Happy New Year

In the midst of the holiday rushing and celebrating while simultaneously watching horrors unfolding on the other side of the world through our phones, I’ve found it hard to find the right words. There are no “right words” as our lives carry on while others end. Yet we keep carrying on to make magic for our kids even when it is unfair. So what I wanted to say is that, I hope you didn’t take on more than you could manage this holiday season. That you received and gave just the right amount of thoughtful, beautiful and useful gifts. That you had time with loved ones. That your small space was filled to the brim with too many people with plates on their laps and drinks spilling over and pillows for floor seats. I hope you found moments of calm and joy. I hope you remembered that it’s not the size of your home or your table but your company that matters most.

Looking to the New Year

I’ve been having this feeling that the ease of living in 900 square feet as a family of four means I have less insights to share. Living in 600 square feet as a family of 4 required constant effort and problem solving in our space that felt easy to share often. Whereas vigilance and systems in this bigger space can be more lax. But I realized recently, or more accurately remembered, that the reason living in our larger (yet still small home) is easeful is because we live in it with all the lessons learned living in a our one bedroom 600 square foot apartment. We created habits and ways of living that have made our two bedroom apartment feel like more than enough space. And while these habits have become second nature to us, it doesn’t mean it’s not worth sharing and re-stating.

We don’t need bigger spaces! We need less stuff.

Recently, I was listening to a couple episodes of a favourite podcast "I Will Teach You To Be Rich” by Ramit Sethi (episodes 135, 136, 137) and noticed both families/couples mentioning that they had to move into a bigger house to accommodate kids. One couple said their 1200 square foot home could never have a baby in it. And another couple said they needed a home with a bedroom for every kid and a finished basement. Some of these couples were paying for these homes way above their means and fighting about money. I wanted to yell at the podcast (that has obviously been pre-recorded), YOU DON’T NEED A TON OF SPACE TO HAVE KIDS!!! YOU JUST NEED LESS STUFF!!! My desire to yell at a podcast or somehow track down these strangers’ information so I could send them an encouraging email that it is indeed possible to have a good life in a small space and your small space can be beautiful too made me remember I do have somewhere to shout into the depths of the internet. And that while our current space is not extremely small it is still smaller than the North American dream home and still a space that most people don’t think they can live in comfortably. As my single neighbor said to me the other day, “you live a complicated life Alison” when I was explaining how we all fit in our space quite well, ha.

Many things change but our spaces can still be our safe place to land

Families can thrive in small spaces as long as they limit their belongings to the essentials. It can be comfortable and even freeing. I remember when I started this site one of my main goals for living small was to be able to travel more. Well, a pandemic and rising costs of living has made travel less achievable for us at the moment but it’s funny how even removing travel from the list of reasons we live small doesn’t make our small home less appealing. As inflation rises and grocery costs rise and the world feels heavy, I feel safer knowing that we don’t have much space or possessions to worry about. And I also know we would be fine back in a one bedroom apartment again.

Anyway those are my new year ramblings, along with….

Small spaces can be beautiful and enough!

Families can thrive in them!

Fewer Better Things!

Minimalism doesn’t mean you can’t treat yourself sometimes!

Use the nice cups and dishes and candles!

Host your friends even if you don’t have enough seats! or plates!

HNY friends.