I used to be a space snob, sadly. I lived in a big old apartment with a roommate but when I moved across the state, the only apartment/house I could find is a 350sq ft shed. Now, I love it! Cleaning is easy, and I've really got room to spare. I think 200sq ft would probably be fine for just me. 75ft is probably pushing it though.

I have to admit that I like my big house. It's just me and my dog in an 1800 square foot house. For most of my adult live I lived in less than 800 square feet, but I bought this place about three years ago. I enjoy having a really nice guest room with a king-size bed when family comes to stay. I enjoy having a nice dining room for dinner parties. And I really like having an office for all my books and papers. I like to close the door to my office at the end of the day and not have to look at my work or my bills when I'm relaxing in my living room.

Yes, it's more than I probably NEED, but I enjoy every inch of my house.

This time last year, my husband and I were living in a new construction house that checked in at just over 2000 sq. ft. (not including the additional 930 sq. ft. in the unfinished basement). The "plan" was to stay there forever, have kids, grow old, etc. But, living in the 'burbs, we becaming increasingly frustrated with a lifestyle that chained us to our cars and kept us from ever meeting our neighbors, and there were whole rooms of our house that went unused. Six months ago we sold our house and moved into a 1450 sq. ft. townhome in a neighborhood adjacent to downtown Denver. We share a car, we fill up our gas tank once every two weeks, my husband bikes to work, we have lunch together in a nearby park at least once a week, and a night on the town involves little more than a short walk. We don't miss the extra space, and we could probably get by with something even smaller. But I work from home and needed a dedicated home office, and my husband - a classically trained pianist - needed space for his grand piano.

We're a family of 5 and we're living in a 1,200 square foot house with a detached garage.

Our master bedroom was the rec-room for the former owners (a childless couple), our youngest kids (age 4 and 8) share a bedroom and the oldest has his own.

We have 2.5 bathrooms, a dining room, a sunroom, a playroom for the kids (which will eventually be a bedroom for the 4 year old - when he's a bit older), a living room, a home office, laundry room, furnace room (with storage space), a small fruit cellar, a small but efficient kitchen... in other words, we have everything we need and then some!

Given the power to change something, I'd make the kitchen slightly larger so we could have the whole family in there while cooking.

I rather like that our house is small enough to keep us somewhat close together but that we all have some space to spread out when we need it.

When we bought our house we thought we NEEDED a 3 bedroom, so we could have our bedroom and then each have a home office. Well, both of us usually end up working in the living room and hardly ever use our offices which are "catch all" rooms. I closed the vents and the door in mine over the winter so I wouldn't have to heat it. I think we'd be much happier in a small house (even though our house is only about 1200 sq ft). I feel overwhelmed cleaning it and we don't simplify because it's easier to just put clutter in the basement.

Our next house will be much smaller. Sometimes we day dream about living in a restored old Airstream. I can't imaging living in a McMansion. It just doesn't seem appealing to me.

I moved from a 500ft apartment downtown to a 1700ft house I bought in a close by neighborhood that some of my friends lived in. I do miss my old apartment sometimes. Living so close to restaurants and bars made nightlife easy and fun. I do spend extra on utilities now.

There have been some great benefits moving out to a bigger space though. I now rent a room out to a friend, and now feel much less lonely. It also makes the mortgage payment the same as my old rent payment was. We also have another spare room that friends crash in when they come to visit. We've also rented this out to people we knew who were between places. That's brought in a little more cash too.

The biggest benefit has been throwing parties. That's helped make life a lot more fun.

If I were to move again through I might try to find a smaller place. I do want to live simply. But it's really nice to live with other people.

We're in a very modest-sized home and find it very sufficient. It's older and smaller than many of our friends' homes, but the advantage we have is that our payments are very low so we have enough money leftover to do lots of fixups. As a result, our house is much nicer inside than you'd ever give it credit for on the outside. Now granted, we might not ever be able to quite recoup these renovation expenses if we sold the house, but then again, we didn't do the upgrades for the sake of resale value - and we have no plans to relocate.

It's not the square footage--it's the layout and storage space that really matters. I have lived in a trailer with a huge amount of storage, and big houses with much less. Life in the trailer was actually easier. I like my 1100 square foot house now because it has a bedroom and bath at one end of the house and my bedroom and bath at the other end. That way, when people come to stay, we don't trip over each other. I recently visited my daughter, who lives in a 3300 square foot home with her husband and child; it seemed to me that their space was less functional than mine.

360 sq feet, for several years I had a roommate (me in the living room, them in the bedroom, no common area other than the kitchen), which essentially meant I was living in a 9x12 room. In that room I had: Queen bed, floor lamp, end table, couch, 2 bookcases, 1 small entertainment center thing and a small standing armoire (sp?).

Now I live with my gf in the same apartment, having a living room again is glorious!

We are six in a 1200 sq foot home. Two daughters (ages 9 and 3) share a bedroom and our sons (ages 6 and 1) have their room. There is a small (main) bathroom between their rooms and our master bedroom has its own bathroom.

We finished an area of the basement but the space typically is not counted as "living space" because of the way deeds are written. One area is the kids playroom, the other is my crafting room. Our intention is to finish off a bathroom in the basement and have an emergency exit added so my eldest can have some privacy in her teen year. I have a 7 year difference between my sister and myself- I know my eldest-- she will need the privacy from a sister 6 years younger. She will have the room until college then the elder boy will move in thru his high school years. When eldest daughter comes hoem from college, she can bunk in the main playroom area (which will be a family room by then).

Having a small house means planning its evolutions and knowing your family's needs. And weeding out junk frequently.

@AJC:

Although there are plenty of people out there with more house than they can afford (whole subprime crisis thing, really), there are also plenty of people out there with less house than they can afford, because they've realized that they don't need or want more.

I think a lot of people find themselves moving to bigger and bigger houses because they perceive limits in their current house--and then limits in the next house after that.  Faced with one of these, the easiest way to imagine fixing it is to add some space dedicated to whatever was missing.  I think a lot of those limits are more preceived than real, though. For every family that really needs a media room, there are families out there with big dining rooms who eat every meal in the living room or the kitchen.

Before figuring out how much house you can afford, I suggest you start by figuring out how much house you really need. The first step would be to look at where you live now and figure out what limits you're running into.  Then think about whether they'd be best solved with more space, or if some other kinds of changes would be better.

I'd rather the buy the biggest house I can find in my price range, here's why. Two examples from what I've been looking at.

Small Condo (800 sq. feet) 180,000 = $225 per square foot.

1400 square foot house for $180,000 = $128 per square foot.

The larger house is going to appreciate faster and be easier to sell.

The biggest problem I have is that all the new houses near me have teeny tiny living rooms. I don't need 3 bedrooms, I'd much rather have a bigger living room but I guess "cozy" living rooms are in.

I concur with your appreciation of small spaces. I've been thinking a lot about how much space I really need to be simultaneously comfortable and as green as possible.

In the high desert of Marathon, TX sits a delightfully artistic "experiment" that has outperformed even the designer's wildest dreams. It contains the main house, B&B, ponds and gardens, all made of papercrete blocks.

Papercrete = newspaper, Portland cement, pozzolan (sort of like styrofoam), sand and water. Sort of along the same lines as adobe blocks. Once you plaster over the blocks and paint it, you can't tell the difference.

These blocks are cheap to produce and easy to build with. I'm convinced this is the type of small, eminently affordable house I will build in the near future. I've already produced 100+ blocks in my spare time and they are amazingly strong, yet lightweight.

Check out Eve's Garden:

http://www.evesgarden.org/architecture/

I'm not affiliated with them in any way; I'm just a huge fan.

I can't get enough space. We live in an 1800 sq foot single story ranch, which seems like a lot of space. But we have a 4 year old, 3 year old, 1 year old, and a baby on the way. On rainy days with all the kids playing inside it is never enough space.

I am happy that they have some room to run around in the house and I really can't imagine them cooped up in a space half the size of what we have now - which is the house we lived in until the 2nd child was born.

Great topic! We retired about 2 years ago from the military. Being vagabonds for years, we wanted a HOME. We knew we wanted about 2000 sq ft, a workshop, place for a garden --- you know, more room than we had to have (if possible) but room to enjoy it and do all the things we generally could not.

We made a list of priorities. We scrutinized it for weeks before we started home shopping. We prayed about it. Then, it happened. We had a 4000 sq. ft. home put in our path in the city we wanted to move to and more or less the rest is history. The house was way larger than we needed or wanted. It was $59 a square foot!!! We asked ourselves "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS HOUSE?" We had it inspected by the best inspector we could find and literally, the things that needed attention were less than $100.

Our offer went through. Our loan went through and here we sit with a really nice home that we look at as our bonus retirement fund. The plan is to live here for about 10 years, do a few upgrades and then sell it to get our retirement fund in our hands. It is not our only retirement fund!

This place is 3 stories, 5 bdrms, 3.5 baths, in-ground swimming pool, 3 acres of land, a huge workshop, a storage building, a storm shelter, and more.

Additionally, we are in an area NOT touched by the mortgage problems, real estate problems and our equity is growing in a great home in a great location.

I dream of having a maid but I keep it up myself. It is our dream home,vacation home all rolled into one. We love it and we are happy to just sit on the back patio or lie in the pool and thank God for blessing us while we are young enough to enjoy it.

We are blessed beyond our wildest dreams. It is not a mansion to others but it is to us.

We were fortunate enough to buy our small (1,200 sq.ft. with an additional 200 sq.ft.attached garage/laundry room/home office) last year.

We rented for three years before we bought it and love the neighborhood. We got a great deal because the previous owner didn't have to do any renovations aside from replacing the roof.

We have three bedrooms, ranging in size from medium to tiny, one and a half bathrooms, a small living room and small-ish kitchen/dining area.

I love our house, it was built in the 60's and I love that it doesn't take long to clean. It needs a lot of work in order to be "perfect" but it's more than livable and I feel lucky to have been able to buy it when we did.

Otherwise we'd be forced out of this neighborhood and perhaps out of Austin.

There are four of us, me, my husband and twin almost-three year olds. Sometimes it feels crowded, but that's because we spend most of our time in the dining/living room areas. We use our rooms mostly for sleeping, my husband has his own room and the boys have their room with all of their toys/clothes/beds, etc. in them but sleep with me in my room.

I've thought before that we "needed" more space but probably because it was an inadequacy thing: comparing myself to more "successful" people.

We have no debt aside from our mortgage and our house will definitely need to evolve as our boys grow into gigantic teenagers but we'll add on as needed.

I love our huge yard and one day we'll enclose the back patio maybe raise a few chickens and hopefully have a studio for my work.

We moved here from a huge rent-controlled house in Berkeley, CA so the transition was tough but I like having to pare down my belongings into just the things that I actually love and use. Before, when every inch was clogged with stuff I never could access it all anyway.

I know it's tempting to go bigger with everything when you make more money: cars, houses, etc. but we are trying really hard to live below our means slightly.

Wow, I had no idea there were so many others in smaller homes. We currently live in a 1500 sq ft house with two kids and a dog. It feels so tiny! We just bought a 3400 sq ft house and I'm already thinking we should have gone bigger. It's not a status thing - I really do get depressed in smaller, confined living spaces. Cozy is not a good thing for me.

Where I'm living now is something I can manage myself, a 2-bedroom brick, 1-story with oversized attached garage, a "plat" home, maybe 1200 ft (?)decent neighborhood, right on the busline (great since I got rid of my car), price was right for me, paid $75,900 for it. I'm divorced, no kids. The layout of my house is open, and I love that. I like things uncluttered, the fewer knick-knacks to clean, the better. The smaller bedroom is my office; I work from home. The other bedroom is large. I definitely love my space. I'm on a busy street corner and have an oversized front lawn. I truly enjoy taking care of what's "mine" and would never be keen on living in a small space again unless I was physically unable to take care of it or pay to have it done.

I have two friends: one with 8 children who live in a 1300 square foot house; one with 13 children who live in a 1000 square foot home. I have 2300 square feet and only six children. It's a challenge. My friends have huge yards where their children spend the majority of their time. I live in a suburbian subdivision with a small yard. If given a choice, I'd much prefer the small, uncluttered house full of love and a BIG yard.

We moved up to this house from a 900 square foot apartment that we had until child number six was born, though, so I am well aware of the small-living challenges!

All else being equal, smaller houses are cheaper to heat and cool.

All else is rarely equal. Newer homes tend to be bigger, but they're also able to be _much_ more energy efficient with modern HVAC systems, insulation and materials. A 2,500 sf LEED certified house is cheaper to heat than a 1,200 sf victorian. The most energy efficient way to go is to find a 1,000 SF home of modern construction or retrofit the heck out of an old home, but good luck...all the new houses in my city are hayoooooge and some things are PRICEY to do to an older home.

Factor in some money saving activities that require space, and it can skew things even more. I wouldn't have room for all my tools and spare materials if I didn't have a fair amount of storage space, but I certainly save a lot of money by doing my own car and home repairs. Not to mention the homebrewing equipment, room to store stuff bought in bulk, room for our own washer and dryer and other stuff that we didn't have room for in our 400sf apartment.

That said, having low intensity of use space is dumb and wasteful.

Looks like "huge" drawn out really long for emphasis--maybe with a cowboy drawl. (8

I bought my home 10 years ago because it has both an attached, oversized 2-car garage AND a detached, oversized 2-car garage. My then-husband used the detached garage as his art studio. As he was a non-contributing liability of a partner (my bad choice in men), the house remains mine. I have 4 bedrooms, 3 baths on 2 levels. The basement is like a home in itself, with its own bath, living room, office, bedroom, and kitchen. I have about 2500 square feet in living space, plus a total of four garage spaces and work space. I'm every man's dream! LOL!

It is way too much house and property for me (the lot is 16,500+ square feet and is mostly in gardens...my therapy after life with a disfunctional, starving artist.

BUT! I have the world's most fabulous, wonderful neighbors! It is like living with a family of choice, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. And, now that I'm not supporting another adult, I can easily afford to own it and maintain it. As a matter of fact, I couldn't buy something smaller for what my monthly mortgage payment is on this place.

I currently own a 2700+ square foot house. It's me, my wife, our son, and 2 dogs. We have a huge gameroom for our son and his friends, a gym, an office for me, and a guest bedroom. Sure it's bigger than we "need". But at the same time it has everything we want, so that home is a great place to be. If we have friends / family over, we're not bumping shoulders the whole time - everyone has plenty of space.

So I don't regret having a fairly good sized house. That being said, if I lived alone ( no wife / kid / dogs ) I'd likely be one of those crazies with the 110 square foot homes.