a thought on just how much room you really need

[Homegrown_Tomatoes]

Last weekend, my husband and I took the kids to a living history museum, and at one point there was this little cabin off to the side which the tram driver said 16 immigrants had overwintered in.  We got off the tram and walked over to the cabin to check it out.  I paced off the outside dimensions and it was about 15' by 13'.  Inside, the ceiling was pretty low... not quite 7', I think.  There was a full loft with about 1-2' knee walls.  The cabin was heated by a very small woodstove in the center with the stove pipe running up through the loft.  The loft entrance was in the corner behind the door, with a very steep ladder accompanied by a pole to use as a stair rail.  There was another family of four and our family of four looking at it at the same time, and yet we weren't crowded.  I was amazed, though, that sixteen people could stand each other in that small of a space for the cold, long Wisconsin winter!  It was very simply furnished, and looking around, it made me wonder just how much space we really need.  Of course, they didn't have need for things like indoor plumbing, kitchen appliances, and so forth... which made the space more liveable.  Outside, there was a large fire pit with a tripod set up over it for cooking, and I couldn't help but wonder if they did as much cooking as possible outside, even in the winter!  I was pretty taken with it, and could see myself living in that small of a space, so long as I could cook outdoors most of the year and could have an outhouse somewhere pretty close by... I just can't imagine living there through a Wisconsin winter with 15 other people!!!

[glenn-k]

I couldn't imagine living through a Wisconsin winter. :-/

My mom's family is from there.  They used to bank the house with cow manure to keep the foundation warm.

I know I've said it before, but, my uncle said it was so cold there in the winter, they had to wet the bed to stay warm.

[Homegrown_Tomatoes]

Being from the south, we freeze to death all winter here... my little one screams and shakes her head and hollers "Noooooo!!!!!" every time we step out the door into the wind in winter time... she hates the snow and asks me every day all fall/winter/spring if we can move to Grandma's house in Oklahoma!   She likes the summer, though.

[FrankInWIS]

  Hey..........we have had some real mild winters of late.  This spring and summer have been fantastic, and fall is nice too.  Global warming or whatever has given us a trend to more temperate climate.  I love it here, in Wisconsin.  I HATE HOT weather, and hate it more when it is humid.  I love cool weather, and can put up with a very few weeks of bitter cold.  
Guess we  all have our own prefereences, and I suppose it has something to do with what you're used to also.  

[tanya]

Yes, I have lived in some really small cabins with outdoor privy and cooking on the wood stove too and it wasn't to bad usually  if the winter is bad you have to work enough outside that you are just bone tired form the cold and collapse when you get inthe house into the warmest msot comfortable chair.  My boys love the winter weather especially snow they like summer too but they live for winter my daughter hates being cold or hot.  One thing I really like about small cabins is they save money on hte heating bills.  It is cold here where I live already, not freezing cold but cold enough where a fire is necessary and this big old farm house is tough to heat even with the new siding, the wood stove repairs and the additional insulating I have been working on it is jsut a big old house with a wide open floor plan so there isn't even a way to curtain off smaller rooms to hold the heat.  Wear wool that is the only answer i can come up with.  

[glenn-k]

Being from the south, we freeze to death all winter here... my little one screams and shakes her head and hollers "Noooooo!!!!!" every time we step out the door into the wind in winter time... she hates the snow and asks me every day all fall/winter/spring if we can move to Grandma's house in Oklahoma!   She likes the summer, though.

A child wise beyond her years.

[Okie_Bob]

Shoot, I'd like to live in your Grandma's house in Oklahoma too! (Very wise child you have there, Homegrown!!)

Downsizing is the way to go. The new garage I built isn't much smaller than the new house I'm building. We will end up with
about 1200sf in the house when finished and I can already see where we could have cut that quite a bit if we had known in advance. The idea is to make it comfortable but, keep the cost down. Not just the initial building cost but, the upkeep and utilities. I think we have accomplished that to a large degree. But, everyone could get by with a lot less if they tried.
Okie Bob

[Homegrown_Tomatoes]

I have to stop laughing at Frank before I can type... MILD WINTERS?  Ok, granted last winter wasn't so bitter but interminably LONG!  The year before was awful!!!!  It was -40 windchill on THANKSGIVING!!!!!  We used to host a big Thanksgiving dinner when I was in college, and because of lack of space, a lot of folks would end up eating out on the balcony.  Granted they might have to wear a light jacket or a windbreaker, but it was pleasant to sit outside.  Our first Thanksgiving here, I invited some friends who live in Chicago up, and even with all the cooking and warm bodies in our house, we were all wearing shoes and jackets inside with the heat cranked up.  I'll never forget my teeth chattering as I'm peering into the oven to see if the turkey is even getting warm!  Give me the heat of summer... I love it.  Love the smell of the grass baking in the sun and the sound of insects screaming about hot it is.

But back to the topic,  I think we could all live in less space.  Living in Wisconsin, we have a 1400 sq. ft. (or thereabouts) house... it is way more space than we would need in a warmer climate, though I appreciate the room in the winter here because I can send the kids and the dogs down to the basement to play.  When we first moved up here and were looking at houses, I wondered why anyone would build stuff so big, but now that we've been here going on three years, I completely understand... it is the being cooped up that drives you nuts in the winter, and for me, the cold absolutely hurts.  I hate central heat for that reason... it is not like being able to go stand next to the fire to warm yourself!  One of the houses we looked at was huge... there was at least 1800 sq. ft. of living space on two above ground floors and a finished basement, but the real kicker was that there was yet another space, the huge partially finished attic space with electricity and a finished floor and insulation!  I couldn't imagine trying to keep it all clean!  Anyway, if we do end up moving back to Oklahoma, I could really see us living in a very small space.  Our old house there was about 780 sq. ft., but we didn't need that much room because most waking hours were spent either outdoors or in the kitchen.  Granted, there are some luxuries that I'd really like, such as a washing machine and a bathroom... but most of the other stuff is just details.  I'm still amazed at the sixteen immigrants sharing that tiny cabin for the winter... they must have needed each other for the warmth!

[MountainDon]

The only thing good about a long cold winter is my allergies are dormant just like everything else.  

I figure I could live in 800 sq ft again (Kitchen, LR, bath, master bedroom and second bedroom as office/hobby/sewing room. Compared to a family living in many other countries that's still a whole lot of space, but it would still be "greener" even if 20+ years old than 2 people living in one of today's "green" 3.5 - 4 K sq.ft. mega mansions. IMHO

BUT I would need at least that much again as workshop and large toy storage space. Does that count?

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Ha ha, Don, I understand that.  Allergies are the only thing good about a long winter.  However, when I lived in Oklahoma, I had very few allergies... I don't know what it is here, but I'm sniffly from the first thaw to the first hard freeze... maybe all the maple trees?  My husband had more allergies in Oklahoma, but he finally went for allergy testing after we moved here and we found out he's really allergic to dust mites and to ragweed and cats.  In Oklahoma, we lived in a 100+ year old house that was chronically dusty no matter how we tried, we had a cat, and of course, the ragweed season is a bit longer!  We moved here in spring (no ragweed) minus the cat, and the county mows the bar ditch, so there's no ragweed really close... and viola!  he was cured.  I was trying to get him to go for a nice happy medium... like Missouri... but he hasn't found anything there in his field.  

[glenn kangiser]

I had the scratch test done - had the same allergies as a kid -- asthma then - a touch now.

Good thing I'm over most of it - the wifes cat loves me.

[Okie_Bob]

Homegrown, I can't believe you had alergies in OKLAHOMA!! God's country? Naw,never happened. It was all Glenn's cat's fault.
Okie Bob

[glenn kangiser]

Sassy's cat BoB -- she claims me -  

[Homegrown_Tomatoes]

No, I DIDN'T have allergies in Oklahoma.  But suddenly upon moving to Wisconsin, my youngest and I both developed allergies immediately.  We think we're just allergic to Wisconsin.  DH did have them in OK, but that was mainly because he liked the stupid cat and didn't realize that's what was making him sick.  And we had an ancient house that was chronically dusty.