Silent Rant

When I was 22, I decided I wanted to retire by 45. Imagine my excitement when I came across an article by that very title on one of my favorite web sites at the time. It was on Motley Fool, a fantastic resource for financial self-education. Luckily that article is still available.

The author writes about his friend, who is thinking of retiring at 45. It takes the author a while to figure out how his friend can manage to pull it off. Eventually he discovers it:

Psssst, it’s their house. It’s all about the house.

Here’s a statistic that’s worth reading twice:

According to the National Association of Home Builders, the average new house boasted 983 square feet in 1950, 1,500 in 1970, 2,080 in 1990, and 2,285 in 2000. At the same time, have you noticed families getting any larger? Since 1970, the average occupancy of that average house decreased 16%. We need 50% more space for 16% fewer of us.

So, the simple advice? Stop thinking you need so much space. Chelsey and I lived in a studio apartment for 2.5 years. Then we moved to a 2 bedroom. Now we’re in a 2 bedroom with a finished attic and a finished basement. In my next post I’ll offer one suggestion on how to change that space-hog mindset.

This entry is part of the simple advice series.