (and Jay does a really good job of that) but 89 square feet seems drastic.
We have been doodling out floor plans and have kind of settled on around a 600 square foot base. We’ll probably add a sloped second floor for bedrooms and an unfinished basement. So not too small. 1200 sq. ft. of living area and another 600 sq. ft. for the kids to beat each other up in.
We are hoping to do a lot of it ourselves which will be rather interesting as I have no handyman skills at all. Thus another reason to make it small. I’d rather mess up a small amount rather than a gazillion.
