Monday, February 20, 2012

Downsized

I realized I never put our update in of our new adventure we took. We sold our home back in November 2011 and have been living in our "starter home" that we have owned and has been a rental for the past few years for us. Before we moved we were really confused to where we needed to move to and within one week we had our renters announce they were moving and second, that a potential job offer was stirring up and we were pointed in to where in AZ we needed to move to.

We were first hesitant to move to the home we now live in because of it's size. For a family of 5, fitting into a 1128 square foot house with a small backyard didn't seem ideal, but funny how things work out WE LOVE IT!

What I love about downsizing...
1. I love that I have everyone in earshot of me and that I can hear my kids at night and that they are so close by.

2. I actually enjoy my smaller kitchen. It seems more functional how it's designed and that I am down to the basics with supplies and cookware.

3. Of course, cleaning! We had 4 bathrooms previously and it's nice to just take care of 2 now. In our old house I would attempt to lock some of the bathrooms just to keep one bathroom clean in case for guests. I catch myself in disbelief when I finish cleaning so quickly and then I'm done!

4. Yard work. We now have a small yard. No pool, only 2 plants to take care, no HOA. Love it! My time is freed up and I don't feel anxiety when I have weeds popping up and I have to walk my yard weekly for fear of the HOA hunting us down, or I can put my garbage out at noon instead of waiting past 5pm.

5. Bills! Smaller bills! No HOA fees, lower taxes in Phoenix, smaller electricity bill because of reduced square footage and not running a pool pump. Ahhh.

6. When we moved we had a few garage sales. At first it was hard to let things go, but then it is a big relief to reduce the amount of STUFF we had! We realized or stuff was just looking pretty, tucked away hidden for years never to be used. I probably have potential to be a hoarder, but my husband always talks sense into me and I'm picking up on his minimalist preferences and it works. Reducing stuff helps reduce the clutter in your mind.

7. Cooling down the house! In our old house I gave in a lot to turning on the A/C because of how our house was designed it was hard to get the outside air to come in and get a breeze in there. I can cross-ventilate more easily and the house can cool down in a matter of minutes.

What I love about living "In Town"
1. Libraries are everywhere! I have a choice of 3 libraries in a 5 mile radius. I have a choice of different story times available to me for 6 days of the week. I don't need to do an interlibrary loan and only have it for 2 weeks, I can order a book and have it sent to which location I want and actually renew those books.

2. Rec Centers. Again, 2 recreation centers in a 5 mile radius. I love to have choices!

3. Parks! Plenty of parks and they are lit at night!

What I miss about being in Buckeye :(
1. I miss the people. The people is what made Buckeye awesome. I love how you really got the sense of a family away from family. Everyone teamed up and worked together.

2. Being out there trained you to be prepared and work with what you got. If you had to go "into town" for a doctor's appointment, your trip out there would not be wasted. You would plan that day and the places you would go around that doctor's appointment. Your trips seemed planned out and the car was packed with food, extra clothing, water to support whatever errands you needed to do.

3. Since stuff was limited out there, the people really came together to work with what you had. Not many parks, so playdates were 20 mom's showing up. Library time, you got to know all of the mom's that attended and then you start seeing them through town. I felt like us mom's got pretty creative with our resources!

4. In phoenix if someone honks at you, you are usually ready to give them the bird, In Buckeye, it's because they know you and you wave. Miss that!

5. It was quiet out there. I could run anywhere and can get in my zone because it isn't congested with traffic.

6. You can see so many stars and constellations out there. Beautiful. I remember that really stuck out to us when we first moved out there.

7. Close to Cali and Mexico!

8. Bigger homes! Of course what brought us out there were big homes for small prices!