Once Upon a Time, This Large House Was Our Crown Jewel — But We've Changed

We bought our house seven years ago. And since the sellers were desperate to move and willing to take a giant loss, we got the place for a great deal.

The house is large, nearly 3,800 square feet and at the time, we thought we had hit the lottery. The place is spacious with large ceilings and hardwood floors.

It's in a great neighborhood and there was just something great about moving into a huge, beautiful home that made us feel like the Jeffersons. You know, that we were moving on up. In this case, not into a castle in the sky but a castle on a hill overlooking a well-manicured landscape with an inground sprinkler system.

That was all well and good for who we were then. Because as hard as it is to admit, we were kind of materialistic back then. It's ugly but it's the truth. We had a brand new car and nice clothes and expensive stuff.

Thing is, we've changed over the years. We've learned that none of that matters and now, instead of making us feel good and secure, all our stuff just sort of looms over us, like a cloud.

We're not those people anymore. Seven years have changed us. We're now the kind of people who prefers to have the windows open instead of running the AC. We line-dry our clothes in lieu of using the dryer. We trade things on freecyle.org and overall live a life where we consume less and conserve more. 

For goodness sake, we cut off our trash service and take our own garbage to the dump. Mainly because since we have started composting and recyling, we don't have much garbage, but also because we are trying to cut out anything unnecessary. Incidentally, doing that turned out to be a great invesment because my husband has found three next-to-brand-new computers that he has rebuilt and given to people who need them. How great is that?

We're not perfect but we've definitely changed — and this giant house? Well I'm kind of starting to hate it. It takes too long to clean. I feel like I spend too much time upkeeping my house and not enough time just enjoying life. 

Plus, it's kind of gaudy. I'm kind of embarassed to invite people over because I'm not this person. It used to make me proud to have a nice house and now it just makes me feel ashamed.

For Christmas, we decorated it with lights and a friend of mine jokingly asked me where was my moat and shining turret? Because for real, the place is just too big.

I'm having fantasies of buying a much smaller house. One that provides privacy from the prying eyes of neighbors who I totally love but who know WAY too much about us simply because of our proximity to each other.  One that has less inner space and more outdoor space where I can plant an abundance of fruit trees and build a giant garden.

Who cares if my kids have to share a room? In my opinion, they need more time together and less time apart. Families were so much closer when they shared close quarters and I can't help but think that the separation of the family unit into individual rooms and spacious houses has contributed to the division within the family. After all, if you physically divide, you also emotionally divide.

I suppose I'm finally growing up and learning that quality is so much better than quantity. I want to sell 70 percent of what we have and live a life of simplicity. ] I want to support charitable organizations more and chain stores less.

I would rather my children have less stuff and more experiences. I want them to have less interaction with technology and more interaction with people.

This might be a tough sell for my family but I think it would be totally worth it.  What about you? Do you ever feel the need to downsize your life?