Is The American Dream Changing?

It turns out that America might just be big enough to have differing versions of the American Dream.

With housing prices still plummeting and unemployment still rising, the old stigma of renting is starting to wear off.

As NPR points out, renting is now being re-examines, with a less-weary eye.

Another article in the series discusses how some renters have found "forced simplicity, [which] keeps [their] overhead very low and lifestyle very flexible."

In a world where the stock market can wipe out an entire life's work and a home's value can plummet to the point where you end up owing more than what it's worth, the younger generation is starting to question the American Dream as it was created in the 1950s.

Indeed, as Raj Date points out in the article, "The world we live in today is not quite the world that existed in 1950", referring to the transient nature of work and suggesting that a middle class American should not "stake themselves" with a house.

With the mercurial nature of today's economy, home ownership may not end up being the ultimate fruition of the American Dream.

After all, as The New York Times points out, one-third of twenty-somethings move to a new residence every year and go through an average of seven jobs within the decade.

With such drastic statistics, it's no wonder that renting, as Joanne Cleaver pointed out in the article, "[isn't] being rootless, [it's] being free."

And isn't being free ultimately what American Dream is all about?

What Would Thoreau Build?

Keen readers may be noticing a running theme throughout the last few posts. Smaller houses, less consumption of resources, heck, even enjoying your home as its value plummets.

Is your humble DotLoop blogger taking crazy pills? After all, we're in America, the land of the 15 pound burger, of the Big Gulp, of McMansions. And of course, the all-American transportation device: the SUV. Bigger is better. Bloated is beautiful. From sea to shining sea.

And even though everyone is hitching a ride on the Green Revolution bandwagon, if we want to go green, well, there's an app for that. It's okay to have a four-car garage as long as that garage is filled with hybrid Explorers, right?

Indeed, in America, it seems the answer to our environmental issues is the same answer to most problems: buy something.

Thoroughly Thoreau

But what if we took a different approach? What if we boiled it all down to what we really needed, not what the latest ads on TV compel us to think we need? What if we valued our time more than our stuff? How would that change us?

What if we took a nod from that crazy nut from 19th Century Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau? Thoreau famously abdicated himself from society for two years, two months, and two days and spent his time on Walden Pond. He simplified his life to the bare bones, and only had to work six weeks a year to sustain his food and energy resources. The rest of the time he spent on any activity he wished.

The $826 Home

In comparison with the average 2500 sq foot home of today, Thoreau built himself a cabin that was a mere 10' by 15'. Below is a list of materials Thoreau used, from Walden:

Board's: $8.03 1/2, mostly shanty boards

Refuse shingles for roof and sides: $4.00

Laths: $1.25

Two second-hand windows with glass: $2.43

One thousand old brick: $4.00

Two casts of lime: $2.40. That was high.

Hair: $0.31. More than I needed

Mantle-tree iron: $0.15

Nails: $3.90

Hinges and screws: $0.14

Latch: $0.10

Chalk: $0.01

Transportation: $1.40. I carried a good part on my back.

In all: $28.12 1/2

In 2008 dollars, that would equal $826.26. When's the last time you built a house (on a wooded lot, to boot!) for under $1000.00?

The Cost of a Thing

Think about all of the stuff you bought within the last decade that you only used a few times. Think about all the wasted items that did nothing more than collect dust, or take up more space. Maybe you even expanded your home's size just so you could store the latest trinkets from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Maybe you even bought an extra storage space within the last decade. Ironic, of course, considering the rise of the storage industry's expansion from 289 million square feet in 1984 to nearly 2.2 billion square feet by the end of 2007 coincided with the rise of McMansions.

Maybe in light of this burst housing bubble, we should reevaluate what makes a home a home, and see value in the intangibles. Maybe bigger is better, as in, a bigger life, and not necessarily a bigger house.

Maybe we should do a cost analysis the way Thoreau did: "The cost of a thing is the amount of what I call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run."

Maybe it all comes down to three simple words, spoken by the world's most famous tax dodger and transcendentalist: "Simplify! Simplify! Simplify!"

Consumption, Consumption, What's Your Function?

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NOTE: With winter upon us, In the Loop with DotLoop has designated the next month as Home Energy Month and will feature articles on how you can reduce your home's energy consumption through simple steps. DotLoop is dedicated to making every aspect of the home buying and owning experience as eco-friendly as possible.

When I was younger, I used to go into my brother's room and turn off his lights when he wasn't in there. He always got mad at me, threatening my very livelihood with his usual wit ("I'll kill you next time you go into my room, punk"). For him, it was a matter of privacy; for me, it was a matter of waste. Even at the ripe old age of twelve, I knew that keeping the lights on in an empty room costs money.

The above video, recently featured on NBC's Today Show, shows not only the obvious (keeping your lights on does waste money; so there, Kevin), but also highlights some surprising facts. Big screen TVs, for example, cost less to operate per hour ($.06) than a plugged in phone charger sans phone ($.10).

More energy is wasted keeping our homes and buildings powered than spent stuck in traffic, and the average family spends a whopping $2200 a year on energy bills alone.

So next time you leave your house, make it a point to unplug and turn off anything not needed, and instead of turning up that thermostat, put on an extra sweater. Your bank account will thank you, even if your brother doesn't.