I read a lot of blogs and most of them are U.K, Ireland, USA based - I read very few Australian blogs. I don't know if it's because they write about things that I'm already aware of, or if I prefer the international blogs because they write about issues that I'm not aware of and I actually learn something :)
One trend that I have noticed in reading non-Australian blogs is the number of people who are either downsizing, in the process of downsizing or trying to figure out how to do this. The main reason for this is for economical purposes.
One blog that I frequently read belongs to woman who has a well paying professional position. A number of years ago after changes were made to her husbands employment situation, she decided that they needed to scale back on their spending. This wasn't only because of what happened with her husband, but the cost of living was also increasing and taking it's toll.
To cut a long story short, this woman reviewed every cent they spent and where they could improve. She cut back on many 'must haves', like a coffee on the way to work (she now takes her own from home), a trashy magazine here and there (reads all the goss online), beauty treatments (she does her own hair and nails), etc. Keep in mind this is just a very short list of changes she made. The money they saved was out of this world!
Given that she lives in the UK - she was paying a lot to keep her house warm, a house that was now over sized as her children had moved out. So her and her husband decided to downsize. Funnily enough the downsizing was going to cost a bit and the bank wouldn't loan them the money, so they worked hard to pay a chunk off the house they were living in which they were now struggling to keep.
They did eventually get to a point where the bank would assist with re-financing and they moved to a smaller home. Even after the move she continues to budget the way they did prior to moving.
I've done a few Google searches on downsizing in Australia and the results are all related to retirees. This didn't surprise me one bit. Australian residential blocks of land have gotten sooo much smaller, yet the houses are so much bigger than they used to be! It's a trend in Australia to squash as many homes into a new estate area as possible. Some estates are so jam packed, that if you want to clean your gutters you have to position your ladder on your neighbours property! That's how close the houses are.
So why do we in Australia seem to be up sizing (house size, not land size) while people in countries overseas are downsizing? My answer:- I have no idea. One guess is because houses in these estates are fairly inexpensive, so people buy them up and because people keep buying them, the developers keep building them. Don't quote me, it's just my guess.
Do I have a problem with these estates? Yes I do. Why do I? I'll tell you why. I live in one of these estates. This will sound ridiculous, but when you first inspect one of these properties you really don't notice just how crammed in they are, because everything's open plan - so you literally walk in one room and it just flows into another giving the illusion of space. They have huge windows which allows copious amounts of natural light in (which in itself isn't a bad thing) that also adds to the illusion, then you have the 'already built and ready to go' outdoor entertaining area which usually includes a pool. Yeah I know I'm making it sound like hell aren't I? lol
The thing is that you fall straight into the trap of "Oh a double garage! Four bedrooms! Oh two entertaining areas! A walk-in pantry! Oh 2/3 bathrooms plus en-suite! Oh look how much light comes in (because of the open plan design), Ohh a pool!" etc etc. It's the extras that prevent you seeing that just 2 feet from the pool edge is the neighbours fence line. Given that you're all so squashed in, you can't flush the toilet without the neighbour knowing you've just been to the loo. You can also hear phone conversations as well as just regular conversations - these conversations are not taking place outside, they're inside the neighbours house.
Then there's the open plan design issue - I admit they look great, but they're not practical. You cannot close part of the house off when you want to heat or cool. In an older style house you can close a couple of doors and you're done. In these newer homes, when you want to cool or heat - you're paying either your gas or electricity company to heat or cool the whole house, even though you're only in one section. What a massive waste of money!
I would love to compare a 12 month heating/cooling bill between a newer open plan home versus an older style home. Every time I turn the air con or heater on I see $50 notes floating around in the open plan areas that I don't want heated or cooled. Anytime I hear of a friend who is looking at moving, the first thing I tell them is to stay away from open plan housing, and I tell them why..... Usually everything I tell them is stuff that they hadn't even thought about. I guess you live and learn. I wish I knew someone who knew what I do now, and could have given me some advice before we bought the style of house we did.
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