Would it be crazy to raise 2 kids in a 680sf 1 bedroom condo?

[smap]

Just throwing this out there as a hypothetical.

I only have a 2 month old infant so a 1 bedroom is still somewhat reasonable by normal, non-mustashian standards. I love where I live but both the real estate AND rentals in this area is going insane right now (back to bubble levels). I'm lucky enough to have stable rent which is about $1k less than market rate, and I can stay here indefinitely at this price if I want. It's not even we can't afford these insane prices, we already have at least 20% saved and can afford the monthly payments. It's just so...out of character for us to join in the insanity of the real estate market right now.

So I was sort of thinking, what if we stayed here forever?

We're planning on 2 kids, and there's enough activity/space right outside that they'll get plenty of opportunity to run around. The kids can get the bedroom and my husband and I can sleep in a corner of the living room.

what's everyone thoughts on this?

[Norman Johnson]

I would stay there until it doesn't fit you. You'll know when that is.

[Kaytee]

As long as you have access to the outside and for the kids to run around, I don't see why not. For comparison, the author if the Penniless Parenting blog has 3 kids in an even smaller space. Having a smaller space would also be a convenient excuse when people try to give your kids unnecessary stuff.

[gdborton]

1 bedroom

680 sqft is fine so long as you don't feel cramped, but do yourself a favor and get at least a second room for the children to sleep in when you feel you need it.  I don't even want to imagine sex when a toddler is in the room.

[velocistar237]

We have three small kids in a 1000 sq ft 2 bedroom apartment. The only drawback is differing nap schedules. When one child's nap is cut short by another child's early waking, my wife wishes for a third bedroom. When we had only 2 kids, we actually had a family member living with us for 6 months. They got the first bedroom, the kids got the second, and we slept on a futon on the living room floor. It was fine.

[caligulala]

We have 2 toddlers in an 800 square foot apartment. It's an old Chicago style so it has 3 tiny bedrooms, which is nice for sleeping since everyone has their own space (7x6, 7x7 and 7x12), but the main living spaces sometimes feel like overkill. Our dining room area is essentially a 200 square foot hallway with toys in it.

If you can figure out a way to rig up a tiny sleeping area for the kids, that would be great. There are some really well done closet bedrooms on the apartment therapy family site. Looking at those should really get the creative space engineering juices flowing.

[ashem]

People live with much less space and fewer amenities throughout the world, so technically it could work.
If you haven't seen the book Material World, by Peter Menzel, it's full of photographs of families from countries around the world taken with all of their worldly possessions. It's fascinating.

For me, the problems start when you can't find a quiet place to escape. It's not so much the kids' crap (which you have some control over) as it is the noise and chaos.
My kids are ages 4 and 8 and we live in a 1250 square foot 1920s bungalow. It was such a comfortable house for 3 people + 1 dog, but once we had our second child things got crowded quickly. We only have 1 bathroom, which is o.k. as long as everybody isn't leaving the house at the same time.
My son and daughter share a room, so if my daughter wants to have a friend spend the night, my son has to sleep in our room.  If he gets up at 6:00 in the morning, he usually wakes her up.
If the kids are watching tv or listening to music, the only place we have to escape is our bedroom or outside.
The kids also share 1 small closet and 1 dresser, which was fine when my son was a baby/toddler, but is not ideal anymore.
These are all things that we could deal with for 3 or 4 more years, but we want to stay here forever, so we're doing a small addition.
You'll know when the time is right to move on.

[Hamster]

Since you are renting, you have plenty of time to try it on for size and continue to take advantage of your low rent unless/until you find it doesn't work. I would just say don't purchase until you know it's a size you can accept for the long haul.

[mm1970]

http://www.pennilessparenting.com/

Family of 5 in a very small apartment...can't remember how big, but I believe you can search her website for details.

[totoro]

I believe you can do this easily depending on personality.  As others have said, if you can't make it work you are renting and can move.  I lived in Asia for five years and this was not unusual.  I have downsized from 2000 square feet to 1200 and love it - we have a dog and four kids. 

[RadicalPersonalFinance]

Consider converting one of the closets into a sleeping room.  Perhaps with bunks.  Basically, the entire closet becomes a room.

See Pinterest for ideas.

[totoro]

We stayed at a ski cabin and they had converted the closet/storage area to bedroom with two bunks - not legal but it functioned well.

[ketchup]

We squeeze four adults into our 500 square foot house.  It's certainly doable.

[BPA]

I wouldn't want to raise two opposite sex teenagers in that situation, but so far that's not a problem.  I'd go with the advice to go with it until you can't any longer.

[NumberJohnny5]

We lived in an rv for the better part of a year (in true frugal fashion, it was a bookmobile that I converted to an rv).  I forget the exact dimensions, but livable space was about 7.5' by 25+' (plus the washer/dryer, which was installed where the passenger seat used to be).  So that's what, around 187.5 to 210 square feet (really don't remember if living space was 25 or 28 feet long)?  Also spent about six months in a one-bedroom apartment; wife and I took the bedroom, two kids slept on the sleeper sofa (later we were moved to a unit with two double beds in the bedroom, so wife and I took one and kids took the other).

So yes, I absolutely think it's crazy.  But the world needs crazy people, so go for it!  Oh, did I mention we started out with four cats when we were living in the rv?

[Self-employed-swami]

If you wanted to give the kids the bedroom, what about a daybed for the living room?  Then you guys could have a reasonably comfortable bed to sleep on, but could convert it to a couch for daytime use (and it would likely be more comfortable all around, than a futon). 

I've also seen bunk beds where the bottom double bed, folds up into a futon-couch.  This wouldn't work though, if your kids are too little for one of them to sleep on the top bunk, unless you and your significant other want to bunk bed it ;)