by Theresa O'Riordan

Created on: April 18, 2008

Middle-class families are having fewer children on average than they were a few generations ago. Families are often composed of a single parent with one or two children. But even as the birth rate dwindles and people have smaller families, there is a trend in our society which entails the building of larger and larger houses.

We are told growing up that home-ownership is priority number one in achieving "The American Dream". Everyone knows a home is a good investment. No one wants to pay rent forever, only to grow old and still have no property to his or her name. When many of our ancestors came to this country, the future was as wide open as the prairies, and they got it into their heads that the average person could, in this new place, own a castle something that was only an option for the aristocracy in "the old world". Understandably, sayings like "A man's home is his castle" emerged and became part of popular culture.

But how many people really and truly need, for example, a dining room, a computer room/office, two full bathrooms complete with showers and vanity mirrors, long hallways throughout the house, guest bedrooms, game rooms, and huge basements? There doesn't seem to be any harm in having these things, as long as the owner can indeed afford them. But considering the growing number of foreclosures and bankrupcies around the U.S. in recent years, we may be able to benefit as a society by scrutinizing this issue just a bit.

A dining room is superfluous unless the homeowner needs to entertain on a regular basis. Many families can and do eat in the kitchen at a nice table. Let's take the average family of three or four. The morning may be a crazy time, but is it really necessary to work longer hours and more years before retirement in order to have a few extra minutes in the bathroom before leaving the house? Essentially, the owner winds up paying to heat and air condition extra rooms, clean more space, buy more accessories and decorations for the house the expenses can really pile up.

People these days seem to have lost sight of certain priorities in life. The original goal of working is for most people to be able to sufficiently cover the basics, have some extra spending money, pay for large expenses down the road like college, and put a bunch away for the golden age of retirement. But for generations now we of the American public has been taught to spoil ourselves, treat ourselves to expensive luxuries, splurge to celebrate every accomplishment or

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