When I first moved back to the UK in 2020, I bought a traditional Glasgow tenement apartment.
Perfect for one, it’s almost identical in size to my old place on the Upper East Side and sits at the edge of a leafy park in a trendy neighborhood.
However, when my partner and I decided to move in together, it made sense that we’d live in his palatial three-bedroom place on the other side of town. His two children live with us on alternate weeks, and my tiny one-bedroom wasn’t going to cut it.
Or so we thought.
We’d been renting out my pocket-sized pad for several years, but three months ago, we moved into it temporarily so I could be closer to my mom while she recovered from surgery.
Quickly, we realized that we’d all be happier living in this neighborhood closer to the kids’ schools — but buying a bigger place just isn’t a financial option right now.
Could we make it work as a family of four without all the extra square footage?
Only a few weeks later, we transformed my living room/dining room into a second bedroom and started a more compact life.
I thought the move would mean sacrifice for all of us, but in many ways, living in a smaller space has made our lives so much better.
We spend more quality time together now
I won’t pretend I didn’t have some concerns about our plan. Our kids grew up being able to disappear into their bedrooms for hours at a time. Now they’re sharing a room where we also need to eat our meals.
As it turns out, the extra space we had in our roomier apartment meant that we spent less quality time together as a family.
As soon as we moved, we saw how much our kids thrive on connection when solitude isn’t an option.
We’ve started playing card games together after dinner and the kids often opt for a game of chess or guitar practice together without us even having to suggest it. They still have friends come over for sleepovers and playdates — we’ve just learned to be a bit more flexible about space and sleeping arrangements.
Individual screens and headphones can be a blessing when we want some quiet time, but more often than not, we find TV shows that we can all cozy up and watch together rather than splitting up.
Most miraculous of all, our teenager has even started opening up to us again.
Life is simpler now — and we’re more organized
Kids aren’t known for being the tidiest beings on the planet, and I worried that such a small space would get too cluttered to breathe, but downsizing has made life simpler and mostly easier for all of us.
Living in a huge apartment meant we had more places to hide things we didn’t want to deal with, and more surface areas to cover with toys and laundry.
We could barely open a cupboard door without being buried by an avalanche of skis, camping equipment, and painting supplies. Sundays always meant a battle with the kids over tidying their rooms.
We built shelves and added some storage in my place, but mostly we moved over only what we needed — the clothes and kitchen equipment we use regularly and the books we couldn’t live without.
Everything else went into storage, to charity, or directly to the recycling center.
We’ve found that we actually need very little to be happy, and the smaller space means there’s no possibility of letting the laundry pile up or leaving the dishes until tomorrow.
The dishwasher needs to be emptied as soon as it finishes, and the sheets are washed the moment the beds are stripped. The kids can quickly tuck their belongings away using under-bed storage without us nagging them.
There’s very little to trip or argue over, it’s hard to lose anything, and our living space always feels neat and easy to relax in.
It’s not perfect — but it’s home
This arrangement can be far from perfect — we do sometimes find ourselves eating breakfast with a snoring teenager next to us.
However, for us, the advantages far outweigh any negatives.
Our neighborhood is great, and we’ve enjoyed the simpler lifestyle and more quality time that’s resulted from this setup. We’re also fortunate to live this way because we’ve chosen to, not necessarily because we have to.
Instead of feeling like a temporary drastic measure, it just feels like our cozy, slightly crazy home.
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