Raising 2 children in a relatively small 2 bedroom house

oystercatcher

We had a very small three bed house with 3 boys. There was no room in the loft for anything but we had an extension put on the back for more living space and then divided up the original living room to make a small bedroom and a dining space. That way all the boys had their own room to study for exams etc and we had slightly more living space. 

Now boys have grown and flown we have taken down the partition and have a nice spacious downstairs which is far more convenient than an attic room would be now that my joints hurt!

Just food for thought, depends on house layout etc .

Drawingaline

We had four children in a three bed, three boys sharing a room. It worked. We have moved since, and do relish having more space, but we could have easily stayed there. Being ruthless with belongings and storage is necessary, we had a large built in wardrobe in the main bedroom which houses a lot of seasonal things. 

Our 12 and 15yr old boys still share a room in the new house because they choose to. One side is an organised hoarder, tidy and everything has it's place. The other side is messy chaos. It works. 

MobileSaver

JadeHighland said:

Hi all

I'm curious if anyone here is raising two or more children in 2 bedroom house. Just looking to get others perspective.

My parents raised five kids in a one bedroom house (my parents slept on a sofa bed in the lounge) until I was 10 or 11. We didn't know any better and it was absolutely fine; we all ended up as (mostly ) normal, well-adjusted adults.

GDB2222

Mind you,  a larger house doesn’t necessarily mean less chaos.

Grumpy_chap

JadeHighland said:

Hi all

I'm curious if anyone here is raising two or more children in 2 bedroom house. Just looking to get others perspective.

My husband and I have a 4 year old girl and 7 years old boy who currently share a room. By the same they may need separate rooms (thinking in 3 years time), we should have enough money to do a loft extension. However, it's been pointed out that we may need more ground floor space. At the moment, it's just an okay size living room (3x3m) and slightly bigger kitchen that comfortably fits a dining table.

Though we earn a decent amount, jobs haven't been stable which has led us to be quite over cautious with money. We have 10 years left in our mortgage and ideally trying not to borrow more in case one of us end up losing our jobs or salary. 

Just curious to see how other people have coped and how much of an issue or non issue it is having a small space downstairs. 

How large is the garden?
Our neighbours have a fairly solid "permanent" gazebo structure on the back of their house which creates the equivalent of an extra room.
Do you have safe parks in the area?  Some encouragement to spend time out doors may do wonders for their knowledge, fitness and health.

JadeHighland

Grumpy_chap said:

JadeHighland said:

Hi all

I'm curious if anyone here is raising two or more children in 2 bedroom house. Just looking to get others perspective.

My husband and I have a 4 year old girl and 7 years old boy who currently share a room. By the same they may need separate rooms (thinking in 3 years time), we should have enough money to do a loft extension. However, it's been pointed out that we may need more ground floor space. At the moment, it's just an okay size living room (3x3m) and slightly bigger kitchen that comfortably fits a dining table.

Though we earn a decent amount, jobs haven't been stable which has led us to be quite over cautious with money. We have 10 years left in our mortgage and ideally trying not to borrow more in case one of us end up losing our jobs or salary. 

Just curious to see how other people have coped and how much of an issue or non issue it is having a small space downstairs. 

How large is the garden?
Our neighbours have a fairly solid "permanent" gazebo structure on the back of their house which creates the equivalent of an extra room.
Do you have safe parks in the area?  Some encouragement to spend time out doors may do wonders for their knowledge, fitness and health.

Garden actually has an entire area at the back that's not being used. Broken summer house which is very dingy inside (branches, webs etc.)so we've never used it since we've moved in. Would be good to make some kind of Den there.

When we moved in, as we were so close to a lot of parks (massive one 5 minutes walk away) we thoughts we wouldn't need extra space downstairs and so far it's been right. At the moment, the biggest issue with space downstairs is where to hang the washing outside of the summer months.