7 ms·

This requires a justification for why home size is a good indicator of quality of life, or for why it's more important than other indicators.

AmVess 2y ago
Small homes just plain suck. No room to do anything, stuffy, cramped. GF and I moved, rented a house for a month. 1400 square feet. 700 up, 700 down. Tiny and cramped, and it only had one very small bathroom. We had to sleep on different floors. Master bedroom was barely larger than the queen bed, and no way 2 people could sleep in there because it would get blazing hot in minutes. Garage was similarly minuscule. GF had a tiny suv and still couldn't open both doors. I figure 1000 square feet per adult is just about right.
- tjridesbikes 2y ago
  What are you on about? My wife and I live in a total of 1000 square feet in a Boston triple-decker and get along totally fine. We have a basement for storage and a parking space for our car. Somehow, we're both able to work from home without getting in each other's way, have space to do our own things, and temperature regulation is a non-issue with mini-splits. We even have a shared yard! Maybe the space wasn't laid out well. I would imagine, with only 700 sq ft per floor, a good portion of that is taken up by the stairs. My condo is a flat in a 100-year-old building, built before the "open concept" plans came into vogue. It means out rooms are separated and lets my wife and I do different things in different parts of the house. People used to raise families in these old buildings with 1000 square feet. Their third-spaces weren't taken over by profit-seeking companies and their interests took them outside the home. 2000 square feet for 2 people seems utterly ridiculous!
- footy 2y ago
  sounds like a bad space distribution. I live in a 700 sqft apartment and my bedroom is large enough for a bed (where my girlfriend and I absolutely can both sleep) a small desk, a weight bench, a rowing machine, and some normal bedroom stuff (dressers etc)
- meindnoch 2y ago
  Lol. 1400sqft is cramped in the US? I have a 120m2 house, which would be about 1300sqft, and we have two kids rooms, one master bedroom with its own wardrobe and a bathroom, one shared bathroom, and na american kitchen and living room. What are you guys even doing? Or maybe the 1400sqft included the garage?
  - Marsymars 2y ago
    > Lol. 1400sqft is cramped in the US? If they hadn't done the math I'd have suspected a typo. I'm in a place not all that much larger (1800 sqft) and it feels pretty luxuriously large for just me and my partner. Big open kitchen, two living rooms, 2.5 bathrooms, three bedrooms (one used as an office for myself) and a dedicated office for my wife.
bko 2y ago
I don't know anyone who doesn't want more space. And I couldn't imagine raising a family in 800 square feet. Do we really need a "source" for everything? Would it be meaningful if you saw some survey asking: Would you prefer your primary residence to be smaller, larger or the same size? I guess you can say all things being equal larger homes are more expensive so there must be some kind of preference for larger homes that indicates value
- jpalawaga 2y ago
  Do those same people also care about quality of education, availability and utility of public transit, etc? Or is the size of your home the only factor in what makes somewhere livable?
  - bko 2y ago
    I don't think anyone really cares about "public transit". I think people care how convenient their life is. Why should I care if I take a bus to work or drive? I prefer whatever is best for me. I would look at cost + time. For instance, if it costs me an extra $2k per year for a car but it saves me 30 minutes round trip, and my time is worth more than $20 an hour (assume work 200 days per year), then car is better. Add the convenience of not having to manage bus schedules and, you know, owning a car, its a no-brainer. I think there's some weird cultish behavior around "public transit" as though it is a good by itself is disconnected to how most people think about this. So in this case not being able to afford a car or have anywhere to park it is not the win you think it is. In terms of education, not sure its quantifiable but if you look at money, Mississippi spends considerably more: In England, secondary school spending per pupil in 2024-25 is projected to be about £7,400 ($9.4k), while primary school spending per pupil is about £6,700 ($8.5k) In Mississippi its around $12k Do you have any other data or are you just going entirely off of vibes? https://ifs.org.uk/publications/annual-report-education-spending-england-2024-25 https://ifs.org.uk/publications/annual-report-education-spen... https://www.datapandas.org/ranking/per-pupil-spending-by-state https://www.datapandas.org/ranking/per-pupil-spending-by-sta...
    - poincaredisk 2y ago

AmVess 2y ago

Small homes just plain suck. No room to do anything, stuffy, cramped. GF and I moved, rented a house for a month. 1400 square feet. 700 up, 700 down. Tiny and cramped, and it only had one very small bathroom. We had to sleep on different floors. Master bedroom was barely larger than the queen bed, and no way 2 people could sleep in there because it would get blazing hot in minutes. Garage was similarly minuscule. GF had a tiny suv and still couldn't open both doors. I figure 1000 square feet per adult is just about right.

tjridesbikes 2y ago
What are you on about? My wife and I live in a total of 1000 square feet in a Boston triple-decker and get along totally fine. We have a basement for storage and a parking space for our car. Somehow, we're both able to work from home without getting in each other's way, have space to do our own things, and temperature regulation is a non-issue with mini-splits. We even have a shared yard! Maybe the space wasn't laid out well. I would imagine, with only 700 sq ft per floor, a good portion of that is taken up by the stairs. My condo is a flat in a 100-year-old building, built before the "open concept" plans came into vogue. It means out rooms are separated and lets my wife and I do different things in different parts of the house. People used to raise families in these old buildings with 1000 square feet. Their third-spaces weren't taken over by profit-seeking companies and their interests took them outside the home. 2000 square feet for 2 people seems utterly ridiculous!
footy 2y ago
sounds like a bad space distribution. I live in a 700 sqft apartment and my bedroom is large enough for a bed (where my girlfriend and I absolutely can both sleep) a small desk, a weight bench, a rowing machine, and some normal bedroom stuff (dressers etc)
meindnoch 2y ago
Lol. 1400sqft is cramped in the US? I have a 120m2 house, which would be about 1300sqft, and we have two kids rooms, one master bedroom with its own wardrobe and a bathroom, one shared bathroom, and na american kitchen and living room. What are you guys even doing? Or maybe the 1400sqft included the garage?
- Marsymars 2y ago
  > Lol. 1400sqft is cramped in the US? If they hadn't done the math I'd have suspected a typo. I'm in a place not all that much larger (1800 sqft) and it feels pretty luxuriously large for just me and my partner. Big open kitchen, two living rooms, 2.5 bathrooms, three bedrooms (one used as an office for myself) and a dedicated office for my wife.

bko 2y ago

I don't know anyone who doesn't want more space. And I couldn't imagine raising a family in 800 square feet. Do we really need a "source" for everything? Would it be meaningful if you saw some survey asking: Would you prefer your primary residence to be smaller, larger or the same size? I guess you can say all things being equal larger homes are more expensive so there must be some kind of preference for larger homes that indicates value

jpalawaga 2y ago
Do those same people also care about quality of education, availability and utility of public transit, etc? Or is the size of your home the only factor in what makes somewhere livable?
- bko 2y ago
  I don't think anyone really cares about "public transit". I think people care how convenient their life is. Why should I care if I take a bus to work or drive? I prefer whatever is best for me. I would look at cost + time. For instance, if it costs me an extra $2k per year for a car but it saves me 30 minutes round trip, and my time is worth more than $20 an hour (assume work 200 days per year), then car is better. Add the convenience of not having to manage bus schedules and, you know, owning a car, its a no-brainer. I think there's some weird cultish behavior around "public transit" as though it is a good by itself is disconnected to how most people think about this. So in this case not being able to afford a car or have anywhere to park it is not the win you think it is. In terms of education, not sure its quantifiable but if you look at money, Mississippi spends considerably more: In England, secondary school spending per pupil in 2024-25 is projected to be about £7,400 ($9.4k), while primary school spending per pupil is about £6,700 ($8.5k) In Mississippi its around $12k Do you have any other data or are you just going entirely off of vibes? https://ifs.org.uk/publications/annual-report-education-spending-england-2024-25 https://ifs.org.uk/publications/annual-report-education-spen... https://www.datapandas.org/ranking/per-pupil-spending-by-state https://www.datapandas.org/ranking/per-pupil-spending-by-sta...
  - poincaredisk 2y ago