minimalist life with family in a big house 2018

How to have the Best Minimalist Life with Family in a Big House 2018.

Interesting title right! I was thinking about a subject that was close to home because we do own a sizeable house, not too big and not too small but what about the Lifestyle, indoor living, spending habits around certain renovations, upgrades, key elements to consider for the futur… Those are all the little questions we had in mind and let’s see what they are and how to make the best possible choices.

Minimalist in a Big House?

There is a super trend going around to be a minimalist but do we know the meaning of being a minimalist,the fundamentals, why we decide to become one and what about your family, your kids, your community, the car that you drive, where do you eat and so much more.

It is so easy to say, we are minimalist! We stay in a small appartment,drive a regular car but your expense are just too crazy to talk about. There is always two side to the medal and i decided to be on the right side, is it the perfect choice? Of course not, we all have our own situations and challenges.

More families are realising that the size of your house doesn’t declare you as a minimalist but more as your kingdom for yourself and your family. All of us are working really hard to have a roof over our heads, make it our own and in another avenue we need to think about the mortgage, the interest rate, the repairs,taxes… So it is a good thing to see the benefits of becoming a minimalist in a way that will help us save more, have less stress and be more happy.

Smaller Home Minimalist.

I have seen some good examples of peoples having the smaller house on the block and be the poorest on the street and you just drive 5 min away,you get to see those big houses and there is one in the lot that is already paid. It all goes around the choices that we make… At the beginning of our shopping spree for a house, i had in mind to buy a small house in a certain neighborhood but oooh boy all the houses were listed at a crazy price.

We took in consideration to buy a condo prior to focus our direction on a house. When you have all the numbers on paper it was making sense for us: Mortgage, school taxes, city taxes, water taxes,condo fees ( a lot). The grand total was too close to a house mortgage for us, we decided to go for the small house.

Until one morning i receive a call from my realtor: ” I have a great deal for you but you need to see the house by tomorrow and have a offer ready by tomorrow!” Guess what? The price was perfect, the house was a little big but we said why not, was in the right area, so we made a offer and got accepted in 24 hours!

There is nothing wrong to own the house that you want to have and called yourself a minimalist but be ready to get to work. Leave with less to have more in your pockets.

Minimalist expenses…

Expenses are the root of our wallet , you will always have them but there is a way to control them so you have less expenses or i must say you know exactly what to expect.

Have two bank accounts to help you save 10% of your income
Emergency fund available
Shop for a diferent cable company to save
Combine your car and mortgage insurance
Bring more often your lunch
Bad debts, speak with your banker to find a solution
Have a alert on your phone when gaz price are dropping
Any purchases should be made on off season
Learning about little car maintenance to save (oil change, oil filter)
Going on Vacations, consider a close location and early booking

Lesson learn =Minimalist is good

We practice what we think is good for us and you should do the same for yourself, the proper way to go around it, is to take the right decisions the first if that’s not the case, reverse it and start over. There is nothing wrong with someone that got a Big house for the last 10 years and one day decide to downsize the house because it is too big for the need.

This is the proper approach to take, i think we are sometime affraid to take hard decision but we know at the end this is the right thing to do. Your kids are in a private school? Why not try for a year if they could go to a public school instead! Hard decision but good benefits. Having a luxury car is good when your abble to pay for it and maintain the metal that comes with it but when it’s a burdain, shove it and drive another car maker that respond to your needs and not your tastes.

Get what you need and not what you want!

This is a lesson for us and we are practicing this new way of thinking whenever we have to buy something, groceries shopping, travelling and more… It is not a question of saying because we don’t leave in a condo or a appartment that we cannot call ourselves minimalist but more a question of what do you do to become one and to have the best life.

Stanley

Popular posts on Bag of Cents:

Pin1K

1K Shares