The 400-square-foot dream home.

Given a choice between consumerism and minimalism, I often tend towards the latter. Although I don’t think I could ever live in a small home unless I were a bachelor, there’s something about an Anti-McMansion homes that’s in line with my way of thinking. You’d only ever keep essentials in a 400 square-foot home. You just wouldn’t have room for anything else.

A number of Iowa Citians seem to feel the same way, including some people I know, as well as the subject of the linked article. It’s nice when Iowa City is in the news for all the little quirks that make it great.

Am I planning to own a small home? No, but I think we’ll have a “big-enough house”. There are many forms of minimalism. It doesn’t mean that you give everything up, just that you get rid of extraneous things. Is that something I do well? Sometimes. Sometimes not.

If nothing else, reading blogs like Leo Babauta’s mnmlist was really helpful when we moved across the country. We got rid of everything that we could, and have only replaced what we really missed. Could we still get rid of more? Probably. Gaining clutter can still be a problem, but if you’re honest with yourself, you can declutter too.