Okay, it's time to fill you in on the details of our next move. We shared about the move briefly in this post. This is our 4th property in 4 years....so I know most of you can't really be that surprised. Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we? This was our very first home as a married couple. We built it while engaged and moved in on our wedding day! We knew so little about the industry back then. I was certainly still figuring our my "style." Looking back, I see how much my personal style has changed! Regardless, it was a great home, and we created many special, newlywed memories there. The home was 2000 square feet, in Hudsonville (country living....we had cows and buffalo in the backyard!). We followed that experience with one year in this condo in East Grand Rapids overlooking Reeds Lake. This fixer upper was in our DREAM location (we joke that we will retire in these condos one day). Living on Reeds was lovely. We were incredibly active and social living there, taking full advantage of the neighboring amenities. Over all, it was a great investment, a successful flip. It lead us to our current home, which we found "by accident" (see this post) and quickly fell in love with the mid century architecture and large, wooded double-lot. So, what did you buy?Are you ready to watch us tackle #tinyliving? In the spirit of minimalism, we are moving back to the condo life! And a SMALL condo at that. Apparently, there is some controversy regarding what constitutes a tiny house. I've done my research. Most tiny living enthusiasts (and rather passionate ones at that) say that anything 250-500 square feet is considered a "tiny house," whereas; 800-1000 square feet is considered a "small house".... We are moving into just over 700 square feet...I suppose that leaves us in the middle of "tiny" and "small!" Why so small??
What do you mean by options?
What about kids?We would like to have a family someday. Of course, we considered this when deciding to leave our perfectly suburban family-friendly home in a leading school disctrcit to buy a one bedroom condo in the city. We have decided that we could live in the one bedroom condo with a baby. That would give us approximately 2 years (including nine months of pregnancy) to find a new home and coordinate a move. Considering that we have moved once every year for 4 years, we are not concerned about having to make a move in a short amount of time! How long will you live there?Who knows! It's taken until the 4th move to learn that we have no idea! Ha. Cast your bets now. Have you sold your house?We have not listed it yet! We would like to time it out so that we do not have to live in the condo until it is finished! When are you moving?We hope to move in November or December. What about all of your furnishings?We are selling E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G! Hit us up on facebook marketplace or our instagram @TyandHannahSellThings. Our minimalism is your treasure! We are SO EXCITED to try out this life, but we also realize that it is not without sacrifice. There will definitely be times that we miss our Ada home. We will miss the space, the storage, the windows, office, guest bedroom, garage, etc. We are prepared to experience some discomfort, yet are excited to give it a try! Ty and I have learned a lot about living intentionally this year, regardless of what is "conventional." We are embracing an unconventional life. We've learned about the subjectivity of the words 'Standard of living." Just because someone makes a certain income, doesn't mean they need to live a certain lifestyle. Someone, at one time, decided that we all need bigger, better houses, and we all agreed! We've decided that at this time in our lives, we don't want that. We want experiences, simplicity, time together, and freedom. In the spirit of objectivity, we considered friends of ours who lived in NYC in a 650 square foot apartment. He and his wife were both esteemed, well educated individuals with successful careers. Because of the average size of homes in NYC, this way of living is status quo in that locale, no matter one's salary. Likewise, my sister-in-law in NYC was telling us about a well-to-do couple they know with two kids, who lived in a small one bedroom apartment near them. That's just the way it is in big, expensive cities. Why do we assume that we have to live in a large home just because we reside in a city with a relatively low cost of living? Millions of people all over the world are living in small homes. Why not us, too? We are excited, overwhelmed, nervous, and have a lot of hours to log on Facebook marketplace downsizing our things! Stay tuned as we renovate our little place, and share how we like small living! WOW THIS WAS LONG. Definitely my most lengthy (and personal) blog post ever. We are passionate about "intentional living," embarking on a quest to create our best life (okay, I am beginning to sounds like a self help book!), and we want to share it. So, expect transparency as we document this deliberate, debt free experiement. Tour of the new place coming soon! Thanks for following along!
HJJ
2 Comments
9/24/2019 05:47:40 am
This was so refreshing to read! I’m excited for you guys and your new chapter. Debt free living is the best decision you’ll ever make. You are setting your whole life up for freedom and success. God will bless your intentionally. Good luck with everything! I’m excited to keep up with what’s happening and hit up your items for sale!! 😉😂💕
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