Enough of the Big Dream Home !

That's exactly why we are not ready for a Macmansion. Had a taste of it before..omigosh 700m2 block = 6 to 10 bags of mowing!!


So, 'bags of mowing'. Is that picking up the grass?

Why do people pick up grass? Why not leave it there and let it mulch back from where it came? Picking up and removing the grass means you are removing the nutrients so you then need to fertilize it more.

I'd have a few acres of lawn. But I do have a big mower too. I've never picked up any grass ever, and never will.


See ya's.
 
OMG - I am supposed to do maintainence??? LOL

We treat our PPOR much like a tenant would :) only we probably mow even less. No kidding I am looking at the backyard at the moment - I cann't see the trampoline anymore because the grass (and I use that term loosely) is taller then the tramp. Although there is a lovely dirt trail around the fenceline where our dog walks. The kids love it though, they play hide and seek in it and like picking all the purple flowers (some kind of pretty weed). Still I am going to have to get DH out there probably this weekend, I don't want such long grass in the hot weather - too many snakes around our area.

Aside from the grass however, this place is really low maintainence - partly because it is only a year old, partly due to size and design. The front garden is probably due for some new mulch to stop those pesky weeds, but all the plants are drought tolerant natives that don't need any upkeep or watering.
 
I will say that you won't have time in any home if you can't let go on the cleaning a bit. My husband is like that - his idea of cleaning the bathroom is spending an hour scrubbing with Gumption. Mine is dunking an old facewasher in disinfectant and wiping every surface. It takes 5-10 minutes, with a quick dose of Exit Mould and Jax every couple of months to take care of any icky buildup. And I have to tell you, the bathroom looks just as clean when I do it.

Same goes for vacuuming - he does every skirting board and corner. I just do the main traffic pathways and only do the corners when they really need it. I'll grant his way looks better in the vacuuming stakes, but only a mean in-law is going to check your skirtings for dust IMO.

Mopping? He boils water and puts it in a bucket (which quickly gets dirty), and mops wet and leaves it to dry for an hour and wrings the mop out and huffs and puffs. I carry disinfectant with me and sprinkle small amounts straight on the floor, no bucket needed. I mop it with a microfibre mop and then throw the microfibre thing in the washing machine. And because I use only the minimum liquid needed and mop with microfibre, it's dry in minutes. (He can't bring himself to do it my way, but he acknowledges that it's better and gets me to do it!)

although some of your methods is better..I like that he's not willing to cut corners! lucky you...

my husband is not too bad but not good enough. he cuts a lot of corners and gives me more work to do anyway. I really don't se ethe point when it will eventually have to be done.

I like this house in a way because it's small, if there's mess, it's easy to clean up straight away. If u leave it messy, then it's very obvious unlike a big house. You can't really hide the clutter.
 
We treat our PPOR much like a tenant would :) only we probably mow even less. No kidding I am looking at the backyard at the moment - I cann't see the trampoline anymore because the grass (and I use that term loosely) is taller then the tramp. .

Yeah, must admit, if my tenant had a yard looking like my backyard..... :eek:
:D

Cheers,

The Y-man
 

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Yeah, must admit, if my tenant had a yard looking like my backyard..... :eek:
:D

Cheers,

The Y-man

Wow Y-man,

Just as well you're not applying to rent anyone's Ip's here! :eek: Actually, you'd probably be suited to an apartment with a large balcony for your plants/vegetables (I guess that is what is in the foam boxes??).
 
Wow Y-man,

Just as well you're not applying to rent anyone's Ip's here! :eek: Actually, you'd probably be suited to an apartment with a large balcony for your plants/vegetables (I guess that is what is in the foam boxes??).

The boxes are garlic and onion - but the rest is mostly veges too. :D

The yellow flowers in the background are Chinese mustard greens (leaving them to go to seed)

The green mess in the middle (to the left of what you can see of the pathway) is silverbeet, snowpeas and cauliflower

To the right of the path is kale that is flowering (also letting them go to seed).

Cheers,

The Y-man
 
also, with your kids being so young, it's really important to keep the house clean.

Yes, but not too clean. Kids need a few harmless germs in their lives to build up their immune systems. As long as it is basically hygenic (I agree with the no shoes deal) I think its ok. Kids do need to learn to pack up their toys, make their beds but for my own sanity I'm learning to not stress out over a few sticky finger marks on the window and a bit of dust.

Ofcourse if your kid gets asthma dust is a no no too. (But are more kids getting asthma now because life is too 'clean'? - I think I read a study on this)

I like the idea of going out visiting other ppl. Thats a clever tactic. ;)
 
oh wow y-man...times for some gardening maybe?

styrofoam boxes are great for herbs but I still refuse to use them.

casserole dish - yes i agree..they are at the age where they put anything in their mouths. I know what you mean...when I pick up Josh from school I always ask if he's been the sand pit but it's when he has been in the sand pit that I always forget to ask!

It's not that hard to keep clean when there's a system in place and to have a place for everything. We have a mail /catalogue basket in the bookcase (has doors). The get read and filed or chuck out. Another basket by the entry door from the garage for keys, sunnies, glasses, wallet etc So the house is always quite tidy but not always clean. Even if it's not clean, I can manage as long as it's not messy. I hate clutter. In the kitchen, I usually just spray some pine o clean, soak some paper towels and mop with my feet! I use the steam mop every few days but it's getting hot now so have to do more regularly otherwise it can feel sticky.

But if it gets out of control then I just give up and it gets really messy...I used to be really lazy pre-kids coz hubby is so lazy and I refused to do anything unless he helped.

today there was an awful smell in the laundry...omigosh, I was shocked. Baby girl vomitted and hubby changed her and put the dirty clothes in the laundry tub which was filled with a lil water! it would have taken 1 min just to rinse off the vomit first. had been there for 3 days.
 
I'd need a bigger house to have a place for everything. A lot of stuff literally doesn't fit so we have boxes and boxes of things in the kitchen, laundry and lounge.

today there was an awful smell in the laundry...omigosh, I was shocked. Baby girl vomitted and hubby changed her and put the dirty clothes in the laundry tub which was filled with a lil water! it would have taken 1 min just to rinse off the vomit first. had been there for 3 days.
Try blood. Child Elder had 4 ridiculous blood noses the other day, so her bin had about half a packet of saturated tissues in it. A few warm days and that smelt like rotting meat ... gross.

I really should get her cauterised yet again, the volume of blood she produces is mindboggling.
 
Sue78 OMG! :eek:

Just re-read it though and you did say 'baby vomit'. Now that I can handle, it's when they get bigger it really tests you.

And old blood, yuck I know that smell well (I used to be a vet nurse). I feel I can cope pretty well with all sort of terrible sights and smells. The only time I couldn't was when I was pregnant.

Hmmm.... so like I was saying things have to hygenic. :eek:
 
We have a 900sqm block, a big inground pool and a 140sqm house (on a good day!) + single garage. With two young kids the house is plenty big enough for now but we will probably need to do something before they turn into teenagers. The only grass we have now is on the verge. When we took the house back off the tenants there were trees everywhere, about half I could cut down myself and half I needed to get the pros in for. The mulch they produced went on about a foot thick around the new fruit orchard and anywhere else weeds were coming up. Now - no weeds!

Turned the grass in the backyard into a big vegie patch which only needs a quick 10min run through with a hoe once a fortnight to keep the weeds at bay. Reticulation deals with the watering. Might have to baby sit the vegies a bit when they're starting off but otherwise it's fine. As with most things, practice makes perfect and 80% of the work can get done in 20% of the time if you're quick about it. The house is easy to keep clean with a quick 10min mop on hardwood floors (having no carpet anywhere helps...) every evening for the high use areas (particularly under the high chair!) and once a week for the rest.

Now that we have the place reasonably well sorted we are able to spend more time with the kids which is nice. They love the vegie patch anyway... I reckon you just need to work out a system of "fit for purpose" quick maintenance and spend the rest of your time with your kids!
 
Didnt anyone think about maintenance, or energy issues, or the amount of hours you need to work in order to sit in a house big enough for a small indonesian village. This is where investing in a bit of self knowledge early on is good...

Ok secretly I want a slighlty larger house, and yes I am sick of my 51 cm TV -but dont tell the Joneses in inner city Melbourne. We arent supposed to watch TV.
 
After 18mths we are however fairly stressed out as the maintenance that goes with our dream home NEVER seems to end. Cleaning pool, vacuuming, hedges, lawn mowing, pruning and general maintenance. Whilst I enjoy doing these things it means I need to sacrifice quality family time and feel it's not doing the kids/ wife any good.

So ... we are considering renting out our PPOR (deductions would be a bonus) and finding a 3 bedder unit until the kids get a bit older. As crazy as this sounds this is the situation we have found ourselves in and just wandering if anyone else has made such a dramatic change going from a big home to a unit ? If so I would be interested in hearing thoughts here. After all life is too short !

G'Day success

To get back to your original post - yes, this sounds like a good idea.

We can sometimes forget that it is our house, we are not it's Human!

Over the years I have seen many families working hard in their small houses, then lo and behold, into the big house they go, and before they know it they never see each other, it's all work and precious little play, and frequently that's when the rot sets in.

The house, the furniture, the toys, are there to protect, provide for and amuse us.

After a while, the shine wears off and the fun becomes drudgery.

We had the big house on the acre. Mike bought a Deutscher self propelled mower, and it still took him nearly four hours every other weekend literally running behind the darn thing, to just cut the grass. No edging or other fancy stuff, just mowing, and the block sloped too much for a ride on mower which would have taken as long although perhaps not so much effort.

The children rarely went far from the door, either, the space was just too big for their comfort. Beautiful, yes, practical, no.

We then moved into a 1970s shag pile and Mission Brown house and that was the first time we really enjoyed being together as a family. It had a bush garden and apart from tree branches falling into the pool - which was a great swimming pool with plenty of length and depth - there was not all that much mainenance and our quality of life improved dramatically.

We are now planning for the HOTTA and I have discovered Sarah Susanka www.notsobighouse.com and will be planning and building the house for us, not building the house for the house.

Opposite the park, the beach at the end of the street, flat enough for easy walking and not far from walking tracks through ribbon parkland (not to mention the pub around the corner) - these are things of simple pleasure and at the end of the day, it's not us raking the sand or mowing the park or even washing the glasses.

Your children are children for such a short time. When they're older you can try the bigger house again, but the children don't care, they would rather be able to walk home from school and make a bit of a mess and have their friends around than have a ginormous house with shiny floors and immaculate gardens and flustered parents.

Anyway, if you rent the house you can always come back to it.

Good luck with whatever you decide
Kristine
 
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