Gotta love that many of these supposed “feel good stories” written to goad the masses into living like serfs live to conveniently gloss over the fact that the story subjects just so happen to have a house to rent out. Cheap attempts at population programming.
A family of 5 downsized to a one-bedroom apartment to escape feeling 'house poor.' Saving money hasn't been the only benefit.
Submitted 12 hours ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to aboringdystopia@lemmy.world
https://www.businessinsider.com/family-of-5-downsized-to-one-bedroom-apartment-2025-5
Comments
bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 11 hours ago
givesomefucks@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Their mortgage is $1,400 a month, and they rent out the home for $2,300. Their apartment costs $1,600,
They just kind of glazed by the root of the issue…
Rent shouldn’t be more than mortgages.
They can do this shell game, because they’re still making $700/month and building equity. Someone without a house to rent is absolutely fucked.
ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 11 hours ago
Where did you get the extra $200?
Also it will be definitely less than $700 unless they have a rental agreement that the renter does all repairs and improvements. What happens if the roof starts leaking? Whose footing the bill on that one? What about insurance? Landlord insurance isn’t cheap.
They seem to be really living on thin margins and probably building a ton of credit card debt.
givesomefucks@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Where did you get the extra $200?
They get 2,300 and spend 1600 by living in the apartment and renting.
$700/month and equity.
But obviously it’s more of an issue when it scales up
MolecularCactus1324@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Sort of. Rent actually should some times be more than mortgages, but only for comparable property types. I agree that renting a 1BR apartment should not be more than renting a 3 BR house. But, renting a 3BR house should be more than having a mortgage on a 3BR house.
rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
And it’s because of that old axiom, “Rent is the most you’ll spend on housing, a mortgage is the least you’ll spend on housing.”
Not_mikey@slrpnk.net 8 hours ago
The part about the women having surgery and the guy getting laid off is pretty bad but the concept of downsizing doesn’t seem dystopian to me. If anything its a good thing to move to a more dense living situation with shared amenities like parks and pools then living out in suburbia with a big house with a bunch of rooms and amenities that need to be maintained while they are rarely used.
Plenty of people live very happy lives in smaller situations. Studies have shown that satisfaction with your living situation is more closely related to your house size relative to your neighbors then the absolute house size. Ie if you have 1000 sqft but that’s above average for the neighborhood then you’ll be more satisfied then the person with a 2000 sqft house in a neighborhood of 3000 sqft houses.
Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 hours ago
I lived in a one bedroom apartment as a single mom of one. Perfectly fine, and I agree with what you are saying, but a one bedroom with three kids and both parents? Seems a bit much…
Eat_Your_Paisley@lemm.ee 10 hours ago
Remember at the bottom of the story they said they bought some property in the country are a building a 2 bedroom house…
Please keep in mind that we all don’t want to live in a 3/2 ranch in the burbs with a HOA just to say we own a 3/2 ranch
CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Woman got paralyzed due to surgery, guy got laid off, they have to sleep in their living room because they are living in a tiny place with their sole source of income as fucking landlords.
What a feel good story. Great spin, Business Insider! Bunch of loons.
AJ1@lemmy.ca 11 hours ago
Don’t forget about their income as TikTokers… which is still something I can’t understand. Collecting money for posting inane, self-fellating horse shit to social media? That’s a job? Ok whatever
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 hours ago
themeatbridge@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I agree this is a dystopian nightmare of a story. But… if we had to downsize, one of the first things to go would be all the toys my kids have accumulated over the years. My daughter has a doll house she got from grandma 6 years ago that she hasn’t played with in 3 year. My son has a collection of Hess trucks that he never really asked for but grandpa gets him one every Christmas (he loves them, but he’s 12 now).
If we had to, we would donate a lot of toys and the kids would be OK with it. We keep them for sentimental reasons, but only because there’s a corner of a spare bedroom/playroom/office that has the space. We have gone through their toys several times for donations, and the kids feel better letting things go when they go to a good cause.
Trump is a douche canoe, and saying people can buy fewer dolls is ghoulishly out of touch. Donating your kids’ toys, though, isn’t at all the same.