The Simple Life

I cleaned the house this morning. To be fair, it took me 30 minutes, and that included pulling out the vacuum and talking the cat out from the bedroom closet, where he trembled in total and abject fear of that beast. 

On paper, our house is 300 square feet smaller than the one we left behind in Mesa. In reality, our house is much smaller. The master bathroom, for example, is the size of all three of our bathrooms in Mesa. As a realtor I never understood homeowners who thought having a 10' x 10' master bathroom was ideal. As a homeowner, I still don't get it. Nor do I really understand the appeal of walk-in closets, I mean, other than to give the cat a place to cower. If you think about it, there's a lot of wasted space in walk-in closets. 

Our current house has 5 rooms less than our previous house. It makes a difference in lifestyle. My desk, for example, is currently in the master bedroom, only because Buckaroo and I get along better without us having our desks in such close quarters while he is online with his buddies and I am trying to write. Until we get their bathroom fixed (there is no feasible shower/tub in the hall bathroom), we are all using the master bathroom shower. I miss having a large pantry and laundry room, probably more than I miss having my own office. That kind of lifestyle change. 

But though it has been an adjustment, I like the smaller house. I like how my family talks and interacts more. I like having less to clean, decorate and declutter. I like having my family near and talking and laughing more. I think that's something I didn't know I missed in Mesa: just being part of everyone's day.  

Of course, there are challenges with four adults living in a smaller home. The big one is the daily hourly constant reminders to Polly to put her shit away please pick up her extraneous items and store them in her room. That always never gets old. Then there's the interventions Marty has to do on a daily hourly constant basis to make sure Polly and I don't kill each other over this particular issue. And it isn't just me who is frustrated by this. Buckaroo muttered something about cramming all of her belongings that lay around in the shed. I haven't checked to see if he's done it yet. 

But even with helping Polly develop good adult habits, everything is much more peaceful in our home. A peace we didn't even know we were lacking with the hectic home life we left behind. Having less of everything is so freeing. We laugh more, talk more, interact more. That's better to me than having more possessions and a more complicated life. We might upgrade to a bigger home in the future, but for now I like spending 30 minutes a week cleaning.