Are big houses easier to clean then little ones?

[3 ladybugs]

My in laws are in town. They are about 3-5 years from retiring and they are now saying that when they retire they want to sell their house and move out here and have a family compound. Ideally with them in a smaller guest house, BIL in a room over a garage with a bathroom (he is autistic and unlikely to move out ever) and us to sell our house and live in a bigger house that we can all gather in. 😳😳😳

 

We have a 1200 sq foot house not including our basement. We love our house and the thought of more room only sounds good until I think about cleaning the house! I have a hard enough time keeping up with this place! MIL says that bigger houses are easier to clean because stuff is more spread out and you have more room. Is this true? I find it a bit far fetched.

 

Btw hubby says we are not selling our house. He loves it here. So this should get interesting! ☺ï¸ðŸ˜„

[Catwoman]

Your MIL is a big fibber. :)

[purplejackmama]

NO!!

[OneStepAtATime]

Uh...I guess that depends on how much stuff you have, whether you are normally willing to cull down to fit into the space you have, or if you are the kind of person that just keeps adding to your stuff so you can fill the new, bigger space.  Also, the size of the smaller home vs. the size of the larger home.

 

But generally?  No.  Not at all.  She has no clue what she is talking about.

 

Bigger house means a lot more space to keep clean.  More dusting. mopping, vacuuming, wiping, etc.  And a lot more places something can go missing.  And more volume needed with regards to cleaning supplies.  More costly to keep cool/hot.  Usually higher property taxes.  More expensive when you need to replace flooring. etc. etc. etc.  Yes there may be more space for stuff, so perhaps you might have less clutter, but easier to keep clean?  NO.  :)

 

Good luck, OP.  :)

[OneStepAtATime]

Uncluttered houses are easier to clean than cluttered ones, and small houses can often be cluttered. I'd rather declutter than add more rooms to my workload though.

This.  Sadie put it better than I did...and with a lot fewer words.  :)

[JustEm]

My friend 3000 sq ft house is just as cluttered and dirty as my 1400 sq ft house

[quark]

It all depends on the floor plan and how cluttered the home is...but having lived in a house twice the current size, I vote smaller house any day!

[3 ladybugs]

My house isn't cluttered. I have a 6 year old and a nearly 2 year old. So yes there are toys in nearly every room. The basement also has a lot of stuff stored in it, but I don't think of my house as cluttered. My biggest challenge to cleaning it is getting toys picked up. That would be true in any house though.

[OneStepAtATime]

Ran out of stupid likes.  Like everyone.

[ThisIsTheDay]

Definitely NOT easier!  Went from 2600 to 1800 sf, and the difference was HUGE.  I would never want a big house again! 

[SproutMamaK]

Nope. Your clutter tends to fill your space. Even if you have less stuff in more space, your kids will still manage to drag something from one side of the house to the other and leave it there, and now you not only have two rooms to clean instead of one, but it's farther apart and takes even more time to tidy up. And that's aside from actual CLEANING which is just ARG.

Your MIL speaks LIES. ;)

[3 ladybugs]

Unless you are like my MIL who lives in a huge house, where all but three rooms are covered in plastic and unused. I guess she gets the best of both worlds, big house, less cleaning.

 

The plastic only ever comes off in the dining room once a year when the priest comes for dinner.

That is scary thought! They are catholic and we converted to Lutheran. I hope they don't think they can get me to go back! Or entertain a visiting priest! 😱

[Rosie_0801]

Bigger houses have more room for cupboard space, so things can actually be put away. That's got to make vacuuming easier.

[waa510]

I'm former military and have lived in a huge variety of sizes and layouts. I'm backing everyone up here in telling you that NO, a smaller house is so so much better. I'm in 1,100 sq ft of living space here and loving it!! I definitely cleaned a lot more when in a larger space.

 

It sounds like MIL is craving a bit more company and possible help with BIL as she gets older. Not out of line really, but I think that can be accomplished without living on a massive family compound.  :huh:

[waa510]

Unless you are like my MIL who lives in a huge house, where all but three rooms are covered in plastic and unused. I guess she gets the best of both worlds, big house, less cleaning. 

 

The plastic only ever comes off in the dining room once a year when the priest comes for dinner.

 

 

:lol:  This is my in-laws' house as well. 

[SereneHome]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I love our house, love it, love it, love it.  It took us 2 yrs and hundreds of houses to find it.  Love the layout , love the space.

 

But I can never keep it clean.  NEVER!  And my standards are not even that high.

 

For me to keep the house clean, I have to clean every.single.day.  Bc by the time I am done with one area, the other one needs attention.

 

My husband would love for this house to be our forever home.  I can not see myself cleaning it when I am 20-30 yrs older.  I am already old and tired.

 

 

[momto10blessings]

No, absolutely not. I miss my small house and how quickly I could clean it.

[Amira]

A million times no. Or a zillion times. I cannot wait to return to a two-bedroom apartment in a few months after cleaning a huge house for two years.

[PeacefulChaos]

As a standard rule, no.

 

But honestly, I think a person who is really into cleaning will keep any size house really clean.  And I do think clutter plays into it, and that clutter is sometimes unavoidable... sometimes I feel like a bigger house would be easier just because there would be less clutter, as I'm not the type to just 'fill' a house with clutter because I can.  It all has to do with the storage space offered/number of bookshelves/etc.

 

My grandma is very, very neat.  Growing up the house was always spotless - she's the type who would be like, 'oh, sorry I didn't get a chance to clean' but the only thing 'out of place' was a newspaper laying on a couch cushion lol.  The only place in the house with clutter was my desk.  I even managed to keep everything pretty neat, except for that.  :P  

From a 1200 sf house to a 2100 sf house to, now, 1800 sf, it's always been the same, as far as how clean it is.  :)  

 

It is worth noting, too, that I was the only kid living in a house for all those years with my grandparents, and since 2001 it's just been the two of them.  So it wasn't like there were really many people there to get it messy or dirty... 

[MrsBasil]

For my mother it did.  She has pretty high standards for cleanliness IMO and she found that stuff and kids got in her way.  Once she had more room, she had more places to put stuff away and keep kids stuff out of the main rooms.

 

For me, it just means I fill it with more crap.  So it doesn't work that way for me.

 

It also probably depends on how much bigger you're talking.

 

 

[AK_Mom4]

I live in a house with 5 and 1/2 bathrooms.  5!!!  and 1/2!!!

 

Do you have any idea how long it takes to clean 5 and 1/2 bathrooms?  I bet your MIL has no idea either!

 

I am looking forward to downsizing in the future.   Very Down.

[kroe1]

I have had 1200 to 7000 sq. ft. Houses and everywhere in between. I can honestly say they all are hard to clean. What makes a difference to me is the newness of the construction. Newer is easier and more motivating to clean.

[Arcadia]

If bigger means a dedicated room for all of my dad's "hoard" then yes it would be neater than his stuff everywhere.

If bigger means just bigger than no. You get more dust everywhere to wipe and more floor space to mop or vacuum.

My aunts with six kids only allowed kids mess in their kids rooms and the dedicated playroom so the living and dining rooms are relatively clean

[LisaKinVA]

What Sadie said is generally true.

 

However, we have downsized from a 3400 sq. ft. house (not including the basement) to a 2700 sq. ft. house (including the basement).  This house is much more difficult to keep clean -- and we have less stuff than we did in our 3400 sq. ft. house.  

 

Materials matter.  Age of the home matters.  Clutter/Storage matters. Layout matters. How you live in the house matters. The environment around your home matters. There are other factors besides size.

 

Layout/Clutter Storage Matters.  With all of the rooms so concentrated, dirt gets everywhere faster.  More people in tighter spaces do make the rooms dirty faster.  My bathrooms are smaller -- and we lack good bathroom storage to keep things away.  The bedrooms are smaller the "closets" are smaller.  We left furniture back in VA that wouldn't make the trip, and still had some dressers break.  So...we lack storage in the bedrooms.  The rooms in general get cluttered up quickly, and are not easier to maintain -- because we use every square inch of this space daily.  What is driving me crazy is not having adequate storage space to keep the clutter out of our living area (which is also the school room, the pantry, the play room, and adjacent to my husband's workshop).  Italians don't build closets, and usually they move their storage with them...so we have to purchase storage :p  Which is the main reason why my house drives me crazy.  I can't "just get rid of the stuff" -- it's stuff we use.  I've gotten rid of stuff we will NOT use or haven't used since we moved here -- including silver plate and fancy dishes we haven't used in 15 years...but they were wedding gift items, and books I've kept "just in case").  But, I'm still battling clutter, because I still need to spend about $800 on storage in my basement hallway, and I need another $800 for the kitchen Island/microwave center, and I need between $500-$1000 to finish the main room.  I don't even "hoard food" anymore.  But, since my kitchen lacks adequate storage, kitchen stuff spills down into our longer-term storage area (where the Christmas decor goes, wrapping paper, files, etc.), our longer-term storage spills into the play/living/workshop areas, and well...the daily used stuff takes up space it shouldn't.  

 

 

Materials Matter.  I loathe glass showers...and Italians LOVE glass showers...glass showers are the WORST for easy maintenance.  It takes me longer to clean the 4x4 glass shower in my bathroom than it did to clean the 5x7 tile shower in my home in VA.  Style over function is what I live with on a daily basis...lets just say style does not mean "easy maintenance."  I miss my butterscotch/chocolate glazed cabinetry.  This shiny white stuff is for the birds (especially with 5 kids and a dog).  And, you know how the sliding door gets when you have a dog?  Well -- I have roughly-speaking 35 linear feet of "sliding glass doors" (they open, don't slide) on my main floor, not including 4 glass-panel sliding doors.  Keeping those clean is impossible.  Got radiators?  More dust collectors!  I had a wonderful HVAC system with a wonderful filtration system that really reduced the dust and allergens in our home -- even though we were in the country.  My house did not get dusty very fast (even when they were building new homes all around ours).  Here?  GAH!  It's everywhere...and it just keeps coming back!  My tile back home did not show dirt. I have a white marble floor.  It shows everything.  I used to be able to get away with a quick spot sweep and spot-mop most of the week (except for accidents).  Here?  Even though my kitchen is literally half the size of the one back home, I have to clean it every. single. day.  And, since the kitchen opens up to the entry hall and the main area...and the floor is WHITE...lets just say, you can't just stop at the kitchen door.

 

If you just have more space, to have more space -- and you fill up that space -- yeah, it's going to take more time to clean ALL the stuff. If the more space means that you can move around your furniture, that your things have a place to go, and the materials you choose lend themselves to an appearance of clean -- you will spend less time cleaning.

So, in my experience -- an easy-living layout, storage at least equal to your needs, and materials for function over style are much more important than the actual square footage you have.  

 

[bettyandbob]

Forget the cleaning.

 

MIL and FIL are expecting you to care for them as they age.

 

MIL and FIL are expecting you to care for BIL when they can't.

 

Some families do this. However, you do not want to take this on without SERIOUS thought. Your in laws should have already made plans for BIL that don't include you. Your in laws should have a plan for their own care that does not involve burdening you. Do they have the money to build a "compound"? If they do, then they likely have the money plan for their ages without intense reliance on you.

 

This isn't about a bigger house. You will have a lot more work. You will have a lot more responsibilities. You will no longer make plans, decisions or attend to your own dc the way you always have. Cleaning a bigger house is usually more work, clutter is a factor in smaller houses, but this scenario isn't about cleaning.

 

BTW I have child with a disability. He will not live independently. His sister keeps trying research careers that would pay her well enough to support him and have a family of her own. She keeps talking about him living with her. I actively try to squash these thoughts. I do not believe a 17 yo should plan her life around a major burden. If years down the road from now, she has pursued what she wanted for herself and is able to help dh and I care for her brother then great. But honestly if he gets into a group home and she visits frequently that would make me happy. I don't want her life to be about her brother. I want her to have a life with her own family. It would not be fair of me to decide major future care plans involved her. If, when that time comes, and she decides to involve herself that would be lovely.

[Pawz4me]

Regardless of clutter, the larger the house the more floor space there is to vacuum, sweep or mop.  Generally the more bathrooms there will be to clean.  More light fixtures to dust, more corners for dust bunnies and cobwebs to gather in, more windows to wash and window sills to wipe.  More blinds or curtains to keep clean.  And on and on.

[Ausmumof3]

Big houses take longer. Not only do you have more to clean but it's harder to justify to the hoarders throwing stuff away that there's heaps of space to store. Plus it sounds like you'd have more people in the space.

 

Also I think with all the family living together the benefit is when you have little kids and they help you out then you pay back by helping them when they're older. They've kind of skipped on the first part but want the second.

[displace]

I agree with others: larger=more cleaning. We moved into a larger home and I forewarned DH it was going to take longer to clean.

 

Now he has to help more as he said it wouldn't be much different. Even with no clutter there's still floors, windows or sills, baseboards, etc. more surface area to clean, plus maybe more bathrooms, doors, etc. if you have a lot of clutter it is even worse in a larger area IMO.

[Sherry in OH]

My house isn't cluttered. I have a 6 year old and a nearly 2 year old. So yes there are toys in nearly every room. The basement also has a lot of stuff stored in it, but I don't think of my house as cluttered. My biggest challenge to cleaning it is getting toys picked up. That would be true in any house though.

 

Nature abhors a vacuum.   If your small house is cluttered and you move into a larger house, the clutter will expand to fill the larger space.

 

If all your clutter is small child clutter, small houses are better.  If you live in a small house, it is easier to say “Noâ€, to excessive amounts of toys.  You do not have space for them.  When you live in a larger home, there is space.  Plus, child-created mess is easier to ignore when there is space to walk around it (or you can simply close the door on it). It is harder to force yourself to train the children to clean up as they go.    The toys get smaller as the children grow. Habits are harder to change.

 

 

Big homes rarely have more built-in storage space.  They just have larger rooms, necessitating more furniture, and more bathrooms.   

[Guest]

Wait, wait, wait, a minute people! I'm the expert here! ;) There is a big, fat kernel of truth in what MIL said (even if her plan is pretty horrifying). There is a relativity factor here; a teeny tiny home is hard because every single thing has to be crucial to be worth the space. In a giant large house, you can go insane trying to clean all the cobwebs, toilets, flooring, etc.

 

When there is plenty of space, it is easier for everything to seem clean. If you have a room you can dedicate to homeschooling, for example, then your dining room (or wherever) doesn't have bookcases, plastic drawers and so on in it. So it appears cleaner. Ideally, a house is big enough for evryone to have a reasonable amount of space, but not super huge. This is quite non-specific, though.

 

Too many bathrooms really increases the work load. People also choose materials oftentimes that add work and are harder to kee looking nice. Dark granit countertops, for example. (Ask me how I know.) Light fixtures are a good example. Chandeliers over the master tub. I don't want to clean that. Give me a recessed light any day.

[Another Lynn]

Well I know you're only asking opinions about size of house and cleaning, but to me this is missing the most important point of the proposal.  Do you want your house to be the gathering point of a family compound?  This sounds to me like license for everyone to come and go from your house as they like as an extra living space.  Maybe I'm wrong.  And you certainly didn't ask opinions on this aspect.  But no way could I ever do something like that.  :leaving:

 

Even if it just means you're obligated to host every family gathering.....  No.  Just no.  Not a high enough boundary, imho. 

 

[Acorn]

I think a larger house is easier to have looking tidy. We have one bathroom that looks dirty about twenty minutes after cleaning. If we would have two bathrooms, we would have another cupboard to store some things in. Someday, there will be four contact lenses users in this house. I have no idea where the extra two cases and products will go. If I had another bathroom, I would insist that anyone whose known to pee on the seat or floor not use "my bathroom". When it was just dh and I, the bathroom was cleaned once a week and looked tidy in between. Now we just have too many people in a too tiny space.

[marbel]

Uncluttered houses are easier to clean than cluttered ones, and small houses can often be cluttered due to lack of storage space. I'd rather declutter than add more rooms to my workload though.

 

This is true.

 

But people can reach a point at which there is no more to declutter.  Some families simply do not fit into their houses, and so the house is always a mess.  

 

[Guest]

Materials Matter. I loathe glass showers...and Italians LOVE glass showers...glass showers are the WORST for easy maintenance. It takes me longer to clean the 4x4 glass shower in my bathroom than it did to clean the 5x7 tile shower in my home in VA. Style over function is what I live with on a daily basis...lets just say style does not mean "easy maintenance." I miss my butterscotch/chocolate glazed cabinetry. This shiny white stuff is for the birds (especially with 5 kids and a dog). And, you know how the sliding door gets when you have a dog? Well -- I have roughly-speaking 35 linear feet of "sliding glass doors" (they open, don't slide) on my main floor, not including 4 glass-panel sliding doors. Keeping those clean is impossible. Got radiators? More dust collectors! I had a wonderful HVAC system with a wonderful filtration system that really reduced the dust and allergens in our home -- even though we were in the country. My house did not get dusty very fast (even when they were building new homes all around ours). Here? GAH! It's everywhere...and it just keeps coming back! My tile back home did not show dirt. I have a white marble floor. It shows everything. I used to be able to get away with a quick spot sweep and spot-mop most of the week (except for accidents). Here? Even though my kitchen is literally half the size of the one back home, I have to clean it every. single. day. And, since the kitchen opens up to the entry hall and the main area...and the floor is WHITE...lets just say, you can't just stop at the kitchen door.

Absolutely! Dh is in construction; I do the secretarial work. Thus, I rarely meet with homeowners or have any input in what materials they choose when they build or remodel. BUT, if I ever do, or if my role changes and I can speak to the buyers about their selections, I will tell them all about the practical/impractical side of the materials they want. Shiny surfaces are difficult. Very dark or very white - same. Pedestal sinks -hate them! Nowhere to put toilet paper, hand soap, girl products, cleaning materials. Ledges and shelves way up high - they will be covered in flies, dust and cobwebs. Shiny floors - bad. Black ceramic cooktop - costant cleaning.

 

When I watch house Hunters and they are in Europe, I always notice exactly what you're saying!

[Chris in VA]

Unless you are like my MIL who lives in a huge house, where all but three rooms are covered in plastic and unused. I guess she gets the best of both worlds, big house, less cleaning. 

 

The plastic only ever comes off in the dining room once a year when the priest comes for dinner.

 

Gee, I'd love to try that, but our priest is always showing up for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ba-dump dump    Koooooshshsh. :laugh:

 

[Wheres Toto]

I think there's limits in both directions.

 

So small that there's no way to look uncluttered no matter what you do (this is where we are with 4/5 people in 750 square feet with no storage) is very hard to clean.

 

So large that you have too many surfaces, too many fixtures, too much everything to be cleaned.  Especially unused spaces that will get dusty from lack of use.

[MinivanMom]

Big houses take longer. Not only do you have more to clean but it's harder to justify to the hoarders throwing stuff away that there's heaps of space to store. Plus it sounds like you'd have more people in the space.

 

Also I think with all the family living together the benefit is when you have little kids and they help you out then you pay back by helping them when they're older. They've kind of skipped on the first part but want the second.

 

This.

 

It has nothing to do with a big house versus a small house. They are proposing that you care for them in their old age and then for bil after they are gone. Is that what you want to do?

[3 ladybugs]

Okay to the bigger point.

 

We were Catholic when we got married. So we had to go through a pre-Cana. In this the ONLY thing that hubby and I had not thought of was what would happen as our parents age. My are divorced and were both in their 40's so it really wasn't on my radar. I figured since my dad had other children (and has since added one more) I didn't need to worry about him. My mom only has me so she might be an issue. Hubby said he knew his parents were saving, so he wasn't worried about them. His brother didn't come up as he was in college and we all assumed that he would transition to the workforce like everyone else. He has asburgers.

 

Fast forward 11 years. My father seems like he did back then, except for now he has one daughter that doesn't talk to anyone, him or me. He still has 3 more children including me. My mother, has said that she thinks she will end up living with us and I think hubby more less expects that too. However my mom is still young, 19 years older then me, and her mom is still alive with no signs of slowing. Mom is also still paying off student loan debt as she got her degree shortly after we got married.

 

BIL graduated in 2005, and has really fizzled since then. Life wasn't what he thought it was going to be and he has had issues with that. Currently he is working but barely. Hubby has been told several times that he will "have to take care of" his brother when his parents die. Something he has repeatedly rebuffed as he barely knows his brother as he is 9 years younger, doesn't really talk on the phone/FaceTime, and refuses to fly out here to visit. We have only been able to go out there once in the last 10 years due to cost and medical issues. In the last couple of years it has become clear that my in laws don't want to stay in Seattle and want to move closer to us when they retire. Which I could see why. So this has been on my radar. Before they came out, I told hubby that I would rather if they did this, they moved somewhere relatively close, as then it would be easier for me, and him, to check in on them. We live in New Jersey and I once took them to Connecticut and they liked it up there. So they have talked about various places over the years. However DH really doesn't want to leave this house, because of them. He would move to Germany, which I would like to do, or Boston, which I would LOVE. But he wants it on our terms.

 

My thoughts are not really wrapping around this idea yet. I like living close to mass transit and they want to be in the country. I don't want to give up too much of me in the process. So hubby and I will have to discuss this after they leave. MIL didn't want me to even tell DH about this idea so that should be telling too.

 

Oh and logistically, they are thinking that their house would be paid off and they could get around $450,000 for it. We would sell our house and get a mortgage of about what we have now, or about $200,000 so then we could get something that is around $650,000 in total.

[regentrude]

I think it has less to do with the size of the house than with the stuff you have in it and with the kind of floors you have.

 

A small house with minimal possessions, no decorative furniture, no stuff on floors and horizontal surfaces, and hard floor surfaces, cleans quickly, but a small house that is full of stuff, has things sitting on carpeted floors and surfaces is hard to clean. There is an optimum size where you have storage space to store all your needed possessions which is easiest to clean. For most people, having the larger house means having more stuff, and then it gets harder again.

 

But if floors and horizontal surfaces are empty and free of clutter, the extra square ft don't make it that much harder. It takes just a few minutes to swiff an empty hardwood floor.

[Ewe Mama]

We went from a 1300 sf house to a 2650 sf house. I hate this thing! I would go back to my little bungalow in a heartbeat. Our current house is never clean. Too many hands undoing what I have just spent hours doing. I would rather have a smaller house I can clean in a shorter amount of time, than feel overwhelmed by a larger house with more carp in it. I tend to give up in despair before I ever get started.

[DawnM]

Wait, are they paying for it or do you have to pay a share?  If it is free, then, YES, larger houses are easier to clean (on the wallet!) but if you are paying, then I would stay put if you are happy where you are.

 

We have a large house and in some ways it is easier to keep clean because we have more places to put stuff.  

[lmrich]

I don't think you have to get a big house; just a house with open floor space. They will never spend the night with you. And surely she will bring some dishes with her when she comes to the big family dinner that she envisions. 

 

BTW -  my mom and grandmother said the same thing about big houses - I think small, old houses without closets would always feel cluttered (like my grandmother's home) but to keep it CLEAN - a small home is way easier. We lived in an apartment that the whole thing could be vacuumed from one outlet. It had a laundry room and a walk in closet. It was ideal for the two of us. 

[bettyandbob]

Okay to the bigger point.

 

We were Catholic when we got married. So we had to go through a pre-Cana. In this the ONLY thing that hubby and I had not thought of was what would happen as our parents age. My are divorced and were both in their 40's so it really wasn't on my radar. I figured since my dad had other children (and has since added one more) I didn't need to worry about him. My mom only has me so she might be an issue. Hubby said he knew his parents were saving, so he wasn't worried about them. His brother didn't come up as he was in college and we all assumed that he would transition to the workforce like everyone else. He has asburgers.

 

Fast forward 11 years. My father seems like he did back then, except for now he has one daughter that doesn't talk to anyone, him or me. He still has 3 more children including me. My mother, has said that she thinks she will end up living with us and I think hubby more less expects that too. However my mom is still young, 19 years older then me, and her mom is still alive with no signs of slowing. Mom is also still paying off student loan debt as she got her degree shortly after we got married.

 

BIL graduated in 2005, and has really fizzled since then. Life wasn't what he thought it was going to be and he has had issues with that. Currently he is working but barely. Hubby has been told several times that he will "have to take care of" his brother when his parents die. Something he has repeatedly rebuffed as he barely knows his brother as he is 9 years younger, doesn't really talk on the phone/FaceTime, and refuses to fly out here to visit. We have only been able to go out there once in the last 10 years due to cost and medical issues. In the last couple of years it has become clear that my in laws don't want to stay in Seattle and want to move closer to us when they retire. Which I could see why. So this has been on my radar. Before they came out, I told hubby that I would rather if they did this, they moved somewhere relatively close, as then it would be easier for me, and him, to check in on them. We live in New Jersey and I once took them to Connecticut and they liked it up there. So they have talked about various places over the years. However DH really doesn't want to leave this house, because of them. He would move to Germany, which I would like to do, or Boston, which I would LOVE. But he wants it on our terms.

 

My thoughts are not really wrapping around this idea yet. I like living close to mass transit and they want to be in the country. I don't want to give up too much of me in the process. So hubby and I will have to discuss this after they leave. MIL didn't want me to even tell DH about this idea so that should be telling too.

 

Oh and logistically, they are thinking that their house would be paid off and they could get around $450,000 for it. We would sell our house and get a mortgage of about what we have now, or about $200,000 so then we could get something that is around $650,000 in total.

I cannot wrap my head around telling adult children "you must take care of your brother", "you must plan on us living with you in a place we like (not you)" etc.

 

Do these parents think their final years will be awesome while they live with unhappy, probably resentful family? Why aren't they researching options for their own son. Why aren't they researchin if he qualifies for disability. Why don't they plan their move based on looking at states that may have the best public and private programs for their son. Why aren't they planning for any money they have to go into a trust that can be used for his care, job training, housing.

 

It sounds like they want to limit your dh's career by dictating his living situation. They want to change the goals of your family by dictating and burdening.

 

My dc are 20, 17 and 13. So, their independent lives are a little ways off. However, I do not plant to burden and guilt my older dc into longterm care for my youngest. He is my dc. I have figure out his longterm living situation. Plain and simple it is my responsibility and I do not plan on shoving that responsibility on his siblings.

[SparklyUnicorn]

No way.  It is exactly the opposite in my experience.  We once lived in 1100 sq ft.  It was so easy to clean!  I could clean the whole place in an hour.  Now our house is bigger and it's a lot more work.  I thought I'd love having three bathrooms instead of one.  No.  It just means three times the cleaning!!!!

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Every time I see those home buying shows and someone asks for 5 bedrooms and 5 full bathrooms I think OH MY GOODNESS WHO WANTS TO CLEAN THAT?!  LOL

 

 

[EKS]

Small houses are WAY easier to keep clean than larger ones.  Larger houses may be easier to keep *tidy* though.  

[SparklyUnicorn]

Small houses are WAY easier to keep clean than larger ones.  Larger houses may be easier to keep *tidy* though.  

 

Not even sure about that.  When you have a very small house you have to get particular about what you hold onto because you only have so many places to put stuff.  With a bigger house you might save a lot more stuff.

 

Layout makes probably the biggest difference too. 

[regentrude]

Small houses are WAY easier to keep clean than larger ones.  Larger houses may be easier to keep *tidy* though.  

 

But if a house is tidy, it is infinitely easier to clean. What takes time is stashing away the clutter, not sweeping an empty floor.

[fairfarmhand]

My granmother lived in a very small house, probably about 1000 square feet and it was always neat and tidy. She had adequate storage, but more than that, she didn't keep lots of STUFF. She had what she needed, but didn't hold on to everything just in case. I think small houses are as much about layout and functionality as they are size, storage space, etc.

[umsami]

 

Materials Matter.  I loathe glass showers...and Italians LOVE glass showers...glass showers are the WORST for easy maintenance.  It takes me longer to clean the 4x4 glass shower in my bathroom than it did to clean the 5x7 tile shower in my home in VA. 

 

Glass showers are super popular in Florida.  I used to hate them until I was introduced to the $1 shower squeegee from the Dollar Store.  Makes all the difference in the world.  If you squeegee after each shower, you will rarely have to clean the glass.  Seriously.  It's a miracle.  

 

 

 

As to the OP, in general, smaller is easier to a certain extent.  This is the biggest house we've had.  While I love all the space, it takes me forever just to vacuum and mop the floors.   Plus now I have to deal with mopping/vacuuming a staircase.  Ugh!    I think there's a happy medium.