Small families with big houses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of y'all don't have in-laws living with you and it shows. I thought multi-generational living is supposed to be the future of the Millennials! You're going to do that in 2000-2500 sq ft and two bathrooms? With kids, too? Have fun and good luck.

I'm a 39 year old millenial and have never heard this

umm if you are 39, you are not a millenial

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, most people who care about the environmental effects of consumption don't maintain consistent views. For example, I rarely eat out and generate very little trash; but a friend who cares about "consumption" orders takeout a lot, and the waste from takeout is enormous. Also, I admittedly have an old vehicle that is not fuel efficient, but I drive about 3000 miles per year. Meanwhile, I know people who care about "consumption" who drive 12K-15K miles per year in their more fuel efficient vehicles.

You are right a lot of people who claim to care about the environment consistently make personal choices that are counter to this, all while shaming others for not recycling hard enough or something. I know lots of UMC "progressives" who make a show out of stuff like carrying around their own metal straws and driving an electric vehicle, but travel extensively, live in huge homes, doing endless takeout, etc.

BUT there actually are some of us who are not just environmentalists for show. We just tend not to be as showy about it because it's not about proving we're the right kind of people, it's about actually trying to decrease our environmental impact.

If you are an environmentalist, though, you already know that individual action can never be more than a drop in the bucket. Slowing climate change, pollution, the water crisis, etc. can only happen through widescale government action directed primarily at businesses. I say this not to justify wasteful behavior by individuals, but because harping on individual behavior is a distraction from real solutions.

If you study environmental policy you'll see that the whole idea of individual action was created by polluting industries as a way of deflecting responsibility onto the choices of consumers rather than producers.

+2. Harping on the relatively small number of people that live in big houses is an unhelpful distraction.

No, it’s not. Most people will believe climate change is a crises when the people who are telling them it’s a crises make choices in their own lives that reflect that. As long as people like John Kerry and Al Gore and various Hollywood “activists” maintain multiple huge homes and yachts and fly around the world in private jets, no normal middle class person is buying the need to change their relatively tiny carbon footprint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to reduce consumption, how often do you change cars? How much wardrobe items do you buy each year? How many plastic toys do your kids have? How often do you update the decor in your house?

Stop buying stuff and try to only buy sustainably manufactured products.

This is my first post in this thread.
Family of 6 (2 parents and 4 kids) in a 2800 sqf house (includes finished basement.) Currently our older two have moved out (college) but we have lived here for 16 years--so the majority of the time it's been all six of us here.

Cars: My current car is a 2013 model (given to us by an elderly relative that no longer drives--prior to that I had a 2012 minivan. Spouse drives a 2010 model vehicle--purchased new in 2010.

Wardrobe: minimal. I buy maybe 2-3 pairs of pants, a a half dozen tops, and maybe 3-4 dresses each season. I've had the same winter coat for 3 years.

Plastic toys: Kids are too old but when they were younger it was almost all wooden toys--and not Melissa and Doug. Most of the toys we bought our kids were from smaller family owned companies. One of my favorite companies is https://elvesandangels.com/ and I've often posted this as a recommendation when people are asking about toy kitchens.

Update decor: Like I said earlier, we've lived in this house for 16 years--we didn't update ANYTHING until 2020, when everyone else was doing home projects. We repainted the whole interior and got some new window treatments. Our current bedroom set is one we bought in 2004. We bought our family room sofa in 2020, but the one we had prior to that was purchased in 2008, and the one prior to that was purchased in 1998.

This is so tone-deaf and so laughably ignorant. Bragging about buying wooden toys when you had FOUR CHILDREN? No amount of wooden toys purchased or your lack of new clothes can offset the environmental damage of that level of procreation. I am not an environmentalist, hell, sometimes I don't even recycle, but I abhor ignorance and am calling BS on PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of y'all don't have in-laws living with you and it shows. I thought multi-generational living is supposed to be the future of the Millennials! You're going to do that in 2000-2500 sq ft and two bathrooms? With kids, too? Have fun and good luck.

I'm a 39 year old millenial and have never heard this

umm if you are 39, you are not a millenial

UMMMMMM, I am 41 and a millennial. 1981, baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we live in an 8000 sf house but we offset our footprint w/ teslas and credits so no shame here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of y'all don't have in-laws living with you and it shows. I thought multi-generational living is supposed to be the future of the Millennials! You're going to do that in 2000-2500 sq ft and two bathrooms? With kids, too? Have fun and good luck.

I'm a 39 year old millenial and have never heard this

umm if you are 39, you are not a millenial

Hate to break it to you but the oldest millennials are 40 or 42 (some define the millennial generation as starting in 1982 while others define it as starting as early as 1980)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of y'all don't have in-laws living with you and it shows. I thought multi-generational living is supposed to be the future of the Millennials! You're going to do that in 2000-2500 sq ft and two bathrooms? With kids, too? Have fun and good luck.

I'm a 39 year old millenial and have never heard this

umm if you are 39, you are not a millenial

This made me laugh so hard, thank you PP. If you've ever wondered why so much of the conversation around "kids today" and generational differences often makes NO SENSE, it's because people have literally no idea what they are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Friends just spent a ridiculous amount of money on a gigantic 5br house. She said they'd never move out of their townhouse and here we are. They are attempting to sell the townhouse now as they've run out of money to update the new place.

We have a 4br townhouse with a yard in a good pyramid and 1 kid. Plan on being here for quite a while.

[Anonymous]

Millenials start with 1981. So in 9 years they will start turning 50.

[Anonymous]

IME, you expand to fill the available space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my searches in Arlington, there is often not that much of a price difference between well maintained, older 3-4 bedroom houses with 2500 sq ft (often around $1.5-$1.7 million) and relatively new McMansions with 5-6 bedrooms with 4000-5000 sq ft (often around $1.8-$2.0 million). So it can make lots of sense to just go for the bigger house, even if you don't really need the extra space.

Something doesn't add up. Usually new construction home are 2x the price of older homes in the same area, I think you are underestimating just how much new construction homes cost these days, and based on prices for older homes your area must be expensive. I would think new construction huge homes would cost about 3 mil these days, big difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:America is crazy, people think they need a separate room for everything. Gym, office, TV room, playroom, sitting room, etc. God forbid you have a guest stay in your office room! Or a desk in your playroom! I prefer smaller, older houses but I know I'm in the minority.

We have a 900 square foot house. The office due to work/school at home is completely filled with desks/computers. Where would we put a guest? There is no space in our bedroom for an air mattress for our kid either as it only holds a bed, nightstands and a dresser with a tiny bit of space in-between.

If you have a 900sf house I don't think you are an example of what PP is talking about...?

That's exactly WHY I'd want a 4000+ square foot house. I'd like each of us to have an office, the kid to have an office/music room, guest room, formal living room, formal dining room, family room, workshop...we could easily make use of it all but I don't want to clean it.

It's because huge homes with multifunction rooms and guest rooms were previously available only to those who had full time servants. They are building new homes now with 7-10K sq.ft, I wonder if people who buy them have money for a full time housekeeper, a landscaper/outdoor worker and a poolboy. lol. To keep these huge homes and their outdoor spaces in proper condition costs a lot. It's not just a mortgage expense when you buy these homes, people who live there are loaded enough to employ regular landscaping services, and indoor and outdoor cleaning crews. Not to mention the costs of furnishing and decorating huge places, you aren't going to get away with cheap looking stuff.

[Anonymous]

Soon most big homes will become multifamily homes when these 1-3 kids will end up coming back to live with their parents in luxury they cannot afford themselves. It's the space for grandchildren they are buying It's only bound to happen as prices for everything outpace incomes even from professional jobs. Young people entering workforce out of college are up for rude awakening after they get tired living with roomies in fun urban locations and start growing up. Even if parents help with downpayment, most of these kids would only be able to afford very basic small homes, so they might want to come back, lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my searches in Arlington, there is often not that much of a price difference between well maintained, older 3-4 bedroom houses with 2500 sq ft (often around $1.5-$1.7 million) and relatively new McMansions with 5-6 bedrooms with 4000-5000 sq ft (often around $1.8-$2.0 million). So it can make lots of sense to just go for the bigger house, even if you don't really need the extra space.

Something doesn't add up. Usually new construction home are 2x the price of older homes in the same area, I think you are underestimating just how much new construction homes cost these days, and based on prices for older homes your area must be expensive. I would think new construction huge homes would cost about 3 mil these days, big difference.

I'm not sure why you think I'm making this stuff up. Older 2500 sq foot homes:
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/4323-24th-St-N-22207/home/11232394
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/5729-19th-St-N-22205/home/11238721

Newer, 4000+ square foot homes costing the same or slightly more:
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/5231-19th-St-N-22207/home/11236727
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/6412-27th-St-N-22207/home/11225553
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/2300-N-Kentucky-St-22205/home/11237932
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/2260-N-Upton-St-22207/home/22674827
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/2264-N-Upton-St-22207/home/11232645

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in a bigger house I need. Even bigger than I wanted, but it was what we could get during the insane housing market. I do love the space, though. We do not use all the house every day, but we do use all the house... especially with people working from home, covid quarantines, using a home gym... the list goes on.

I will not make excuses about waste and pollution, but can say that I use about 1/3 as much energy in this huge, new house as I did when I lived in a much older house half the size. Windows, insulation, and new appliances really do matter.

except old home would be half the price, expensive utilities due to poor insulation will never make up for the extra Gs you have to pay to the bank in interest alone.