Reflection: Bigger Isn’t Always Better

I would like to mention that if we are talking about ice cream sundaes, bigger is most definitely better (in my opinion)!  However, today, I am going to talk about the size of our home.

Back before Todd and I were married, I owned an 1100 sq ft home in the city.  At the time, I thought the home was perfect and I couldn’t see myself ever moving away.  It was the perfect size for me as a single woman, with just one room that wasn’t used (the spare bedroom).  It had a decent sized back yard and a front porch that I loved sitting on in the evenings and weekends reading a book or just watching the neighborhood kids run and play.

Then Todd moved in. Todd moved in with the contents of his 1400+ sq ft home along with my belongings.  We made it work, even though the basement was full with a lot of his “stuff.”  In hindsight, this 1100 sq ft house was the perfect size for us as a couple.  While engaged, I dreamed of starting a family and living on a nice piece of property with a large garden and some animals, so I started looking for homes with a little bit of land (more than a quarter acre).

I found one in our price range (very inexpensive) with a half acre out in a town I had never heard of.  Todd scheduled an appointment with the realtor of the home and went to go take a look while I was at work the next day.  Todd, being the visionary man that he is, was able to look past the flaws of the home and saw what the home could one day be with hard work, sweat and tears.  He called me and said he liked it and thought we should put an offer in on the house.  The realtor put in the offer, and we were informed that the house had just been sent to auction the day before, that we would have to bid for it online.  We did just that.

We ended up getting the home for less than what we were going to offer for it.  But I am getting off-topic.

Back in the day, I dreamed of a larger house for Todd and me, and the pitter-patter of little feet we were hoping to have.  Today, I sit in one of the 4 rooms we use most often and think about how bigger is not always better.

We have an additional 750 sq ft than we had in the house in the city.  Now, instead of just one room going unused, we have 4.  Oh, and did I mention how much I dislike cleaning?  This is 750 more sq ft that has to be cleaned every once in a while. J  It costs us more in utilities to heat and cool this home and the upkeep runs poor Todd ragged most of the year.  We have one acre of land and use about a half of it for animals and gardens. 

I do not regret buying this home and I still pray that one day we will hear the pitter patter of little feet running through the halls (no mom, this isn’t an announcement).  I love our little town and how peaceful it is (most of the time) in our little area of the world.  I even dream of starting our own business and using the rest of the land to its full potential.  Until then, I am working to control my mentality that bigger (and more) is better in all aspects of my life…except for when it comes to ice cream.