about the size of my house?

[secretofcrickleyhall]

I own (outright, no mortgage) a three bedroomed terraced house. It's not a large home but it is a lovely one. There is a small garden, beautiful views and it's in a really nice location near parks and our little town centre - just perfect. However, my dad claims it's too small to be a 'family home

I wondered what sort of homes you all lived in ... ?

Location is everything. 4 of us in a 2 bedroom apartment. Small, but within 2 steps of a swimming beach, cafes, a supermarket and across the road from a large park. 10 mins walk along a waterfront promenade to work. Wouldn't move for the world.

Parents indeed!

My Dad always finds one thing to moan about when he visits, this week he saw DSs new bedroom furnished for the first time, his comment "oh doesn't his bed look tiny in here" "yes Dad it's a toddler bed and eventually he will have a bigger bed and more furniture in it" "I know but his bed looks so small"

We have just extended a 3 bed (1 tiny boxroom) into a 5 bed house. We have 4 DCs so they all have their own bedrooms now.

Last week he was telling us to knock a window through in the dining room. He's also always going on about the garden, yes it's a mud pit after the building work but we cannot afford the 2K or so it would cost to landscape it. We've also had a playroom put on the back, he was telling us to use it as a dining room, I was trying to tell him that as family a second lounge/playroom/toy dumping ground was a better use of it, no he wild make it a dining room.

He cannot visit without making some comment. I ignore most of them now.

Three bedrooms is fine and mortgage free is amazing.

Houses are only small if you have a lot of stuff. There's generally potential to downsize your stuff before compromising on other things.

3 bed house for me and DH. No way near enough space for us, but that is because we own too much rubbish.

Trills I live 4 miles outside a major city. There are buses into the city every 5 minutes and also good routes to other suburbs, the nearby town etc. This is absolutely brilliant for teenagers because they can find their way round independently.

Yes teenagers living in this particular private estate can get the single bus which takes them into town to go shopping, and get the same route to go home again. But apart from such trips their parents are probably chauffeuring them round a lot. Bikes would be possible, but some of the roads and roundabouts aren't that great. Walking into the nearest town would take a good 40 minutes and not be terribly pleasant. So one reason why I like living where I do is it's a place where my teenager and her mates can enjoy moving around independently, and get more savvy and streetwise when it comes to being used to the occasional drunk/drug users/person talking to her/himself on buses. If we lived out in the country or on the sort of posh estate I described above, our family life would be rather different.

That's called "more dependence on a car than you would like.

Not "total". Not by a long way.

IMO having the money free to spend on experiences such as holidays and days out is what will matter most your children when they look back. I don't think children care whether their house is a massive vicarage. They will remember the great times that you had and things you could do.

I think you are really sensible. Too many people push themselves financially to have houses they can't really afford. Your dad should be so proud that you are setting a great example of how to leave within your means happily.

Live*

Trills I realise that many places - especially in rural areas - are very badly off indeed in terms of public transport. The underlying point is that, to me, being at home in an area is not just about the property I'm living in. It's about the community and its facilities. If you're planning on having a family, I'd want to think about parks, playgroups, nurseries, a local library, schools etc. Because one can feel quite alone with a new baby, it's also good to have neighbours, to bump into people you know as your're walking along the street. Many new housing estates don't have that sort of infrastructure because of the assumption of car ownership. So I might prefer to live in a less obviously desirable house in a thriving community, than an estate agent's dream a long way from anywhere.