Australia has now overtaken the United States as the country with the world’s biggest houses. But the World Happiness Report in 2019 ranked Australia 10th , behind Finland 1st, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands (the US is 18th ) and they live in the smaller houses. The average apartment size in these countries is 65-80m2 and many of the people live in apartments in the cities. They have followed the Marie Kondo principles of decluttering and have decided that having less space and less stuff can create room in your life for more important things! A smaller home has lower heating and cooling needs, fewer furnishings and it takes less time to clean, maintain and requires less work to fund. If you have decent ceiling heights, good windows, clever storage and not too much stuff a little space can go a long way.
We all have had a garage that looks like this at some stage……we collect things from our life (and often our parents and even grandparents’ lives) and it lives in the garage. This may add to our fear of moving because “Where can we put Grandads collection of screwdrivers?”
But do we need it all, or is it cramping our style? Will the kids appreciate it, or will they just call a dump truck and load things into it?
Sit down and ask yourself ‘Does this spark joy?’ If not, then donate it, sell it or dump it.
So, declutter your life as you downsize to an METRO425 apartment. Give yourself space to do the things that “spark joy!”