How many square feet per person do you a) have b) want?

[King Alfred Academy]

We will be living in 594 sq. ft. in a couple of months for maybe five years! Ugh! Oh, and there are four of us.

 

We've already started making preparations. You can see them here. We are getting rid of things left and right and finding creative solutions for storage. I'll be the first to admit they may not be pretty solutions, but I have to think practical for now. Besides, I'll make it pretty when I finally get a chance to.

 

Am I going to make it? That is a tight space, huh!?!:blink:

[Jill- OK]

(I say "I think" because there are two different statements on the size in our paperwork)

 

Dh would like a bigger house; I think it's just right, and will be even a tad big when it's just the two of us. (Family of seven, right now).

 

One thing I would like to do is add more concrete outside; we have an extra long drive, and a pad to the side of it that I'd like to extend out along the side of the house (for the RV I'd like to own, someday. See "Bucket of Money" wish, down below). The back patio isn't in great condition (I don't know what the folks were thinking when they put it in; there's some sort of rocky-type stuff that's falling apart and needs to be broken up and done away with). If we could fix that...I think dh would feel as if we had more room. Not being able to fully utilize/enjoy the patio/outdoor areas is a big deal, to me.

 

Now, if only a bucket of money would fall from the sky, LOL! ;)

[Kathleen in VA]

What is your secret to making it all work?

 

Shannon,

 

Prayer and lots of it! I often turn to God in prayer as I bump into things and move yet another stack of things to make room for dinner or school, or cram the vacuum cleaner into the tiny hall closet. Also, I have given up on the notion of having a Better Homes and Gardens house - we live here and it shows.

 

We have a large crawl space where I put large plastic bins of out-of-season clothes and hand-me-downs which we rotate twice a year. Even though we have to bend over to get in there, we do not have to get on our hands and knees. (I've dreamed on more than one occasion that the crawl space was mysteriously transformed into a basement - waking up was difficult to do;).)

 

I have a garage which is lined with inexpensive shelving. All the games, extra books, art supplies, canned goods, freezer, washer and dryer, tool bench, dh's old files and computer junk, etc. is kept. We also bought 2 wardrobes from IKEA for my two oldest to keep there clothes in which are in the center of the garage. They are in the Civil Air Patrol so they have lots of uniforms and "stuff" associated with that which takes up an awful lot of room.

 

My 3 sons share a 10' x 12' room with a small closet. They have an IKEA loft bed and a bunk bed, 3 IKEA dressers, 2 bookcases and a very full closet. We constantly purge.

 

My daughters share an 8' X 9' room - which a friend nicknamed "The Harry Potter Room" that has a bunkbed, 2 dressers, 2 bookcases and a very full closet. We constantly purge there too.

 

In my 15' X 15' living room I have a piano, 2 armchairs, a 7 ft. sofa, a corner china cabinet, a bookcase, a computer desk with computer, a TV armoire (so I don't have the TV in my face all the time) 2 end tables and 1 elliptical exercise machine. I got the elliptical because I have 6 screws in my back and that is the only exercise I can do without causing injury. We are constantly having to walk around it and sometimes just out of sheer frustration and to break the tension I holler out, "Who put this thing here??"

 

We do not have a dining room - we have an eat-in kitchen. The design is miserable. The back door to the house opens into the dining area at one end and the door to the garage opens into the dining area at the other end. If I want to go outside I have to shove the table towards the LR to get the door open. (I avoid using that door but in the summer we all use it more because we have a small pool in the back yard and to avoid walking in the dirt the children come in and out through the back door.) If I am doing laundry I have to shove the table towards the back door so I can get in and out of the garage with the laundry baskets. I keep the chair on the garage end on the side of the table until we sit down to eat and then I pull it around to the end of the table. I remind myself often that when the oldest were little, I dragged them to the laundromat - it is such a gift to have a washer and dryer. I also remind myself that, although my dining area is a pain in the neck, I have never lacked for food to put on the table.

 

My bedroom is crammed. I try not to go in there lest I just sit down and cry. I keep the bed made because it is the only place in the room where I have any control over what the room looks like :).

 

It is hard for me to maintain a positive outlook sometimes. Often it helps to realize that even though this seems tough, there are many people all around the world who would gladly trade places with me in an instant.

 

I try to appreciate the little things such as hot running water, great neighbors (you can't buy those, you know), great children (God has been very gracious to me there), my health (my back problems are painful and annoying but I am not dying of anything), a husband who is willing to work 2 jobs for all the 22 years we've been married so that I can stay home and homeschool our children, a stable adulthood (my Dad was in the Navy so we moved a lot, my parents are divorced, my mom was on welfare, I was a confused, angry person at one point in my life), and the realization that this life is very, very short no matter how long one lives so I had better not waste it by fretting over things I cannot change.

 

Of all the trials in life, not having a big enough house is one of the least troublesome. So many times I read stories where folks have had to experience unspeakable tragedies and it just breaks my heart. So far, God has spared us gut-wrenching grief and I am very thankful for that. I know that if we ever do have to deal with anything tragic, God will give me the grace to deal with it. Nevertheless, I am very, very grateful that I the only thing I've had to deal with over the years is having to live in somewhat cramped quarters.

[Desert Rat]

We have 4 of us in 1490 sf. We have an awesome layout so we have lots of room. I make sure I clean out the clutter at least 3 times a year (yes, I'm a bit OCD!) We only have pets that live in tanks so we don't have any four legged friends under foot. The only time the house feels too small is the summer time when we're stuck inside most of the day (gotta love the desert!). Otherwise, I love my space!

[Danestress]

We've had everything from 900 sq. ft. for a family of five to 3600 sq. ft. for four (five when our oldest comes home).

 

I think as my children got older, smaller living spaces got harder and harder. I'm an introvert and I think my husband and oldest are too. Each of us really needs time alone. Each of us needs "space" figuratively and literally. Sometimes I can not deal with the constant noise and activity of family life and I want to go back in my bedroom and read alone.

 

When the children were babies, though, the really small place was great. Less to clean, easier to keep track of them. I didn't mind it that much at the time. When our children are grown, DH and I will surely sell this place and get something much smaller, and I look forward to that.

[iquilt]

1800 sf for a family of 5, no pets - we are very happy here, we use what would be our formal dining room as our school/playroom

[MelissaM]

We have 3300 sq. ft for 6 people. We use all of our space and love having lots of it.

 

That said, I could live in a much smaller house and still be very happy.

[Sarah CB]

We have 6 people in 4700sq ft. Our last house had 2300sq ft and a fantastic layout. It would have been enough room.

 

I do enjoy having more space, but sometimes we lose the 2 year old.

[HRAAB]

2,400 sq. ft. for 7 (well 6 now since dd moved out, but she's always here...). It's fine. We also have 1.6 acres which is they live during the summer.

 

I'm pondering downsizing as the children leave the nest. As long as I have room for my books. ;)

 

Janet

[Scarlett]

I'm late to this thread but here ya go.

 

We have 2350 for 3 people. We had 1100 for 16 years, then ds was born and we had 3 people in 1100 for another 2 1/2 years. It wasn't the baby that made things get too crowded. It was MIL moving and giving us a bunch of JUNK that dh would not refuse.

 

I could easily make do with less space, IF I was could get rid of stuff.

 

However, I will say that for our family the stress went way down when we got more sf. YMMV.

 

I do agree totally with whomever said that the lay out makes all the difference. Everyone who walks in my house thinks it is a lot bigger than it really is.

[Aubrey]

We have 6 people in 4700sq ft. Our last house had 2300sq ft and a fantastic layout. It would have been enough room.

 

I do enjoy having more space, but sometimes we lose the 2 year old.

 

LOL--sometimes *we* lose our littles, & space has never been the reason. It's the quiet-storm-brewing-trouble.

[Murphy101]

we moved here a year ago from a 1000 or 100 per person.

[LisaKinVA]

Currently, we're at 6 in 900 square feet (150 per person), in 7 more months we'll be 7 in 900 square feet (about 130 per person). Walls are closing in on me ...

 

We plan to begin building our new home in June. It will give us about 500 square feet of finished living space per person. Until we're in the house, though, it's just a fantasy:tongue_smilie: