To want to downsize

[Wotter]

I am over stuff. Having stuff. Cleaning stuff. Looking after stuff.

How much space does one need for a family of five? Two adults, three children under 10. What size house do we "need"?

Gosh....well how big's your current house? Good luck with having less and cleaning less when you have three under ten!

I will say that we have 2 DC and our 3 bed house has always felt too small. It's larger than a UK house as we're in Oz, we have a separate laundry room and a large kitchen and large veranda but it's still small at times.

I don’t think I could cope with three kids in less than 2800sqft. We are currently in 2000 with only two and onlyjust about tolerate it.

I've just moved out of a small one bedroom flat to a reasonably sized 3 bedroom house.
There's more storage, I've now for a dishwasher as my kitchen is bigger, my son has his own room.
There will always be dust, clothes, dirt, mess, hoovering to be done. I'd rather do it in a bigger house with more storage and more room to move than a small cluttered house.
The toys for my son were EVERYWHERE before, but at least I can put some in his bedroom now.

I wouldn't rush into it. You will regret downsizing when they are teenagers and want their own space, and space for when their friends come round.

You need a 4 bed, at least. One for you and DH, and one each for the kids. Still doesn't give you a spare room for visitors, though.

If you live in a 40 bedroom mansion, downsizing might help. If you live in a 4/5 bedroom new build, it probably won't help.

In other words, how long is a piece of string?!

Agree that you need 4 bedrooms at least. And 2 reception rooms. Everyone needs their own space.

How big is your current house that you are considering downsizing?

Having stuff and having space are two different things. Maybe you should get rid of the stuff first?

My experience of downsizing hasn’t been positive. I open cupboards and everything falls out on me. I feel claustrophobic in the bedroom when I’m trying to sleep. The loft is crammed. I can’t fone anything. Less is not more. I’ve got rid of loads of stuff but I find it really oppressive. Sounds like you need a cleaner, not a smaller house!

@ racecardriver. 2800 sq ft is bigger than the average massive American house! I don't know anyone with a house that big!

Unless you currently have more than 5 bedrooms I wouldn't downsize. A bedroom each and a spare is a good thing I think. You'll end up feeling cramped and cluttered.

Racecardriver is obviously a wealthy man and doesn't actually live in the real world. No offence, racecardriver!

I have a two-bed terraced house with one bathroom - two adults, and three DC (DC are older teens now). Kitchen is big enough to eat in. We don't have a laundry room or a downstairs loo. The DC have shared the bigger front bedroom all their lives. We do have two reception rooms and debated about turning the nominal dining room into a bedroom, but decided not to. It's used as an extra room and the DC could use it for sleepovers when they had friends around, etc. Smallish garden - about 30x30ft square.

Architectural studies show that around 500 sq ft per occupant is required for people to have enough space for themselves and their belongings.

The house building racket in the UK though gets away with half of that, aided and abetted by the partners in local and national government. As a result people don’t have enough space and often live in cramped, cluttered homes.

The best options are to self build or to renovate older larger properties.

@StreetwiseHercules - that's unrealistic. We are a family of 4 so by that reasoning we would need 2000 sq feet.

The cheapest modern property in our area at that size is £775,000 and the cheapest older style property is £2,000,000.

I know that house builders get a lot of stick for making shoe box style houses however we are
about to start looking for a new home and we are finding that the modern homes are much bigger where we live.

Would it not be easier to get rid of the “stuff” you don’t need. I find it much easier to clean a house with less in it compared to a smaller place with the same amount of stuff in it.

It’s more and less realistic depending on where you choose to live. The fact that people don’t have what they need to live comfortably in terms of housing is down to industry and government collusion in profiteering.

The further north you move the more achievable it becomes.

Developers should not be allowed to produce 4 bed homes at less than 2000 square feet. Land prices would adjust accordingly in pretty quick order. If land becomes cheaper, larger homes can be built on them without damaging the commercial interests of the developers who are needed to build the homes.

We’re about to have a third baby in a large 4 bed (approx 2400 square feet). I can’t see how a smaller house would make things easier, I love having space! We don’t have too much stuff so the space feels fairly easy to keep clean and tidy. I think it’s stuff you need to reduce, not house size.

You won’t necess be cleaning less.

Living in a small space puts extra wear and tear strain on things so it can look worn our and shabby quickly.

Also, minimising stuff is not easy and you will still need storage

We managed in a 4 bed terrace until the youngest of our 3 started school. We then added an extra bedroom.
We've managed but DC3 ha s s tiny room 6'x8) which was ok as a child but not as a teenager.
It would have made things much easier to have had an extra room downstairs, for a playroom/den, and a decent size kitchen ,mine is tiny, would have loved a big fridge and freezer, and proper space to prepare food.
We made choices which I don't regret, but having a third dc had a massive impact on our finances.

@StreetwiseHercules - I agree with your idea in principle but is 2,000 sq feet really necessary for a 4 bed? We have been trawling Rightmove at the moment and have seen a modern4 bed which ticks the boxes, it's 1,500 sq feet and to us that seems massive it has more than enough room for the 4 of us. We are currently living in a period property a third of the size and are bursting at the seams!

Thats just what architectural and lifestyle studies show as a general principle. There will of course be variances depending on the particular properties, some use space better than others and work different for different families.

Define “need”. I mean, if you had to, you’d survive with only two decent sized bedrooms.

You could probably find ways of surviving living under s bridge but thats hardly what you would choose. I took “need” as a fairly self explanatory synonym for “require”.

We’re a large family. There’s nine of us. We have four bedrooms. It’s fine.