jackson'smama Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 in a family of five? we do great with one right now but our oldest child is 7. everyone keeps saying "when they're teenagers, you'll need more". and for them, they're meaning the formal dining space in addition to the eat-in kitchen...the formal living room so you can 'escape' the kids in the family room...the master en suite to have your 'private retreat' for bathing...etc... we are building and we are increasing sq footage by about 400 feet. i want enough space but can't stand wasted space. this house has 2.5 baths on the plan but we're making the downstairs a full bath instead of half because this is our forever house and we're planning for when we're old and may make our bedroom downstairs. that leaves the kids a bath upstairs and a master bath for just us. i don't wanna clean 3 bathrooms. and it just seems too much. i don't see why a family can't share the upstairs bath and then have the downstairs one as the "spare". am i crazy? most people in real life think i am so i thought i'd ask here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 No....our family of 5 has lived with 2. In fact, we've lived with essentially one for a while. I grew up with one bathroom. You'll be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We raised 4 kids with a 2 bathroom house. We had ours, and the kids had theirs. No problem. We WANTED them to share- learning how to work that kind of thing out was good for them. Who cleans it, how to manage the space, negotiating bathroom time in the morning...all valuable stuff. And plus, I don't like to clean bathrooms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 in a family of five? I have a family of four, with a teen and a pre-teen, and it would be crazy for us to have more than *one* bathroom. We wouldn't want the extra work of cleaning and maintaining another one. It's easy for us to share the one bathroom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in Neverland Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I was raised in a home with 1 bathroom and 6 people. You'll be fine with 2. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedmom4 Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We have 4 children and now that three of them are teens I WISH I had 3 full bathrooms. I have two girls and two boys. It would be much easier if the girls had their own bathroom. If I was building a house right now 3 full baths would be the bare minimum. Good luck! Elise in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I was raised in a home with 1 bathroom and 6 people. me, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommie_Jen Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I am one of four kids and we had 1 1/2 bathrooms growing up. There was no master bath at my parents' house, just the half bath downstairs and the full bath upstairs. It wasn't until the first two kids, possibly three, I don't remember, were out of the house before they we able to remodel the downstairs bath area and add a shower. We have 2 full baths now, one up and one down. I think even if we threw another kid in the mix we would be ok. We have an older house so we don't have a master bath either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amo_mea_filiis. Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I grew up in a family of 5 with one bathroom. We survived. You just made sure to use the bathroom in the morning before Grandpa did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We're a family of four (two of whom are teens). We have two bathrooms. It works fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Most of my growing up (including early teen years) was with 2 parents, 3 girls, and 1 bathroom! We eventually added a half bath, but we also added two more (male) adults and a toddler. More bathrooms would have been nice, but we survived, lol. I have 2 bathrooms and 5 kids (one in diapers.) The kids are responsible for most of the cleaning in "their" bathroom. The idea of having 4 bathrooms to clean doesn't bother me at all, considering there are 6 people (7, eventually!) to divvy up the work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackson'smama Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 thank you all! my practical self sees the downstarirs toilet and sink being used daily and the tub in that bathroom collecting dust. upstairs would really only be used at night. it just seems like too much. and i don't really get the master retreat/spa/just for you mentality...i don't relax in a bathroom so i don't have a problem sharing one with my children. i just felt like i had a third eyeball whenever telling anyone my plans of removing a bathroom from the floorplans. i guess i probably will concede to double sinks in the bath though. i've always hated that. we had a sink in the master at the old house that never got used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sevilla Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Two bathrooms (or 2.5 baths) should be just fine. The one thing I would recommend is if it is possible to 'split' the bathroom the kids use into toilet-sink and shower areas with a sliding door, so you can have one person using the restroom and another showering at the same time without smells/awkwardness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I was raised in a home with 1 bathroom and 6 people. You'll be fine with 2. ;) We have 1 bathroom with tub/shower and 2 water closets...( just toilet and sink) for 9 people. Yes, it can be annoying to wait for a shower sometimes....but it is definitely do-able. We have a well, and 2 showers going at the same time would never work anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We have two 10 year olds and only 1 bathroom right now. Our last house had 3 1/2 bathrooms and it was waaaaay too much to clean! 2 is plenty, although I do like having the extra half bath for guests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dani3boys Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I grew up in a family of seven and only one bathroom. We survived! We are a family of five that only has one bathroom, and most of the time it's fine. We only have boys, so that might make a difference. We are in the process of building a master bedroom and bathroom in the basement to give us all more space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 couple of thoughts, just to play devil's advocate: I know you say you're going to live there forever, but you might want to give some thought to resale anyway---if for no other reason than because your kids might eventually need to sell the house. I'm not clear on which bathroom you're talking about eliminating (one of the upstairs ones, right? but the master or the hall bath?)....but around here, at least, a house without a master bath or without a secondary bath near the other bedrooms would be a very hard sell. Another thing to remember is that YOU won't have 3 bathrooms to clean as the kids get bigger--you can farm out at least 2 of those :) I do think 2 bathrooms for 5 people is perfectly reasonable, but I just wanted to throw that out there to be contrary ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelbe5 Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 (edited) We are a family of five with one bathroom. While I would love another bathroom, we manage with what we have. For many years when I was growing up I did not have a bedroom. I slept on a sofa bed in the living room. I don't think it scarred me . . . much! :tongue_smilie: My beloved Grandma who was born in Scotland lived in a two room house which had no running water (outhouse) with 12 brothers and sisters. :D. What I have is luxurious compared to that! ETA I am glad we homeschool so we are not all trying to use the one bathroom we have in the morning to get ready to go out the door! Another ETA: when my parents grew up in Scotland (came here in 1961) my mom lived in a flat with a half bath (no bathtub). Weekly she would go to the public bath for a proper bath. Rest of the week it was a sponge bath and hair washing in the sink. Edited July 31, 2012 by jelbe5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 No, two bathrooms for a family of 5 is great. We only had one bathroom when I was pregnant with family member #6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 :lol: My family of 8 had 1 bathroom. In it was a tub, no shower. Would have been nice to have an extra commode in the basement, but we survived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tress Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 No one (well, almost no one.....and certainly no one I know) in the Netherlands has two bathrooms. The tought of cleaning *two* bathrooms makes me :svengo:. One bathroom is fine, two is more than enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 (edited) I don't need 3.5 baths. However, I wouldn't give them up easily either. 1. Master bath is mine. I don't want the kids in there. There's nothing special about it. House was built in 1972 and master bath has had no renovation. It's quite small. But I don't want to share. 2. Kids bath. Since they aren't using mine this is theirs. 3. Half bath on main level. This is kept clean and guest ready. It's a half bath so that's not hard. Other bathrooms are not kept guest ready. 4. Basement. We added this. We live in a townhouse and our basement is finished. It's nice to have a bathroom on each level. It had enough room for a shower so we put one in. When we have guests they stay in the basement so having a shower available down there gives guests and us some privacy from each other. This is the bathroom I would give up first. The 3 full baths are as small as they can possibly be--just barely fit the toilet and tub or shower. So, I wouldn't say having them wastes space in the house. ETA: I think you need to think about resale. Even if you never plan to move, you do need to think about resale. Where I live most people would expect to see at least 2 full baths. Also, having at least a toilet on each level is nice. Both my teens take long showers. They aren't using my bathroom, so it's not something I have to argue with them about. Edited July 31, 2012 by betty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandst Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 In our previous house we had 1 (with a bath and shower) and 1/2 one from the master with a big shower. We are only a family of four but we have fostered a teen till adulhood and when her sister was visiting for the weekend we would be six. I found that sometimes I had to put my foot down as teens can really take their time. But we survived. We now have 3 baths but this is an old house and one is unusable, the plumbing is there but we need to install new fixtures and finish it up. The other two are also in need of an update and the only shower in the house is unusable and I really do not like the bath that much. I am sure you can make with two but like someone said it has to do with the area. You have to consider sellability in the future. We inherited my in-laws house and luckly was close enough to our other place for us to be able to mone into it but I am afraid that we have to do lots of updates and upgrades in order to be able to re-sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 (edited) Up until three years ago we had one. :D It wasn't so bad. Now we have four. You know what people don't tell you? All of those bathrooms have to be cleaned. :glare: Nope. I think two is just about right. :D ETA - We were a family of ten then. Edited July 31, 2012 by BlsdMama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 The house I grew up in had a bath and a half. We were a family of 4. It was not an issue. The house I live in now has a bath and a half. We are a family of 4. Still not an issue only having 1 shower. I don't see what the big deal is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bee Happy Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 More bathrooms = more cleaning. We have 2 and 4 kids. My girls really don't spend much time in the bathroom, so it's been fine. Actually, the cat's litter is in one and he pretty much has taken it over (sitting in the window, hanging on the warm rugs, playing with the toilet paper :glare: ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommaduck Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Family of ten and we only have one bathroom. When there were five of us, we only had one bathroom. We could definitely use a second with ten. With five, a second would have been a luxury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impish Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Ha! Up until we moved, we'd only had 1 bathroom for the 5 of us (Boo not counting yet, as far as bathroom usage goes). Having 2 is a huge blessing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I agree about resale value. If you really want a downstairs master, go for it. It may affect resale, tho, because many younger parents don't want to sleep on a different floor than their children. One solution is to put a bathroom upstairs that is accessible from the master and the hall, and just let the kids use it. Are you going right into the downstairs master, or is it for later? A downstairs master makes a nice homeschooling room...:D just sayin'. I would definitely put in a powder room (just sink/potty) for the downstairs. It's a breeze to clean and keep guest-ready. Again, for resale, lots of people do not like to share bathrooms with their children. So a master bathroom and a hall bathroom, or jack-and-jill bathroom between kids' rooms, is a very good idea. And you don't have to clean them--that was MY job as a kid! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 There are 4 of us and 1&1/2 baths. I hate having to clean the 1/2 b/c it is upstairs in Dd's room (which also makes it almost of no use to us). Her room was meant to be the master, but with two bedrooms upstairs and one down, we put the two kids up there--and we like having our room on the main floor. Since I try not to go upstairs, I often forget to check Dd's bathroom. Sometimes it gets to be in desperate need of a cleaning. I wish the 1/2 was a 1 and that it was centrally located to be more useful. As it is, it really is like we have 1 bathroom---but it works out fine for us. Since my 1/2 is so inconvenient, I almost wish it would just disappear! Then I wouldn't have to clean it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I was raised in a home with 1 bathroom and 6 people. You'll be fine with 2. ;) My xbil was the youngest of 7, so 9 total, and only 1 bathroom. I think 2 is pretty standard and livable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarreymere Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We had a family of 11 with four teen girls in a house with one bathroom. THEY didn't like it much.......but we had a schedule and we stuck to the schedule and it worked out just fine. I would have liked to have had a second at least half bath, but whatever. Heck no I don't see ever needing more than two bathrooms unless the third one comes with a cleaning lady! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We have 1.5 baths with 3 adults and 2 kids. I do wish we had another full bath, but 2.5 should be plenty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackson'smama Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Two bathrooms (or 2.5 baths) should be just fine. The one thing I would recommend is if it is possible to 'split' the bathroom the kids use into toilet-sink and shower areas with a sliding door, so you can have one person using the restroom and another showering at the same time without smells/awkwardness. good idea...i'll see if it'll work! thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly1730 Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 My dil's family had four girls and only one bath. Have no idea how they managed that, but they did.:) We have 2.5 baths. A full bath off of our master bedroom, which I love! We were married for almost 30 years before I got my own bathroom and I'm not going to give it up easily:) I like being able to get ready in the morning without having to leave my room. We have a half bath on the main floor which is lovely for guests and I can clean it in about 5 minutes or less. The second full bath is on the second floor with kid's bedrooms, schoolroom and dh's office/guest room. We certainly could live with less, and have, but this seems the perfect amount for us. Cleaning them, however, is NOT on the list of my favorite things to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We had only one with five and were fine. We still have only one, but we have four now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We managed when I was growing up with 2 bathrooms, with 4 teenage girls at times. It helped that the kids' bathroom had 2 sinks and a wide vanity area. IMO, you don't need 3 bathrooms. I'd probably set your third (downstairs) as for guests only, to minimize how often you need to clean it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackson'smama Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 couple of thoughts, just to play devil's advocate: I know you say you're going to live there forever, but you might want to give some thought to resale anyway---if for no other reason than because your kids might eventually need to sell the house. I'm not clear on which bathroom you're talking about eliminating (one of the upstairs ones, right? but the master or the hall bath?)....but around here, at least, a house without a master bath or without a secondary bath near the other bedrooms would be a very hard sell. Another thing to remember is that YOU won't have 3 bathrooms to clean as the kids get bigger--you can farm out at least 2 of those :) I do think 2 bathrooms for 5 people is perfectly reasonable, but I just wanted to throw that out there to be contrary ;) it would be an elimination of the master bath. the "hall bath" would be the only bathroom upstairs and i'm enlarging it from what it is on the plans. so it would be one big bath upstairs with four bedrooms. downstairs would be one standard fullsize bath with the thought that the current school room could someday be a bedroom and i'd want a full bath to be down there with it. i get the whole resale thing though. but we're talking so far into the future (hopefully!) that i feel like i need to really think about how my family's gonna be living in it and this also gives us a little more bedroom space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Family of 5 here. Go for the 3rd bathroom. Your oldest is old enough to start helping you clean the bathrooms. By the time she is 9, she'll be able to do a whole bathroom herself in half an hour or so. By 12 she'll be as fast as you are, and the others will be able to help. There's no need for you to do it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalicoKat Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 No, family of 7 with 1.5 baths. :D There can be a line. But no emergencies yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We have 2 baths, and area bout to be a family of 5. And I see no issue with it. In fact, one bathroom has a shower that doesn't work, so we all shower in the one, and have two that we can potty in. No problems what so ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I never realized we were supposed to have more than one. We have a family of five, though my oldest is in college now, and we've only had one bathroom. We all survived. We never had any problems I can recall either. My mom was one of 6 kids and they only had one bathroom for their family of 8. They survived too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackson'smama Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 I agree about resale value.If you really want a downstairs master, go for it. It may affect resale, tho, because many younger parents don't want to sleep on a different floor than their children. One solution is to put a bathroom upstairs that is accessible from the master and the hall, and just let the kids use it. Are you going right into the downstairs master, or is it for later? A downstairs master makes a nice homeschooling room...:D just sayin'. I would definitely put in a powder room (just sink/potty) for the downstairs. It's a breeze to clean and keep guest-ready. Again, for resale, lots of people do not like to share bathrooms with their children. So a master bathroom and a hall bathroom, or jack-and-jill bathroom between kids' rooms, is a very good idea. And you don't have to clean them--that was MY job as a kid! :D ok, here's the deal: downstairs will be a full bath. the school room is downstairs but could *someday* be a bedroom if our old selves don't wanna go upstairs. they are not connected as in a "suite". it's just a full size downstairs hall bath that's actually just a half-bath on the plans - we're increasing it's size to make it a full bath for our elderly future :001_smile:. upstairs is four bedrooms. the plans call for a master suite and a hall bath to be shared by other bedroom inhabitants. to me, it feels like wasted space to have that many bathrooms. the downstairs bath is not negotiable. i want it to be a full bath. it's the upstairs that's in question. i don't feel a need to have a separate bathroom from my children. but moreso, i want to increase the size of my master bedroom. i'd rather share a bathroom than bump my toes on my bedroom furniture. we're trying to be as minimal with our space requirement as possible - enough to be comfortable and hold our stuff but not wasted rooms that are only used on occasion. any other advice would be greatly appreciated (as in "i wouldn't eliminate a bathroom, i'd ________") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tristangrace Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I grew up in a family of seven with two bathrooms. I don't remember any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 "Only" 2?? Goodness, I know many people hwo have only one! Of course, more than two is a wonderful thing, but two would work just fine, especially if you can design it so that some can use the potty while others are at the sink or in the tub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meggie Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We have 1.5 baths now for our family of five. For us, the extra toilet is essential bc *someone* takes FOR.EV.ER on the potty. It's nice having a backup for emergencies. That someone grew up in a house with one bathroom. I grew up in a house with four. You'd think someone would have learned to be faster. Also, pretty sure my mom never had to clean more than her bathroom. We cleaned the other three Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We only have 2 bathrooms and we are 3 adults and 2 teenagers. There is a hall bathroom and our master suite bathroom. The only time the master suite bathroom is off limits is when DH has gone to bed at night. Otherwise, both are available to all of us at any time during the day. We rarely have a problem with a backup. Then again, we don't have the entire household needing to be in the bathrooms at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 For 5 people, I'd want a minimum of 2.5 bathrooms. We actually have 3.5 bathrooms in our current house. Our first house had 2 bathrooms and if more than 2 people were sick at the same time (and my dh and youngest are especially prone to stomach bugs), having just 2 bathrooms was a nightmare. Our second house had 3 full bathrooms and that was much better. We would do fine with 3 full baths or even 2.5 baths, but I love having 3.5 baths. We have two full baths upstairs (each intended to be shared between two bedrooms, but dh uses one of the bedrooms as an office) and 1.5 baths downstairs (one for the master bath and a 1/2 bath between the garage and the kitchen). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calm37 Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 We have two for a family of 6. 5 of us share the upstairs one and my oldest has the downstairs pretty much all to herself. You are right, you don't want one more to clean! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackson'smama Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 "Only" 2?? Goodness, I know many people hwo have only one! Of course, more than two is a wonderful thing, but two would work just fine, especially if you can design it so that some can use the potty while others are at the sink or in the tub. i felt bad saying "only 2"....but that's how it seems to be regarded these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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