Downsizing

My dad retired at age 62 in 1975 and died in 2001...  living 27 more years aftr he retired.  My parents owned a beach cottage at Nags Head, NC and a home in Chapel Hill, NC, and after selling the beach cottage, adding on to the house in Chapel Hill, upscaling their home to just under 5,000 square feet. The house had 5 bedrooms, 3 full baths and two areas that could be converted into bedrooms  if necessary.  Their live in guests were never more that one couple at a time so 90-95% of the time only 1 bedrrom and 1 bath were ever used.

To make a long story short, when my dad died, my mother sold the house and went into a retirement community where she lived in a one bedroom apartment for another 14 years until she died...

So, what's the point of this narrative so far?

My parents lived in a big house that they did not need because they could financially, not necessarily because they wanted to.  Most of their time was spent in the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and back porch.  Sometimes, they would used the TV room, but my parents did not like to watch a lot of TV unless there was a football game or a tennis match being televised.  

During my first marriage, we purchased a small house that had a full basement that we never used,  During my second marriage, we also purchased a small house with a full basement that we never used.

My wife and I have been retired for 7 years and we are already thinking about downsizing because our house and yard are too big and we are getting too old to take care of it all...

Why do we purchase these big homes?

We would be better off to purchase a small home and put the rest of the money in the bank for retirement...  and yet, very few of us do that...  we have been trained to think that BIGGER is BETTER.