how big is your house & how many live there?

JBD

blushingbride wrote: »

its not just daydreaming, we can afford the children & the house if we want it, we save everymonth so our incomes and sufficient even if i am working part time.

The issue is knowing how much space we need, i dont like wasted space & dont want hubby feeling stretched. the budget we have set is what we can afford with one salary not two

we want to move now as well to be in a better location & enjoy the house & time alone before the children appear.

I don't think you can really tell this until you're in the situation. Some people need more space than others. People just live differently and I suppose a lot would depend on what you and your OH are used to as well.

winnie81

We have 4 kids in a 3 bed house and its tight but it works. We have 3 girls in a double room, 1 boy in smallest room and hubby and I in last double. We only have the 2 rooms downstairs a lounge and kitchen/diner and the lack of bedrooms wouldn't of stopped number 4 coming along! LOL

We will move/extend at some point in the future but if we don't the largest double here can fit 3 tall cabin/high sleeper beds with desk/drawers under etc so we could stay here. The kids do occasionally complain they have no room etc but they won't sleep away from each other either lol They are all close kids and I don't think the girls having to share has had a detrimental effect on them at all.

Claire x

xmaslolly76

Im in a 3 bed house with my fourth child on its way yes the bedrooms will be a squeeze especially if this new is a boy as that will mean three lads in one room but we have a garage and i have said that we will turn that into a playroom so their bedroom is only for sleeping in. We may do that anyways even if this one is a girl (we would have two of each then) my kids love sharing their rooms and i can get up in the morning and find them in the same room together its just the way they are if they werent like that then yes i would probably need a bigger house but for us its not a problem :-)

retro_bluebell

lilac_lady wrote: »

Although it would be nice for every child to have his/hers own bedroom, many people have overstretched themselves by buying a 4/5 bedroom house. It's not child abuse if children, especially smaller ones, have to share a room.

I agree! I think theres a lot of assumption in society that kids need their own space and own rooms etc....I have 3 in what is classed as a 3 bed but in reality its a 2 and 1/2 as DD's room will fit a bed and thats it...her clothes etc are in our room. My 2 older boys share the next size room up and OH and I are in the biggest room. The main bedroom is big enough to be divided up into 2 smaller rooms if needs be. My boys have always shared a room in our last house before DD was born they had separate rooms but it didnt work as one would creep into the others room at night so we put them back together.

We have been trying for number 4 for almost a year now and the bedroom sizes sometimes worry me but like others have said you dont know what will happen in the future. The worry I have is because my 2 older ones are 12 and 10 and would be unlikely to want to share with a much younger sibling, but if needs be we can divide the big room up and OH and I can move to the middle room. If we pop a conservatory on the back this house would do us til they all move out.

To be honest I wouldn't want a much bigger house (maybe a little bit bigger but not a 4/5 bed) it would cost too much to run, clean etc and our mortgage on here is only 60 quid a month so we have money for lots of other things. I wouldn't want a much bigger mortgage, if we overstretched ourselves we would be reliant on the interest rates etc to stay low.

I used to work for a bank and saw how many people had their houses repossessed as they had overstretched themselves it would scare me to be at the top of our budget.

JodyBPM

blushingbride wrote: »

Ok lovely thanks everyone!:)

The only issue with me isnt buying the house, its if we decide to move in the annex at my parents

It's gonna cost about 100k to convert the barn building & i dont want them spending all that money for us to only be there for a short amount of time.

They would cover the conversion costs & we would then pay their bills by way of rent.

I guess my way at looking at it would be if its only £100k to convert, and that's being paid for by your parents, then what other choices do you have? There's very few parts of the UK where £100k would buy you a 3+ bedroom house. Also, you may well decide against 4 children with small age gaps, I have 2 with a 14 month age gap, and its exhausting! You might find that after 2 or 3 that you feel that your family is complete, there's no way of knowing until you do it!
Personally I think your parents are being incredibly generous, and I think most people would consider a 3 bed house a good sized family home, so I'd go with it, and feel very grateful! If the time comes when you feel that you need a bigger house, then deal with it when it happens. Few people are lucky enough to start off married life in a 3 bedroom place!

tiamai_d

3 children in a 2 bedroom house with small kitchen and an ok living room. We are now at the point of moving or converting the loft. probably converting the loft as the 3 beds in our price range are smaller than here.

The biggest problem for us is not bedroom space, bunk beds and good use of handy storage sorts those problems, it's living space. Especially with a little on and all the equipment like high chair, baby chair, walker, toys etc. Right now that is what is taking up all the space downstairs, baby stuff!

Ideally if we had an area we could designate as a play area downstairs it would be perfect. (and convert the loft)

FATBALLZ

Quit your job and go on the dole. Say you have a bad back and are depressed. Then you'll get a bigger house each time you pop one out.

Glamazon

another thing to think about (for me anyway) would be living so close to parents. This would be my idea of hell if it wad the IL's and OH's if it was my parents!

blushingbride_3

JodyBPM wrote: »

I guess my way at looking at it would be if its only £100k to convert, and that's being paid for by your parents, then what other choices do you have? There's very few parts of the UK where £100k would buy you a 3+ bedroom house. Also, you may well decide against 4 children with small age gaps, I have 2 with a 14 month age gap, and its exhausting! You might find that after 2 or 3 that you feel that your family is complete, there's no way of knowing until you do it!
Personally I think your parents are being incredibly generous, and I think most people would consider a 3 bed house a good sized family home, so I'd go with it, and feel very grateful! If the time comes when you feel that you need a bigger house, then deal with it when it happens. Few people are lucky enough to start off married life in a 3 bedroom place!

i'm not being ungrateful i am assessing my options as mum & dad are worried its too small for us.
I know not many people have what i already have, my current house is more spacious than if we move to theirs, however this is from hard work & having lodgers.

*Louise*

blushingbride wrote: »

It's gonna cost about 100k to convert the barn building & i dont want them spending all that money for us to only be there for a short amount of time.

But you won't be...you want to wait 2-3 years, then by the time it takes to get pregnant, have a child , never mind 4 of them..you are looking at at least 10 years.....and that's assuming it all goes to plan. Life doesn't always work out the way we want it to.

I think your parents have made you a fabulous offer, of a place that is more than big enough for you and you would be crazy to turn them down.

I had a lovely plan of having two children then going back to work.....however after our first I developed PCOS and it was 6 years before we had our second child. Plans change.