I reached the same conclusion as you in January. I've since walked away from my mortgage on a two bedroom place in the burbs and bought an efficiency condo in

I reached the same conclusion as you in January. I've since walked away from my mortgage on a two bedroom place in the burbs and bought an efficiency condo in downtown. I paid cash and in retrospect realize that my need for a two bedroom place was not well founded. I don't have kids and am not married so a two bedroom place wasn't necessary. Right now all of my expenses to live in my efficiency is 10% less than what my mortgage payment was. I think the message of society (and by this I mean media and advertising) is that more is better. There tends to be a glorification of buying stuff merely for the object of buying stuff. "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" was ahead of its time in this regard. Now we have all kinds of such shows. I fell into the trap of going along with this type of thinking but have since seen the way in which my subconscious was manipulated. The keeping up with the Jonses mentality is real and it's hard to step back and ask, "Why is this necessary?"