Challenges of Small Space Living with Kids: 5 Struggles We Face
This year, we’re facing the challenges of small space living with kids as we prepare for the arrival of our second baby while raising our toddler.
Recently, we’ve been reflecting on what we struggle with most in our apartment. One of the main solutions we’re focusing on this year is decluttering.
In fact, we’ve committed to reducing 50% of our belongings in 2025 to help free up space and create a more organized home.
In this blog post, I’ll share the top 5 struggles we’re facing in our small 2-bedroom apartment and explain why letting go of excess stuff could help us create a more peaceful home.
1. Our Current Apartment is Small
We’ve realized that we don’t have a lot of stuff for a family of (soon!) four.
We just have a very small space to store it all.
This is why we’re starting to feel more and more cramped in our apartment. It seems like stuff is everywhere.
We keep bumping into boxes and bins we’ve organized to keep similar items together and avoid having things scattered around.
It’s especially disheartening when guests keep bumping into things, adding to the sense of clutter.
Our small apartment has two bedrooms, one bathroom, and an open-concept living and dining area that’s directly connected to our tiny kitchen and entryway.
We’ll have to accept the fact that our living space won’t grow any bigger, even though our family is about to.
Somehow, we’ll need to make the space work for us, not against us.
2. We Don’t Have a Basement or Large Storage Room
We don’t have a private basement or large storage space to store excess items and keep our living areas tidy.
In Finland, it’s typical for apartments to include a tiny storage room, but it’s not always practical—especially for families.
Managing the challenges of small space living with kids means finding solutions for storing bulky baby gear, storage containers filled with kids’ clothing, and shoes in various sizes, whether they’re waiting to be used as kids grow or saved for the next child.
Decluttering and letting go of our excess possessions is one of the few ways we can free up space for the things we actually need.
We need our storage space to function as a holding zone for many different things. Seasonal gear and clothing, kids’ clothes and shoes in multiple sizes, formal wear for kids and adults, sports equipment, hobby supplies, and memory boxes.
3. We Don’t Have Enough Bedrooms for All of Us
Our small apartment has two bedrooms: a larger master bedroom and a smaller spare bedroom.
As our toddler has become more mobile and needs more space for play, we decided to switch bedrooms with her so she could have the bigger master bedroom.
We’re currently in the process of decorating both bedrooms to fit their new purposes.
Our plan is also to create a bedside nursery in our bedroom before our second baby arrives in February 2025.
As our baby grows, he will eventually be able to move in with his sister in the larger bedroom.
While sharing rooms works for now, our challenges of small space living with kids will soon require us to find creative solutions to provide more privacy for them.
4. We Don’t Have a Designated Office
During the Covid pandemic, we were both working from home and had to purchase an additional desk so we could each have our own individual workspace. After returning to the office, we sold the extra one.
Now that we’re raising kids in our small space, there’s no longer room for even a single designated work space.
Our work desk has been floating around the apartment, and we’ve tried fitting it into almost every corner. It still hasn’t found a suitable spot that provides enough privacy for focused work.
At the moment, it’s located in the master bedroom, where our toddler also sleeps.
This arrangement works well on days when she’s at daycare, as we can close the door and use the room for calls. Things will become tricky, however, when we transition our baby to sleep in the same room with her sister.
5. Our Closet Space is Very Limited
We purchased our new home from a housing development and were able to customize some aspects of the apartment like the flooring, kitchen cabinetry, and tiling.
Our main goal was to maximize the square footage and living space. That’s why we made the decision to give up:
- The walk-in closet originally part of the master bedroom.
- The built-in closet in the smaller bedroom.
These choices turned out to be wise because they’ve allowed us to use the bedroom space in more creative ways.
For example, the area where the walk-in closet would have been could now serve as:
- An extra bedroom
- A home office
- A cozy reading nook
The smaller bedroom is also more spacious without the built-in closet. We’re planning to create a bedside nursery in this room and still fit our 160 cm (63 in) futon and bed frame.
We gained the extra space, but now we significantly lack in storage space. This is something we’ll have to deal with as our family grows.
Our 5 Challenges of Small Space Living with Kids
1. Our Current Apartment is Small
2. We Don’t Have a Basement or Large Storage Space
3. We Don’t Have Enough Bedrooms for All of Us
4. We Don’t Have a Designated Office
5. Our Apartment Lacks Storage Space
Do You Live in a Small Apartment with Kids?
I would love to hear what your biggest struggles are when it comes to raising kids in a small home.
Let me know in the comments or send me a message on Instagram!
