The Downsides of Small House Living with a Family
There are so many things that our family has benefitted from after downsizing. However, I’ve decided it’s time to open up and get honest about a few of the downsides of living in a smaller home. If you are considering small house living with a family, these might be a few things you want to consider.
*This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a commission on recommendations at no cost to you.
What other people think
The toughest part about downsizing for us was how much we worried about what other people would think of us.
Even after I shared our whole story on Making Sense of Cents, I wanted to hide under my covers all day and never leave my house again.
When you are going against the conventional way of living, it weirds people out. Plain and simple. Whether you are downsizing your house, living a life without children or coloring your hair purple, someone somewhere will have an opinion.
It took a lot for me to let go of what other people would think about us moving into a smaller house. Then I reminded myself that our journey wasn’t about them at all.
As easy as it may sound, it can be difficult letting go of the opinion of others when it comes to small house living with a family. Just remember to stay true to who you are and stick with your own personal goals. The more you focus on what you want for yourself and your family, the less you will care about what everyone else thinks.
Constant decluttering
Since moving 3 years ago, I don’t think we have stopped decluttering. When you start
The more you adjust to a smaller space, the more you continually adapt to what you need and what you don’t need. For us, we constantly reevaluate our space and our needs and then declutter anything that we feel no longer serves us.
This could be seen as a hassle because it does require more donation drop-offs or selling stuff online but at the end of the day, it’s really more beneficial than it is a burden.
Nowhere to hide presents
Here is the topic that inspired this whole blog post.
We just finished up our oldest daughter’s grad party and because we live in a smaller house, there was nowhere to stash all the food and drinks we collected in the weeks prior.
That meant our master bedroom was full of boxes and water bottles. Yes, we have basement storage, but with 2 dogs in the house, we didn’t want to take any chances.
This same problem occurs before birthdays and Christmas every year.
Living in a simple, small space means there are serious limits on where we can hide gifts.
What has worked so far is keeping everything in it’s Amazon box, hiding it in our closet and yelling at our children any time they even think about opening our closet door. It’s not classy, but it’s effective.
Things feel cluttered quicker
When you have a ton of space, 5 toys, a stack of papers and a few plates tossed on the kitchen counter might not look too terrible. However, when you have a small house and less counter space, things can start to feel cluttered a lot quicker.
That’s why we really try to keep our kitchen counters free of clutter and keep a mostly paperless home.
Even though small house living with a family can make your space feel cluttered more quickly, cleaning up takes half the time.
Less room for company
When you are living in a small house and you have family, chances are you will find yourself with less space for other people.
This can put a real damper on things when family comes into town or someone needs a place to stay. It’s always nice to be able to offer people a cozy, private room instead of say, your couch.
The thing is, if you have a home, you have a place for people to stay.
It might take a little rearranging, but we have always been able to accommodate people who stop by to visit.
It can stink…literally
Depending on the space you have in a small house, smells can get a little…crazy. For us, not having much of an entryway means our wet, snowy shoes and boots get tossed in the front closet. They then slowly go to work to make our front entrance all kinds of stinky.
Another trouble area is our closed off laundry room.
The best thing you can do is to make sure to open windows and get airflow going through your house as often as possible and maybe combat those smells with a few air fresheners.
Pin this!
