Would you move your family of 5 to smaller living quarters to save on rent? (apartments, tenants)
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We are a family of 5. We have 3 children under the age of 8. We are currently renting a 4 bedroom 2500 sq ft home. We want to buy a house in the next year or two. In order to save money and pay off some debt first, I am considering downsizing us to a 1 story home to rent or even an apartment or townhome. Would anyone else consider doing this? We might be a little cramped in a smaller space but I figure it's worth it to sacrifice in order to get the home we want in a few years. I just need to know if anyone else would consider downsizing your family tremendously space wise in order to save money? I just need to know if I'm crazy or not by thinking about doing this. We'd be saving about 500 a month by moving.
We are a family of 4 in a two-bedroom, 1200 sq foot apartment/duplex. It does get a little cramped at times, but we're pretty happy where we are. $500 a month is $6000 saved every year - although is that just what you'd save from reduced rent, or would you also be saving from reduced electric and other bills?
Kids wont care. But cheeper may not mean smaller. I find Rent is Higher than Morgae so you might consider going ahead & checking IF you can get a morgage & what you can aford in your income range. Then look for some thing even less expensive LOL
We are a family of 5. We have 3 children under the age of 8. We are currently renting a 4 bedroom 2500 sq ft home. We want to buy a house in the next year or two. In order to save money and pay off some debt first, I am considering downsizing us to a 1 story home to rent or even an apartment or townhome. Would anyone else consider doing this? We might be a little cramped in a smaller space but I figure it's worth it to sacrifice in order to get the home we want in a few years. I just need to know if anyone else would consider downsizing your family tremendously space wise in order to save money? I just need to know if I'm crazy or not by thinking about doing this. We'd be saving about 500 a month by moving.
My husband and I do not rent, and we do not have kids, but if we did, we would live in as small a place as possible until we could afford to buy. We have tenants in a couple of our rental apartments that we own that are families of four living in two bed one bath apartments (so, two people per bedroom).
I do not know if you have looked into mortgages yet, but you can get a house with a loan with as little as 3.5% down. Talk to a mortgage broker when you have some money saved up to see what your options are. Good luck!
we are doing this now. we were renting a 4bd home, probably 2600 sq ft. we now live in a 3bd that's about 1250 sq ft. we are saving about $600/mo with the smaller house -though it has a much bigger yard for the kids to play in. the kids don't care - i have 2, not three though. they are sharing a room. we had to get rid of a lot of stuff for us to be able to fit in the house, the rooms are smaller than our previous places.
now my husband...he is a different story. he can't wait to move out of here, haha. The lack of open space is stressful to him. i grew up in a really small house...a lot of people live like this so it's NBD to me. my husband is from a LCOL area in the midwest where homes are larger and cheaper, so he's never had to live in cramped quarters or share anything. I would like to have more space but knowing this is temporary makes it totally OK for me. We are probably going to be here a total of 1 year.
There are a lot of costs involved in moving, even if you do it yourself. Sounds like your house is just right for your family size. Moving out might save you 5-10K over 2 yrs, but you'd have an extra move and household setup costs involved, too, so it really doesn't save so much. Plus, packing and moving are a tremendous pain in the rear. I would try to cut expenses elsewhere - turn down the heat and wear sweaters, don't run the A/C unless absolutely necessary and then at the highest temp possible, turn off lights when not in rooms, stop eating out, do fun free/cheap stuff on weekends and days off, instead of taking costly vacations, get rid of the cable TV and get the cheapest internet service you can, use the cheapest cell phone service you can, instead of smartphones, kill the landline, stop buying new clothing, take hand me downs for the kids, borrow movies from the library instead of going to the movies, buy cheap food and cook at home, don't buy gifts and instead do stuff together to celebrate birthdays, maybe even try to live with one car instead of two, basically pinch every penny you can until it screams - every cent that is going out, think, "Do we really NEED this, or do we just want it? Is there a way to cut this expense down or out?". There are just a ton of places you can cut the budget more easily than moving, that would yield far more than the supposed 500/mo saved in cheaper rent. As for paying down debt, if you have credit card or auto loan debt, look at the reason why you have that debt. If you're driving an expensive car, would it make sense to sell it and get into something a lot cheaper? But at this point, if you think you're gonna be out in a year or two, the most difficult way to save money is probably by moving.
We are a family of 5. We have 3 children under the age of 8. We are currently renting a 4 bedroom 2500 sq ft home. We want to buy a house in the next year or two. In order to save money and pay off some debt first, I am considering downsizing us to a 1 story home to rent or even an apartment or townhome. Would anyone else consider doing this? We might be a little cramped in a smaller space but I figure it's worth it to sacrifice in order to get the home we want in a few years. I just need to know if anyone else would consider downsizing your family tremendously space wise in order to save money? I just need to know if I'm crazy or not by thinking about doing this. We'd be saving about 500 a month by moving.
Absolutely, downsize. I grew up in a family with 7 kids, we always shared a bedroom with someone else. Nothing wrong with that. It will be worth it to improve your financial situation. That alone will benefit your family in other ways.
Definitely downsize! I live in a 1950s subdivision of homes around 1500-1700 sqft, and neighbors on both sides raised 4 children in their homes, as did the previous owners of my house. Two houses down, a family is raising three young children, and our friends in the subdivision over from ours have 4 children under 6 in 1600sqft.
It isn't so much the square footage of a home but the way the house is designed which makes the biggest impact on your lifestyle.
Downsizing will not only save you on rent but also on utilities. You'll be able to afford your dream home in no time
I'm female, but I had to share a room with my little brother until I was 16 yrs old. We grew up in a 1920's house that was 890 sq ft, 2 bedroom, 1 bath. It was fine.
It actually gave me great appreciation for my first apartment at age 19. I felt like I lived in a palace having a whole apartment to myself (even though it was a basement apartment in the semi-ghetto). That's why my sons will ALWAYS share a bedroom even if we move to a bigger house. It's good for them!
PS: My grandpa shared a bed with 2 other siblings. We have it very good in this day and age, and in this country!
My parents and my siblings and I (family of 5) lived in a 2 bedroom until I hit my teens. Didn't have my own room until I was 15?
I do agree with the other suggestion of seeing where you can cut corners. Clothes are expensive. I buy thrift store clothes and nobody notices. When I mentioned it one day at work people were surprised to hear that and couldn't guess, most places only put out good clothes as it is, and kids grow so fast, spending $5 on a pair of pants is much better than $20-30. I even find nice clothes like Michael Khors, Seven jeans ($10!), etc.
My husband and I (just the two of us) live in a TINY one bedroom that's right around the corner from his work, so now he just walks to work, got rid of his expensive car. We do have two cars but one is paid off and the other is almost. We don't use air conditioner, we have no landline, cheap cable/internet, we don't eat out often, etc. All the things add up to where we put over $1000 a month towards debt (majority is student loans).
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