We bought our first home when we had been married for 20 years. I was tired of living in other people's houses and I wanted to have a home of my own. For many years this seemed an impossible dream. My DH and I had shared one full time job when our children were little, and as a result we had a great relationship with our two children, but no savings. As they grew we took on more days of work and started to save.
Eventually we had a moment -throwing every resource we had, including converting our long service leave to cash, we bought the best house we could afford - a 25 year old three bedroom, two bathroom home. It is not large by Australian standards, but palatial by the standards most of the third world experiences. It has a 'family room' -a new feature when the house was built-that is about the size of a bedroom. It does not have the standard four bedrooms. It does not have a games room or a theatre room or any of the rooms Australian families have been told that they need to have a good life these days.
Over the years we added a patio out the back, and with clear plastic blinds and a patio gas heater it is a comfortable space for a lot of the year. My DS invited his friends over last night and there were ten of them enjoying each other's company in the patio whilst the rest of us were happy in the family room.
This article sums up what I like about small houses. What is suggested is that if we can not be sucked in by the consumerist culture of our society, which tries to convince us that we need more and bigger and newer things all the time, then we can enjoy what we have rather than what others tell us we should want.
Yesterday evening my DH and I were sitting in our lounge room at about 5pm. We both had good books to read, and a glass of wine. We were warm and comfortable, there was jazz on the radio, and the rain was softly falling. We were both well aware of what a luxury a comfortable home can be, and are grateful for it.
Sorry that I have had to add another level of moderation to the comments section of this blog. Please feel free to leave a comment anyway!
2 comments:
A lovely post!
We have a humble house compared to some but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
"Home is where the heart is" and this is so true.
Take care,
Tania
I think it is a wonderful thing to love your home. I enjoy just looking after it and it looks after me. There is a sense of peace and contentment which comes from this which is wonderful.
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