To ask is a 5bed house is a waste in these circumstances

[Chickenshwarmamarma]

Young couple who have 2dc half the time (and no plans for any more!)…5bed house…is it a waste? YABU=yes ridiculous YANBU=no, each to their own.

Bedroom numbers are besides the point if they are shoehorned in and there’s only 1 bathroom! 5 decent bedrooms leaves room for guests and a study or more than one guest room. If the size of the house allows for decent space on the ground floor, that’s a good thing in my view. We have 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. Makes life easy when we have guests.

Don’t be silly, people can have any size house they like if they can afford it.

I created a huge suite across almost one half of the upstairs of my house for my teenage daughter, adult son who had moved out and then unexpectedly back has a large double and large bathroom, we have a large master with en suite and we still have 2 spare doubles with a sofa bed in the large office downstairs. My house is well lived in and all areas are regularly used. Until recently we had all of that space for just 2ad1ch.

What do you mean by “a waste”, waste of what?

This thread reminds me of a scene in the beginning of the film Beetlejuice where the neighbourhood busy body insists the house the Maitlands live in should be "for a couple with a family", and was even getting offers from people to buy the house 😅
On here, I have been told that I me and my DP living apart is depriving families of homes, and that they are stuck in B&Bs because of us. Neither of us is in social housing 😝

This literally makes no sense 😕

Which bit are you struggling with?

It's the other parent of the kids, pissed that her ex has a much bigger house. Wanting to hear other people say that her ex and his shiny new wife are dickheads for such an "unnecessary" house.

Or perhaps her mum.

If they can be bothered to clean it then good on them! I need a 5 bed but i also know loads of couples with just one child who live in 5 beds too!

In which case my comment was correct

It's entirely up to them what they do

The ex-partner has no say in it

That's the beauty of divorce

You can then move on and live how you like

Maybe the ex has got a new partner that is richer than there old one

We have a 5 bed with 2 DC's - one bedroom is DH's study as he wfh mainly, and one is our guest room when friends or family come stay.
Also, with a 5 bed generally comes more downstairs space - our girls generally socialise with their friends at our house, living in a village it's harder to get into town etc, so they have their own lounge to use when their friends are round.

With the size of some uk “bedrooms” I don’t think it’s abnormal for people to want more space. For me The square footage is more important than the number of bedrooms. We live in a 4 bed house but one of them is a tiny box room so realistically 4 of us have 3 bedrooms and a small office for the person who works from home. Whether something is worth it is up to the person spending the money to decide.

It’s actually quite odd when you come to think of it that we tend to measure approximate house size on bedroom number rather than on square footage, as if they’re intrinsically linked. You could have an enormous house with comparatively few bedrooms — I know a developer near here built on an 18thc house’s grounds two terraces of large, well-designed two-bed townhouses which had huge kitchens and reception rooms compared to bedroom numbers. They were aimed at downsizers who wanted to entertain and have large living spaces, but didn’t need many bedrooms, and the sold fast off the plans.

Yeah this. ^ We live in a small-ish 2 bed home (downsized from a large 4 bed when the DC left home.) I love it as it's easy to clean and maintain and it's cosy and cheap to run/low energy bills. But sometimes I do miss the space. The garage and loft are crammed with a lifetime of stuff of mine and DH's, stuff the kids had when they were younger, (and DH and I had when we were younger,) and things my parents and grandparents owned (and DH's too) - going back to the 1920s. I won't throw sentimental and precious stuff out.

Plus, we have a huge collection of DVDs, vinyl, books, CDs, video games, and collectibles/memoribilia etc, so our home is very packed out. 😆

I occasionally crave an extra bedroom!!! (And maybe a cellar!) 😬

Depends. DC should feel they have a proper home in each parent's house, so they need their own bedrooms - that makes up 3 beds. Then it's not unreasonable to have a guest room and/or study. If you work from home and have lots of meetings online, that's pretty essential.

And if you can afford it, why not?

I have a three bedroom house plus a converted loft room and it's just me and the dog.

Nothing wrong with them having a five bedroom house if that's what they want.

If it’s what they want, why not? Spare room, craft room, study/home office, mini gym - most of us would have plenty of uses for extra rooms.

People are saying it's fine for this young couple. I wonder if they are the same people who say that 'pensioners' should downsize and that they are selfish to live in houses that are bigger than they need?

Personal choice if they can afford it. Many people are inspired by idea of owning a bigger property or having more land around it.

Benefits of extra space are undeniable! Less noise from neighbours, more privacy and freedom especially if it has a large garden. Kids love having lots of indoor and outdoor space, they can be active.

Wfh 2 days a week is significant. Who would choose to work in kitchen/lounge if there's a spare room to set up as office? We use the 5th bedroom as a home office (in between someone wfh it's used by everyone, including kids). Stationery has a place to live, all household admin has a drawer or shelf. Kids have own bedrooms, will get increasingly important as they get older. Spare bedroom used as a guestroom. Do they have family staying? In between guests I use that room to dry laundry and store extra toys, so kids' rooms aren't too cluttered.

I don't consider our house excessively big for a family of 4 (with 2 young children). We made sacrifices to afford extra space and privacy. In the 80s most families at my school had houses this size. Every family is different. I'd rather a longer walk to school than cramped living space. We plan ahead financially and save. After living in city flats when firstborn was tiny, we decided space was a priority. All bedrooms get used daily!

My NDN is in a mahoosive 4 bed 3 bath, big garden, driveway and garage. Its just him in there. His money his choice.

Your comment was "this makes no sense"

That was your point.

I've explained my post in simpler terms.

Nothing to do with what you've subsequently rambled here.

Your comments make no sense

Are you feeling okay?

If I could afford it, I'd have 5 bedrooms, and it's just me and DP these days. We'd have a room, we'd have an office/craft room each, we'd have a room with gym equipment, and a guest room. A single person can live in a mansion if they so wish. If you like it, want it, and need/would use the space, then why not?

Are people actually saying that about people who own houses, or those in rented/council accommodation?

If you own a house it's yours! Nobody can make you sell/move!

@Chickenshwarmamarma- it’s not even you. MYOB I’d say

I’ve been told on here previously that I’m selfish for having a big house that I don’t “need”. It’s 4 beds - just my husband and I. We bought it when we were planning children. Lots of years and IVF and miscarriages later we do not and will not be having children. It’s our home now and we will not be moving anytime soon. We do plan to downsize in later life, but right now we have filled the “bedrooms” with other things. An office/clothes drying room, a hobby room and a spare room. To be fair I could even fill more!

I think you are somewhat struggling with your comprehension skills.

If you can't interpret what's in black and white, when the rest of the thread have no difficulty, there's not really much any of us can do about that.

Alas, that probably "doesn't make sense" to you either.