By Jacqueline Kimball
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Across America there’s a movement afoot, albeit a “small” one. People are paring down to essentials and letting go of life’s clutter.

As Sarah Susanka writes in her book, The Not So Big House, “Over time we can too easily become jaundiced to the simple pleasures of existence, and our homes become just one more chore to maintain.”

The perfect size
Which leads us to northwest  Columbus resident Mary Jo Buckingham, who raised six children in a large, split-level house. Tired of cleaning it and using only a few of its rooms, she’s eager to downsize and move to a cozy nest at Hickory Chase, the Erickson retirement community under construction in northwest Columbus.

She wants something similar to the Chadwick, a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment home with an optional patio.

Niether a saver—“It has to be functional or out it goes,” nor a collector—“With six kids, who had time to collect?” Buckingham joined the Hickory Chase priority list to reserve her place in line for a home there. She wants a smaller size because, “I won’t be there that much, and it won’t be as expensive.” And, she says, she’d rather surround herself with friends and neighbors than with things.

So she’ll spend her time at Cardinal Clubhouse, swimming at the aquatics center and doing aerobics at the fitness center. She’ll go on trips, visit her daughter in Wales, and pursue her favorite pastime—golf.

Smaller, simpler
Retirement Counselor Debra Fondoulis says people interested in a smaller  home at Hickory Chase tell her they want to simplify their lives. “They tell me they don’t need the amount of space or things they needed in the past,” she says, “and that’s very freeing for many of them.”

Others, who have a warmer-climate home, say Hickory Chase will be their second home. “This is an affordable way to have two homes with no  maintenance concerns,” Fondoulis says. “Plus, there are credits toward their monthly service package expenses when they’re gone from their Hickory Chase home.”