Most people would love to have big houses and in fact many do, but are they space efficient? Are you really using all the space you're paying for? So probably not, I think if we are into buying or renting we need to consider this. How big is your house of flat? Do you really need all that space?
I suffer from bipolar (or Gay Bear as I like to call it) and I definitely need space. We moved to a ground floor flat three years ago and we have a big back garden which has become my sanctuary to escape to when things get too much for me. My dream is to move to a placed out in the country where nobody else lives, but sadly this dream won't be accomplished in this country as we are building on any space we can clap our eyes on!
I think that for most people it's easier to own a big house than to try and properly manage a smaller one. Personally, I bought a small flat and the space is more than enough. I own plenty of things, but things that I need - I don't fill my house with stuff I never use. The costs of living in a small flat are low and the money I save goes towards the more important things in life, like education. For now I can't imagine myself living in a bigger, more expensive house, and you know what? I'm happy this way
My parents house had about 13 rooms. Less than half of those rooms were used. When I was home alone [they used to travel a lot] it always scared me to be left alone in that house because someone could be hiding anywhere [irrational fears but I rather young back then]. When I moved away, I lived in a small two-room apartment but that for me felt like enough space. Right now I'm back in the big house again because I inherited it but I use three rooms only. I could have had a tenant move in but no one ever visits my hometown unless they're visiting their folks during the holidays.
I don't know if it's easier to live in a big house because I've always lived in a small one, but there are quite a few advantages in a small place: less to clean, less energy to spend and my family actually is closer because we need to be in the same room more often lol!
450 square feet is more than adequate for me to live in as long as I have a yard. Once my youngest is on his own, I will be dramatically downsizing in favor of more land.
My flat is very small as there are only my husband, my daughter, and myself living in it. I would love to have a bigger space in the future when my baby starts running around but at the moment I'm comfortable with the size as it is easier to do all the cleaning. The only advantage for having a bigger space and more rooms though is that we would have a space for visitors to stay overnight.
Are you serious? 450 square feet is equivalent to 40 square meters and that is not much at all. Sure, if you have a garden it does help, but even so it's a really small space. How many people are living in that space?
I find that I don't need a lot of space to live. I live by myself and have a 2 bedroom apartment, and I think it's too big for myself and my dog alone. I barely use one of the bedrooms and I could live without it perfectly. My living room is also pretty big, and while it's cool to have a spacious place, it's more space to clean which makes me I think I should probably have a smaller place because I really hate cleaning.
I always liked space. I'm kind of OC when it comes to cleaning my place and having a narrow or crowded space to move in gets me easily irritated. I'd rather have a big almost empty house rather than a small one packed with furniture. Also, having some extra space to move in, it's easier to clean the house and do some home workout, you can flail around and you won't have to worry about hitting something.
I grew up in a big house with a large lawn. When my parents migrated to another country and left me in charge of this house, I realized how expensive it is to maintain the property. The maintenance and repairs costs of the whole house plus the maintenance of the yard are stressful for me especially if I don't have a regular stay-in house helper and gardener to maintain everything. A day is not enough to clean it if I do it myself. So I kept the rooms closed and used only the kitchen, bedroom, music room and porch. If I am to choose, I would rather live in a small house in the countryside.
I can only imagine what you say Athena, but it makes perfect sense that a big house is costly to maintain. If it's in a city it's really a goldmine because it can be sold for offices or a large family. In the country is not so valuable, so it just might be harder for you to sell it even if you don't need all that space.
