Could you/have you moved from a gorgeous house to a 2 bedroom unit?

[Catastrophic]

I couldn't live in a unit - I like my house too much and the room.

[FabFiona]

We live in an apartment and have enjoyed it. It is very low maintenance and easy to clean. We have a big park nearby and that is key. We spend heaps of time in the park.

[MrsFabuloso]

Nope, I could not go back to a 2br unit after living in our huge 5br house. We have only been living here for 6mths, but I just can't fathom going back toour little 2br unit! Though it wasn't too bad while we were there, now it just seems like we were nuts for living there with kids. Mind you we were on the 3rd floor with no lift. So bringing up two kids from down stairs or groceries was a nightmare. Also think about where you will store the pram and things like that. I would often leave our baby carrier down in the car and have to drag the kids down to get it, put them both in their carseats, put the carrier on, get the pram out of the car, strap DD into the pram and weave myself into wonderful positions to get DS into the baby carrier without any help or support of the bed or lounge (which is how I did it in the house!). Noise can also be an issue. Ther were many times I was trying to put one or theother of the kids to bed ans someone would start drilling or listening to some sort of dodgy music! As someone mentioned washing can be an issue, we were allowed one air dryer to be inconspicuously placed on our verandah, as long as it didn't detract from the appearance of the unit. So we used a dryer alot of the time too. Plus being on the top floor of our units, it got SOOO hot and we HAD to use an air con through summer, sometimes it was on 24/7. For me the common spaced were also an issue, as they weren't kept very clean (or up to my standards!) and the smells from other units wasn't too great either sometimes. People who smoked or were just not very clean, you could often smell, when I was pg with DS, I would have to hold my breath to get past some of the other units without puking! We had security door and a security gate on the garage too, but people who rented didn't give a toss and wouldoften damage things without thought or care and wouldn't tell anyone who or when they did it. Also there was almost always someone moving in or out of the place too, with trucks blocking our driveways. As well as tennant visitors blocking our garage or the driveway.

Positives though are, yes generally it's cheaper. It is alot easier to keep clean because the space is smaller and generally you wouldn't have as much stuff. I used to take my kids to the shops or a play centre or my mums to play and get out because we didn't have many nice parks close by. Our unit did have a fenced in yard to play in which was nice for a while, but then we got a different gardener and it just wasn't nicely kept or mown any more. You can hear the kids no matter where they are so don't have to be hunting them down every 5mins to make sure they're ok!

Maybe you could look at a town house or duplex? While it's a little cheaper in rent, there is more space, you'd have a little yard and you're not as on top of other people as you are in a unit!

[widdly]

I currently rent a really lovely 3 bedroom house with a huge nice backyard, gorgeous neighbours, a street away from the CBD, but I can barely afford food cause the rent is to expensive for me as a single studying mum. In January we are moving into a tiny 2 bedroom flat. This means I am going to be culling stuff before the move so we can fit in the flat, but thats ok, cause really, how much 'stuff' do we really need? I will be saving $170 each fortnight just in rent and lawn mowing!

I personally love living in units cause there is only a tiny space to clean and no yard to maintain LOL, yep I'm lazy

[appletree]

Well, i actually went and looked at one today and it was TINY! I can't believe how small the rooms were! Wow, i don't think there is any way we could possibly do this, the one i looked at was only $20 a week less in rent than our lovely house! DF is in a snot with me because i didn't think it was big enough, he hasn't actually been inside though. The main bedroom didn't even look like it would fit a queen size bed in it, it was so narrow it looked like a single room! It did have a walk in robe plus a bigger bathroom than the main one, but you wouldn't have been able to even walk around the bed once it was in place. I will go and check out another one on the weekend with DF, but i really don't see this happening.

[angelaartsstudent]

We are currently living in a very small 3x1 unit/flat in a complex for 5 after living in houses...and after I had grown up in massive places with all the mod-cons.

It was a shock initially...but we very quickly realised that we own too much stuff and we don't need a lot of it to live happily, even in a small place.

We DO have a lot of parks near by, and P is in full time daycare, so that helps...she does go stir crazy in here.

[Maruschke]

We DO have a lot of parks near by, and P is in full time daycare, so that helps...she does go stir crazy in here.

We get cabin fever too. I can't wait to move!