Financial freedom is about having enough money to live the life you want to live. The question is how do you create your version of financial freedom?
A few days ago I was on a walk around my neighborhood with my husband when we saw a big, chaotic family of six walking up the road toward us. My husband and I don’t have any children and we happily live in 550 square-feet together. The other day our friend asked, “When are ya’ll moving out of this PO box?” We’ve discovered that we only need two rooms to be happy. It works for us. Most importantly, spending a small amount of money on our housing allows us financial freedom to live fun-filled lives without having to work all the time.
My husband and I are used to being judged for our unique choice of living in a smaller space than most people. However, that doesn’t keep me from judging other people’s lifestyle choices. I’m not proud of myself, but I can’t deny, as I saw the rambunctious family of six walking toward me, I thought, “What are these people thinking? Ugh, how do they do it with such a big family? Most importantly, why?!”
As I walked toward this bustling bundle of constant movement and noise, I couldn’t help smiling. There were four redheaded boys all close in age. The youngest was a baby being held by his mother.
“This looks like me and my brothers,” my husband said.
Of course! My husband comes from a family of four boys all two years apart. This is what his childhood must have looked like. The parents stood like still trees as the children ran and climbed like monkeys.
By the time we met on the road, I was even more curious about this family. How do they support this big family? Are they happy?
We chatted briefly. They explained that they live in the neighborhood and that their boys were all two years apart. I told them how excited I was to see a family like the one my husband grew up in. It was obvious that they were used to people being shocked by the size of their young family. Still they seemed very happy and at peace with their choice.
The interaction with the family stuck with me for a few days. Why did they want so many children, when I, myself, am concerned about the cost of one child? 
Then, I happened upon a blog post from a father about what not to say to someone with a lot of children. I finally understood.
In the blog, the father explained that his family of seven doesn’t function like most typical families. They don’t eat out at restaurants, ever. Their children share rooms. The older kids babysit the younger kids. Financially, it works for them. hey have made a choice that goes against the norm but they are able to maintain their financial freedom. Just my husband and I choose to live in a small space so that we can spend more money on travel and other luxuries, these big families make choices so that they can comfortably have a large family.
While it may look like my micro family of two doesn’t have anything in common with a family of seven, we do. We both know how to create our financial freedom and we both do it in a way that others don’t understand. We make specific choices that enable us to live the exact life we want.
I choose to live small for my financial freedom.