Small house & stay at home, or big house & keep working?

Spendless

RainbowLaura wrote: »

If we were here in the very very long term then we would move up there and hypothetical children would get a room each on the middle floor. We'd get rid of the en-suite and knock it through to the smaller bedroom as well, to give two really good sized rooms. (I know not sensible in terms of house value but I've never been fussed about en-suites anyway).

Personally I wouldn't, especially since you've already described the smallest room as a large single/small double. En-suites are invaluable the older the children get and you're not fighting over use of bathroom. Also, although teens like lingering in their bedroom, they're playing on gadgets, normally small like their phones, though they may need more storage space due to sports kits, drama costumes, the amount of clothes/make-up/hair products they have, depending on where their interests lie . Younger children like playing [STRIKE]under your feet[/STRIKE] where they can see you and don't always need as much bedroom space. Having somewhere to put a friend when they become old enough for sleepovers can be handy too.

dawyldthing

I haven't had kids yet but I'm for small house and stay at home. As long as there's room most stuff can be done out the home. Better to have memories rather than loads of things to be honest

RainbowLaura

Spendless, something we've also considered is moving the en-suite door so we still have two bathrooms, and could then get the door moved back if we wanted to sell or changed our minds. I'm just not sure about one child having an en-suite and large double bedroom and the other having a single. I know rooms don't have to be equally sized and rarely ever are, but having an en-suite too is a bit unbalanced I think.

Of course, all this assumes we are lucky enough to have two healthy children - we might end up with triplets, or be unable to conceive at all, or all sorts of things. I know life rarely works out as planned

Tabbytabitha

As you describe yourself as a low earner, if you do decide to give up employment, why not use some of the time you have at home to improve your qualifications and skills so that you can return to work in a better job when the time comes? If you can manage on just one income, I think this would be a much better use of your time than earning a few bob doing a couple of evening shifts somewhere on NMW.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

RainbowLaura wrote: »

Thanks everyone, this is largely what I wanted to hear! I definitely plan on getting some sort of part time work, as we will need that if we want to go on the occasional holiday etc.

The reason we're giving this such careful consideration is because we'd ideally like two children. Once we've got one, we won't get the mortgage we'd need for a bigger house until I'm back in full time work and no full time childcare is needed. So it's move soon or in ten years time! I can definitely see us here in another ten years, but it's pressure from family and friends making me doubt the decision to stay. I think there must be a bit of snobbery in my peer group as this house seems quite inadequate to them

Stay where you are. The house might not be the palatial mansion/farmhouse that other people would like to see you in, but you've got the area right and, with some tweaking in the long term, you could probably house up to about six kids in there quite happily - contrary to current opinions, it has never been usual for small children to have a room each.

If you can afford a home like that and have the choice whether to stay at home with children/dogs/cats/study/try out other jobs with no worries about whether the bills will be paid if you don't like it and want to leave, I'd say without a shadow of a doubt that you should take it and make sure you enjoy every last moment you can.

conradmum

I've lived in small houses and large houses (four bedroom, one ensuite, two receptions, sun room) and I would choose a small house every time now. Big houses are overrated imo. They cost more to furnish and heat and you pay more council tax. There's also more work involved in cleaning and maintaining them. But worst of all, the more space you have the more junk you accumulate. When we left our large house I was amazed and almost ashamed at the sheer amount of stuff we'd gathered over the years. Obviously you don't want to be cramped but as long as a house is large enough I wouldn't go larger. I'd put the extra money in savings.

seashore22

RainbowLaura wrote: »

Spendless, something we've also considered is moving the en-suite door so we still have two bathrooms, and could then get the door moved back if we wanted to sell or changed our minds. I'm just not sure about one child having an en-suite and large double bedroom and the other having a single. I know rooms don't have to be equally sized and rarely ever are, but having an en-suite too is a bit unbalanced I think.

Of course, all this assumes we are lucky enough to have two healthy children - we might end up with triplets, or be unable to conceive at all, or all sorts of things. I know life rarely works out as planned

You will be surprised what children are happy with. I had two girls fairly close in age and they chose to share a room until they were in their teens. We had enough bedrooms for one each, but they weren't interested.

System

Just to add to what's been said already, your current house doesn't look at all small, in fact there are parents of children who'd give their eye teeth to have that much space! I am not sure what your peers consider to be a reasonable size abode?

choille

RainbowLaura wrote: »

Hi money savers,

I know it's an age old question, but...

You're thinking of starting a family. The options are:

1) Remain in your fairly small house (with a fairly small mortgage) and be a stay at home parent until your child(ren) are both at school. Then go back to work and think about the bigger house.

2) Move to the bigger house now, but then have to go back to your (relatively low paid) job and also worry about covering the bills after childcare.

Which would you choose?

Bigger house and work at home renting out rooms, B&B or child minding - that way you use the property and are still working but making it suit you.

Money_maker

seashore22 wrote: »

You will be surprised what children are happy with. I had two girls fairly close in age and they chose to share a room until they were in their teens. We had enough bedrooms for one each, but they weren't interested.

Ours too. Had 2 boys, 15 months apart. Firstly had no choice as we had a 2 bed bungalow. Went up to a 3 bed house (3 floors) and they chose to share still rather than have one room each. Ended up having DD (11 year gap) just to fill the extra room!