80 square meters

The thing about living in a small house/apartment is that it is easy to clean. There's simply less area to deal with.

But the other thing about living in a small house/apartment is that it is easy to make dirty or cluttered. When you have a limited space, it's essential to use that space wisely and make sure everything has a place. When you (or your kids) don't put things back in their places, there is nowhere else for those things to go. They are right there, in the middle of your living room. And your living room is right there, in the middle of your house. It's very unforgiving.

This is on my mind recently. Some members of the family are agitating to eventually move to a bigger place. I don't mind our small space (80sqm or 860 square feet), but I wouldn't exactly say no to another bedroom, either. Houses and apartments here (at least in the city) tend to be smaller than those in America, so the likely "next size up" for us would be around 100sqm (1076 square feet).

This is also on my mind because one of our kids is very attached to stuff. I am a strict anti-stuff person (by necessity), but this child likes to craft and draw and write and shop and then keep everything as a treasure. And that becomes an issue when said treasures could fill up every nook of storage space we have, if we let it happen.

All this to say I've been thinking about living spaces lately. How small is too small? How much should family members be expected to sacrifice for each other, when it comes to living space preferences? How much should we accommodate the others' needs? What needs are "important" enough to consider? Why do I hate crafts so much? Should it be against the law in Finland to build a house with less than, say, 30sqm of area designated for the hanging of coats and winter gear? And so on.

How big is your house? Is it too big or too small?