Moving house, moving overseas, changing lifestyle, and just changing priorities in general seems to have taken over from extravagance, mansions and excess.
Downsizing seems to be the new black, and living in excess is the new red. Or is it?
I have clients that are downsizing mostly because of need not want. They’re the Baby Boomers moving out of established and large family homes into lock up and leave apartments that will allow them do what they want to do, when they want.
On the whole they find it easy. “It’s just stuff” they say.
Yet, so many Generation X-ers I see still live by the “bigger is better” rule. More square footage, more TVs, more land.. more, more and more!
Gen Y tend to find “things” more disposable and only if it’s an iThing will they keep it. Compared to older generations who “make things last” and live in one or two homes their whole lives, Gen Y are travelling often, and moving from rental to rental with only a few possessions.
Also, now competing for screen time is Grand Designs v. Tiny Homes. I love watching both, but I guess I’m somewhere in between – I like my stuff, but I think it’s contained and reasonable.
I could and would pack up and move within a week if I really had to. There’s something to be said for living with minimal but good quality belongings, and even better is that then we don’t pass the burden of clutter on to our children.
Is one way superior to the other? Is the grass always greener? Is it just a generational cycle?
I’m on the fence…
Written by Personal Concierge Jane Moharich.