Seems you did everything right. Life is not perfect and you seem to have struck a great balance. If you had to formulate guidelines for other parents living with housemates, what would you say? I mean, based on your post it sounds like:
A good time to consider moving is...
when the family is taking up so much of the common space the other housemates can’t make use of it. Unless they like it that way.
when there is not enough space for all the stuff of everybody, including in the fridge, shed, attic. Unless you can take that as an opportunity and declutter.
when the kids can’t sleep because of the adults’ activities (or the other way around). Sleep is important. And none of the countermeasures helped.
Thanks Gunnar, those sound like reasonable guidelines!
The common space was still usable by other housemates, but it felt a bit cramped, and I felt more internal pressure to keep it tidy for others to use (while in my own space I feel more comfortable leaving it messy for longer). Our housemates were very tolerant of having kid stuff everywhere, but it still seemed suboptimal.
The fridge, laundry area and outdoor garbage bins were the most overloaded in our case, while the shed and attic were sufficiently spacious and less in demand that it wasn’t an issue. Gathering everyone for a decluttering spree is a noble effort but a bit hard to coordinate. I found it easier to declutter by putting away some type of object (e.g. shoes) and have people put theirs back (to identify things that didn’t belong to anyone). The fridge was often overfull despite regular decluttering—I think it was just too small for the number of people we had, and getting a second fridge would take up extra space.
I would add general disruption of child routines in addition to sleep (though sleep is the most important routine). Surprisingly, it was not as much of an issue the other way around, e.g. the baby was quiet enough not to bother the housemate next door at night. The 3 year old running around the living room in the morning was a bit noisy for the people downstairs though.
Seems you did everything right. Life is not perfect and you seem to have struck a great balance. If you had to formulate guidelines for other parents living with housemates, what would you say? I mean, based on your post it sounds like:
A good time to consider moving is...
when the family is taking up so much of the common space the other housemates can’t make use of it. Unless they like it that way.
when there is not enough space for all the stuff of everybody, including in the fridge, shed, attic. Unless you can take that as an opportunity and declutter.
when the kids can’t sleep because of the adults’ activities (or the other way around). Sleep is important. And none of the countermeasures helped.
Thanks Gunnar, those sound like reasonable guidelines!
The common space was still usable by other housemates, but it felt a bit cramped, and I felt more internal pressure to keep it tidy for others to use (while in my own space I feel more comfortable leaving it messy for longer). Our housemates were very tolerant of having kid stuff everywhere, but it still seemed suboptimal.
The fridge, laundry area and outdoor garbage bins were the most overloaded in our case, while the shed and attic were sufficiently spacious and less in demand that it wasn’t an issue. Gathering everyone for a decluttering spree is a noble effort but a bit hard to coordinate. I found it easier to declutter by putting away some type of object (e.g. shoes) and have people put theirs back (to identify things that didn’t belong to anyone). The fridge was often overfull despite regular decluttering—I think it was just too small for the number of people we had, and getting a second fridge would take up extra space.
I would add general disruption of child routines in addition to sleep (though sleep is the most important routine). Surprisingly, it was not as much of an issue the other way around, e.g. the baby was quiet enough not to bother the housemate next door at night. The 3 year old running around the living room in the morning was a bit noisy for the people downstairs though.