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Are we craaaazy??
Our lease is up in two months. It is so cheap to buy in our area right now, but we're unsure we want to stay here for the next 5 years. We've looked at renting a house, but there's not much in our area in our price range.
Right now we're in a 2 bedroom apt that is almost 1100 square feet. The kitchen is so tiny though, there is almost zero counter space. We cook most meals at home so this is very irritating! We both lived in a one bedroom (800 square feet) before we moved in together at the same apt complex, which had a much nicer kitchen. The only difference in square footage is the extra bedroom and bathroom. Both of which we don't really use. The extra bedroom serves as a storage room and has a computer/desk area that IS used and the extra bathroom serves as our "wine" making area.
We have the option to terminate our lease in 60 days and move into a one bedroom w/ bigger kitchen that's on a first floor with woods behind it. Right now our apt faces the street and we are on the second floor. We'd also save an addtional $100 a month in rent that we could save to buy something next year when we wouldn't (hopefully) be in flux. We'd have to get rid of some of the junk we keep, which isn't a big deal because it really needs to be done.
I am a little scared about going from a bigger to smaller place though. I told FI we may not survive the first year of marriage! Ha. Really though - we spent a lot of our time in the living area/kitchen so this might be better in some ways.
Is this crazy or what? I think we can manage this environment for a year, but it will hard for us to have separate space unless one of us actually leaves the apartment.
Re: Are we craaaazy??
how important is 'separate space' to you?
Because that's the key.
The Mr. and I live in a 1,100 square foot house. Now that Buffy is here, we couldn't have it smaller; before she was here, we could have. But I need [not want, NEED] space that's mine. Not a separate room, mind you, but a desk where stuff won't be TOUCHED (except by cats. Who destroy my stuff). A closet to stash things in. Not just boxes, but a place to spread some stuff that I can be confident it won't be screwed w/ and my privacy will be respected while I"m actually leaving it out for a week or 12.
As long as I could have that, I'd be Ok. If I couldn't...I couldn't do it.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
I don't think it's crazy. When H and I need our own space, one person is in the living room (watching tv or on the computer) and the other is in the bedroom (reading, watching tv, or playing video games). Or one is in the bedroom while the other is in the kitchen (making dinner or baking cookies (ok, the baking is just me)). The key is to letting the other person know you need some space before it becomes an issue and you blow up (and vice versa).
Yes yes - we do use the computer in the second bedroom. The one bedroom apt actually has more closet space for storage than our two bedroom. Right now everything is just literally hanging out in the spare bedroom. It would also be cheap for us to rent a storage unit in town for the extra bed/tv set if we wanted to keep that stuff.
IDK though for the $$ we pay now, we have a lot of space. Ideally we would like to keep the extra furniture so we have it if we ever DO move into a house in the near future as well.
GBCK - we don't necessarily need "separate" space per say, but it is nice when we want to do our own things and we can do them in separate rooms.
A lot of things to consider here.
I am one of those people who believes a person can adapt to any space. But we also know I have no issue paring down my belongings.
As for keeping the extra furniture, I think you need to consider the quality of the pieces you would need to store and when you think you will want/need a bigger place. If you really are set on purchasing a home next year and the furniture is in great shape and good quality, a storage unit makes sense. If you still aren't sure when you are going to purchase a home, storing your $75 WalMart desk for 5 years doesn't make much sense.
Edit: The only issue I'm seeing is the computer in the spare room. I think this could be a major issue if you can't find a space for it that gives the illusion of privacy and doesn't disturb the other partner. If you FI likes to play games all hours of the night, having the desk in the bedroom won't work. But if the living area is small, privacy and the "alone time" could take a hit.
Is getting a storage unit going to cost less than the $100/mo you're saving on rent? If so, how much less? Is it enough to mitigate the cost to you of having to travel to the storage place if you need something?
H and I "downsized" when we moved out of our house and into this apartment, but it was going from 1900 sqft to 1300+ sqft, so it wasn't a huge sacrifice...AND we are paying for a massive storage unit (that is stuffed, btw). During the move we did end up throwing a bunch of junk away, but it was mostly because we couldn't fit anything else in the moving truck!
I think the savings per month isn't enough for me - it doesn't justify having less space AND having to go through the hassle of moving. Just my thoughts.
BBE - I guess moving is not really about the cost savings so much as having a "bigger" (not by much) kitchen. Ideally, we would like to not have a storage unit if we could get rid of enough stuff.
This.
I would just hold out and buy a house when you decide on an area you want to live in for a while. If you've put up with the kitchen for this long, I would just continue to do so until you have a better idea of where you want to live.
I know that you use that second bathroom to make the wine correct? would you lose the ability to do that if you moved?
I am a lazy heifer and hate moving which is why i lived in my last apartment for 6 years before we moved. I just dont know that moving for $100 a month to less space is worth it. We live in a 2 bedroom right now and I am not sure that I would want to go back down to a 1 bedroom because I enjoy that extra space so that the computer is tucked away in its own space.
yes i am a strange beaver.
No you aren't, I understand completely! I think the crux of all of this is we are tired of things in our life - work, apt, area, etc. and really want a change. This is the only area of which we have any type of control right now so I think that's driving a change in apts. It might not help though and I recognize that. There are a lot of downsides to moving to a smaller place - smaller, the actual move and yes - I don't know if/where we will be able to do the wine making. That is very upsetting!!!! Probably the most upsetting aspect of it all.
Ideally - if we were to move, the best thing would be to a rented house w/ a bigger kitchen and similar space that we have now. I don't know if (in reality) that would happen because rent prices are about $200 more than the rent we pay currently.
Staying in the same place might be the best option and sucking it up w/ the kitchen - like you said Mort. Ugh though.
DL, is there a reason that you want to stay in this apt complex. It seems to me that it just doesn't have what you are looking for. I don't know if you have looked elsewhere or not, but maybe you can find a 2 bedroom with a kitchen in your price range somewhere else.
I understand the counter space issue, trust me I do. We have definitely thought of moving for a better kitchen and this would mean less living space and more rent. If the money was no different, I think we would do it, but gosh darn it our current location can get no more convenient.
We did look, there are none in our immediate area that are in our price range. I think we would like to stay in this area - my commute to work is seriously 2 minutes and there are lots of places to run and our proximity to downtown Raleigh is great. The other issue is most of the apts that we have looked at have similarly small kitchens. They definitely don't design apartments for people who are homebodies and who cook on a nightly basis.
When we bought this house we thought the kitchen was a decent size with lots of cupboards and counter space (it was used as a selling point for the listing because it is big for that age/type of house). I don't know what happened, but it seems we don't have room for anything. We both came from really small galley type kitchens.
My point, no matter how much space you have, you will always find something to fill that space and then you'll want more (you =/= you personally, of course).
H and I have lived our entire marriage in a 750 sq foot 1BR 1BA apartment. Granted it's only been almost 3 years, but it's been fine. As a pp said, if one of us needs space we utilize the bedroom more. It also helps that neither of us are pack rats by any stretch of the imagination. Also my sister & BIL are using/have used furniture that doesn't fit in our apartment and will keep said furniture until we have a big enough place for it.
Have you invested in one of these:
I would love love LOVE one of those Muddled. Unfortunately, our kitchen is about 4 feet wide and 6 feet long....um yeah. I'm seriously not even joking! Together, we barely fit in there together.
I know what that's like. That's about what my kitchen at my condo was like. It may have been a little bit longer, but my arm span was about the width of my kitchen.
Do you have a dining area that you could kind of expand as part of your kitchen?
It doesn't have to be IN the kitchen, you know. It's counter space. It can be wherever.
Brad and I do not go in the kitchen at the same time eveer. There is not enough space and it causes fights because someone is always in the way or we hit elbows or whatever. Now that my crappy table is gone, I generally put the cutting board on my lap and sit on the couch and chop. I'm not even kidding. I get it.
Ohhh I'm so glad to hear we're not the only ones. Yes Mort - we do have a dining area. It's our fault that has become the "dog bowl and crate" area though. We do have a kitchen table, but it functions as the holder of the Keurig. haha!
Could you get some kind of island like Muddled posted and put that in the dining area? You could put your Keurig, toaster, etc on that and free up the space in the kitchen where you need to do food prep. At my condo I had something similar and it held appliances that I did not have room for on my counter-top.
In my kitchen now I have a cart type of thing that folds flat and stores easily. It's actually really nice and I keep it up all of the time. It holds my Keurig, K-cups, salt/pepper shaker, napkins and a place where we all put our keys and has a wine glass holder. I got it from QVC. It's actually tall enough and has extended edges to use with bar stools so you can use it as extra seating if necessary. Here's one on Amazon that's the same brand as the one I have. Only difference is mine is oval (so the edges go out further to use bar stools) and has wood for the legs, not stainless steel. It could be used for all sorts of things, not just the kitchen.
http://www.amazon.com/Oasis-Concepts-Stainless-Folding-Natural/dp/B001NFZC4K/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1335462182&sr=8-4