With the economy in rough shape right now, I’ve been hearing more talk about people downsizing their house to save money.  During the boom times, a lot of people bought much larger houses than they needed.  Families can comfortably live in smaller spaces.  My wife grew up in a family of four in a 1,400 square foot house.  Never once did she feel slighted because her house was too small.  I grew up in a much larger house, but we actually only used a fraction of the space.

While most people who are considering downsizing are only thinking about their monthly mortgage payments, one major benefit to having a smaller home is the lower utility bills that come with it.  When we built our current house, we took this into consideration.  Ultimately, we built a house larger than we probably should have.  It’s something I struggle with, but we are not in a position that we are considering downsizing right now.

One important consideration is whether the house you are moving to is less energy efficient than the house you are in currently.  Our previous home was 1,000 square feet smaller than the new house, yet our energy bills are much less than when we lived in the smaller house.  Obviously, the preferred situation would be to move to a house that is at least as energy efficient as the house you are currently in.  Not only will you save money on the monthly mortgage, but your energy bills will go down proportionately.

Photo credit:  mrlerone