The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Share Your Badassity => Topic started by: catalana on September 19, 2012, 06:26:49 AM
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OMG! I cannot believe it is actually happening, and I am putting my money and my arse where my mouth is.
We rent, and had been renting a lovely detached 4 bedroom / 3 bathroom home in a nice area for £1,100 a month. That was actually a bargain, and still allowed us to save about 40% of take home pay.
However at the start of October we move to a smaller 3 bed semi for £850 per month. Yep, some of our furniture will not fit and we have to share one bathroom, but I am bloody doing it! Not sure how it will all go, but it is a closer match to what we had decided to buy when we can find an appropriate house and we will save an extra £250 per month :)
I have to admit to moments of feeling like this is insane, because we earn nearly £90k per annum between us. A swift punch in the face (or a bad day at work) puts it back into perspective!
Now..... all I have to do is make myself cycle to work every day. Last house was 1.5 miles from work so I mostly walk, and this one is 3.6. Very cycle-able, right? In the meantime please forgive me if I catch the bus ..... baby steps here.
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Great job! I firmly believe a lot of people could find a lot of savings in that part of their lives, people spend way too much on houses bigger than you would ever need. No reason to feel insane, my household income is a little over $100K and rent only $815/month (dollar not the same as quid, but ratios work out), and I probably live in a much smaller apartment than you (it is only one bedroom). My hope is to have a mortgage payment even smaller than that!
3.6 miles is very-cyclable, should only take you 20 minutes or so, barely enough time to break a sweat. I hope you have luck in finding a new place and my only other suggestion, try to avoid putting your arse where your mouth is ; )
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I have to admit to moments of feeling like this is insane, because we earn nearly £90k per annum between us. A swift punch in the face (or a bad day at work) puts it back into perspective!
It is not insane. In fact, it is the opposite - you are adding more sanity to your life. Good work!
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Awesome! I like smaller living spaces. Less to clean and maintain :)
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Awesome! I like smaller living spaces. Less to clean and maintain :)
Totally. I can barely keep up with 950sqft, no basement, never mind 2000sqft with a basement that my friends have! ;)
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Now..... all I have to do is make myself cycle to work every day. Last house was 1.5 miles from work so I mostly walk, and this one is 3.6. Very cycle-able, right? In the meantime please forgive me if I catch the bus ..... baby steps here.
Should be a nice 15 minute cycle. Probably faster than the bus (by the time you walk to the bus stop, wait, get off, walk to the office etc etc).
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Good on you, I need to downsize my house too, but am still not decided exactly what to do, so I say good on you, go for it.
Re the cycling: very bikable. I'm a short dumpy (30kg overweight) non-athletic female in her 50s. Even I can bike that far with not much training, provided it is not hilly. It would probably take me a bit longer than the times quoted.
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Somewhat misleading title, though: I was expecting a story about how you'd chopped off a room or two :-)
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Thanks all for your encouragement folks. I have been looking at possible bike routes, and I think I can figure out something not too scary after getting past a double roundabout that frightens me even in the car.
I will have to learn how to cycle the hill though! There is a fairly short 200ft drop down to work at the end of the journey. Luckily it is the best way around - downhill to work, uphill to home :) It is something like a 30% gradient in places - I reckon I might be pushing my bike up it at the start.
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Catalana, for a previous job I used to bike to work everyday - it was cheaper than the bus, AND faster than the bus (as gooki said, by the time I walked to and from the bus stop, etc). Like your route, mine headed downhill on the way in to work, but on the way home I had to go up some pretty steep hills. I walked them at first, and pretty quickly got to where I could ride the shorter/less steep ones, but one of them (long and steep) I always just rode partway up and then walked the rest of the way. I could have pushed myself to ride it but ... shrug ... I wasn't in a hurry at that point, so didn't see the need. It was pretty cool that I did the ride every day, rain or shine. So what if I walked part of the way up one steep hill?
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A little jealous here! I would love to downsize, and I could easily find a house (that I would be happy with) to buy for probably about $250-$350 a month less. Main problem, I think I would have to pay at least $10,000 if I sold to get out of this house. So maybe in 2014 when my son is ready to fly the coop.
Heidi
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There's no shame in getting off your bike to walk up a hill. I still do it on occasion, as I'm simply not used to hills any more (98% of my cycling is on the flats).
But if it's part of your regular commute, and you give cycling up it a go every day you'll conquer it in no time.
PS if you don't already cycle, give it two weeks for your ass to adjust, and I predict it'll only take 1 to 2 months before you'll be cycling all the way up that hill.
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This is a great thread and thanks for posting. I am so sick and tired of hearing about people moving to larger houses because they have "outgrown" their current one. My current neighbors have the same two kids they have had for eight years. Nothing else has changed, and yet they are "moving on up" to a larger home, farther from work due to this flimsy excuse. It's good to see people with the good sense to do the opposite.
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WOW ....... well it is a bit of a shock to the system being in the new house. WE HAVE SO MUCH SHIT!
Seriously, we can barely move thanks to the junk we have hauled across the city. Who knew we had so many books? It doesn't help that the new house doesn't have a single storage cupboard (we've already filled the garage). We have 1 wardrobe and a hanging rail between us so there are clothes everywhere.
There isn't even a cupboard I can put the vacuum in - it now lives in the middle of the kitchen.
And the shame.... but I have driven to work the last couple of days. [That's not really sharing my badassity is it?] Baby steps - I will aim for the bus/metro tomorrow.
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Time to start selling and donating! If you don't love it and if it's not useful, then why do you have it? (And if the answer is "Sentimental value," then you need to find somewhere to showcase this item and not keep it in the box.) I have a small old house and there isn't much storage. You start to look at things you bring into your house differently. Everything we bring in either has to be awesome or dual use.
My goal was one box/bag a week get out of the house. It can be done, one bag at a time!!!
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What a great (forced) opportunity to declutter! I always like scenarios where I have no choice but to do something a bit better or that is good for me (ie. a job where I have to exercise would work for me :).
I've been working on decluttering and my big test is whether I'm willing to move stuff. Having just moved, picture yourself packing up everything and doing it again. What can you live without? Take pictures of sentimental things. I understand the attachment to books but honestly, except for cookbooks, I don't reread books and they are all in the library. I took all my books to the second hand bookstore and got credit and donated the rest. I keep recyclying and reducing them this way.
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I like the way you think Totoro! I have donated nearly every book I own, except a few references that get reread alot. Our local library has plenty to read.
We have also recently started to plan for downsizing. I'm with you guys on that one! I don't want to clean extra rooms that we never use. While our current house isn't large by any means, we could live with smaller. Plus, the extra cost of heating/cooling is a drain on savings.
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Congratulations! I've always loved in small spaces. My friend in Tokyo said his place is small very single time he buys something new he has to get rid of something else.
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Have you started cycling yet? I found it hard at first, especially since my route to work is mostly uphill. I usually have a glow when I get there though.
Really, it didn't take long before I didn't have to walk up any hills. I hope you are finding the same.
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Don't feel insane at all! Our family makes over $150K annually, and our rent is $675/month. AND we still feel like we have more space then we really need!
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I'm doing this soon. :o)
The thought had been occurring to me repeatedly over the past year, that I really didn't need a single "family" house just for me. Also, the house needs some investments to replace old roofing and siding, I can't expense that on my taxes if I "spend it on myself". So I'm downsizing to a 650 sq ft apartment and will convert the house to a rental.
The mortgage on the house is really not that bad, around $1250. Market rent will easily support that in my area and tenants can pay that for me.
After the house is fixed and rented, I should collect about $450 to $500 a month in additional cash flow versus my rent in the apartment. I'd rather have that, than extra "space" that should be furnished, or the utility bills that come from heating/cooling that much space. :-p
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good on you! hope you're settling in well.
i currently am in a bedsit-type situation, shared kitchen, own bathroom + lounge. find i have plenty enough cleaning to do so am definitely going to try keep all future homes as small as possible!
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I'd really like to reduce the amount of *stuff* in our house. However, have to keep with in the WAF* - it's a challenge, also due to my own packrat tendencies.
*Wife Acceptance Factor.
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WOW ....... well it is a bit of a shock to the system being in the new house. WE HAVE SO MUCH SHIT!
Amen! My now husband and I live in an ~300 sqft studio now and got rid of a lot of stuff we did not use when we first made the move to live together. We are upsizing in the near future and are hoping for 500 sqft or more so we can have a proper kitchen and both have desks. We will soon be making $200k between the two of us and be spending about $1k a month on housing.
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My wife and I are really looking forward to downsizing and moving into town and closer to work. Congrats on the move and more importantly for putting ideas into action!
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Another fan of small living space here :)