{"id":34464,"date":"2018-05-22T18:44:54","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T23:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=34464"},"modified":"2018-05-22T18:44:54","modified_gmt":"2018-05-22T23:44:54","slug":"why-the-american-dream-of-owning-a-big-home-is-way-overrated-in-one-chart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=34464","title":{"rendered":"Why the American Dream of owning a big home is way overrated, in one chart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Why the American Dream of owning a big home is way overrated, in one chart<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Courtesy of Rogers & Cowan<\/cite><\/div>
Do you NEED this much space?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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From 1978 through 2015, the median size of the single-family home increased every year until it peaked at 2,467 square feet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Then, in 2016, that number began to shrink, albeit ever so slightly.<\/p>\n

So, are we finally coming to our senses about McMansions?<\/p>\n

Of course, owning a big house has long been a key component of the American Dream \u2014 you know you\u2019ve arrived when you have columns, an indoor pool and a theater room \u2014 but, in reality, it\u2019s all usually a huge waste of space, according to a study cited by Steve Adcock on the Get Rich Slowly blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A research team affiliated with UCLA studied American families and where they spend most of their time while inside their homes. The results were fascinating, but really not all that surprising. Here\u2019s one representative example:<\/p>\n

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As you can see, most square footage is wasted as people tend to gather around the kitchen and the television, while avoiding the dining room and porch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe findings were not pretty. In fact, they helped prove how little we use our big homes for things other than clutter,\u201d Adcock said. \u201cMost families don\u2019t use large areas of their homes \u2014 which means they\u2019ve essentially wasted money on space they don\u2019t need.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Adcock knows a thing or two about utilizing space.<\/p>\n

Like the family in the illustration above, he used to spend all of his time hanging out in the kitchen and family room in his 1,600-square-foot home. Now, after managing to retire from his full-time gig at the age of 35, he lives his version of the American Dream in an Airstream trailer with his wife.<\/p>\n

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why the American Dream of owning a big home is way overrated, in one chart Courtesy of Rogers & CowanDo you NEED this much space? From 1978 through 2015, the median size of the single-family home increased every year until it peaked at 2,467 square feet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Then, in 2016, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[20216,20217,20215,1583,5220,14299,20214,2416],"class_list":["post-34464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-survival-2","tag-big-home","tag-clutter","tag-house-size","tag-housing","tag-marketwatch","tag-mcmansion","tag-shawn-langlois","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34465,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34464\/revisions\/34465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}