Family of 5 one bathroom

[MamaD2015]

Looking for advice. We currently live in a 4bed. Whilst the plot and downstairs is a great size the upstairs is awkward, we have 3 children 2,5,10 and envisage this getting harder as they get older. We have one small bathroom and it takes some hammer and causes lots of ques in the morning and evening already. Theres no scope to create another bathroom or any more space we’ve maxed the house out.
I’m looking for general chat, advice about how people have found 5 and one bathroom, I know it can obviously be done but if you could would you have moved to add the space?
We love where we are but just feel we’re outgrowing it the bigger the kids get. Money and the fact this house is where we have raised our children plays a huge part in whether we sell or stay.

We’re a family of 5. Bathroom upstairs, and another toilet downstairs.

And it was fine.

kids/ teens/ adults showered in the evening (their choice); DH and I like to shower in the morning. We don’t lock the door- so one half can pootle about whilst other half in shower. (Children have outgrown this phase 🫣). We have rough slots, but nothing as formal as a written rota.

We put a shower in downstairs, but no one uses it, weirdly…

Honestly, it can work - as others have said, it’s just about communicating.

It’s how most of us grew up and thought nothing about it.

A shower takes 5 mins, get straight out of bathroom and into bedroom to dry off, two adults and oldest child can shower in morning in 20m if they communicate and are considerate.

Younger kids bath at night. As they get older kids shower at night (ds preferred showering from age 7).

You have 3 sinks in the house for teeth brushing. A separate loo if anyone needs it if someone else is showering.

If you want to upsize go for it, but I don't think it is necessary, and possibly it is an opportunity to instill in your kids how to be efficient, compromise and consideration for others.

We brought up five children in a house with one bathroom and only one toilet. Get on with it!

What upper class problems. We grew up in a 3 bedroom semi with 7 kids two adults and the occasional gate crasher. We only had one small bathroom. We had to make do people managed.

Grew up in a house with seven of us and 1 bathroom. Was just the way it was back then. It wasn’t easy. Dad had priority and the rest of us fitted in. But in those days you only had one bath a week so it wasn’t like we needed much time in there. Though once we were old enough to not share a bath with a sister it did cause some arguments. Love the fact I now live in a house with three loos to choose from.

Im sure several bathrooms is convenient. But I grew up in family of 5 and one bathroom. As did everyone else i knew. Several bathrooms was ine if those big house, rich families thing. Even to this day people i know have one bathroom except in larger new builds.

I grew up with one bathroom for 6 of us, but the loo was separate, as was usual then. We did have an outside loo, formerly presumably intended for the skivvy, but it was usually too cold or full of spiders, or both, so we didn’t use it.

We managed OK, but I do recall my younger sister at maybe 3, frantically wriggling and squirming outside the occupied loo and wailing, ‘It’s comin’ it’s comin’ it’s comin’!’

Teeth brushing happens at the kitchen sink over here, and anything not directly involving the shower (hair drying, skin care etc.) happens in the bedroom.

We have 5 in the house (dc 17, 15 and 8), one family bathroom and a downstairs loo.

We find it completely fine tbh - there are rarely any clashes or queues.

We all have two toothbrushes, one in the bathroom and one in the downstairs toilet which massively helps - anyone not showering can just do teeth/wash downstairs. The rest is just organisation and a bit of luck as only 3/5 like morning showers.

All of us have our own mirrors/grooming areas in our bedrooms too so the bathroom is literally just for washing. I can imagine it would be a nightmare if you have several people gelling their hair or using the bathroom to put make up on or whatever but that's easy enough to avoid with decent bedroom set ups.