Sometimes the little things make you think

[Lansbury 19]

We have owned our house in the US for 2 years and lived in it for 10 months. Before the onset of winter I thought I'd re stain the deck and so for the first time measured it to see how many square feet it is.

It then dawned on me my deck is a third of the size of our old UK house add in the garden shed and the two are bigger than half the UK house.

It's Sunday and there isn't much else to do in case you wonder why I think about these things

[Lou Lou 1]

I've never really understood why people feel the need to live in huge house with acres of lawn so they spend every weekend sitting on a mower. But maybe that is just me. There are only two of us. We don't need a lot of room. I do a lot of work from home and it still doesn't get cramped. Heating a large home over a Vermont winter is a nightmare. The bills are bad enough as it is. I think our house is about 1200 square feet and it's plenty big. When it comes to cleaning, I wish it was flippin smaller!

Talking of little things that make you think: I have lived here 3+ years and we never lock the car doors, or the house. On Friday someone stole a stash of parking meter money from the car. It couldn't have been more than $4. What made me think was even after living in London most of my life (30+ years) I had never been a victim of crime, and now in sleepy Vermont I was...albeit a small one. I was more gutted about the cute purse they stole than the cash, of course.

[Lansbury 19]

Our US house isn't big it is 1600 sq ft and about mid size for our neighbourhood. It just made me realise how much smaller houses in London are, ours was 700 sq ft.

[Jasman0717 9]

Ugh, I need to clear our garage but think I will finish watching the Little League World Series first

[Boiler 45,499]

The garage is bigger than my flat, in volume twice as big.

[kins 0]

We were talking about this today too. Our house in the UK, which we thought of as quite big, is about 1900 square feet. THe one before that was less than 1000 square feet. We are about to move into a house that's 3000 square feet, plus it has a basement, toolstore out back, and double garage. We have three kids, so space really does make a difference. We struggled so much in a small house. It will be heaven to have a larger one...

[britty 1]

My house in the UK was your standard 3 bed semi with a small garden and a tiny kitchen. When we bought our current home here in VA, it took me ages to get used to the 3000 or so sq feet. It definitely has trebled my cleaning time, but its great having family from London here as there is so much room and extra bathrooms for them all. I don't know about everyone here but I had one bathroom in the UK as do most of my family. Im planning on buying a 12 foot christmas tree this year - if I had bought that in London it would have been through the roof somewhere. My cats love it though (I took them with me from the UK) - they run up and down the stairs and slide along the floors.

[TracyTN 237]

I've never really understood why people feel the need to live in huge house with acres of lawn so they spend every weekend sitting on a mower. But maybe that is just me. There are only two of us. We don't need a lot of room.

I have wondered this same thing!

My friend and her hubby are starting to house hunt. Why they are looking at 3000 square foot houses for the two of them, I'll never know. They MIGHT adopt in a few years, but they'll still have at least 2 spare bedrooms in a house that size.

Just seems like more to keep clean, but maybe that's just me.

[Lou Lou 1]

Don't get me wrong. I agree if you have lots of kids and animals the extra space is great. But I mean the people who live in these mansions with just 2 of them rattling around. If we moved to 3000 square feet we'd be positively insane. My folks are too ill to fly here so I don't need to put up rellies. I probably wouldn't live in that size even if I did have kids...I'm too much of a hippy and care about how much energy it would waste...both mine and every other type!

I've never really understood why people feel the need to live in huge house with acres of lawn so they spend every weekend sitting on a mower. But maybe that is just me. There are only two of us. We don't need a lot of room.

I have wondered this same thing!

My friend and her hubby are starting to house hunt. Why they are looking at 3000 square foot houses for the two of them, I'll never know. They MIGHT adopt in a few years, but they'll still have at least 2 spare bedrooms in a house that size.

Just seems like more to keep clean, but maybe that's just me.

I know. I find it a bit chavvy, but maybe I'm a snob or something.

[TracyTN 237]

I totally agree with you. They have 2 basset hounds, but they stay in crates all day and then in the back yard whenever they're home. Her family lives 20 minutes away, and his family (in Florida) consists of a father in a nursing home (after a stroke) and a grandmother who is too feeble to travel here. So its not as if they have a lot of out of town guests, either.

I can't figure it out. I sent her a link to an 1800 square foot house that was new construction, fenced in back yard & in the same neighborhood as the 3000 sq foot house - she totally ignored it.

So, it just seems a bit 'keeping up with the Joneses' to me.

[Lou Lou 1]

I totally agree with you. They have 2 basset hounds, but they stay in crates all day and then in the back yard whenever they're home. Her family lives 20 minutes away, and his family (in Florida) consists of a father in a nursing home (after a stroke) and a grandmother who is too feeble to travel here. So its not as if they have a lot of out of town guests, either.

I can't figure it out. I sent her a link to an 1800 square foot house that was new construction, fenced in back yard & in the same neighborhood as the 3000 sq foot house - she totally ignored it.

So, it just seems a bit 'keeping up with the Joneses' to me.

Yep. It definitely is. But, I guess if they're prepared to clean every spare minute they have, good luck to them.

(2 dogs in a crate all day? 2 dogs even left alone all day? Don't get me started on that habit people have over here. )

[TracyTN 237]

I know - I've never even had a dog and I just can't get my head around that, either.

If you can't trust them enough during the day not to poop on your carpet, or you can't find someone to come in and let them out during the day (let alone install a doggie door) - well, maybe having a dog is not the best idea for you.

[Lansbury 19]

My house in the UK was your standard 3 bed semi with a small garden and a tiny kitchen. When we bought our current home here in VA, it took me ages to get used to the 3000 or so sq feet. It definitely has trebled my cleaning time, but its great having family from London here as there is so much room and extra bathrooms for them all. I don't know about everyone here but I had one bathroom in the UK as do most of my family. Im planning on buying a 12 foot christmas tree this year - if I had bought that in London it would have been through the roof somewhere. My cats love it though (I took them with me from the UK) - they run up and down the stairs and slide along the floors.

Oh the extra bathrooms that is really nice especially when guests stay. When I left work in England they gave me a caricature showing some of the highlights (there weren't many) of my career. When the boss presented it to me he said you can hang it in the bathroom, I said which one I have three

[MargotDarko 0]

I totally agree with you. They have 2 basset hounds, but they stay in crates all day and then in the back yard whenever they're home. Her family lives 20 minutes away, and his family (in Florida) consists of a father in a nursing home (after a stroke) and a grandmother who is too feeble to travel here. So its not as if they have a lot of out of town guests, either.

I can't figure it out. I sent her a link to an 1800 square foot house that was new construction, fenced in back yard & in the same neighborhood as the 3000 sq foot house - she totally ignored it.

So, it just seems a bit 'keeping up with the Joneses' to me.

Yep. It definitely is. But, I guess if they're prepared to clean every spare minute they have, good luck to them.

(2 dogs in a crate all day? 2 dogs even left alone all day? Don't get me started on that habit people have over here. )

Leaving a dog all day long, especially in a crate, is horrible! I'm not sure why're implying that is an average, American habit - I don't find that to be fair or nice. Maybe I'm just mis-reading your comment.

[C and J 1]

I totally agree with you. They have 2 basset hounds, but they stay in crates all day

(2 dogs in a crate all day? 2 dogs even left alone all day? Don't get me started on that habit people have over here. )

My hubby's parents do that with their 2 dogs. Don't get me wrong, they let them out on their lunchbreaks and also at night when they are in, but I can't imagine locking up any of my dogs in a crate for hours at a time. No freedom for the poor pets and I believe they lead to join problems from spending so much time unable to exercise.

Plus, they let their cats roam where ever they like, which seems unfair to me

Edited August 28, 2007 by C and J