6 hours ago, GreenBeans said:

These kinds of houses can cause major issues once people get older. While you’re still young, it’s just an inconvenience to have stairs everywhere, but once you get older it gets really tough to move around. I’ve seen it happen with friends and family. At some point, they either need to move into a more accessible space, or they end up only using only the ground floor (if it has all the essentials, i.e. kitchen and bathroom).

My husband and I only bought an apartment - partly because we wanted to keep living in the middle of the city and there are no individual houses, but partly also because it will be so much easier to live in and maintain once we are older. It’s fairly small (at least by US standards - open kitchen and living room, two bedrooms, one bathroom), but it has a shower with no step, an elevator up from the garage and it has no stairs, so we got a cleaning robot that not only hoovers, but also cleans with water. It’s so amazing! You leave the house, and when you get back all the floors are clean and shiny!

My great grandparents were extremely mobile for the majority of their lives. And even they didn’t use their upstairs. They used it for storage mostly. There was a bedroom and bathroom on their main floor so they used that. My grandma was so frugal that she closed all the vents upstairs and put a heavy blanket over the doorway to upstairs. Of course some heat still leaked up there so it wasn’t freezing up there in the winter. But they didn’t want to pay for heat on a floor of the house they barely used. 

2 hours ago, Cam said:

I don’t own a pair of sweatpants, and I never lay around the house in my pajamas all day. By mid morning I’m showered, dressed and have my hair curled. This was my routine even during the pandemic.

It’s really good to have a routine like that in place! I know that as long as I don’t go out, I tend to hang out in my pjs all day, so leaving the house at least once means at some point during the day I actually get showered and dressed. 😁

5 hours ago, Italiangirl said:

She is a mother of five now the novelty has come off, the show is ended and there is nothing new on the horizon, it has to be kinda boring right now

I guess people are different and some people really do enjoy being around their kids all day. I can say that even though I love my son dearly, I would go crazy if all I did all day every day was taking care of and playing with him. And he’s only 3 years old and an only child.

I can’t imagine being at home with 5 kids of how-many-years-and-under all day every day. There must be so much constant noise… With 5 kids, there’s no way they all play quietly and independently at the same time. I bet there’s always at least one kid crying, needing attention, needing a drink, fighting with a sibling… and let’s face it, little kids are adorable, but they can be so annoying too, and not having an adult conversation for days or weeks while being stuck in a neverending spiral of cooking and chores and laundry can absolutely wear you down.

15 hours ago, GreenBeans said:

 

I just feel really bad and lazy and unhealthy when I stay in all day.

I love my home. I don’t own a pair of sweatpants, and I never lay around the house in my pajamas all day. By mid morning I’m showered, dressed and have my hair curled. This was my routine even during the pandemic. There’s plenty to do around the house, but I have no guilt reading or watching tv or surfing the ‘net if I want. My yard is small but lovely as I have a green thumb and have been a flower gardener for decades. People pay tens of thousands of dollars or more for their houses yet can’t/don’t actually unwind and enjoy living there makes no sense to me. 

I’m not tethered to the house, tho, and get out plenty enough. But I don’t need to leave the house every single day in order to feel productive.

5 hours ago, GreenBeans said:

I am almost back to normal now thankfully, but these months really made me appreciate being able to do all the “normal” things. Just being able to go for a walk without having to worry whether I’ll be out of breath, having enough energy for full work days, being able to plan outings again without the thought of “not sure if I’ll be well enough to go” at the back of my mind, it feels so good!

So I guess that’s one reason why I try to get out the house every day - because it simply feels good that I CAN!

I’m so sorry that those health matters snowballed like that and am glad you’re doing better. I, too, have health issues (ongoing), so I can very much relate to being grateful for being able to do “normal” things.

@GreenBeansi'm sorry ypu had such awful months, is good to hear you are about to be back to normal. I get what you say about having the chance to go outside if you so wish, I basically work from home (I just go in the house next to mine since we host a airbnb experience)  but there are days that I'm just happy to be outside with my dog and read or listening to an audiobook, while others even just going to do some grocery shopping is needed, if nothing else to see different people 😅!

I think Jessa may start to feel a little bit lonely and bored, her similar age sisters all have multple kids and can just leave their houses/spouse/kids to hang out whit her for a coffee or something, they are busy with their own houses and I bet that even for them is hard to just load the kids in the car to go playing with the cousins, so probably they often see each others at the big house or after having planned for a while. She is a mother of five now the novelty has come off, the show is ended and there is nothing new on the horizon, it has to be kinda boring right now, maybe in a few year when Spurge and Henry will be teens it will be better 

On 5/3/2024 at 5:38 PM, SassyPants said:

If we had a contest for homes with the funkiest architecture, mine would be right up there. I live on a hill, near the ocean (so think tight, narrow lots) and my home is tri-level but only has living space on 2 floors. From the front of the house one would take 2 short flights of stairs and would enter the house on the second level (where there is no living space) and onto a platform. From there, one could go down a 1/2 flight of stairs to a bedroom, BR and a garage. If you went up a 1/2 flight of stairs from the front door, you would get to the rest of the house.

These kinds of houses can cause major issues once people get older. While you’re still young, it’s just an inconvenience to have stairs everywhere, but once you get older it gets really tough to move around. I’ve seen it happen with friends and family. At some point, they either need to move into a more accessible space, or they end up only using only the ground floor (if it has all the essentials, i.e. kitchen and bathroom).

My husband and I only bought an apartment - partly because we wanted to keep living in the middle of the city and there are no individual houses, but partly also because it will be so much easier to live in and maintain once we are older. It’s fairly small (at least by US standards - open kitchen and living room, two bedrooms, one bathroom), but it has a shower with no step, an elevator up from the garage and it has no stairs, so we got a cleaning robot that not only hoovers, but also cleans with water. It’s so amazing! You leave the house, and when you get back all the floors are clean and shiny!