Finally a little humility.

Or perhaps just the effects of economic strain....

For the first time in nearly thirty years, the size of the average house in the United States has decreased.

Yes, the average size of Houses in the United States has declined from 2,277 square feet to 2,215 square feet. In Utah, houses are even bigger. The average Utah houses sold year was closer to 2,500 square feet.  This is still double what the average house size was fifty years ago, but, atleast we are headed in the right direction. Taking a step in the right direction towards living within our means. Fulfilling needs, and not just wants.

Last night many of us listened to President Obama as he spoke to the nation. The tone of his speech was that the US is experiencing serious financial hardships, and that the people here are struggling. He talked about so many Americans not being able to afford their mortgages; the reason they can't afford their mortgages is because they were living extravagently. They bought houses that were too big, and that they couldn't afford.

While its true that things aren't as good as they were back in 2006, when the average American was spending more than they were earning, (hey that sounds like the government too) things here in the United States are still really good.

We just don't get it. We don't just need a home that will provide us shelter, we need a home that is big enough so that each of our children can have their own rooms, an office, a craft room, a storage room, a formal dining room, a play room, a home theatre room, a formal living room, room for atleast two of our cars, and a boat too. And the house has to come with a spacious great room, a gas fireplace, a luxury kitchen with all the works, and central air conditioning.

In our culture, these things aren't luxuries, they have become the standard. This is the real reason we feel we are struggling.

Think about history, what did people have? They worked all day so they could have enough food to eat. They were lucky to have a phone, let a lone a portable phone for each person in the family. Internet, Cable TV, Automobiles, Health Insurance...... these didn't exist.

The vast majority of the people in the world still do not have all these luxuries. Our average home would be luxury to them.

So congradulations on downsizing a little bit. Let us all be grateful for what we have, because even if times appear to be hard, we are actually so blessed.