Space saving tips learned from living in a fisherman's cottage

Our house is kind of teeny, at least by American standards. We have no basement, no garage, two tiny closets for the entire house, hardly any kitchen cabinets, and no yard.

and by no yard I mean NO yard

This may be standard for the average European family, but for us midwesterners used to giant front and back yards, finished basements, two car garages, and walk in closets, it's been an adjustment.

"You have four kids, how in the world do you manage!?" you ask as you gaze out at your wonderful American lawn. Here are some tips I've learned living in our wee cottage that I think could be useful to any family, even the ones with space to spare.

The world is our backyard

The rock pile across the road

 Watching boats near the harbour 

It helps that the ocean is literally a stone's throw away from our front door. The girls have adopted the rock pile as their playground. Who needs a swingset when you have rocks to climb and sea glass to find? Sometimes I take the kids out when it's rainy and they run in puddles with their wellies. We explore the harbours and walk to parks.

We've embraced dressers and fewer clothes

Clothes hang to dry in our living room, 
and I'm ok with that

I used to hang everything in closets aside from pants (trousers) and pajamas. Here everything gets put in dressers since we don't have the choice to hang. I do laundry once or twice a day every day, I don't have the luxury of falling behind. We each have one or two sweatshirts, a few pairs of leggings/skirts/trousers, and not a ton of shirts.

My "full load" of laundry here is about 1/4 the size or smaller than what I'm used to doing in the states. Pair that with the "dryer" leaving all the clothes damp, and it's a full day process. Surprisingly it doesn't take up a ton of my time. I throw in a load in the morning, and hang it in the afternoon. By the evening or next morning it's ready to fold and put away. (I have my girls put away the laundry, it's saved me loads of time.)

We don't have the space for extra towels, so we have four towels for all of us. They're just washed more often than I ever washed towels in the states. There's no need for so many clothes and towels when laundry is done so often and there's no space anyway!

Things have multiple uses, and we don't have a lot of things 

My bedroom vanity 

Our (one) mixing bowl is also our popcorn and salad bowl. The coffee table and end tables are stuffed with our Christmas decorations and winter coats. The girl's room is also the guest bedroom, (we just have them sleep in our room or the boy's room when guests come). Our kitchen table is our homeschool area and occasional office. The cookie sheet and baking dish are stored in the oven, and our car (when we get it) will hold our stroller at all times. There's no space to put makeup on in our one bathroom with pedestal sink, so I use my "vanity" which is a dresser filled with arts and crafts supplies, homeschool materials, medicine, jewelry, and mementos. Our bedroom fireplace mantle doubles as a bookshelf. 

We only brought 6 suitcases with us (try to fit your life into 6 suitcases). You really realize what is essential and what you can live without. The kids have downsized incredibly in their toys and it's been pretty amazing. Much less to clean up!

We have one living room and no playroom

Shocking, I know! But really, why do you need a living room, family room, and rec room? Our spaces here get combined and it works. Our living room is for sitting, studying, and talking, the kids bedrooms are their play areas, and because they only have a few toys, they don't get overwhelmingly messy. Our bedroom has a couch and the one TV.

We buy more often

No more shopping in bulk. There's no where to put it! While I miss money I saved when I bought things in bulk, I've noticed that buying things more often has contributed to less waste and less need for storage (including fridge, closet, and cabinet space). We buy what we need when we need it.

We have a million baskets

They hide and organize. Baskets are amazing. I ordered tons off Amazon when we moved and I can always find uses for them. Where I would have needed a drawer or a cabinet I put a basket. Every room has multiple. The one room that was saved a horrific death of clutter was our bathroom. Toothbrushes get one, toiletries are in others. They clean up our spaces so well.

We go without

Some things are just too big to have. Period. There's no space for power tools, outdoor toys, fine china, big holiday decorations, more than three pairs of shoes/boots per person, large toys, or really just a LOT of anything. We're learning to just live without these extra things. None of them were things we've ever needed, just things we've always liked to have. (We can borrow things if we ever need them).

We settle 

Is the chair working to hide them 

at all?!

There are bikes in our living room. Sometimes there's no solution, and we just have to be ok with that. After all, we live across from the sea for goodness sake. I'm sure a lot of people would put up with bikes in their living room to be able to see the sea everyday. It's all about perspective.

After living in a smaller space I really, honestly prefer it. It's SO much less to clean. Nothing ever gets lost, it all in all seems like a much easier place to manage. Cottage living has taught us several things about what we really need, and I'm sure it'll keep teaching us. We're loving our wee house, space (or no space) and all.

Here We Go!

Well, we're here! We arrived in the UK about a month ago staying a week in Edinburgh, and now have moved in to our cozy "wee" cottage on the sea in Anstruther, a town about 20 minutes south of St. Andrews on the east coast of Scotland. My hope is to post once or twice a week to share our Scottish experience with you! 

Our little house and our view across the street

The twins playing near Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh

Now let me back up a bit. It took us longer than the 8 hr plane ride to get to the UK. For the curious, (and really for those wanting to someday do this), here's how we made this move happen.

Sept-Oct 2013 . Applied for UK post graduate programmes starting in fall 2014. St. Andrews and Durham were our top two. 

February 2014 . Acceptance letter from the University of St. Andrews received! Our first choice! 

April 2014 . Applied for passports (for 6 people... oh my) to save some money we took the passport photos ourselves using this website. Directions have to be followed precisely or your application can be denied. We had no issues in the end, but it was a tiny bit stressful. We applied for passports as late as possible in order for our kids to not need to re-apply while we're here. 

May 2014 . Bought 6 one way plane tickets to Edinburgh! I used Cheapoair.com and got each one way ticket for around $400. Couldn't pass it up. We planned our flight for August 25th, two weeks before orientation started. You're allowed to arrive up to 30 days before programme start. 

June 2014. Made sure money was in our bank account! Every country is different on this, but the UK has financial requirements for international students to enter the country. This amount needs to be in your bank account for at least 28 days prior to your visa application, and not falling below that amount during the 28 day duration. 

Secured housing! After scouring rightmove.co.uk and other sites for months, I had the idea to contact "holiday" homes in the areas I wanted to be in. I found one that seemed amazing but completely out of our price range, and after emailing the owner it turned out her monthly rate was about 1/3 what she'd charge as a holiday home. She was happy to agree to rent it to us long term. Fully furnished and across the street from the sea. Perfect. 

July 2014 . Visa applications! You're allowed to apply for visas only 3 months prior to your start date. These were mega huge stresses for me. The cost was crazy for 6 people (no child discounts). I was so worried they'd deny our applications and we'd be out that money, but we ended up having zero issues. Things we sent in for our Tier 4 UK visas were original documents (passports, birth certificates, marriage license), an acceptance letter from the University, a scholarship letter, our flight itinerary, our bank statement for the last 30 days (signed by a banker on every page and a cover letter from the bank attached), photo copies of drivers licenses, and our applications themselves along with our biometrics form. 

Visas were received within about two weeks of application. (What a glorious day that was!!)

Almost all of it. A lot of luggage, not a lot of belongings.

August 2014 . Moved out of our Wheaton home and into 4 large suitcases, 2 large army duffels, 4 rolling carry ons, 2 backpacking backpacks, and 6 personal size bags. Things we couldn't fit and couldn't part with we moved into my mother-in-law's basement. I'll write about what we brought (and what we wish we would/wouldn't have) in another post.

See ya later USA! 

Rented a car to drive to O'Hare so we could drop it and go without worrying about the hassle of bringing our own car we were selling. 

Had an angel at Virgin Atlantic check us in and look the other way on some of our weight limits. (They DO check carry on weights! Oops.)

We looked a little like a circus act going through the airport with that many bags and children! We had a loud screamy child, luggage frustrations, hours of waiting in lines, took the stroller and luggage up and down escalators, and nearly missed our flight despite a four hour layover (thanks Border Control). It was quite the day, but we made it. 

Our oldest posing on a balcony in Edinburgh overlooking our flat

We moved into a flat in the Grassmarket area of Edinburgh for a week before moving into our Anstruther house. We had pre-booked a ginormous cab to transport the six of us and all our luggage from the airport to our flat- I highly recommend this. The best £20 I've spent so far!

Had the same taxi driver take us to our home in Anstruther for a discount (£80 for an hour and a half drive- cheaper than renting a car and buying gas). 

on the Harbour at Anstruther

Despite so many hurdles and costs, we are absolutely loving Scotland. We wake up every day to the sun rising over the sea outside our bedroom window, hear the waves crashing while sitting at the table for lunch, see 1000 year old ruins almost every day, and watch fishing boats at sea out our windows. We walk everywhere, take trips to castles, are learning to use British words for things, collect sea glass and shells, walk along the harbour, and climb on giant rocks on the shore. Our kids are growing up in Scotland.

Homeschooling Europe

I've been homeschooling our oldest now for almost 2 years. She's currently in first grade, and will start second in the fall. My second daughter will start kindergarten in the fall. Her first year of school will be in Scotland! What a way to begin school!

Today I had a crazy out-of-the-box homeschooling mom idea. Next year, go culture heavy! Study all different types of cultures in Europe, and since I love planning and booking trips (and I'm pretty good at doing them on a major budget)... VISIT THEM!

I talked with my husband about it today. I thought if he could watch the boys, I could take the girls to a different European city once every month or two months, just for a few days. He seemed for it. The airfare is cheap enough, why not!? How often do we get that type of opportunity?

And so begins my curriculum planning! I'd love suggestions on culture-heavy-don't miss cities!

I'm open to anywhere. And the emphasis is on culture, not necessarily beauty (although all of Europe is beautiful). Languages, clothing, architecture, and museums will be our focus. Wonderfully excited!

Why the UK?

It's been about 4 years now since we first started dreaming about the possibility of living in the UK for Ben to do his masters and PhD. Long before this he had the dream of being a teacher and an author in Biblical Studies. He is completely brilliant, and has incredible ideas, but unfortunately to be recognized in this field you need some letters behind your name. It wasn't until about 4 years ago when we realized for him to do what he really wanted to do, he should go to the schools where all his favorite scholars went to.

This was a fun time for us. Much to his and my complete astonishment, it was me who had the idea. Me, the one who said I'd never move from the city we were living in. (That was his prayers at work- he knew we had to move, I was unconvinced). I remember the day when I had the idea. I started writing down names of his favorite scholars while he was at work. When he came home we wrote down more and started doing the research.

Schools on our list consisted of Christian schools and seminaries along with some of the best schools in the world.

Westminster Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary
Wheaton College
Harvard University
University of Oxford
Duke University
University of Aberdeen
Princeton University
University of Cambridge
University of St. Andrew's 

I remember him looking at me and saying, "You realize this means we'll have to move, right?" to which I excitedly responded, "Yes, but maybe we'll get to live in ENGLAND!" (my favorite country for much of my life).

Upon further research we discovered the "programmes" in the UK are about half as expensive and generally much shorter than the ones in the US. The UK school's PhD consists primarily of a research degree, while the US schools are taught/research which extends the length quite considerably. There are definitely ups and downs to attending both US/UK schools, and after weighing the pros and cons of each, the UK won by a landslide for us. I had never seen him so excited before about anything. This was his dream, and we were really going to do it.

We made up our dream list. For him it consisted of finding the best programs and professors. For me? A simple Google image search. Not gonna lie. We agreed on the following:

1. Wheaton College (finishing Bachelors)

2. St. Andrew's (1 year Masters) 

3. Oxford (3 year PhD) 

These schools were not exactly easy schools to get into. We had set our sights very high. But we are dreamers. And dreamers with God in the mix can accomplish some mighty things!

At this point in our lives, Ben had done tons of school, but nothing that really counted to anything. Many years in the army, sickness, and an un-accredited school all attributed to this. He was about 26 years old starting out basically from scratch, attending a state school to get some gen-eds taken care of. To begin with, we had our sights on Wheaton College. It had the caliper he was looking for, while still being a solid Christian school with outstanding professors, not too far from our hometown, and a little easier to get into. It would be a perfect stepping stone.

For the last year and a half he's been doing just that. Wheaton is the most adorable little town which I'm completely in love with, and would love to return to someday, but for now our sights are on the UK. As of this week he has been officially accepted to the University of St. Andrew's! When we found out we were in complete disbelief. It seemed like such a dream, and now here we were, experiencing it.

Come August, we'll pick up our 10-12 suitcases, my mother-in-law (who's graciously agreed to travel with us and help us settle), and our four kids, and move to St. Andrew's Scotland.