Monday is time to Motivate!July 20, 2020 The Benefits of Downsizing For many of us, nothing represents a larger portion of our monthly expenses than housing costs. In large cities like our home base of Denver where the cost of living is relatively high, many residents are considered to be “cost-burdened” because more than 30% of their income goes towards housing. In fact, 51% of renters in the Denver Metro Area fall into this category with many of them spending more than half of their income just on rent! And downsizing doesn’t mean you have to settle for a 400-square-foot tiny home… not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s also not exclusively for retirees or empty nesters either. It can be as simple as price-shopping homes or apartments that are even slightly smaller and saving some serious dollars in the process. In the case of apartment-hunting, you can even score a great move-in special where you receive a month or two for free. That’s exactly what we just did. We downsized from a 1,300-square-foot apartment to a place that’s a little over 1,050 square feet. We shopped around for a few months beforehand and came across a two months free rent special upon move-in. Thanks to that rent special, we’ll save over $6,000 throughout the course of our lease! That’s going to help us fund a lot more travel. But downsizing can have even greater impacts. Not only is it a smart and practical way to put loads of cash back into your savings account for more important things like travel, but the process literally streamlines your living patterns. Here are a few of the unexpected benefits of downsizing:
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