If there is a silver lining to this economic downturn, it is that financial hardship has forced people to re-evaluate exactly what their actual needs are. In better times, we often buy things with grand expectations that never materialize and these items wind up being seldom used. A prime example is the trend of families having a 'great room' or family room that turned the traditionally well-used living room into a more formal (and seldom used) living room.
Many people will spend unnecessary dollars buying big ticket items that will either gather dust or stay in their packaging - from electronics to kitchen gadgets, to clothing and shoes. Now, when people are forced to liquidate any asset possible to raise cash, or when their bank has foreclosed on their home and they need to move, then they understand how much money was spent on things that they thought they needed, but realize they merely wanted.
In my first home, I had managed to secure an old nine-foot boardroom table that could seat 18 people for dinner comfortably. I think that I had used it for that specific purpose twice, otherwise it was an unnecessary piece of furniture taking up valuable real estate. An uncle spent thousands on an authentic English pub which wound up gathering dust as his friends and relatives wound up being too busy or tired to hang out in his 'bar'. As I ponder a move onto a boat, I suddenly become aware that I seldom use much of the space in my spacious condo. I hardly use my formal dining room table, preferring to eat in my kitchen; I sit in the same place on the sofa all the time (meaning I don't need a huge sofa but a smaller love seat or a single armchair instead). I am currently purging my condo of all things that I think are now unnecessary (to sell at a yard sale), and as someone who considers himself as living 'lean', I am still surprised at how much stuff I have that I either have not used in a long time, or used at all since I purchased it.
Still, there are limitations to living small. My six-foot tall brother-in-law believes that he could live aboard his 20-foot sailboat, while I don't think my five foot four inch frame would be happy in anything smaller than a 26 foot power boat. I still fear claustrophobia in to small a space, but believe that I can definitely live in smaller living quarters than I currently inhabit. Technology has rendered many things superfluous, and allows one to make better use of space and resources. All my CDs are now on my iPod, all my financial statements are online, all my photos on memory cards or on online storage sites. The good thing is that I become more and more comfortable with the direction that I am headed which is living simpler than I already do.
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