Where do I put the 3rd kid?

[Laverlyjarbely]

I really want another child.

we can afford it, especially with the childcare funding.

we have a large car. But it’s our house.
it is a 4 bed, and probably in the future we’d move but for the short/ med future. Not sure where we’d put the 3rd. So as I say 4 bed, but a small 4 bed. All open plan downstairs and 2 double and 2 singles upstairs.

2 dcs have the singles, and we have a double and then the spare/ office is the other one. Both of us wfh, me 3 days and dh 4.

if on mat leave dh would need a quiet place to work and take calls.

remodelling the house is out of the question. It’s a new build so garden is small already, no no real extension. Maybe a small conservatory, but if well move in the med term is it worth it? Maybe garden office, but small garden would it look weird just plonked there? Plus if moving, do i want to?

do I make some of the dcs share? We have a girl and boy so not sure they’d want to share now. They are both still v young, nursery and preschool age.

where could the 3rd go?

Children share?

All 3 of my DDs are in the same room.

Well, odds are baby will be either a boy or a girl so when they're older they can surely bunk in with the sibling of the same sex... For now, let the two older ones continue to share in a double, give the baby a smaller room, put the office in the other single and one of you set up office space downstairs.

We are 6 in a 3 bed. The dc share rooms. We dream of a 4 bed!

I guess I was thinking about maybe the age gap, my eldest is a girl, so there could be 6 years between them, which seemed a bit much. Then also if baby woke in the night, it would be disturbing eldest too?

/ youngest if baby was a boy

So they don’t share atm, but it definitely could work. I was just thinking it’s the girl/ boy thing

Minor but we also have the baby furniture fixed to the wall of one of the singles

You could have the baby in with you at first then when they needed their own rom, I'd take the larger double (if there's a larger one or your current room if not) and make that your office/ bedroom.
Take the other double and turn that into the baby's room plus your wardrobe and storage etc . So you've cleared space in your bedroom for it to work as a bed office combo. Leave the two older ones where they are.

Office area in your bedroom?

Loft or garage conversion?
an office pod in the garden is probably the easiest option and doesn’t need to take up masses of space.

The two of the same sex share the double. The single becomes the office. Bith my dc were in with me until they were 12 months. As me and my siblings were each in with our mum until we were 12 months. so
not an immediate problem.

Or a garden office?

Baby in with you to start.

Then baby and whichever sibling is the same sex in the other double. Now empty single becomes office.

That leaves you with no spare room admittedly. But having lived my whole life without a spare bedroom it's not something I personally would worry about. I guess it depends how often its actually used.

Surely by the time you’ve conceived, been pregnant for nine months and then had baby in with you this is a problem that’s a couple of years down the road.

You’re talking about moving at some point anyway, you could for example be in different jobs or not wfh. Sounds like “worst case” scenario you end up with two kids sharing the bigger room for a bit and using the single as an office, or you work in your own bedroom.

If you really want a third baby in a four bedroom house I think you’ll be ok, wfh or otherwise.

Whilst it’s a double it’s got built in wardrobes so with our chest of drawers and bed side tables there’s just not enough space, plus not sure that would be the healthiest for me personally

First year or so... baby with you. That covers Maternity leave at least.

You don't mention age gap from youngest to potential baby... but they could share until 7 or 8 potentially, even if opposite sex. So they could be in biggest room, smallest room office.

We can’t do loft due to how the property was built, some people on our estate have done garage ones though.

tbh I think I’d go for the lower cost option. Can you take garden pods with you? Our garden isn’t the biggest either

Well I’m not pregnant lol, although would would you get pregnant this year. So it would be 3 and a bit years 3.5 yrs depending on if/ when

When you think about being able to afford another child , think beyond the small child phase. For example can you afford extra curricular activities for them, music lessons, extra tuition if they need, taken them on days out. What about university costs for three children?
Yes none of the above are essential. But nice to have.

I'd put your big 2 together for now in the other double. I wouldn't be paying for extensions or garden offices until I'd lived with it for a while.

Some garden offices can be moved, however the cost of doing so will likely mean it won't be cost effective to do so.
I think I'd prioritise bedrooms for the children once the baby turns one and do a garden office ready for then.
I wouldn't rely on the childcare funding though, I don't believe it will be sustainable to fund iunlike this in future so would budget with that in mind and just be pleased if it is.

Stud wall, divide biggest double into a single room + an office?

So I would first of all say from the moment of conception you've got about 2 years before the 3rd even needs a separate bedroom, so it may be a non issue.

Other than the suggestions you've already had, another fairly cheap option would be to put a stud wall in one of the doubles to create a mini room for the youngest (leaving the "through room" as your office and your two eldest each in their own single room).

If you don't want to do that, and need 2 to share a room, whilst they are all under around 8-10 years old I'd forget about girls V boys and put the eldest two together in the 2nd double and give the baby their own single room as more likely to have disturbed sleep etc. I've got a 6 year old boy and 3 year old girl together in one small single room on a floor/midi bunk bed for the last 2 years and they love it! You can swap things around again later.

Kids share. Or you work in one of their bedrooms whilst they’re at school. You’re not even pregnant yet though! No guarantees. And do not rely on the childcare funding, god knows what’ll happen after the election

Can’t afford uni for 1 in all honesty not with the amount you’re expected to pay or subsidise now. Likely they’ll have to live at home. But we’re about to get our first BTL property so the plan is to, do it up rent it out use the equity to get another and another. One house for each kid and maybe then one for us.

we budget for 2 hobbies per kid, it’s important for them to be able to relax too. Tuition yeah that’s fine. As of rn we earn 110k combined with 15% bonus on top

My youngest will be on the 15 hrs soon and nursery don’t charge top up fees so given then age gap, we’d likely only ever have 1 child in fee paying childcare worst case.

i think now it’s been promised, even though for many settings it’s not been properly thought through, it will be very hard to undo, as it will make whatever party look very very unfavourable

Precisely! Might not even happen

if labour win, I doubt very much they’d undo the childcare funding, given that as a party they’ve criticised unaffordable childcare for a good while.