Creative and Contented: Large Families Living in Small Homes (a Mini Series!!)

Large family living in a small home?  "Large" and "small" can be sort of subjective, so I hesitate to say that we are either a large family or that we have a small home.  Despite the fact that we often feel crowded, curse the tiny shoe-clogged entryway, and play musical beds every afternoon at rest time, there are plenty of families living in spaces much smaller than ours.  

Maybe it's because "small" is so subjective, but I often feel like these fours walls are closing in on us... there's more people, they're getting bigger every year, and there's more stuff.  Seven people in 1,400 square feet is not unreasonable, but in the day to day, it feels unreasonable that I have to make it work.   When we moved in over 6 years ago with just two children, living in a three bedroom home with one and half bathrooms was easy breezy.  Now, managing the needs of a family of seven in the same space tends to either make my blood boil or exhaust me.  Either way, I'm usually left thinking, "there must be something better out there."  

My husband and I often discuss "should we move to a bigger home?" or "what can we do to this place to make it more livable?"  We never get anywhere because we don't want to spend the money to buy bigger, an addition on our current home eats up yard space and doesn't increase the value of our home, and we actually love our neighborhood and home and aren't dying to get out of here.  I just need a little more "here" here - like another bathroom, a family room, an extra bedroom, a bigger entryway, a mudroom, an eat-in kitchen, and maybe even a school room as long as I'm listing and can use as many commas as I want.  Those things would make life here problem-free!  (cause, man, do we have problems...)

I had the idea to host this series by guest bloggers because I quickly realized that more than house hunting and do-it-yourself-This-Old-House-style projects, what I really needed was an attitude adjustment about the home we already have... in the condition it's currently in.  

As I read the articles that were submitted by the guest writers you'll meet this week, I was inspired by their wisdom and experience.  In addition to the obvious decluttering (KonMari, I'm looking at you),  I identified a few things that would help me live more contentedly in our current home:

* I need to practice deeper and more habitual gratitude for the blessing of the home we have, as well as for the less "visible" blessings such as our good neighbors, the relative safety of where we live, and our proximity to my parents.

* "The grass isn't always greener" in the larger, perfectly planned home we're always one the lookout for.  We can't know what difficulties would come with another home, so it's foolish to imagine that the future home of our dreams is made with sunshine and flowers and has wild unicorns that graze on the dew-dropped grass of the picturesque wooded lot.  
* Perhaps this home, much like my vocation as a mom, has been given to me so that I have opportunities to improve in my deficiencies (patience, orderliness, organization, high levels of neediness as far as personal space and me-time is concerned...).  All the "problems" that I imagine would be solved in a larger home (more personal space = better patience, spacious rooms = less kids quarreling over "he's in my way", more cupboards = less stuff on the floor)  might actually be part of my virtue training if we stay here and we have to conquer them (instead of just sweep them under the rugs of our new and ginormous home.)  (Hehe... yes.  I'm going to stick with this growth in holiness argument.  That's why we're staying in this house :) )
  
* Basing current decisions (like a move or an addition) on stumbling blocks you imagine encountering in the future is not always wise.  I tend to get sweaty and panicky when I imagine all my children older and larger (like teenage boy large) and trying to get our family in and out of our teeny tiny bottleneck entryway at once.  I silently shriek "this will never work!" when I try to picture three or four adult-size people passing each other in the narrow upstairs hallway or stooping over the bathroom sink to brush teeth.  But I get all worked up about something that hasn't happened yet and which I can't even clearly picture - my adult children won't barrel through the tiny hallway and swarm the sink all that once like my "children" children do.  I can't assume that my adult children will be tripping over each other getting in and out of the house because (God willing!) they'll have the patience, good judgment and coordination that comes with age, and somehow I imagine we'll all make it through the door unscathed.  The majority of my children now possess very little patience, good judgement, and coordination but it's senseless to assume it will always be that way and buy a bigger house tomorrow because I'm "trouble shooting" the future stampede of large children I envision in the hallway.  

* Declutter.  Oh wait, I already mentioned that.  

The moms who will share their small home experiences with us this week are sure to inspire you!  They have inspired me to commit to prayerful gratitude and contentment and have given me some ideas on practical solutions that will help in the day to day operations in our home.  I look forward to sharing their stories with you and hope you'll welcome them warmly to Ordinary Lovely <3 

In the mean time, I invite you click on over to Ronni's at The Screenwriter's Wife.  Earlier this year, Ronni wrote a great post on how her family of four makes it work in a 700 square foot home.  She was generous enough to let me share the link with you, and I think you'll be impressed with some of the ideas she has for saving space and making their small space livable!  Thank you, Ronni for sharing your wisdom with us!  

How Our Family of Four Lives Happily in 700 Sq. Ft.

(and Small Home Ideas)

And don't forget to check back each day this week for a new post in the series!  

my kiddos last fall in front of our lovely home!