Breaking Free of Suburbia's Stranglehold

She and her husband could just about afford the mortgage, and they were dipping into savings to pay for unexpected expenses. Their credit card debt was creeping up. And they couldn't tithe at their church as they wanted to.

Five years after they bought the house, she and husband Steve, 48, an accountant, sat down at the kitchen table and ran the numbers. The outsize home had to go. And with it, the "prestige of living in the Regency," Steve said.

Julie gave up her granite countertops. Steve gave up his library. Son Ryan, 14, gave up proximity to his best friends across the street, who shared his passion for music. Daughter Taryn, 15, endured quizzing from classmates about the sudden move.

" 'My parents wanted to downsize,' " she would tell them. "They didn't really understand. They'd just ask me again the next day and want a different answer. I was annoyed."

The teenager was sitting at a bare kitchen table in her new house, a creamy four-bedroom colonial in the Carisbrooke subdivision. The Johnstons feel lucky to have found a single-family home in their price range in the same school district. Taryn cried the day the moving trucks came.

She misses the cathedral ceiling in her old bedroom. "To her, it was a big deal," Julie said. "And I understand that."

They also gave up their cleaning crew -- at $85 a pop every two weeks -- and their membership to the Ashburn Village Sports Pavilion. To compensate, the Johnstons added a basketball goal in front of their house. It sits across from the neighbor's hoop, and it's easy to imagine full-court pickup games there.

"Not on this cul-de-sac. There's no one around my age," Ryan said.

Despite the pangs, the family members say they are pleased with the move. Even the children say it's a relief to see their parents with less stress.

They no longer have to witness their parents' constant discussions about finances. The family has more disposable income now, so Taryn is dreaming of a Coach purse. Steve has eased his rule that the family could eat out only for $20 total; they celebrated Julie's birthday at a Bonefish Grill the other night.

"It's relaxed and a lot more fun now," Julie said.

The Schnelzers: Let It Grow

The lawn was half-mowed. It stayed that way for days, just as Doug Schnelzer had left it. His wife, Liz, joked that it had sprouted sideburns and wondered whether a citation letter from their homeowners association was in the mail.