Living in a small house to SAH?

LuckySunshineBaby

DH and I live in a small house.  Very small.   I've always wanted to SAH and am feel very blessed to be able to do so.  It's best for us to remain in this home until our second child goes to pre-school and I return to work part time.  (We only have one child now).  We were doing some financial forecasting and if we delayed having our second child until DD was 4 or 5, we could put our house on the market and attempt to purchase a larger home.  If we do so, it would still be only on DH's salary.  However, if we wait 4 years to have a second child, I will be out of work longer. 

Would you suck it up and make it work in the smaller house, even if that means having 2 kids in a tiny house?  It's such a now vs. then kinda situation, kwim?

 

Emily_Ann

We live in a small house too. We plan to stay here indefinitely. We'll probably try to make it work with two kids, and then add on if we need to. I'm not sure how much help that is to you though....

Read2Me

Like the country song says, "love grows best in little houses"! ?We have a small house and I love it. ?Yes, it's cramped at times and toys seem to take over but it's home. ?Sometimes I wish we had space for a playroom or a bigger yard but even if we had more income I know we wouldn't upgrade. ?Besides, more house means more cleaning- yuck! ?:)

SpartanGirl

I think it depends what's more important to you - having a larger house or having your kids close together and getting back to work sooner (if that's what you want/need to do). 

For me, personally, I'd make it work in a smaller house to keep my kids close in age. I love having my kids close and want to lump all of the diaper changing/sleepless nights together and be done with it.  I know others who think that concept is insane.  Whenever I feel like we are bursting from the seams at our house, I think of my neighbor who lives in the same exact layout house as us and raised EIGHT kids there.  I think you can make anything work, if you really want to.

citygirl_

We live in a very small house (895 sq ft) and we're selling it to move out of the city soon, but not into a mansion or anything! ?We're taking advantage of the real estate market and buying something CHEAP and maybe not ideal for some, but fine for us!

?Personally, I would totally (and do!) live in a smaller house?to be able to SAH. ?If our house was this size and not in the city, I'd be content to stay. ?We only have 2 bedrooms, though, and the 2nd is teeny tiny, so there is basically no room for another.

LuckySunshineBaby

Thanks ladies!  I do want the kids close together, but I hate not having outside space.  I grew up with a huge yard/property and wish I could play outside with DD not a park.  I have 0 yard.  In the winter, it's not a big deal, but right now I wish I could set up a baby pool, kwim?  It would be great if we could by a similar sized ranch, with the hope of adding on in the future. 

 

citygirl_

LuckySunshineBaby:

Thanks ladies!? I do want the kids close together, but I hate not having outside space.? I grew up with a huge yard/property and wish I could play outside with DD not a park.? I have 0 yard.? In the winter, it's not a big deal, but right now I wish I could set up a baby pool, kwim?? It would be great if we could by a similar sized ranch, with the hope of adding on in the future.?

?

From one gal with no yard to another - I feel your pain! ?We go to the park A TON.?

gatogrrl

We live in a small apartment right now, and we're probably buying a house this year, but still a small one.  We think we'll probably have to stay small for the first ten years of DD's life, so they're going to have to room together or have two very tiny bedrooms.  I think it will be fine.  Not always comfortable, but it will work better with our goals in life to stay in a modestly-sized place.

EnglishMajor03

We live in a very small house (2 bedrooms both 11 feet by 12 feet, and 1 bathroom that is 5 feet by six feet)  I'd never change the situation we're in but both of these kiddos are oops babies.  Of course, like the rest of America, bought our house when the market was booming and now we're going to be 'stuck' here for quite some time. 

Most days I wish I had more closet space, but other than that, having a bigger house only means more stuff to accumulate and clean; two things I hate!!  DH and I are really thoughtful when buying DD a new toy or some new article of clothing.  This 'minimalist' attitude has not only saved us money, but also kept things in order.

Of course, this is not to say that people who have bigger houses have a bunch of stuff and aren't careful about their purchases.  Moreso, it's probably just my way of justifying our situation 

JAM2000

we are in NJ too- in a small house by today's standards- an original 1955  3br, 1 1/2 bath split level with a living room, dining room, kitchen, family room, and basement. We have a very small kitchen (think Betty Draper) but we gutted and updated the main bath. We plan on doing an addition soon- pushing out our family room, adding a fireplace and turning the 1/2 bath into a full one with a stall shower.   Once we do this we will do the kitchen in a few years.

After I posted this, I realize the house may sound big- but by todays standards it surely isn't. Its in the neighborhood we always wanted too, so we will make it work with expanding and updating as time goes by.
I certinally couldn't afford to SAH had we bought a bigger house.

jenifairies

we rent a small house. it's 2 br with about 820 sf. that's with the garage converted to a living room. we live in a rich man's closet. lol

anyway, we are waiting to ttc #2 until we get a bigger house. not dream home, but at least 3 br's and some storage space! me being a sahm trumped kids closer in age.

jen5-03

LuckySunshineBaby:

I have 0 yard.  In the winter, it's not a big deal, but right now I wish I could set up a baby pool, kwim? 

We do live in a small house, but not super tiny (1500 sq ft). And we do have a yard. But honestly, we spend more time at the park across the street than in the yard because that's where DD wants to go.

For a baby pool, do you have any sort of patio? We used a rubbermaid container full of water for DD's first "pool". It's not a super huge one either. Even though she's pretty big now, she still seems to like it more than the baby pool we bought her. Plus we can't leave standing water around (mosquitos), so it's less wasteful to use the rubbermaid.

Jerseygirl16

I'd suck it up and live in the small home. We sold our 3300 square foot home when we decided to have me SAH and now live in a tiny 1400 square foot apartment and are expecting our third in January.  It's tight but I wouldn't give it up for anything.

violetblue72

I'm in a similar situation.  We're TTC #2 and will probably be in our 1200 sq. ft. home for at least another few years.  It was one of the compromises I knew we'd have to make to allow me to be a SAHM .  Do I want more than one bathroom, a dining room, room to entertain, etc.?  Definitely.  But we have a really charming house in a nice neighborhood where I can walk to stores and parks, a decent backyard and payments that are definitely manageable on one salary.  Sometimes I get, I don't know what you'd call it... greedy?... and want more but then I remember that to my son, it's home and I'm there for him all day so it makes it all okay.

hayleydeee

I fully intend to find room for our next little one in our little house. For us it's worth it in order for me to stay home. Our house is small, but it's in the style we love, and in the town we love so knowing that helps too. 

Also, I don't now how I would manage trying to take care of anything bigger. Some days even 900 square feet and one bathroom still feels like too much!  

nickyh7

I would make it work in a smaller house.  I really don't think it's a big deal at all. The only time I'd say no is if I were in a one bedroom apartment.  But a house with 2+ bedrooms? Sure!

sarahg22

Though not exactly being in your situation yet (TTC now), my opinion sounds like a lot of you. My DH, cat, dog, and I live in a 1600 sq ft house on an acre. It is a lot of house. We are talking about me SAH for at least a year when we do have a baby. I am more then willing to do that in order to stay home. We spend so much on the house and I feel like we can make it work and since I'll be home, I'd be happier. I know I haven't lived it yet, but I'm pretty sure I'd be willing to make that sacrifice.

rolltidebaby

I agree with everyone about staying in a small home (I'm in a small 50's ranch with no basement and only 2 small closets for storage). Our choice to stay in our small home is mainly because we are in an awesome location in the best public school district in our city. We could move further out and buy a bigger house without me having to go back to work, but then we might face a bad school system and the possibility of wanting to send kids to private school, which would mean i'd have to go back to work for that. so-- consider your schools. even though your baby is little now, you don't want to have to be forced to move because of schools if you can sort of be in a good place for that once you decide on what you want.

There are many days I hate being so cramped and it seems like there's stuff EVERYWHERE i turn. but, i have noticed that DH, DS and I spend a lot more quality time together than friends of ours who have much larger house and can spread out into different rooms and never really see each other.

It seems like there's tons of good articles in magazines now for decorating and utilizing small spaces- I've been trying to think of it as a good thing

Bran_ham

The reason we're staying in our house (1200 sq ft, 3 bed, 2 bath with a large backyard) is because we know we can afford it on one salary. It's not the house we want to be in forever but it will allow me to stay home for a few years to raise the children. When I do go back to work, we'll probably upgrade to a larger home but for now this will work.

I think we have too much stuff anyway, we don't need an office for our computers. My parents raised 3 kids in a 3 bedroom 2 bath home, why can't we? We only plan to have 2 and even then they could share a bedroom.

Also I agree with a pp, there is much less to clean!