Order Balance Being Well

Fitting a family of 6 in 900 square feet? Well, it's about 1200 square feet when I factor in our older children staying in bedrooms two stories above ours. This was our challenge for the next year. I love this basement. It holds such a fond place in my heart. Forever, it will feel like a new beginnings. When we moved to PA from North Carolina, this is where we got settled. There are so many beautiful memories of our kids, being kids, not the almost teens they are now. Growing up, I lived in small places out of necessity; I never appreciated that fact. As an adult, I chose bigger until I learned bigger is not always better. Our townhome taught me to enjoy having just enough space.   It is less to clean, easier to keep up, cheaper to fix everything, less monthly costs, and more time and money for our family and the things we love. A year in the basement with only the necessities was welcome and exciting. In preparing to sell the townhouse, we went through each room, packing awa...

You may have heard the saying, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.” This could not be more true than when we decided to sell the townhouse. We had decided to stay. We could likely get 3 to 5 more years from the space. Our little ones were growing up. More space would be ideal, but this was enough. Interest rates were low in the summer of 2021, but we didn’t want to refinance since we wouldn’t be here long-term. Then it happened. One afternoon, I woke up from a nap and started scrolling through Facebook. Our son’s daycare teacher posted a listing for her brother’s house. 4 bedrooms, with a basement and a fenced-in yard. Our toddler loved to be outside. With the lack of a fenced-in yard (and no way to achieve it), this had been added to the want list. It was the perfect house. I told my husband let’s just go look. That is what started it all. We did look, and we loved it. However, it was in the next school district. A change we were not willing to make. Rega...

  I had always lived in rentals my adult life. I married young and my husband at the time was in the military. Never knowing if we were going to be sent somewhere new, the commitment of buying a house didn’t seem worth it. When my current husband relocated to his hometown, we followed. Initially we moved into the basement apartment of his mother’s house. We were very lucky for this opportunity. It allowed us to save money, which allowed us to have our youngest son. 1 year in, we knew we needed more space. Our oldest children shared a bedroom. When our son turned 7, that’s when we knew we had to start looking for a home.   We looked and looked and looked. We were not in the position financially to buy or build (the dream) our forever home. We just needed that third bedroom, and enough room for a hopeful baby. The townhouse felt right. It was just enough space. A perfect first home until we figured out exactly what we wanted. It was the newest of all the properties we visi...

 Have you heard the phrase? Jack of all trades, master of none. That is this Master Bedroom—the space in the house for my husband and me. When you’re living in just enough space, you make use of every inch. However, as you can see, we were not using it best. This music, craft, TV, and sleep space, complete with a late-night baby bottle station, really needed some help, considering how much time we spend here.  The main problem is in our hobby space. If you use the bedroom for working (even work you enjoy), it’s essential to keep it contained. You want to be able to put it away so that when it is time for bed, you can shut your brain off. (Or at least try). We had great bones. This desk I already owned was full of surface space. It allowed me to have my sewing machine set up all the time, with plenty of room for my cutter, computer, and a surface to paint when I tucked my laptop away. ( Ameriwood Home Dakota L-Shaped Desk ). Tucking my bulky Brother cutter in the corner made the spa...

When we asked our youngest daughter what she would choose to make the house more enjoyable, she said she would redo her Art Space. We have a landing space at the top of the steps. The desk had been deemed the homework space, but our daughter and her Art slowly took over. Considering that no one does their homework in this spot, Ira’s art space was born. Our kids hang out in the landing space, so we try to have them reset it once a week. Everything returns to its proper home, along with dusting and vacuuming. If they stay on top of it, it never gets too bad. I took a trip to Target and the Dollar Tree. I was open to whatever they had available but knew I needed some small and paper-size bins. She made this super cute sign that I used as inspiration for a larger sign I made for the wall. I first pulled everything from the area, got rid of what we didn’t need, and then put it back in its new home.   Plastic cups in long bins keep the crayons separated by color family. Copic marker...

Our three older children are only a little over a year apart, so they wanted to share a bedroom (even when space allowed them not to). Then we got to the age where it was clear our son needed his own room. The need coincidentally coincided with a time when we did not have a room. That's when we bought our townhouse. The girls still shared a room. A few years in, when we asked what each child would like to make the house more enjoyable for them, our oldest daughter said her own room. We were unable to accommodate this request. However, when I asked why, she said she wanted a place to have some time for herself. That was a request I could make work. We started with cleaning the girl's room. Clothes were first. We did this Marie Kondo style by pulling everything out and putting the items on our kitchen table so the girls could understand the volume of what they had. Until now, the girls shared clothes as they were the same size and interested in the same style. My oldest daughter ...

After living in our townhome for almost 3 years, we discussed if we wanted something with more room, or to invest in our current home. We opted to invest. When it was time to work on the kids' rooms, we asked them to pick any one thing for their space. Our oldest son, 10 at the time, requested a desk. He said he would like a space to sit other than his bed, to draw, and to do homework. We looked together on Amazon. He wanted something minimal, but with an upper shelf. It was up to me to think through the coordination, such as size, and a way to hide cords.  We decided on the VIPEK Computer Desk 42 Inch Study Writing Desk PC Laptop Table for Home Office, School Student Desk with Hutch & Storage Shelves, Corner Table for Small Space Bedroom, Easy Assemble, Oak . This desk no longer is available, but if we had to pick now, we would do the Aquzee Computer Desk with Hutch & Bookshelf, Home Office Desk with Space Saving Design, Metal Legs Industrial Table with Upper Storage Shel...

When you live in a small space storage solutions are key. We did not use our one car garage for parking, it was our main storage room. It was also, my husband's work shop, where the kids kept their outdoor stuff, the home for our lawn mower, and our main entrance. I knew we needed to get it under control. I started small with the kids bikes. There was no clear home for them, so naturally, they left them wherever. Even worse, some days they were buried in the back on the garage, and they wouldn't bother riding them at all. My solution was to get a small shed for the side of our home. We were lucky enough to be in and end unit townhome, which meant we had the tiniest bit more yard compared to the others. When I say tiny bit I mean tiny. Our home was 1872 sqft, and our land, 2615 sqft. Luckily we had some "green space" owned by the HOA next to our property, so we got to enjoy more room, even if we didn't own it. When it came to the shed however, it would have to be c...