Do you love travelling? We certainly do! What about moving house? Well, anyone would love moving into a new place if it’s better and more conveniently located than their current residence, wouldn’t they? But sometimes, life doesn’t quite follow the plans we lay out, often veering off in unexpected directions.
The day you pack and move to a new place isn’t exactly thrilling—it feels quite different from packing a suitcase for a holiday.
When Paul and I began our life in Australia, hopping from one place to another wasn’t part of our plan. I wonder how many people meticulously plan their lives before moving to a new country and then live exactly according to those plans? Our experience was different; we made great friends and found wonderful housemates quite spontaneously, and ended up living with them far longer than we could ever have imagined.
Life is an incredible adventure, filled with unexpected moments that we’ve come to cherish! The unpredictable nature of our experiences meant that our situation shifted with each new challenge that came our way.
The Challenge of Housing
One of the major challenges we faced was related to housing. As we all know, everyone needs a place to sleep and rest. This can range from a simple shelter to a cosy family home. During our first eight years in Australia, we moved five times, always trying to spend less on housing. Sounds a bit mad, right?
In 2013, Paul was the sole breadwinner, and we were categorised as low-income earners, so our budget for housing was quite tight. We weren’t burdened by debt, thankfully, but we also didn’t have much in the way of savings.
After two and a half years of house sharing and as we began to save more and secure better jobs, we wanted to build our own dream home—as many married couples do. Starting with house sharing was a strategic move to help us save for the deposit needed to construct our first home, a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Perth. This seemed like the standard choice and good for future resale value.
We envisioned a life in our dream house with stable jobs, spending weekends with friends or going on holidays, believing this would bring us more joy and happiness.
Reality vs Expectation
However, the reality was a bit different. Our emotional investment in the first home build focused more on creating a beautiful place rather than a ‘home sweet home’ for the two of us.
The construction of a large family home quickly drained the $100,000 we had saved over two years. The stress escalated with the monthly mortgage payments for the house where more than half of the space was unused most of the year. The house was perfect when Paul’s family visited from the UK for three weeks, but what about the other forty-nine weeks?
We’ve met couples without children who are happy living in large suburban homes despite the hefty mortgages. For us, however, it was clear that downsizing was the best choice for multiple reasons.
Making the Decision to Downsize
Deciding to leave a brand-new house for a smaller place was significant. Before making this decision, we reviewed our lifestyle to determine what we truly wanted and needed:
- We don’t plan on having a large family—we are DINKs (Dual Income, No Kids), and our parents won’t be moving to live with us in Australia.
- We spend a limited amount of time at home as we both work full-time.
- The house location wasn’t ideal for Jay, who commutes to work by public transport.
- We aren’t fond of house maintenance or gardening, especially cleaning a huge house!
- We were unhappy about paying an expensive mortgage for a large house where half of the space went unused.
Ultimately, the main reason for downsizing was to improve our lifestyle by reducing our financial burden. If you’re considering downsizing your home, it’s crucial to review how you use your current living space and what you truly need.
Life After Downsizing
Since moving to a smaller apartment in the city, our lifestyle has improved significantly. We enjoy being closer to beautiful places without needing to drive. The apartment may be small, but it’s perfect for the two of us! We’ve discovered many benefits to downsizing that we hadn’t fully anticipated.
Benefits of Downsizing:
- Financial Relief: We reduced our living expenses significantly.
- Less Maintenance: Smaller spaces require less time and money to maintain.
- Better Location: Living in the city means everything is just a walk away.
- Simplified Living: Less space means less clutter and simpler living.
- Increased Happiness: With less stress and more money saved, we’re happier.
Eight years after moving from house sharing to building and owning a large house, and finally to downsizing into an apartment, we’ve found the good size home for us now—a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment with a car park. This apartment is just perfect for us since we use the second bedroom for a home office during the covid.
Lessons Learned from Downsizing
Moving to a smaller space taught us a lot about what we actually need versus what we accumulate. We used to think we lived simply, but downsizing showed us how much unnecessary stuff we had hidden away in closets and cupboards.
From our experience, we continue to strive to live with less. We’ve even considered selling our car, which could save us an additional $500 per month.
Do you have any experiences or tips about downsizing your home? We’d love to hear from you! ?
