I am daughter of two Mexican immigrants, I was brought to the states when I was two years old. My parents worked the long hours at minimum or less wages. My entire life I was brought up wishing on the “American Dream”. We lived in a one bedroom apartment till I was a teenager, So I always had dreams of growing up and being the home owner of the cookie cutter house with the white picket fence and the dog. I was taught to want that.
Well I have that, “The American Dream” can be crossed off my list. I live in a beautiful 5 bedroom house with two living rooms,two different dinning rooms, 3 full baths, 3 car garage, and can I tell you I have a master bedroom the size of my first apartment (it has and extra room inside the room, its called a sitting room) and there is two walk in closets in my bathroom. Wow talk about immense! Now I am not showing off, I promise there is a point to this.
My hubby and I bought this house 2 years ago we were 24 & 26 years old. He got a great job coming out of the military and felt we NEEDED!!! this much space. Why not the bigger the better right… We have matured and learned so much about ourselves since then and we have come to the conclusion that living in suburbia is not for us. We want less, we are well on our way to becoming minimalist and this house no longer fits what we believe to be a need. Yes we are so grateful for what we have, but this much space requires so much of our time to be spent on cleaning not only that but just keeping more stuff because we have the room for it. I find so much comfort in knowing me and my hubby are no longer about material things. I feel that we can live off of very little and still be content.
So my point, we were going to get our little hens for the backyard and found out the HOA which we pay for each year completely restricts any type of animal on the property other than a dog or cat. I am crushed!!!!
We pay to live here and can’t even live how we want.. Its the crazy to me that you can own something with out really owning it or someone telling you how to live. We had no idea of any of these things because we did not know who we were and what we wanted when we bought the house. We were going along with the American culture. We just signed any papers to get what we figured everyone else would use to classify us.
Today I am encouraged by who I am and who I am becoming, I feel like I know exactly what I want for me and my family we no longer want to follow a trend. We are actually planning on moving because of my hubby’s school in the summer. We want to experience life in the Northwest, Washington State or Oregon. I will be doing my research this time in hopes that I will have my chickens this summer. We will never do HOA living again 
I concur. It is harder with a bigger house which I have now and have to clean and organize. Its still a small house remodeled into a bigger house with steps, lots of them. Maybe its the function of a small well designed space that appeals to me, and one floor living (at my age) and that like you said, being able to have chickens if you want. Good luck
Thanks for visiting my blog, I have steep steps and being 31 weeks pregnant how I wish I had a 1 story
Great post! I made a similar realisation to yours and at a similar age. It just took me another couple of decades to really make it happen. My house then was only 3 bedrooms and 2 baths but it was in suburbia and more space than I needed and I filled it with an amazing amount of total crap.
My current house is still 3 bedrooms and 2 baths but is smaller and in town and the back yard is a garden with veggies, chickens and bees rather than lawns to impress the neighbours. I have rainwater tanks and solar panels. I make as much as I can (or am brave enough to try) from scratch and I leave the car at home and walk wherever I can. The changes are small and subtle but they are significant and have really improved the quality of my life.
There’s still a lot you can do with the neighbourhood restrictions so don’t get too bummed about the limitations. Keep making your own bread and trying your soap recipes and buying less and living better. I’m enjoying watching your journey and look forward to future posts and hearing about your move.
I live in Australia but grew up in the Pacific Northwest (Renton, WA) – I didn’t appreciate it so much then but boy oh boy is the Pacific Northwest beautiful. I’m sure you’ll love it there.
Thanks Laura your comment is such an encouragement. I feel we have lots in common, only you have reached it and im still at the bottom just now making my way up. I am really excited and filled with ideas and new adventures. I have to say this blog so far has helped me go beyond what I would normally do. I hope others can use it as a tool as well.
I feel your pain. We just moved to a bigger house 18months ago to a place with an HOA. Before the 1st month was out, we had a letter to weed the flower beds! Now Im a bit of a shrew when it comes to how the outside looks for fear of more letters. Ive taken a break right now, though I did wash off the mud from the side of the house. SMH If you come to WA you will love it. Rains a lot, but great areas and wonderful people!
yeah I had them give me warnings for my trash can, it cant be showing from the road…lol, I cant wait for Washington!!
Well the HOA rules sound about the same, but there are plenty of non-HOA areas and many neighborhoods that support the ‘urban farm’ type movement, e.g. chickens and kitchen gardens.
I am so grateful you liked my latest blog post, especially since that caused me to come here, and read this post of yours. Your last paragraph is so inspirational. I feel privileged that I got to read and witness what you wrote. Thanks again and I will be rooting for you!
Well I thought your post was great, I have been to therapy for anxiety. I saw the serenity prayer in a coin my daughter had, I instantly loved it. She didn’t even notice it was gone and I kept it (it was amongst a bunch of things my mother in law gave her to play). I am a true believer that therapy will only work when you really want to work hard at it. I still fight against my anxiety every once in a blue moon but I am eternally so thankful for the therapist who helped me though the toughest parts.
I am so pleased to read that you found value in my post and that you had a helpful, healing experience with a therapist. Fighting anxiety can be a life-long quest for so many people, but it’s one that gets easier as we learn and get more practiced with the tools that help us. I am already witnessing, in you, the use of two tools that I think are so profound: writing about your experience and connecting with others. All the best to you.