There's nothing wrong with a big house if you can afford it. Real estate brokers are fond of reminding us that a house is, for most Americans, their single largest investment. But it also is their single largest expense.
Monumental houses discourage thrift and encourage extravagance and excess.
We feel compelled to fill them up, not just with the essentials, but with gadgets and gizmos and well, stuff, if only because there's room for it. A smaller home is far less demanding. It encourages you to be selective about the things you live with and demands simple living. A large house is wasteful in even more fundamental ways. Even if you can afford a 5,000 square-foot house, a home half that size could actually give you more space in which to live.