Sunday, May 23, 2010

Downsizing

We had this crazy idea. What if we sell our house and downsize into an apartment?
Cons: Less space, less stuff, no yard, no play fort, no culdesac.
Pros: Less space to clean, less stuff to take care of, no yard to mow, no landscaping upkeep, less money spent on housing.

The catalyst for this idea came when Creighton and I were brainstorming about his PhD. He has completed his course work and is now ready to tackle the dissertation.

I heard a statistic on NPR that less than 10% of PhD students actually complete their dissertation.
One of Creighton's mentors cautioned him saying, "The saddest phrase in the English language is 'All But Dissertation'".

Throughout the last 3 years, Creighton has been working full-time as a church pastor while completing coursework for his PhD. While he is a high-capacity student, he has not been able to fully embrace his academic experience. To be able to focus on researching/reading/writing everyday would allow him to truly experience what he is learning.

This schedule has been a challenge for our family. The truth is, we should have this when we first moved to Kansas. As a matter of fact, that is the whole reason we are in Kansas!

Don't get me wrong, I love my house, LOVE IT. But it is... just a possession.

What if we could strategically create space and time for Creighton to focus full-time on this thing? It could take a year (as opposed to 3-4) and we could get it over with!
So that is the goal, the dream.

SAY A PRAYER FOR US!

3 comments:

Between You and Me said...

down-sizing is a conversation we've had....about future homes that we own....living in a parsonage now...but still trying to sell the house in GA....if we can ever sell it and when we leave this position...we definitely want to down-size.

bigger life...smaller house.

love your dream. any closer to having it be a reality?

cool mum said...

i'm a fan of downsizing too! if you can, go for it!

Unknown said...

Unfortunately, the sale of our house is out of our control. Takes someone walking in and saying, "WE'LL TAKE IT!"
So, we wait.

Tara- I love what you said: bigger life, smaller house.

I have been thinking about all the things I could do with that extra GRAND per month!
How about: Get out of debt! Why not invest in the kids future? Why am I just now waking up to the potential of this?