Okay, y'all...let's talk.
About houses. And space.
I guess I should start by giving you some news that the hubs and I haven't really given anyone; and that is, we are moving soon. Since my grandmother passed away, her house has been sitting. It occurred to us recently that we could really save some money by selling our house, and living rent-and-mortgage-free for a bit.
One problem.
My MaMa's house is a scant 900 square feet--our current home is about 1800. We have some crazy serious downsizing to do, right? And my Lord, we live in the era of Pinterest and Google and blogs and all sorts of free resources at our fingertips...I should find plenty of ideas, right?
Wrong.
Does that down there look like a "small bathroom" to you? Does it?
(if it is small to you, I'm officially jealous)
We're going from two full bathrooms to one full bathroom, and it is...oh, I'd say not even half the size of the one in that picture.
And that! Does that kitchen look small to you? JEEZ. The kitchen at my MaMa's house is not even 6 ft. by 6 ft...for sure.
Don't get me wrong...I am pumped about the opportunity to get rid of our debt, and start with a fresh, clean slate. We'll be in a better area for Baby C to attend school if we decide to stay longer than planned (a year-ish), and we'll be able to save a nice chunk of money to put down on a nicer house in a better area.
But I'm feeling frustrated and overwhelmed at downsizing. I KNOW it can be done, but I want it to be effective. I don't want to simply "make do" for a year. And one of our main objectives is to spend as little as possible on my grandmother's house to make it more comfortable. Not to mention, a year or year and a half is a decent chunk of time to spend in a home; I want it to be pretty and have some personal touches. But doing that in such a small space and on a minimal (if not $0) budget has gotten me a bit down.
Any advice? What's the smallest space you've lived in with three people (plus pets)?
ugg! That's tough! I mean, I'm in a purging mood right now but getting rid of half my house would be a challenge! But it sort of sounds like a good challenge. I bet if I just kept my very favorite decorations I could get rid of at least half. And same with furniture. The kitchen, I admit, would be harder.
ReplyDeleteStill, what a great opportunity financially!
this made me laugh because it gave me flashbacks to a 6 month time we rented an ity bitty cape cod that had been owned by a 97 year old lady who had lived there her whole life.
ReplyDeleteI remember all 4 of us (there were only 4 of us at the time) all squished into this tiny bathroom and then, our 6 month old lab jumping out of the bathtub and creating mad chaos.
The fridge was down in the unfinished basement and the kicker? I had rented this place for the summer without even thinking to ask if it had AC!!
BUT, it was a quaint little house. It was old but charming. I liked having less stuff around.
Everything I had in there served 2 purposes (like an ottoman with storage!!) AND I have nothing but good memories of all our "togetherness" .....good luck!!
Good luck!!
Head over to Ask Anna she has a million ways to store things and rearrange and maybe she can help you figure out what to do. I've lived in tiny places. Our first place was 925 square feet and we had a lot of boxes in storage. I just didn't decorate anything and used as little pans as I could get away with in the kitchen. With three kids now though I could never do it again. To many toys!
ReplyDeleteYou can do it! We don't have kids but we have 5 pets. 4 when we were living in just about 800-900 sq ft until last year. 2 beds and 1 bath. It was tight but we rented for years to pay down debt, save and prepare to upgrade.
ReplyDeleteOur old house is being rented by good friends so we see how it looks now. It is so much more spacious now based on what she has done with the furniture and decor. My thoughts:
-Don't be afraid to try different layouts. Move your furniture around and play with your spaces.
-Look for multi-purpose furniture (desks with storage, beds with storage under, etc). Sell some of your existing stuff to swap out for new things if it doesn't work.
-Organize and de-clutter.
It will be so worth it in the end. Can't wait to see what you do with your space.
I saw a pic on pinterest that I have been living by lately. It said "do not have anything in your home that you do not find to be useful or beautiful" And it has really helped me. The thing of it is, we hold on to so many things for sentimental value, and really why? For it to sit in a closet and us forget that it's there until the next time we attempt to clean out but really get rid of nothing?? And we most likely don't even remember it's there. So now when cleaning out I ask myself 1) is it beautiful 2) is it useful? I recently helped my mom clean her closets and she had so much stuff she was keeping because it belonged to her grandmother, but it was stuff she would never use or hang on her walls! I had to remind her that she didn't even know those objects had been there. And wouldn't it be nicer if it were given to someone who would love it rather than shove it in a closet and not think about it? She was finally able to get rid of TWO truck loads of stuff! And she hasn't missed any of it! Can't even remember what it is she got rid of! lol HTH and congrats!
ReplyDelete