Downsizing from 5000 to under 2000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:boo hoo

+1 We've got a family of 4 in about 2000sqft and it's perfect. I can't imagine how much cleaning we've have to do and clutter we'd have accumulated with 5000 sqft. Marie Kondo your world and you'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

We have 5000 sf with four people and it feels ridiculous. Moved from 1600 sf which felt cramped but if we’d had a garage and an extra 400 sf it would have been great! I dream of downsizing and building my own cottage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i recommend 1200-1800 sf per person living there full time, if you have guests another 500/sf per guest like parents etc for those staying less than a month

That's... a lot of house. A lot of empty space that is heated and cooled. A lot of materials to build it and a lot of stuff to fill it. We can all go on pretending that this doesn't matter, but... it does. It's a really resource-intensive way of life and one that our kids and grandkids will end up paying for. It's cool though... you really need that gift-wrapping room.

[Anonymous]

A lot of 2000sf houses here have full basements, so they are larger than you might think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Moving to the DC area after being out of state for about ten year and adding three children. Extreme sticker shock and coming to the realization we will be buying a house under 2000 sq feet for our family of five - probably looking at a 1700 twin. Any advice? Kids are in elemenary and middle school. Mostly worried about the living space and the common areas. The 'living room' of some of these houses are smaller than my current master bathroom.

Once the kids get girl/boyfriends, you'll never see them. Sounds like you have a few more years, though. Just make sure you don't have any weapons accessible to you in the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:boo hoo

+1 We've got a family of 4 in about 2000sqft and it's perfect. I can't imagine how much cleaning we've have to do and clutter we'd have accumulated with 5000 sqft. Marie Kondo your world and you'll be fine.

Her method doesn't work. You're not allowed to get rid of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a twin?? Which neighborhood are we talking about?

We are in a 1600 sq ft rowhome with two kids. No basement. It’s what we know so it’s not a big deal to us. We’re very organized because we don’t really have the space to have stuff everywhere. Your kids are old enough to help out with this. We do spend a lot of time out of the house. COVID times were tough but we don’t work from home so much anymore so that’s been a relief in a way.

It’s obviously doable. People all over the world live in much smaller spaces. You just need to have less stuff. You’ll find you need less stuff, too.

So I disagree with you. First off - you have no kids. You have no idea what that's like!

When I was in my 20s I did the same as you - every move I tossed crap.

When you have a family and kids, ROFL. I have 2 and OP has 3. You need a bit of room.

People around the world actually aspire to having more room by the way. No sane person wants to be in a 1500 sq foot house with 3 kids. I'm not talking about being in a McMansion - of course you don't need 6 BR and 5000 sq ft. But that does not mean living in a shoe box makes you somehow more honorable or a better human lol.

You still need some room and in Europe by the way, they don't go shopping at Costco or have 50 different kinds of cereal at the store to choose. It's a totally different way of life and not comparable to life in an American suburb. We can't live like them and they don't need to live like us. So comparing our house to those who live around the world is just dumb. Apples to apples, you need a bit of room to be comfortable living in the US with 3 growing kids. These aren't babies - a teen boy isn't going to want to share a room with his MS sister - these are real considerations for OP.

Amen, we are Americans. We need our space.

IMO if you have even 2 kids, you need 2,000 sq ft living space, above grade, MINIMUM.

Oh for pete's sake. Plenty of people raise families in less that 2k sf. And no, it isn't awful and cramped. I have HS and college aged kids that I have raised in ~1800 sf. Have never felt that it was too small.

We have 900 square feet.

[Anonymous]

In the real world, most families only use about 1800 sq feet at most. The kitchen/living room/ dining space/office plus bedrooms. There are spider webs growing in all the unused space in a 5000 sq house for a typical family of 3 or 4 people. I'd much rather have the land to do something interesting with a garden than a useless McMansion that takes up all that space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:boo hoo

+1 We've got a family of 4 in about 2000sqft and it's perfect. I can't imagine how much cleaning we've have to do and clutter we'd have accumulated with 5000 sqft. Marie Kondo your world and you'll be fine.

We had that much space for 4 and it was too small for us - it was stressful to not really have enough room to store things, and to need to get rid of something every time you wanted something new. Cleaning was a pain because so many things needed to be moved out of the way to clean. Now we're in nearly twice as much space and it is too much space in a lot of ways. Layout matters as much as square footage. OP- how old are your kids? If they are high school or near high school age, agree with PPs who suggest renting. You can get a bigger place and then downsize once kids are in college. For a family of five, I would think 3,500 sq foot (including basement) four bedroom is ideal. There aren't many in DC, but if you can find a split level, I think they offer a lot more useable space for the money.

[Anonymous]

2000 sq feet is pitiful. Would not recommend downsizing from 5000 sq ft to something that small unless you have to for financial reasons. Maybe 3,500-4,000 sq feet would be doable without sacrificing much.

[Anonymous]

we plan to downsize from 7800sf to 4000 when all the kids are off to college, however with the rates being so low we may rent it out who knows or just live in it and build an elevator

[Anonymous]

Twin = Northeast speak for “semi-detached.” Not a “duplex” that looks like a single house with two doors, and not a row home because each one intentionally shares only one wall.

I grew up in a house like this. The key is how the space is arranged and how the realtor is counting the SF. How many floors are we talking here? What’s the “official” count versus what the realtor is posting? Basements and attics make a huge difference in the livability of these homes by giving you more potential living space and storage space.

[Anonymous]

OP, you will need to get rid of a lot of stuff. You might benefit from having an interior designer help with buying new furniture for the main level. I’m willing to bet that your furniture will be too big for the space. If you don’t have the budget, Reddit has firms with lots of great advice.

You and the kids will need to declutter as well.

[Anonymous]

We are in slightly under 2000 sq. ft., and I think this will be hard for you, esp. if kids are tweens or older. I'd look into renting something that is 2500-3000 sq. ft. and a style house that has a full basement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2000 sq feet is pitiful. Would not recommend downsizing from 5000 sq ft to something that small unless you have to for financial reasons. Maybe 3,500-4,000 sq feet would be doable without sacrificing much.

This. Again - WE ARE AMERICANS. SPACE, SPACE, SPACE!

I’d go 2k sq ft/person. I need my knitting room and junior needs his gaming room.