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I bought a large home that can be half heated, so I slightly downsized the heating, and I bought a smaller fridge.
I'm guessing you have 2 HVACs? That worked for me also on my previous house. The ground floor was on and 2F was off during winter. We sleep on GF during winter.
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Originally Posted by WildCard~
So ready~ As of now we have a 5 bedroom, 3 full baths 2,900 Sq ft with 4 car garage/shop and two guest houses that are both 1,900 sq ft both have 3 bedroom and two full bathrooms! And a large commercial greenhouse, large garden with orchard and two ponds on 60 acres .... Going into 5th wheel, looking at DRV or Spacecraft 40-45 ft... It's time we are in our mid 50's-60 ready for a change!
Good luck on the change! You must be excited!
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Originally Posted by Capitalprophets
Have cut down on eating out big time. From 80% eating out at restaurants down to about 10%. Helped increase some savings towards our retirement and overall better health and habits.
That is how I think about it as well.
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Originally Posted by JonathanLB
It’s one of those things I admire - and think is so smart for many people (rather than keeping up with the Joneses) - but wouldn’t work for me.
Yes, I agree. The key is enjoyment - in whatever size of house one may be in!
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Originally Posted by Nattering Heights
Probably new floors. Replacing all the carpets with tile or wood would go over $1K if I have the work done instead of doing it myself. My brother knows a guy who did floors, so they did my bathroom tile. It's cheap vinyl that is cracking, so I will probably go one level up in quality.
That would be a nice upgrade to your house and definitely would cost more than $1K, perhaps between $5K to $10K?
Good luck on the change! You must be excited!
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Thank you~ We did this back in the 90's with three kids in tow for the next four years, traveled all over the placed and loved it. We have missed it, so we are ready!...
Time for weekly cleaning of the entire house. 40 minutes in all while listening to 10 songs from Ruth Anna.
Let's do it!
Have fun. Do you have three cats, live in an area with perpetual wind and dust? I tried to be a kitchen- table-work-from-home person 15 years ago but need designated and quiet work space.
SO has a happy which requires space - have you tried to cast shot in in kitchen
Everyone has his/her needs, wants, and have to haves. I have to have a king bed to accomodadate two humans and three cats.
We "downsized" even though we went from one 2500 square foot house to another, because we bought a house with two floors, and we rarely go upstairs or use the upstairs - it's two guest bedrooms, a bathroom, and a walk in attic, and we can shut all that off and run only one heating/cooling unit. Which we do, and we end up living in about 1600 square feet downstairs.
I love it. But when my husband retires in a few years, we are talking about downsizing even more. At some point we will no longer be the place where adult kids and grandkids come "home" to visit - we will be shifting over to visiting THEM.
There are things that remain important even when downsizing. We went from 2 stories to a ranch, but we still have an extra 2 car garage, besides the one for the cars, and we have lots of windows and light.
What we don’t have that is important are, wide hallways and high ceilings. Nothing is perfect, but even in small spaces, a FEELING of spaciousness is important.
After I retired my wife and I downsized just by a few hundred square feet to a one level, and we LOVE it. It is really convenient for seniors to live in smaller one levels, plus they have less difficult maintenance to do (like a two story does) and the smaller home should have smaller utility bills.
But we moved only because our previous home that we lived in, was a tri-level home and it had two sets of stairs in it, that were killing my bad knees.
Since one level homes that have been updated are in HIGH demand today in my state, with so many BB's retiring now wanting them, it took us 2.5 months to even find one that was move in ready.
And it is a 1960 model 1400 sq. ft. all brick ranch home that was flipped and "lipsticked". So we paid close to a $130K for a home that sold new 59 years ago for probably around $28 -30K.
In my last move I wanted a private home, in an HOA (control the neighbors) that handled all outside maintenance so I would not have to own rakes, mowers, blowers, etc. The HOA also handles the house shell as in re-roofing and replacing siding, etc. It took some looking but I found it. 1,400sq ft, one level, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, one car (only negative) garage.
And, the price (of course, it was 2010) was awesome. It looks like the perfect house.
What I don't understand is why Zillow says there has been almost no appreciation in the last 9 years. Taxes are low and the schools are OK.
Where I live (in Denver) the appreciation in that time has been about 75% in my neighborhood for houses at the top of the price range. And, for scrapers, the price increase has been 220%.
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