What are your minimum living conditions to be happy?

I mean this question perhaps a bit more narrowly than the title suggests. My wife and I are currently toying with the idea of moving, but we’re running into a lot of difficulty finding all the things we want (OK, let’s be honest – all the things I want) at the right price and in the right location. Please try to contain your shock.

I’m not really looking for a solution in this thread (yes, I realize that adjusting my expectations can be a really helpful thing). I’m just interested in seeing how others would define for themselves the threshholds we’re working with. So, if you’d be so kind, humor me and answer these questions as they apply to you.

[ul]
[li]Minimum square footage[/li][li]Maximum rent or mortgage[/li][li]Any exclusions on property type (e.g., no apartments, only two-story units, only houses with a yard, no shared walls, etc.)[/li][li]Minimum number of bedrooms[/li][li]Minimum number of bathrooms[/li][li]Any requirements related to proximity (e.g., within 10 minutes of work, within walking distance to public transportation, etc.)[/li][li]Anything else you’d want to qualify[/li][/ul]

If you’re willing, please specify the city or general region you live in – helpful when we’re looking at the maximum rent someone’s willing to pay in LA versus central Kansas or The Gambia or something.

And bear in mind that I’m asking about the minimum you’d be HAPPY with, not the minimum you could deal with. A place you’d be pleased to spend time in without regularly thinking about its shortcomings.

Thanks!

If I’m living alone, I don’t require much space at all, in fact I could probably manage in one of those micro-apartments that are becoming popular in San Francisco. I need a comfortable chair with a light for reading; a bed; a small kitchen area, and a full bathroom (shower not tub). Plus closet and storage space, and I’m good to go.

Quiet and considerate neighbors are of more value to me than more floor space.

Public transportation to work is a minimum requirement; preferably walking distance to a decent supermarket, other shops, and restaurants.

Off-street parking for one car. A secure place for a bicycle (not in the apartment).

I wouldn’t expect to have to pay more than I could afford for this arrangement; I would be willing to pay something over market rates for all of it in one place.
Roddy

I’m currently living in San Francisco in a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment. It’s not ideal, but it’s liveable.

I’d say my minimum requirements are:

  • one bedroom and one bathroom
  • rent/mortgage at no more than 35% of my monthly takehome. I currently pay more than this, and it’s something I regularly think about.
  • easy access to public transportation (I don’t drive or own a car)
  • commute on public transportation of no more than 30 minutes each way

The last two pretty much explain why I’m paying more than I would like, but it’s a tradeoff I’m comfortable with.

With my husband and kid? Our 2100 square feet, three bedrooms, and two bathrooms is just right. I would never be happy sharing walls with strangers, so a freestanding house is a must. Work needs to be less than a 30 minute drive. Less than ten minutes to some kind of rudimentary groceries and drugstore. Total cost, less than 30% of our total income please.

I live in central Illinois.

My needs have little to do with floor-space. I need internet access (so I can blither here on the SDMB!)

I need BOOKS! Books, dammit! I must have something to read, and lots of it, in much variety. I think I could make do with Project Gutenberg to last me the rest of my life, but some more modern stuff is mighty welcome.

I spend less than $100 a month on food, and could get by with even less.

I spend less than $10 a month (average) on clothing.

I don’t use either air-conditioning or heating. (But that’s because I live in a place with nearly perfect climate.)

But I’ve GOT to have something to shove sideways into my brain, else I shall go mad. Books! Books! (A little porn…) Books!

I live in Salem, Oregon. Currently, I’m living in a two bedroom, two bath upstairs apartment, 1050 sq feet. Washer and dryer in the unit (yay!). Nice treed setting. The only things missing for me are a exterior storage space large enough for my bike and quieter surroundings. I pay $725 a month, which is the max I can afford right now.

In my mind, the minimum living conditions are directly related to how much money I have to pay for them. Worrying about money will go a long towards ruining my satisfaction with life no matter where I am. If money is tight, I’ll just keeping cutting things until I can make ends meet.

So I think my bare minimum is something with heating, plumbing, a roof, cooking and bathing facilities, a modicum of privacy (say, at least 100 square feet that I can close the door on) and internet access. (And no, the need for privacy is not related to the internet access :stuck_out_tongue: )

Back in my college days, I was living on $500/month (late-90s) and that’s about the conditions I had. The roommates were an annoyance, but I could shut the door and put on my headphones.

1200+ SQ, I live in LA and am comfortable up to around $2200 a month. At this point in life, I prefer to own but am ok with condos or houses but can’t really afford a house. 2 bed 2 bath is perfect. 10-15 miles from work is good, close to shopping, restaurants, bars and such. Quiet-ish neighborhood, would rather be further from a school since I don’t like kids around.

Assuming my household remains intact (me, 1 husband, 3 dogs, a cat, and 5 chickens):

[ul]
[li]Minimum square footage: 1200. We’ve lived in 800 and 1500 so I know 1200 is the least we could manage with. Our maximum would probably be 2000 sf; I know it’s weird to have a maximum square footage, but we’re older and maintenance becomes an issue.[/li][li]Maximum rent or mortgage: $1400/month. This would include insurance on home and contents plus flood insurance if applicable.[/li][li]Any exclusions on property type (e.g., no apartments, only two-story units, only houses with a yard, no shared walls, etc.): Must be a single-family home on at least 5 acres.[/li][li]Minimum number of bedrooms: 2, but 3 would be better.[/li][li]Minimum number of bathrooms: 2.[/li][li]Any requirements related to proximity (e.g., within 10 minutes of work, within walking distance to public transportation, etc.): Within 30 minutes of shopping, clinic, etc. Within a couple hours of our mothers, who are both in their 80s and live alone. At least an hour away from any city larger than 100,000.[/li][li]Anything else you’d want to qualify: Would have to be truly rural or backwoods for us to be happy, not “horse-farm rural” like you find sometimes on the outskirts of cities. Also, we never want to live anywhere where they force us to license our pets or tell us we can’t raise our own food. Finally, we must have at least one outbuilding in which we can store a tractor and an RV.[/li][/ul]
We live in southern Minnesota, so all of these are attainable for the time being, but there are some changes coming that could move property around our home out of reach for a lot of people.

Hmm. I’d say warm and rodent-free would do for me. I lived in a $10/night SRO for 3 years - it had a twin bed, 3-drawer dresser with lamp, old vinyl chair with a split in the seat. No kitchen or bath, no tv or stereo, and no telephone in the room (totally old school - there was a phone at the end of the hall, and whoever answered went and got the neighbor it was for). It was all right, but I’ll admit I was glad when I got my own bathroom and my next place.

I’m having a super hard time with this question.

I mean, I could make do with real “lowly” conditions if there was a decent upshot. And even sucky things do have an “upshot”. Living a subway train away from Manhattan is worth living in a non-climate controlled crackerbox, IMHO. But I would be miserable if I had to live that way in Bumfuck, Egypt. Or maybe not. Maybe I would find it quite “zen”, not having to worry about expensive bills and rent. I don’t know.

I would be willing to forgo public transportation if I lived in a pedestrian-friendly town of sufficient residential and business density. But if it’s all suburban sprawl? No, I think I would be miserable. Or maybe I wouldn’t. Maybe I would find something appealing about suburban sprawl that would magically make up for the lack of trains and buses and sidewalks. I don’t know.

I guess my problem with coming up with minimum requirements is that there’s always the good possibility that I will violate one or all them some time in my life. Should I conclude, before I have even experienced it, that I will be miserable when it comes to pass? Maybe I WOULD be for a short period of time, but I’d get used to it. Maybe I’d find that there’s an upshot to it.

I’m guessing it’s the stuff I haven’t even considered (for lack of imagination) that would probably do my morale in.

[ul]
[li]Minimum square footage - 2 people, 1000 sq ft min.[/li][li]Maximum rent or mortgage - I have no idea; I haven’t looked in about a decade[/li][li]Any exclusions on property type (e.g., no apartments, only two-story units, only houses with a yard, no shared walls, etc.) at least a balcony, off street parking, and good sound proofing[/li][li]Minimum number of bedrooms - 2 (bedroom / study / office)[/li][li]Minimum number of bathrooms - 1.5[/li][li]Any requirements related to proximity (e.g., within 10 minutes of work, within walking distance to public transportation, etc.) - at least three languages spoken within ~ a square mile[/li][li]Anything else you’d want to qualify - must love dogs[/li][/ul]

Central Illinois.

Detached house with an attached garage.
Quiet and congenial neighbors.
Central heat and central AC.
One bedroom, two bathrooms.
Good wireless.
Reasonably close to stores and restaurants, and not so far in the country that the ambulance would get lost trying to find me.

Minimum square footage
We’re in a 1000 square foot house now, with a full basement - we could live happily in less, as long as we have the basement. 1000 sq. ft. is okay, though - we have rooms we barely use now.

Maximum rent or mortgage
A third of our income.

Any exclusions on property type (e.g., no apartments, only two-story units, only houses with a yard, no shared walls, etc.)
What we’re finding in Calgary’s real estate market right now is that a condo with condo fees is about the same as our mortgage for a stand-alone house - why would we pay the same amount for a less appealing living situation? We’re not totally opposed to a townhouse, but I’m not seeing the value at this point.

Minimum number of bedrooms
One. One really big one! Again, the basement is critical - we can have one big master bedroom upstairs and use the basement for guest rooms and office space, etc.

Minimum number of bathrooms
One full bathroom and one half-bath (ideally an en suite). We have a en suite now, and I don’t want to live life without one again.

Any requirements related to proximity (e.g., within 10 minutes of work, within walking distance to public transportation, etc.)
Walking distance to everything. We have that now with the exception of work, and it absolutely kicks ass. I walk to everything, all the time. If we end up moving, I want to be able to walk to work, too.

Anything else you’d want to qualify
Once again, we find the old real estate adage of, “Location, location, location” is true. Our neighbourhood is not as good as I’d like, and that’s probably what is going to make us move again. That and the frigging hill we live on - I’m not getting any younger, and I’m getting very tired of walking home uphill every time I go somewhere.

I think a smaller city would work better for me, too. Calgary is too big, and too full for my tastes - everything about living here is a pain in my ass, and I’m getting tired of it. I don’t want to live in a town or in the country; I like my city conveniences. I just want about half of the people that I currently share a city with to disappear.

Echoing Trinopus: A bed. A book. Ideally, a lamp.
Other than that, about 1200 sq.ft. One BA, two BR. (The extra one could be used for a study.) I don’t need peace and quiet because I’m up at all hours anyway and like to party. Out in the boonies would be fine with me—I’ve been there before with (hopefully) weekly trips for errands. But that gets lonely which is why I don’t mind a little bit of noise.

I had a 375sqft apartment 90 minutes from work that cost 60% of my income and I was happy. I moved from 2500 miles away with only a carry on bag. I bought some more clothes and a mattress and a flat pack desk and lived happily there for about a year. I walked a lot and read a lot and a $63 metro card got me everywhere I wanted to be.

Now with a wife and kids and animals I’ve got a big house with a yard and two cars and I feel cramped comparatively.

Long term I’d like big acreage with forest and meadow and some water and solar panels and a windmill and a big garden and some livestock and a small home and a barn. Amish minus the religion, or something like that.

One bedroom, one bathroom, a bicycle, a library card, and Internet access.

Drunk

OK, I’m going to assume for me and my wife, given your OP.

[quote=“Asimovian, post:1, topic:673856”]

I
[li]Minimum square footage[/li][/quote]

800-1000.

$2000/mo (and that is a true maximum, and I’m expecting more than 1000 square feet for that.)

For me, it’s a detached house with a yard.

Two.

1.5

Within ten minutes’ drive of rapid transit or interstate highway. Within 5 minutes of bus.

Living in Chicago.

Southern California. When we were looking for our current house in 2002, our number one requirement, above all else, was NO Homeowners Association! The other requirement was that it be one-story, one-level, to accommodate my husband’s disability.