5 Reasons to be Happy Living in a Small House




During the first weeks of our marriage my husband and I had to live in a small apartment near Cubao as we waited for the turnover of our unit. The apartment was a very small room with one toilet and bath. We had a few pieces of furniture (mostly are foldable) and though living space was limited, it was filled with great memories. When we moved to our condo unit it was a breath of fresh air. It was at least three times bigger than our old apartment. But as our family grew, our belongings increased through the years. This and the additional three kids in the home now makes our house smaller than it is. Well, our unit is already small - it became smaller. A few days ago - because of YouTube - I started to browse videos of houses. As wonderful as those houses are, I began to see the benefits of living in a small house.

Don't get me wrong, I still dream of a bigger house for my family. Perhaps a room intended for homeschooling or a small office, kids in their own bedrooms, and a mini garden. But as I view more videos of these houses (which I think some of those bedrooms are bigger than our whole house!), I realized that our current house has its own reasons why we are happily living in it. We may not yet be able to afford a bigger house today, but for now let me share with you why we are happy living in a small house.


More Energy Efficient

There was a post on Facebook a few weeks ago where moms were sharing how big their electric bills were and I can't help but feel gratitude that ours are not as high as theirs. Living in a small house meant we only need a few lighting fixtures, 1-3 electric fans, and our air-conditioning can efficiently make our room cold with less electricity used. This summer our biggest Meralco bill was just Php 3,100.


Less Time Spent Cleaning

We do not have a helper and I have three young kids to homeschool and play with, plus I have an online job. With a small house, I don't have to worry that I'd be spending the whole day cleaning the whole house. I can sweep the living and dining area in less than five minutes. If we do general cleaning, we do it by area and won't be spending more than 2 hours (the moving and decorating plus nangungulit na mga anak na madaming hinihingi sayo makes the cleaning time lengthy).



Peace of Mind

They say that silence is golden, unless you have a toddler. Then silence is suspicious.

One of the fears of moms with toddlers is that their child might get hurt or do something ridiculous like pouring powder on the floor (which my youngest did earlier today). With a smaller house, you do not have to wonder what your small kid is doing in the living room while you are preparing dinner because you can clearly see what he is doing. Even if he is in the bedroom, it would be easier to ask one of your older child to stand beside the bedroom door and check on his sibling while he is still watching TV at the living area.

It is easier for me to watch over my kids with everything they do in a smaller house. I don't have to shout to call their names because they very much hear me because our area is so small.


Encourages Closeness in the Family

I told my son while we were watching one of the videos of a house on YouTube that I would not want a TV inside the bedrooms. I prefer to have just one television in the entire house so that we can still bond together as a family (we like doing movie nights). If there were TVs in the bedrooms, we would just probably stay in our rooms and do our own things instead of going to the couch and talk about life. A bigger house might mean we won't see each other more often than we are used to in a small house.

In a small house, we can easily invite our kids for a talk or game. They can easily see what we are doing inside the house and this can encourage them to ask about our work/chores and learn about them. If I feel like cuddling with one of my kids, I can easily walk a few steps and hug them from where I am.

Masikip nga, pero close naman kami. 


Simple Living

Living in a small house encourages us to live simply. We have less temptations to buy stuffs and accumulate them in our already crowded and cluttered space. Also, we are encouraged to check our stuffs every few months to see if they still "spark joy" in our lives.

Less spending on items we don't need. Encourages detaching oneself from material things by giving out some of our items for charity. And we can also sell some of the items we no longer need.



For now I will still view a few house videos and visualize what would be the perfect home for my family in the next years. They say that when you visualize and affirm your dreams, they can come true.

What is your dream home for your family?





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