In July 2025, my husband, Zach, and I moved our family of four from the suburbs of Ft Price, Texas, to Denver.
After practically 10 years of marriage, two children, and three work-related strikes, it was lastly time to settle in a spot of our selecting. This time, we did not simply need a change of surroundings; we needed a change of life-style.
However discovering a home within the bustling metropolis neighborhood of our goals inside our budget meant downsizing — drastically.
Shifting from our 3,300-square-foot dwelling to a 2,300-square-foot bungalow with 1,200 sq. toes of precise residing house (the remainder being unfinished basement) wasn’t simple. It meant swapping our massive kitchen island for a small eating desk. It meant no extra grasp tub soaking tub, my refuge from life’s stresses on extra events than I may rely. And it meant my children giving up their separate rooms to share one.
However what we have gained within the high quality and amount of time spent collectively is price each little bit of lost square footage.
We’re spending our time on what issues
Our bigger house in Texas required extra maintenance, and we have been very happy to present that up for further free time on the weekends. Now, we spend our time visiting points of interest such because the Denver Zoo and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We’re fostering our youngsters’ curiosity, exploring new locations collectively. Our on a regular basis life feels extra particular and significant as a result of these shared experiences amplify our household connection.
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We’re additionally getting out in nature extra. Apart from weekend mountaineering and snowboarding adventures, our days revolve round outside residing. We stroll in every single place we will, together with eating places, parks, and even Dealer Joe’s, which is useful as a result of driving to Dealer Joe’s means parking at Dealer Joe’s, and no person enjoys that. Our moods are lighter, and our stresses are lowered.
The primary time we walked to a restaurant as a substitute of driving, it felt like we have been on trip. Our lives had all the time been car-dependent, however that is now not the case. The children laughed and raced one another down the sidewalk. We marvelled on the mature bushes and brightly coloured flowers lining seventh Avenue Parkway. There was no timeline or dashing, simply the enjoyment of being current. After we made our approach dwelling after an alfresco dinner at Postino, I requested my son if he preferred strolling to dinner. He requested merely, “Can we do that day by day?”
We’re discovering connections in our group
Zach and I incessantly sit on our entrance porch whereas our boys play with neighborhood children, a primary for us. Having homes so shut collectively makes it simpler to fulfill folks and kind actual connections. We all know nearly each family on our block, and we frequently go to with our closest neighbors. We even loved our first block get together in August, which fell on my eldest’s birthday, and in keeping with him, it was his “Finest birthday ever!”
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Our boys run between yards whereas we chat with new associates. They’re experiencing a childhood nearer to the one we grew up with. They’re constructing confidence and discovering their place, and that is translating to extra smiles and fewer tantrums. Zach and I are discovering our village, and parenthood feels much less solitary.
On a latest journey again to Texas for Thanksgiving, I texted our next-door neighbor to let her know we would be out of city. With out even asking, she supplied to soak up our mail. It could be a small gesture, however that sense of group is priceless to us.
My boys have extra freedom
Downsizing has additionally allowed our youngsters to play extra independently in an out of doors house that feels protected and guarded. We’ve an unobstructed line of sight to the yard, and irrespective of the place my husband and I are in the home, we will hear them in the event that they want us. The end result has been hours of inventive play, constructing campsites and outside kitchens, enjoying soccer and baseball, and having water balloon fights or Nerf battles.
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Most evenings, my children are within the yard enjoying video games and getting soiled. When the climate is sweet, they run round with their associates down the road. I’d by no means have felt snug not understanding each transfer my children have been making earlier than, however right here, the place everyone seems to be watching out, and I can wave at my children down the block to sign when it is time to come dwelling, much less house means extra freedom.
Our downsized life is not all the time excellent. Regardless of all our decluttering efforts, we’re nonetheless left with extra stuff than we will accommodate. We additionally wrestle with the shortage of privateness, and at occasions, our smaller shared house feels extra claustrophobic than cozy. Nonetheless, downsizing for an city life-style has given us the chance to stay past our 4 partitions, and that is price greater than any quantity of house may ever be.
