tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11495296.post8222983158613900690..comments2023-10-20T08:47:00.027-05:00Comments on Adventures in Motherhood: Shall We Stay or Shall We Go?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11495296.post-83711139783488341312011-02-24T09:43:55.414-06:002011-02-24T09:43:55.414-06:00We are already sorting through stuff and getting r...We are already sorting through stuff and getting rid of stuff (like large baby gear). The problem isn't actually our closet space (I fear that we'll actually go down in average closet size if we move). Its the lack of garage space and arrangement of the kitchen. <br /><br />Unfortunately, the options with the garage are to stop using it for cars, or to not own bikes, scooters, lawn mowers, gardening tools, ladders, trash cans, and the like (not talking excessive amounts of things here, but I can't open passenger doors on my car because we have to put the lawnmower somewhere other than the yard while not in use)--bikes are hung from the ceiling, ladder on the walls, hubby has to bump the shelves that hold garden tools in order to close the garage door behind him. <br /><br />If I could add a shed or another car-bay to our garage in the current house it would help a lot, but neither of those options are possible. The lot size isn't wide enough, and sheds are not allowed (and, you know, there's no space in which to build one anyway).<br /><br />We didn't realize just how much junk everyone brings in the house until there were 4 people with 4 coats and 4 pairs of shoes and 4 bags and mail walking straight from the garage into the kitchen every day. We have a nice-sized island, but I never see it for the pile of mail and school papers.<br /><br />If we could take our current square footage and squish it into another arrangement, we would. Except that doing so would cost boucoup $.<br /><br />We're already concerned that we wouldn't be able to sell the house for what we paid for it (let alone what we paid + what we paid for the deck...and we're trying to forget the outdated idea of "capital gains"). If we spend tens of thousands of dollars to re-arrange walls, then we're there for life, or else making an extremely expensive gift to the next owners. Honestly, that debate isn't quite over yet (fear of moving vs fear of remodeling vs fear of screwing ourselves financially one way or the other).<br /><br />The house isn't on the market yet. We haven't even called a realtor quite yet (though Realtor.com has a nice Android app that makes it really easy to see what's for sale in the neighborhood, and at what price, and with what features, and boy is it depressing....)BriteLadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09746599921292379358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11495296.post-52813619144713887642011-02-23T17:40:14.979-06:002011-02-23T17:40:14.979-06:00Good luck with that decision. In the mean time, y...Good luck with that decision. In the mean time, you could try sifting through the overage and seeing if there's anything to get rid of. Having moved a gazillion times myself, you end up throwing a bunch out instead of moving it anyway. <br /><br />If you clear out some space you might find you don't really want to move after all, but if you do, you'll be ready for the house showing and moving part of the deal :) Don't forget the showing of the house, keeping it spotless for guests and all...<br /><br />I remember when you moved into that house it was HUGE. Like the biggest, emptiest house I'd ever seen. Later when I drove through after your son took over the guest room I remember wondering how you guys managed to shrink the house. <br /><br />It's a very nice house, and comfortable too. Maybe you could just completely redo the floorplan of the main floor?Bethanyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15474075009135937270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11495296.post-32357157215089660472011-02-22T07:59:40.293-06:002011-02-22T07:59:40.293-06:00Kathy, that's basically what we're looking...Kathy, that's basically what we're looking at--finding another subdivision that has bigger houses. The difference is that in our (public) school district, we would have to move farther away from our daughter's private school (and from both of our jobs) in order to move up and stay in the current part of town. We're about a 15-minute (mostly highway) drive from school. If we move within a 15-minute drive on the opposite side of school then there are lots of options in the price/size range that would probably work for us.<br /><br />Its actually kind of nice that we don't have to uproot her (and her brother as of next fall) to move, but it does uproot me and hubby and the house that we signed contracts on the same day we got engaged. And it puts us that much farther away from family who live on the Illinois side of St. Louis.<br /><br />And, of course, there's the question of whether anyone would make an offer on our house in the current real estate market at all. There are a few for sale in our neighborhood, all of them quite a bit smaller (~1000sq ft smaller) and asking quite a bit less than what we would ask. There is one that is similar to ours that has been on the market for a couple of months already and keeps dropping the price. <br /><br />Still, we're working on the small steps-fixing some of the small but annoying things that we've been ignoring (like a couple of window screens that we never open with holes from a hail storm a couple of years back). If we decided to stay, then that stuff needs to be done anyway :)BriteLadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09746599921292379358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11495296.post-32201733162326767272011-02-21T11:48:48.642-06:002011-02-21T11:48:48.642-06:00Tough question.
We were in the same situation yea...Tough question.<br /><br />We were in the same situation years ago, but on top of everything else, we wanted to stay in the same parish. (Two of the three kids had already started school there.) <br /><br />In the end, we upgraded, but moved less than a mile. Are there any subdivisions close to where you are now that have bigger houses you could look at?Kathy Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10593849691667606991noreply@blogger.com