Mr. Moderate

The key to low-cost living is less personal space. Now, I do not challenge for a moment that each of us has needs for personal space. But do we really need an entire single family home of 1200 to 3000 square feet for just us and our nuclear family? I don’t think so!

If we set aside the amenities that we might wish to use on occasion, all most of us need for personal space is a bed, a closet, a desk (including computer cabinetry if desired), a comfortable chair, some storage space with customizable space dividers, and a private (or at least, semi-private) bathroom. You can get all that in 150 square feet, more or less. And a married couple (or any cohabiting couple of whatever sexual mixture) would need far less than twice that amount of space as they would be expected to share the bed and bathroom. So, if we allow 150 square feet of personal space for a “single” and 250 square feet of personal space for a “couple,” that is about all that any adult ought to really need of readily accessible “livable” personal space.

If you make some effort at having kids share bedrooms (and frankly, many kids would be quite happy to share bedrooms with true friends; and think “bunk beds” for older kids), several families (perhaps six) could easily occupy 3000 square feet of bedroom and bathroom space. Now of course, that would not be all of the interior living space for all of those families. For more on that you need to read the next essay on more shared space.

Most people, certainly most “average Americans,” do not have a master bedroom and bathroom area that amounts to 250 square feet, more or less. With proper design, the above can easily lead to a much higher quality of life for the family than would sticking with traditional housing models. That is the whole point: you sacrifice a bunch of personal space that you rarely use in return for more personal space that is optimized for what you really need.