What is the ideal amount of square footage for a family of 4?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who think as you get older you need less space are young and foolish. I was also that way. My house I just bought in my mid 50's as a trade up home is 6,100 square feet, the house across the street sold a few weeks ago to a couple early 50s that is 7,000 square feet. Your fifties and sixties you need the most square footage.

My kids are not 12, 17 and 18. All at once I am hitting the car phase. Right now three cars, one more to come, Hitting dating phase while still in playdate phase. Hitting phase where friends from college come visit and in-laws too old to drive home late stay over. If anything I should have got around 7,000 square feet with a three car garage instead of two.

I have the three kids in a 1,400 square foot house with a one car driveway up till two years ago. Coming up in next 15 years I will host college graduations, engagement showers, weddings, baby showers, meeting new inlaws and son-in-laws for first time. Folks judge. I need room. When kids are little none of that happens. Then you hit mid 70s or so and it starts to slow down as that phase is behind

If my son in law judged me for not having a 6,000 square foot house, I would question my own parenting. How did I raise a daughter who made such a poor choice in a husband?

Seriously.

My parents hosted a pre-wedding party for me and my fiance in the 1200 sq foot house I grew up in with my 5 siblings, and the only things the in-laws couldn't stop talking about for years afterwards was the delicious food/desserts my mother cooked/baked and her fantastic English-style garden.

[Anonymous]

Think about how much furniture you have and want to buy. Bigger houses need more of it to not feel empty.

[Anonymous]

I think your needs change as the kids grow. When my 2 kids were babies and toddlers, I felt like our 2400 sq ft townhouse was too big for us as we always were on the main living level watching the kids. We didn't need a basement and we didn't need the 4th bedroom. They're now older, 9 and 11, and we moved a yr ago in a 3400 sq ft home, 4 brs, 2 car garage, deck, and a small yard in a community with tons of families. This is the most ideal for us at this stage in our lives. The kids are now more independent, they have plenty of space in the basement to have friends over, and they can walk or ride their bikes to their friends houses nearby. Once they are in college, who knows what we would want then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who think as you get older you need less space are young and foolish. I was also that way. My house I just bought in my mid 50's as a trade up home is 6,100 square feet, the house across the street sold a few weeks ago to a couple early 50s that is 7,000 square feet. Your fifties and sixties you need the most square footage.

My kids are not 12, 17 and 18. All at once I am hitting the car phase. Right now three cars, one more to come, Hitting dating phase while still in playdate phase. Hitting phase where friends from college come visit and in-laws too old to drive home late stay over. If anything I should have got around 7,000 square feet with a three car garage instead of two.

I have the three kids in a 1,400 square foot house with a one car driveway up till two years ago. Coming up in next 15 years I will host college graduations, engagement showers, weddings, baby showers, meeting new inlaws and son-in-laws for first time. Folks judge. I need room. When kids are little none of that happens. Then you hit mid 70s or so and it starts to slow down as that phase is behind

+1

You can make 1400 square feet work, but why would you want to? Live a little

this attitude is bizarre to me. You can't "live" unless you have a house that's bigger than 3x the US average?

[Anonymous]

3500-4000 with a 3 car garage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say 1500-2000.

We are a family of 5 in a 1450 she fr home and it is ample space. We have four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a rec room downstairs, kitchen and living room. The only thing we don't have is a formal dining room but we can seat 8 at the table and I more than that, we do buffet style.

We have a yard, laundry room, tool room, and storage room.

I can see adding another 500 again ft or so but more than that just feels like excess space.

+1.

+2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who think as you get older you need less space are young and foolish. I was also that way. My house I just bought in my mid 50's as a trade up home is 6,100 square feet, the house across the street sold a few weeks ago to a couple early 50s that is 7,000 square feet. Your fifties and sixties you need the most square footage.

My kids are not 12, 17 and 18. All at once I am hitting the car phase. Right now three cars, one more to come, Hitting dating phase while still in playdate phase. Hitting phase where friends from college come visit and in-laws too old to drive home late stay over. If anything I should have got around 7,000 square feet with a three car garage instead of two.

I have the three kids in a 1,400 square foot house with a one car driveway up till two years ago. Coming up in next 15 years I will host college graduations, engagement showers, weddings, baby showers, meeting new inlaws and son-in-laws for first time. Folks judge. I need room. When kids are little none of that happens. Then you hit mid 70s or so and it starts to slow down as that phase is behind

+1

You can make 1400 square feet work, but why would you want to? Live a little

this attitude is bizarre to me. You can't "live" unless you have a house that's bigger than 3x the US average?

You can't understand why people want more than the bare minimum

[Anonymous]

You sound like you are judging someone for being poor. Wow.

Right? I’m the PP they were talking to. Our HHI income is, to me, astronomical. It’s high even by ridiculous DCUM standards, which are sick.
That’s not the point though (other than to point out that even a lot of rich people think that these gigantic houses are awful and unnecessary). I would rather be poor in terms of money than poor in character and perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who think as you get older you need less space are young and foolish. I was also that way. My house I just bought in my mid 50's as a trade up home is 6,100 square feet, the house across the street sold a few weeks ago to a couple early 50s that is 7,000 square feet. Your fifties and sixties you need the most square footage.

My kids are not 12, 17 and 18. All at once I am hitting the car phase. Right now three cars, one more to come, Hitting dating phase while still in playdate phase. Hitting phase where friends from college come visit and in-laws too old to drive home late stay over. If anything I should have got around 7,000 square feet with a three car garage instead of two.

I have the three kids in a 1,400 square foot house with a one car driveway up till two years ago. Coming up in next 15 years I will host college graduations, engagement showers, weddings, baby showers, meeting new inlaws and son-in-laws for first time. Folks judge. I need room. When kids are little none of that happens. Then you hit mid 70s or so and it starts to slow down as that phase is behind

Ugh. This level of consumption (four cars?!) and the “no, really, we need it and you do too” justifications are extremely off-putting. You don’t need that much space. What hole inside you are you trying to fill?

I'll do you one better:

We're a family of 3, 9000 square feet, 3 cars (all V8's, and usually only one of them driven daily). I researched people like you and you wanna know what I found (I know you don't want to hear it but I'm going to tell everyone all the same): you don't give a damn about the environment, sustainability etc. You just like feeling good about showing off how green you are.

Try doing an actual sustainably audit of your life.

Unless you:

-knit your own clothes
-are vegan
-grow your own food
- have no children

Not talking about environmental impact, just greed, materialism, and insecurity.

Yours. There really is no reason to judge other people. I do hope you find peace

[Anonymous]

This is confusing. NO consistency as to what a sqf is. Some homes list only above the grade some include basement.
To me the most important part is the number of bedrooms and the above the grade sqf. I don't care much about the basement. A house needs one bedroom for parents, one per kid plus one guest room. That is important.
Size is secondary. But.. the size has to be adequate to make rooms livable so kids can be comfy and not need to spend all waking time in the living areas because room is just a bed and zero room beyond that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who think as you get older you need less space are young and foolish. I was also that way. My house I just bought in my mid 50's as a trade up home is 6,100 square feet, the house across the street sold a few weeks ago to a couple early 50s that is 7,000 square feet. Your fifties and sixties you need the most square footage.

My kids are not 12, 17 and 18. All at once I am hitting the car phase. Right now three cars, one more to come, Hitting dating phase while still in playdate phase. Hitting phase where friends from college come visit and in-laws too old to drive home late stay over. If anything I should have got around 7,000 square feet with a three car garage instead of two.

I have the three kids in a 1,400 square foot house with a one car driveway up till two years ago. Coming up in next 15 years I will host college graduations, engagement showers, weddings, baby showers, meeting new inlaws and son-in-laws for first time. Folks judge. I need room. When kids are little none of that happens. Then you hit mid 70s or so and it starts to slow down as that phase is behind

+1

You can make 1400 square feet work, but why would you want to? Live a little

this attitude is bizarre to me. You can't "live" unless you have a house that's bigger than 3x the US average?

You can't understand why people want more than the bare minimum

People always want more than they have. Doesn’t mean that it’s healthy for the individual or the environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who think as you get older you need less space are young and foolish. I was also that way. My house I just bought in my mid 50's as a trade up home is 6,100 square feet, the house across the street sold a few weeks ago to a couple early 50s that is 7,000 square feet. Your fifties and sixties you need the most square footage.

My kids are not 12, 17 and 18. All at once I am hitting the car phase. Right now three cars, one more to come, Hitting dating phase while still in playdate phase. Hitting phase where friends from college come visit and in-laws too old to drive home late stay over. If anything I should have got around 7,000 square feet with a three car garage instead of two.

I have the three kids in a 1,400 square foot house with a one car driveway up till two years ago. Coming up in next 15 years I will host college graduations, engagement showers, weddings, baby showers, meeting new inlaws and son-in-laws for first time. Folks judge. I need room. When kids are little none of that happens. Then you hit mid 70s or so and it starts to slow down as that phase is behind

+1

You can make 1400 square feet work, but why would you want to? Live a little

this attitude is bizarre to me. You can't "live" unless you have a house that's bigger than 3x the US average?

You can't understand why people want more than the bare minimum

People always want more than they have. Doesn’t mean that it’s healthy for the individual or the environment.

Yup. See the Atlantic Article
Are McMansions Making People Any Happier?
Homes have gotten bigger, but Americans aren’t any more pleased with the extra space.
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/06/big-houses-american-happy/591433/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say 1500-2000.

We are a family of 5 in a 1450 she fr home and it is ample space. We have four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a rec room downstairs, kitchen and living room. The only thing we don't have is a formal dining room but we can seat 8 at the table and I more than that, we do buffet style.

We have a yard, laundry room, tool room, and storage room.

I can see adding another 500 again ft or so but more than that just feels like excess space.

+1.

+2

How in the world do you have all those “rooms” in such a small house! Some of them must be closet sized. I certainly don’t think a rabbit Warren is anything to brag about.

Define a closet. We have 900 square feet - three bedrooms, one bathroom, living room/dining room and kitchen. Its fine. I'd prefer 4 bedrooms but we make it work.

You have a family of 4 living in a 900sqft house with ONE bathroom and you call that ideal? Your kids must be in diapers, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say 1500-2000.

We are a family of 5 in a 1450 she fr home and it is ample space. We have four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a rec room downstairs, kitchen and living room. The only thing we don't have is a formal dining room but we can seat 8 at the table and I more than that, we do buffet style.

We have a yard, laundry room, tool room, and storage room.

I can see adding another 500 again ft or so but more than that just feels like excess space.

+1.

+2

How in the world do you have all those “rooms” in such a small house! Some of them must be closet sized. I certainly don’t think a rabbit Warren is anything to brag about.

Define a closet. We have 900 square feet - three bedrooms, one bathroom, living room/dining room and kitchen. Its fine. I'd prefer 4 bedrooms but we make it work.

You have a family of 4 living in a 900sqft house with ONE bathroom and you call that ideal? Your kids must be in diapers, right?

Nope, elementary age... its fine.

[Anonymous]

The ideal size would be 10,000+ sqft. The minimum size to live comfortably is 2,000 sqft.