How to have two kids in a small house

[Sam_2.0]

Ok, wishful thinking on my part here. But I am ready for another kiddo. If we have another before we move, the kids will have to share a small room. Already have a pack n play that the new baby could sleep in. But what are some of your favorite multi-purpose or space-saving kids items? Tips/tricks for handling the big items as well as toys and clothes? Favorite furniture items?

And my parents are wonderful, they are letting us store most baby stuff in their attic as we wait to need it again. So that does free up a great deal of room too.

[Deleted]

My advice. Kids don't need a lot of room. I think one of the biggest financial mistakes that people make is to buy a big home that really stretches their budget for the sake of kids. We had a 4 bedroom home and my sons loved sharing a room together and did so until my oldest was about 12+. Do what works for your budget. Kids will be fine. Keep your costs lower so that if you do want to downsize your career a bit to stay home more or go PT, then you can. Don't upsize and get locked in until you are sure wha tyou want. Also "less" is more. Don't buy all that useless baby stuff , toys and stuff you really don't need. It is a waste of money and space.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...we have a lot of twins in our family... are you sure you can place your order just for one?




...and, fwiw, all the twins shared rooms until they moved out... sharing can work quite well...

[Wisconsin Beth]

Sam, as you know, mine are 2.75 and 4+, the biggest issue we have is the sheer volume of toys. What one's just outgrowing the younger one is playing with.

If you're organized, it can be managed. I grew up in a 1100 sf house, with 4 siblings (although there's an 11year gap between the youngest and me) and my Mom was super organized. I fail at it so my house will never match my Mom's.

[Loopdilou]

Kids need less stuff than you think they do. Our girls shared a bed for years, actually. They're tiny enough long enough, yanno?

[muttleynfelix]

Personally, I don't have any real experience yet and our house is not super small (1600 sq ft). But the big thing for us is making sure each room is being used to its potential. Our office is in the process of becoming completely redone with built in cabinetry (built by my DH). This will allow us to get the most use out of a fairly small room and still keep it functional. We keep things picked up every night with DS. It definately helps in small spaces to keep things put away.

My dad grew up in a 2 bedroom house and actually shared a bed with his brother until he was in high school and they added onto the house. Their bed room had a very small closet, a desk and a full size bed. No room for ANYTHING else and I've shared that room with my sister for a week at a time - so glad it was not permanent. I think you just make due when you don't have the space. I think it makes it easier to say we don't need this toy or that toy because there just isn't room for it.

[dakota4600]

Sam- One of my friends has an 1100 sq ft house and 4 kids. She keeps saying that they are lucky they got 3 & 1 gender wise, because they have 2 okay sized bedrooms and one closet sized bedroom (a twin bed takes up about 1/2 that room). So the boy gets his own room and the girls have to share. They are really hoping to get a bigger house soon, but she admits they are just lazy and haven't got around to putting the one they have one the market. They have a full basement, but the entry is through the garage so it is just used as storage space.

[kittensaver]

Two inherited girls, small house. They shared a room. They had those all-in-one pieces of furniture where the bed was high (like a top bunk bed) and below was a desk. Their room was for quiet activities: sleeping, dressing and studying. If they wanted to watch TV, listen to music (this was back before ipods), play nintendo or talk on the phone they came out to the family room/tv room. Of course they were older (young teens) so I didn't have to deal with toys. But I did have to deal with clothes. Oh the clothes!!! We doubled up the closet rods. We found old-fashioned wood dressers with very deep drawers. We used shoe racks, drawer dividers and hanger extenders . . . and it was still next to impossible to keep it all under control. I intially cut them some slack because they'd come from a chaotic home where they lost virtually everything, and their hoarding/scarcity instincts had kicked in. But we eventually instituted a "if you haven't worn it for a year, you need to donate it" rule, and that worked well. But my poor DH felt overrun with girlie things for several years. Now he misses them :-(

[Sam_2.0]

I grew up as the oldest of 4 and we lived in about 1200 sq ft. I just don't remember having as much stuff as baby girl already has (then again, we had a basement playroom where all toys lived). Well, and we were poor, we really didn't have a ton of stuff. One toybox and one big shelf in the basement. DH, otoh, grew up in a 5000 sq ft house with six kids. So he things we need a TON of room for each person. DD is limited to toys that fit in an ottoman and one plastic storage tub for now, but I've been packing away the smaller baby items to keep for a future kid. I can't imagine the mess from two sets of toys out at the same time!

My biggest issue is all the giant baby things. Highchairs, stroller, carseats, swing/bouncer/saucer. And they can't really share a bed for awhile, at least not until the baby could graduate from the crib. But a pack n play would work as a crib for quite awhile. It could live in our room, especially if I can convince DH to let us get one bigger dresser instead of the two smaller ones we have now.

And the kitchen is overrun with baby items (bottles, dishes, etc). Will be nice when we can graduate to all using the same stuff. Maybe I just need to pack away the glass items and just live off plastic plates/cups/utensils until kiddo(s) get older.

Mainly, clutter drives me batty. And in a small space, there's really no where to hide it.

[Deleted]

A bigger house means bigger space to fill and MORE clutter in the long run.

[kittensaver]

Aug 16, 2012 16:25:18 GMT -5 @shooby said:

A bigger house means bigger space to fill and MORE clutter in the long run.

Agreed! If the clutter is driving you crazy now (in a small house), it will NOT get any better in a bigger house. More "stuff" has a relentless way of finding its way into empty spaces.

FWIW, I watched my niece with big baby things and twins in a small house. The car seats stayed in the car. The big pram/double stroller lived on the back porch with a heavy canvas tarp thrown over it and rocks placed on the corners (yes it stayed outside even though they live in rain & snow country). The individual lightweight/foldable strollers hung on hooks over the washer/dryer. The two high chairs completely replaced two dining room chairs for a while. She did without the bouncy seat/saucer - - instead, she put up two baby gates (one to block off her kitchen and the other to block off the hallway) and in effect turned the family room into a large playpen. She DID have two baby swings in the family room for a while. She corraled all the baby bottles and dishes into two wire baskets on a pantry shelf. Dirty baby clothes awaiting the laundry got stashed in a large dorm-room style drawstring bag that hung on the inside of the bedroom door. She color-coded the boys clothes (blues for one, greens for the other) and bathroom items (toothbrushes, towels). Smart mom. She must have learned from a pro ;D

[Deleted]

Decide how you really want to live and what is important. If you like a lot of material stuff and dont' mind organizing, maintaining and cleaning a lot of "stuff", then maybe you do want to upsize. For me, i hate cleaning and hate having a things i dont need. We had upsized our house and i found that in reality, i just ended up buying more. We have since downsized and i really try to keep our clutter down because i simply do not want to keep track of it. And, part of being a family is having someone in your face. I found that our family is closer in our smaller home when we have to share rooms a bathroom and so forth.

[muttleynfelix]

My biggest issue is all the giant baby things. Highchairs, stroller, carseats, swing/bouncer/saucer.

High chair - use Fischer Price space saver high chair, it attaches to your existing chair.

Carseats - stay in the car (or goes back in the car)

stroller - stays in the car if you don't use it to walk around your neighborhood.

swing/bouncer - You are talking about a year that you would have one of these out (total between the two). They are really the biggest thing that takes up space and hard to hide. With Ben there was definately a gap between being done with the swing and before we got the exersaucer.

[Deleted]

Just realize that for about 8 yrs you are going to have a LOT of little kid stuff. Then, all of the sudden, they really only care about high priced small electronics like Ipods and cell phones and you can then toss all of that.

[whoisjohngalt]

Well, I really like our big house and the boys have tons of space to run around and play and ride their cars and what-not.

That being said - we have very few "baby" items considering I have a 4 yr old, 2.5 yr old and 1 yr old. I only have one crib, we have two "booster" seats, I have only one bouncer and two strollers. The same two strollers that I bought for our oldest. Each kid just got evicted out of it when I needed for the next one. Same with infant car seat. I rotate toys and since I have all boys, outfits are shared, depending on who is fitting best into it today. I used all the same pumping stuff and same bottles for all three of them. All the "baby" spoons and cups have been passed down.

Basically, once I knew I needed the item for the next kid, the kid who was using it graduated to the next level.

My 2 oldest share a room and my youngest just moved into his own a few months ago - he was sleeping in a travel crib in my room.

So, even though I have tons of space, I don't have a lot of stuff. Well, except books, I have TONS of books for them and puzzles and board games

Lena

[raeoflyte]

Sam I don't remember how big your house is, but we're adding baby #2 into essentially a 750 square foot 2 bedroom house. We have a family room with 250 square feet, but right now only the dogs really use it.

We have a LONG way to go, but I'm totally digging the www.ikeahackers.net/ website, and if you have an Ikea store near you they have some really neat full house/apartment layouts. Since its a European company they are geared for small spaces and know the art of organizing upward.

We'll be getting ds a single bed with drawers underneath for clothing. He has a large train table that we are adding additional uses to. On the flip side of the train table part we're gluing a 'bed' of lego sheets, and then adding a solid table top (as a train table there is a good 2-3 inch lip that goes around it) so that it can be a drawing or snack table. Trains and legos will be in bins under the table and we plan to have shelving with baskets to hold art supplies and what not. The goal is to focus as many activities into one small contained area.

I also think that we'll just have to do laundry more often and have fewer clothes for each kid. No more shirts that only match 1 bottom. I'd really like to pick 3 colors for each kid, and then only allow clothes in neutrals or those 3 selected colors. DH thinks I'm trying to limit the kid(s) too much, but hopefully he'll change his tune when he realizes how fast laundry piles up.

Any tips you find--please share! We've been focusing on decluttering for the time being.

[Deleted]

I do think it might be an issue as the kids get older. It is nicer if the kids can start to have some privacy at that point. But, you have to do what works best for your family.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...fwiw, and for kicks, I looked up my childhood home on zillow... which I considered huge... it's 1170sf... and there were 6 of us...

[seriousthistime]

Sam, to me it's not so much the size of your house but the neighborhood that suggests that now might not be the best time. You've wanted to leave that neighborhood for some very, very good reasons. Will Aly and Kiddo #2 be able to play outside? Will you be able to sleep at night if things get worse and you have two little ones in the house? It seems unlikely that the neighborhood will improve, and at times it seemed like you were ready to bolt, move in with parents, try to work a trade for a different house, save money to sell the house and pay the difference at the closing, etc. Having #2 will postpone how long it will take you to save up the money and find a new place in a safe neighborhood. Kids cost money just with doctor visits alone. I think your frustration with your house isn't the size as much as it is where it is. So maybe the question isn't 'how can I manage with two kids in this small house?' but 'will having kiddo #2 delay our plans to get the heck out of here?' Just a thought ...

[redwagon]

We have a 1250sqft house, 3BR, 1 bath. One BR is ours, one is DH's office (he works from home), and the smallest BR is going to be the nursery for the twins. We barely fit 2 cribs in there, so I know two twin beds won't work when they are older. Plus they are b/g and will want their own space and privacy as they get older.

Add to that the fact that I want to freelance fulltime and will need an office of my own (it's in the corner of our bedroom but I have no place for my books or to spread out if I've got a larger physical project). And only having 1 bath is an issue now, so I can imagine with two more people... (I have stomach issues that sometimes require me to kick DH out of the bathroom NOW and I'd like to not have to do that anymore).

SO, long story short, for us, a bigger house in the next few years is required, to us (others may disagree). I'm not talking McMansion, but something with bedrooms and offices for those who need them. And more storage would be great. We have three closets, no garage, no basement, and a very tiny attic crawl space. As someone who LOVES decorating for holidays, I need more space lol. and again, add toys.

Oh, and we want four kids total, so we'll definitely need a bigger place if we do that! Gotta survive the twins first!

For now we're limiting gifts (if grandparents buy more than one big item, excess items stay at grandparents' houses), trying to utilize under-bed/crib space for storage as much as possible, throwing out or donating what we can to make room for baby stuff, downsizing the cats from 3 litter boxes to 2, rearranging furniture to make room for a pack n play downstairs, planning on keeping stroller and car seats in one of the cars at all times, and doing a lot of gender neutral clothing so they can share (although we'll see how long that lasts. I'm a sucker for baby clothes).

[Sam_2.0]

Serious - you have some very good points there. I just don't want to put the rest of our lives on-hold just because we can't move. Thankfully the local police dept has been cracking down and the reported incidents in our neighborhood are drastically improved. Another kid won't really affect our ability to move in the long-run. Its not the cost of a kid that would delay our move. Basically, at this point, we are waiting on DH's income to go up enough that we can afford to get out to a new place and rent this one out.

Really, its more about getting DH to clear out his clutter than it would be worrying about another baby's clutter. I was looking around the house last night, and we could open up a LOT of room if we cleaned out his things from the closet in DD's room, the hall closet, etc. He is very much a keeper of "things", while I would rather pitch something I am done with or won't need for a long time (if ever). We have some extra furniture sitting around the house that he's hesitant to get rid of right now too (waiting until he gets his office at work). Hopefully the office will happen around January, so we can move out those chairs/desk/tables/shelves and open up more space.

DD's clothes right now fit in one drawer, so she could easily share her dresser with a sibling. I try to keep her clothes to one paper box (the kind that reams of paper come in) per size - well, at least for the small sizes. We get a lot of hand-me-downs, so I have clothes for the next two years in storage at the moment. The toys and things won't be too bad as long as I stay on top of them and rotate out what she's not playing with/too old for, etc.

[kittensaver]

Ah ha! The truth comes out! Sam you have all my sympathy because I have a collector-of-stuff DH too. Moving solved the problem for me because he can put as much furniture and stuff and junk as he wants in his office and in the garage, but the rest of the house needs to stay uncluttered. Maybe when you get around to house hunting you can find a place big enough for him to have an office/man cave that no one touches. It was a small miracle for me :-).

[zibazinski]

Have you thought of a storage unit for your DHs stuff? After a year of not using most of it, he might be willing to let it go.

[sbcalimom]

We just moved from a roughly 700 sqft 2 bdrm, 1 bath apartment and we had both DD1 and 2 there for a little over a year. For the first few months, it really wasn't an issue because DD2 didn't have many toys or clothes or such. I just added some plastic drawers for her clothes and one bin for her toys. Her bottles and such were just added to DD1's cabinet which did prompt some elimination but worked out ok. As DD2 got older it did get a bit harder but I basically just utilized any and all storage space I could find even if it seemed weird. One thing that really helped us was that we got a bunch of Ikea Expedit shelves that have cubbies and then we got white baskets to go inside each cubby. That allowed me to "hide" the clutter. Plus, I have gotten way more ruthless with what I keep and what I toss.

We are just moving into a much larger house (about 1200 sq ft 3 bd, 2 bath) but we have actually gotten rid of more stuff since this house doesn't have nearly as much storage. The whole house only has three closets, one in each bedroom. While the kitchen is huge, it is kind of awkwardly designed so there isn't a lot of storage space. Therefore, we have again had to get creative. Regardless though, my biggest issue is all of DH's books. The man has more books than I thought humanly possible and that is even after getting rid of about half before we moved. Oh well, there's not much else I can do there so I just try to work around it.

[Sam_2.0]

Oh dear, I guess my dad and FIL got to talking to DH, and all three of them are now on-board with converting our garage into another room. They would add it as a 3rd br, but we would use it as a family/play/music/office room. Our dads apparently needed another project since they both want to start on it ASAP! Good for me - I won't have to do any of the work. And it will force DH to clean out most of his junk.

[Deleted]

Sam: You could also add a shed in your backyard if it is suitable for additional storage space/for your Dh's stuff/tools/etc...

[kgb18]

I'm a bad person to give advice on this thread. We're planning to build a bigger house in 18 months or so. We are squeezed out.

[kgb18]

We have enough bedroom and bathroom space. It's the common areas that are small.

I never had a traditional highchair. We had one of the little space saver chairs that just sits on a regular for Avery. Pretty soon Kellen is going to need a chair of his own, and it is a squeeze to fit four chairs around our kitchen table. Our living room is so small that with the baby stuff right now, I don't know where I'm going to put a Christmas tree this year. We also have to park on the street, which stinks in the winter.

[Deleted]

high chairs are the worst. They take up so much room. We use one of these.

[Sam_2.0]

bunnysmom - we could do a shed for all the outside items. DH has pretty much ended all discussion of converting the garage so I don't think he's up for it anymore. Oh well, unless my crazy dream was a premonition, I don't think there's another baby for us in the cards any time soon.