Are you happy in your small house?

[EveningSpread]

When I bought my 2 bed terrace it was just for me and the cat. Now DP and our baby live here too. I’m 36, he’s 41, baby is 11mo.

We could afford a bigger house, and I fear when DD is older we’ll want more space. But right now there are so many positives:

• we can pay the mortgage off in 10 years and the bills are cheap
• the location is fab: close to town, parks, the train station, nursery and schools
• house maintenance is relatively cheap
• we can’t accumulate loads of crap cos we don’t have the space
• we love travelling, and we still have enough spare cash to put £500 a month in the holiday fund, which goes a long way cos we travel cheaply
• family gatherings can happen at my mum’s, so we don’t strictly need more space

The cons of our current house are:

• I fear we will outgrow it when DD is 10 or so at the latest
• I worry about not giving DD the best environment we could provide - we could give her a bigger house with more space
• We can’t host Christmas (too small) or have friends/family to stay (no spare room)

DP is up for staying here and moving in future, if we ever have the means to do so and keep our current lifestyle. (He’ll likely inherit some of his family estate at some point, though it’s a complicated family so no guarantees, and obviously there’s no telling when.)

We have a great lifestyle at the moment and zero financial worries, which is no mean feat in this economic climate. I’d hate to feel imprisoned in a bigger house.

But I know people tend to stretch themselves when they are younger, and house prices will only increase. Also, I sometimes feel it’s the wrong choice to live in a small house for 90% of the year so that you can enjoy holidays and travelling for a small percentage of the year.

So, with all that in mind, give me your happy small house stories! I hear loads of people stretching for the bigger house, but not so many who live well within their means.

Are we sensible, or stingy?!

Its me and dd in a small flat, so I dont have a man to think about

We had a house actually but it was on the outskirts of London and now we are in a better location

I like it honestly 🤭🤭 but I dont have a choice I suppose, as i rent

The key is lots of built in storage in as many places as you can fit it and build upwards

Do you want more kids? Or a pet?

Could you convert the loft? Or extend?

For me, I love the idea of having money left over, and to be able to travel. And I like being near shops and stuff. If you like the location, why not invest in your current place xx

I've moved from a massive four bed detached with huge garden to a 2/3 bed semi with smallish garden.

I love it. But it's about circumstances. I won't be having more kids, my lover visits or we go away, kids make do with sofa and blow up mattress if more than one is here.

It's all about what you can live with. Will you regret not moving more than staying?

I live in a tiny 1 bed flat on my own (with Dcat) and I love it here!

I raised ds for 18 years with my late Dh in a 2 up and 2 down with no running water on the top floor. The location was beyond brilliant and for kids all the way up to adulthood I’d prioritise location every time.

I absolutely love my two bedroom flat. Right in the centre of town. One child lives here (for a couple more years), the other has a sofabed for when she stays. We’re all very happy and I feel incredibly grateful for my lovely home.

We are squashed into a 2-bed flat. We are 13-year-old dd, dh, me and dog. The location is perfect. We love it here. We rented houses before but always ended up with us together in the kitchen diner. Ignoring the rest of the house. Why pay for more or sacrifice location?

But we only have dd, who loves to curl up in a corner with a book or her mobile. If we had more than one or boys, then we would have needed more space.

Yes, small 3 bed . There is only myself DH and DD. We will be mortgage free in a few years. It is clean , homely and functional and we have a lovely garden. It is the right size for us. However, had another DC come along we would have bought something bigger or built an extension as the third bedroom is a box room.

Currently In a small house and baby on the way. I was always conscious that I didn’t want to fall into the trap many people do of thinking just because we were having a child that we must move and upgrade to a bigger place.

The last thing we need whilst I’m not bringing in a salary is to take on more debt and stress so our small house is where we will stay.

I think storage is the key and being on top of making sure you’re not keeping things you don’t use and not buying things that aren’t needed.

Absolutely this. I know people in huge houses that are messy and cluttered because they are not utilising storage and are disorganised.

One of the terraced house I owned was a small two bed plus box room ex council house. I felt great fur a single, couple or maybe with one child. There was a galley kitchen and not really enough room fur a table in the living area. Bathroom was downstairs next to the front door.
Then I met my neighbour who was still a council tenant. She said she had raised three boys and her DD in the house. The boys had the biggest room, her DD the box room, she and her DH the middle sized room. It’s what they could afford. She said they managed and were happy - the sons not moving out til their early 20s. It really put things in perspective for me.
Stay where you are if you’re happy. Your child will not miss out by not having a bigger house. You are not responsible for housing visitors.

Tiny dot of a Victorian cottage for us. I love the cosiness of it. It feels like we live in every inch of the space - I have lived in much bigger houses and hated having rooms that were just dumping grounds for the crap you can acquire and that you only ever go in to dust.

You can reach almost everything in the kitchen without even moving. When I see those sprawling kitchens with massive islands on TV I always think how tiring it must be walking around it and what a pain to clean.

We save money on decorating, heating, furnishing. Love the location and the little garden. If I moved from here I would go smaller.

The bigger the house the more the stuff you have and more upkeep and housework. If you’re happy then don’t move. Why do you think you need a bigger house? Why will
your daughter need more space? Ask yourself these questions and they may help you with your answer.

I live in a 1 bed house, it's really quite large, bit like the Tardis, from the outside it doesn't look that spacious but inside it's around the same size as my 2 bed I had before.

The bedroom is pretty big and can be split into two rooms though I won't be doing that, the bathroom is quite small but I have two decent size receptions, reasonable kitchen, hall, small utility room and gardens back and front with a massive garage and large shed.

It's a lot smaller than some of the properties I've lived in before but I love it, it's 1937, chalet style, bit cottagey and I've no intention of ever leaving it. No mortgage, very manageable bills, what's not to love.

I was fine in our 70m2 cottage until DD was about 5, she is 7 now, and it started to feel very claustrophobic.

I think when they are tiny they follow you around like a shadow and want to play near you, and this is normal, so apart from having to be 'on it' with decluttering, i didn't really notice the lack of space.

Now we are increasingly needing our own space and every one needs to be able to escape each other from time to time. With an open plan kitchen living room this is not possible. I also feel like there is no privacy, DD currently not bothered by this but I'm sure it will become a problem for her too soon.

Also i dream of a second toilet and friends say the same (not fussed about a second bathroom but need a separate toilet).

We have a little house. 2.5bed Coronation Street style terrace. We love the location - very near to the city centre but a nice green suburb. Not having a crippling mortgage means that we've been able to afford ruinously expensive hobbies for the DC, and now DC1 is starting university we can support her without difficulty. The next size house up would have been far too much of a financial squeeze. Also, we're not really "house" people IYSWIM. I can't really get excited about carpets/flooring/kitchens. Although I do notice when friends have lovely homes it all seems like so very much effort.

We have a small semi 2 bed + boxroom house as a family of 4.
We thought often about moving.

But we managed to pay the mortgage off (mid 40's). Best thing we have done!

I don’t think it’s a good idea to buy a bigger house than you need. I live on my own, two bedrooms, what developers call a starter home (I’m retired). I chose it for practical reasons: I don’t want to have to keep three bedrooms and two reception rooms clean and heated. If I had more space I’d have more clutter. With the sharply increase cost of living, I’m very glad I took this decision.

House prices will increase, yes - yours included.

The question really comes down to your lifestyle. Spend a lot of time within the home? Entertain guests at home? Larger property is perhaps desirable.

Spend more time outside the home? Entertain guests in restaurants? Smaller home and lower mortgage is great.

My vote goes to being mortgage free and getting a bigger place if you need it ten years down the line.

for once a,year you could get alarge airbnb to host your family. Much cheaper.
It works for you.

What's the big deal

I loved our small house - it always felt like a happy house although family liked to tell me it was small 🙄 We only moved because baby number 2 was twins. They shared for 6 years but had such different sleep patterns. They have their own bedrooms now and space downstairs but that’s needed for 3 dc, for 1 you can enjoy less space and benefit from comfy finances. Parents without money worries us definitely a plus.

We live in a small 2 bed terraced. Me, DH, 2DDs age 7 and 10. Its cramped at times, no storage, eg we have ladders in our dining area. Also I wish the DD had their own rooms. DD 10 is ND.

We would like to move however our mortgage is low and it would be 3x what we pay now, for an ex council house type house, not sure how we would afford that.

I did think if we could pay it off maybe we could rent it out to help towards a new place. But haven't done the maths yet.

We are in a one bed flat and it was fine just for me and DH. Then DS came along and we’re now trying to sell but the state of the market is making it difficult. We’ll still only be moving to a 2 bedroom with some outside space as we don’t want to be totally crippled by a huge mortgage, especially if rates rise again. As far as I’m concerned we just need enough rooms that we can all carve out a little space for ourselves from time to time. I’d like to go read a book in bed while DH watches a film, or him play guitar while I watch something. We don’t need more than that.

I'm in a similar sized terrace. 2 adults, 4yo and 2yo.
Our maintenance costs are huge! 10k last year on the roof. 2k the year before on electrics. 2k on the boiler before that. Replace the ceiling in a bedroom. Next job is re-rendering. And that's before we consider updating the kitchen, bathroom or redecorating...maybe it's the age of our house rather than the fact it's a small terrace.

We host Christmas every year. I absolutely love it. We give up our bedroom for the in-laws while we camp on the floor on airbeds in DC room. Friends camp out on the sofa bed and their 2 kids on the living room floor. There's nothing but laughter and love and we all cram in like sardines. It's genuinely a lot of fun.

We could move to a bigger place, it wouldn't cripple us. Then we could host our siblings and their families as well as the existing yearly crowd. BUT we love the area and our community. So we stay. And embrace the Christmas chaos.

I moved into a teeny little 2 bed cottage with my 3 year old DD at the end of last year. We lived in a 4 bed terrace that I loved, with my ex.
My DD and I moving to this house was the first time I felt proper safety after having chaos for many years.

it’s very small and I did worry that as DD gets older she might not like having a tiny house, like if she sees friends houses whose are bigger etc. but our house is so cosy with beautiful furniture, pictures, flowers, candles. And she’ll say to me “this is cosy and cuddly isn’t it mummy” which just melts me.

I’m a single mum, I can afford my mortgage and bills easily so I’m happy. I don’t need to worry about it as it doesn’t cost a fortune to have the heating or fire on.

I love having my own space, surrounded by all my books. It was very hard to downsize and I had to get rid of a lot of stuff. I’m still adjusting to that really. But I do love it. And the location.

We stayed in a 3 bed semi, to be fair it’s quite a large one, there were 4 of us plus the cat. Now it’s 2 of us and the cat. We could have afforded a much bigger house but the only one we found that ticked all boxes had an awful survey. We stayed and paid off our mortgage before 40. It meant we could invest more plus add to our pensions. It also meant we could retire at 55 and 57. We are going to move but have no need to downsize, plus the bills were so much cheaper for all those years.