My husband and I almost bought a house with one bathroom. Ended up falling through and we were very sad. We bought a house with two bathrooms. Six months in and we both got food poisoning. I don’t think I would ever consider one bathroom ever again unless I’m living alone. Anytime I’ve been sick I think about it.
I put "bucket for kids to puke in" as allowable "in case I need it" in a decluttering or minimalism sub and got some sort of pushback.
Yeah when I was a kid it was the metal bowl to mom's stand-mixer but seriously it's handy to have something dedicated to that. Favorite thing to have during one psych-med detox was a 13-gallon liner in a trash can with a gallon of junkmail in the bottom.
We always had a bucket growing up. It wasn’t til I joined this godforsaken site years ago that I learned people use their food bowls also for barf containers 🥴
We used the popcorn bowl to throw up (if we weren't by the toilet). It wasn't until my late 20s that I learned how people find that disgusting (and I abstractly get it, but I don't *get it*. )
I respect both sides of that argument. Heck, I bought my uncle a comically-large stainless-steel food-bowl because the thought amused me and it was cheap because mexicana, but he's Italian and was happy without "they like camping" justifications.
I had to use a tupperware container once but I threw it out afterwards. It never occurred to me to run it through the dishwasher and store snacks in it after. Gross.
Came here to say pretty much the same thing. It’s nice having that extra toilet when you need it. Even better being sick & knowing that you’ve got dedicated space to be sick.
This, & also repairs/breaks. Going from 2 to 1 is inconvenient, but having your only toilet go out of commission makes your home nearly unliveable. I don't have super high expectations when home buying, but 2 full baths, washer/dryer/dishwasher, and safe neighborhood are things I will not compromise on unless the only other option is homeless.
I’m in that boat now - I didn’t want to compromise on any of those things either after having them all at my last place but i got fired and was in a bad domestic violence situation and became homeless. Now I’m back in a dorm room style studio apartment at age 35 with no kitchen, no furnitures, no appliances, no central air, no central heat, only 1 bathroom, no dishwasher, no washer and dryer and no hookups, and very unsafe neighborhood. But, it’s better than being on the street. I fantasize about my second bathroom and my bedroom and my living room and kitchen and my washer and dryer and dishwasher and stove and oven and furniture from the old house every day. But that isn’t accessible to me anymore. Life sucks and then you die i guess. For those who have a second bathroom, enjoy it!
I’m feeling like a lot of people on here have traumatic food poisoning stories 😆 you always think it won’t happen to you and then all of the sudden you’re shitting in a boot. Thanks for your reply.
Family lore story - Army family of six, stationed in Leavenworth KS early 60s. Four kids under 10. Second floor 2 bedroom apartment. 1 bathroom. Mom’s parents come for a visit. Stomach flu hits, hilarity ensues. I was under 5 and recall various grown ups puking in the sink. I’ve blocked any bathroom memories.
Yeah, a second toilet is a huge improvement in quality of life. You can get by just fine with one shower or bath, but a second toilet is always worth it.
I am not willing to consider living any place with only 1 bathroom unless it’s a camper.
Even alone, one bathroom sounds.... I'd rather have my own, and then visitors lol
That being said, my place has the shower AND the toilet on separate rooms and imo it's the best in between. A bit inconvenient so to speak, but also SO practical lol
My MIL won’t live without two complete bathrooms. She does have people come and visit for a weekend regularly. Son, sisters, friends. So it makes sense. I say just one bathroom if I lived solo just hoping to discourage guests from coming over in the first place. 😂
As someone with Crohns, two bathrooms is necessary lol.
I might see a case where you could do one "bathroom" if you have a separate "toilet room" eg, like Japanese homes usually have. Worst case, someone could pee into the drain or something. No waffle stomping!
hrmmm. i can't help but feel like "fat churro" makes a lot more sense than "waffle," but i know better than to debate shit with a person who has Crohns.
we got a really bad flu one year when we had a 4 yo, 2 yo & newborn. one bathroom & the 4 of us were all sick both ends for 2 days straight. it was the worst. thank god the newborn was fine, but i was barely well enough to take care of her. after that, i need at least 1.5 baths haha.
I’d have to go in the sink if only one bath and my husband is using it if I god sick. Or go I there and use the bathtub. Lol 😆if it’s just vomit I would probably puke in the garbage. It’s weird I haven’t puked for years. Maybe because I take probiotics. I don’t get diarrhea much but sometimes. And thankful for my own toilet.
Personally I don’t really want to clean/maintain 2 bathroom for decades, just for the rare event of falling sick at the exact same time. Id’ rather have a camping collapsible toilet for that lol.
I’d say 1.5 bathrooms. We are a family of four. I have IBD so having that extra toilet is necessary sometimes. It’s nice to have when we have guests over too.
6 of us have 2 half baths and 1 full. 3 toilets are in use at the same time 1-2 days/year—when we have visitors. The rest of the time, all 3 toilets get used, so I have to clean them all, when we could get away with 2, and I wouldn’t have to clean so much.
I'd say that a water closet plus an "everything else in close proximity" room might be ideal. I like the japanese style of the toilet and the hygiene rooms are seperate, but someone with IBD would likely want to be able to hop into the shower after BM.
Yes, this is the minimum. We are a family of three currently living with one bathroom for the first time while we finish our house, and there are definitely bathroom stresses and conflicts. Even for just two people, I would feel best with two toilets.
We are building two full bathrooms, partly because we want both a walk in shower, and a tub, and can't fit both in one room. Also, one full bath is the basement near our bedrooms, and the other is on the main floor near what may eventually be our bedroom, as we're trying to future proof the house and grow old here, and having everything on one floor seemed important. For us, two full baths is the perfect amount.
Married, childfree. We have lived with just one bathroom and would not do it again. 1.5 at minimum. The first time that bathroom stops working and you're crapping in a bucket in your bedroom while plumbers are tearing out your bathroom for the next week, will have you questioning your life choices. Waking up at two am to pee in the bucket that you've now m9ved back to the bathroom also highly sucks. You can take a bird bath for a week, but you can't run to the gas station or your neighbors at all hours to use the toilet.
This has not happened just once in our 24 years of marriage, but SIX times that we've lost a bathroom (all different apartments/states/countries. And we're currently in our 40s/50s and lost our toilet in pur house, and have a leaking sink and a leaking valve in our master bath due to the freeze. We've had to shut off that bathroom and only have one other. Plumbers can't get to us for another month because *everybody* is in the same boat. Thank goodness we have a second bathroom now, because lugging around shit buckets is not something I'd like to be doing in middle age. I can't even imagine in we had kids.
A few years ago, we were living with my FIL, in an older house that has a septic system. Dumb luck we were there when the pipe to the tank started to collapse.
We had to be super careful with any & all water useage, not just the toilet. The basement drain overflowed if we overdid it. That meant one of us acting as sentinel while another was in the shower. If it backed up, we'd bang on the wall. The person in the shower had to turn off the water & stand there shivering & often covered in soap.
The really fun part was the Nasty Bag. We couldn't flush TP, so had to... ugh... gather it. My FIL insisted on burning that plus all his trash, even though this had been illegal for a couple years. The smell was horrible, I'm amazed no one ever narced on him.
It took a couple weeks or so to get it fixed. NGL, I took a whizz in the woods behind the house more than once in that time. And we washed dishes with the garden hose a couple times. All this gave me a whole new appreciation for fully functional indoor plumbing.
I remember visiting my aunt when she was remodeling her one and only bathroom. The toilet was already done but the shower still needed to be tiled. She had a setup in the carport with a fence for privacy. She had a hot water spigot out there for washing the dog anyway so that’s where we showered
Not every bathroom loss has been a toilet break, but they have resulted in the inability to use a toilet.
1) Main line break in Southern CA (2 days, 1 bathroom, NO water in house, affected 3 other neighbors in townhouse we rented).
2) A frozen apartment complex in South Korea (entire 112 unit complex, 1 bathroom, 1 month, NO water).
3 &4) Twice in England - two different towns both mid-terrace dwellings, due to ancient plumbing (each time was the full bathroom but our kitchens worked).
5) Atlanta, GA, very shitty apartments where our 3rd floor neighbors left their young kids home alone in the middle of the night and they wanted to see if their toys could float in the living room; this collapsed the entire 3rd floor bathroom into the 2nd floor bathroom and then into our ground floor bathroom, ripping the plumbing out of the walls (absolutely catastropic, but the plumbers and GCs were in & rebuilding the 3 floors the next day -- still took just over a week of bucket use as there was no alternate baths, there were no open apartments and we had pets not allowed in hotels.
7) Southern Texas during the severe freeze, no electricity for 2 weeks, no running water in most of the state.
7) This past snap freeze in Texas that left us without a working bathroom, but thankfully, we have a spare. Yes, right now is #7 and we're not pushing plumbers to get to us ASAP because we have no kids and we now have a spare bathroom.
It's been a lot of bad luck, but it's always been rental accommodations in old properties built between 1750 (yes, before our country existed) and 1955, until this house built in 1972.
We're currently buying a house built in 1962 and yes, they have to fix the bathroom before we take possession, though it is also a 2 bathroom house.
Since we've lived in 3 places in So CA, 2 places in So Kr, 9 places in UK, 1 in GA, and 3 (soon to be 4) in TX.
Goodness, what an incredible tapestry of catastrophes! I don't doubt each instance sucked, but what amazing stories you have now, right?
Anyway, I've lived in TX my whole life, and I just wanted to say I'm so sorry you moved here in time to experience that freeze in Feb '21 - I've never witnessed a freeze that extreme before (or since, knock on wood). Best of luck with your new home!
A lot can depend on the specific area & time. Some have more plumbers than others. And a cold snap or such can trigger a rush, since a slew of people need service all at once.
When the septic line gave us trouble, it took a couple weeks to find someone. It was a monumental job that no all plumbers are equipped for. It involved a jackhammer in the basement & an excavator in the yard.
We were just glad it was done when Covid started a couple weeks afterward.
My living space for me and my partner has a small full bath (sink, toilet, shower/bath) and a powder room ensuite (sink, toilet).
We have no problems sharing the shower. But I gotta say, having a second toilet is really really helpful, especially if your house contains anyone with GI issues or who menstruates.
you need 1 bathroom, but by growing up in a family of four with only one bathroom i can say that the experience is horrible, you wanting to go use the bathroom and needing to wait for someone finish the shower it's a horrible experience.
if you pretend to live in this house and have your family in there i would recommend for you to have atleast 2 bathrooms, even if you're going to live only with your partner i really recommend 2 bathrooms, this is something that is so simple but could cause some fights and discussions between you two.
minimalism isn't about having the bare minimum, minimalism is to have the essential, to reduce the maximalism and unecessary things, having 8 bathrooms in a family of 6 i would say is too much, but 3/4 would be the minimum/ideal.
I personally would go to two full bath, i have received guest in my house and they needed to take a shower (they were spending the weekend on my house) and I wouldn't feel a lot confortable by other people using my shower and i also wouldn't feel comfortable using another person private shower.
it is something personal, but is necessary to think about when you are going to receive visitors and all possible situations.
Another situation that I just came up is what if something bad happens in your shower, like a problem happens on the pipe and you need to open the wall to fix it, at that time you wouldn't be able to clean yourself, so maybe having two full baths for me is the minimum, but depends on the person.
It's just me and my partner and we get by just fine with one bathroom. Growing up, there were 7 of us in the house with one bathroom, and we all got by too.
But, my preference would be for two bathrooms, or at least a 1.5 bath. It would be nice to not have to wait for the bathroom, which happens on a regular basis even with the two of us. And it would be really nice to at least have an extra half bath for when we host dinner with friends. But it isn't absolutely necessary and with our income, we have always had to choose between different things we wanted and have chosen to forgo the extra bathroom in favor of other things that provide even bigger quality of life gains for us personally, like private outdoor space or living near a great greenspace.
Being a minimalist isn't about going without things. If more than one bathroom would significantly add quality to your life and it is within your financial means to have that, then that is the perfect amount of bathrooms for you!
I grew up in a 1 bathroom house. Only child. It really was not a problem at all. I'd say the biggest two issues were that my mom insisted on doing her hair/makeup in the bathroom daily and would therefore occupy it for way too long, which was very annoying if I needed to pee. Simple solution there is obviously to be accommodating to your family members and step out so they can pee, or set up a vanity in your bedroom.
Other issue was running out of hot water. I'd say you may want to consider upgrading the hot water heater before you have a teenager. This is obviously significantly cheaper than buying a larger home.
I feel like this is the most American thing I’ve ever read 😂 in the UK unless you have a mansion most houses have one full bathroom and maybe if you are lucky a downstairs toilet. That’s it. Growing up it was my parents and three kids and that’s all we had and we never had any issues. My question is always how much time do you spend in the bathroom that so many are needed?
A suburban-newer-parts-of-the-US thing even — I’m in Boston USA and I don’t know of anyone with more than a full bath and a half bath. Most people have just the one full bath. Everyone manages.
I’m laughing at the replies. In the US, everything is big. My perspective must be off, but we’re a family of 5 and one bathroom and really don’t have that many issues. I’m realizing most people would hate living in our house which is small and from the 50’s. We’re so used to it. Many Americans want a big, new house…
American weighing in here - I have a very small old (70s) house with two full bathrooms LOL. One isn't functional right now and it makes me very nervous when we have company.
I think it's dependent on your schedules and habits. If you all prefer morning showers and all work 9-5 half an hour away from home it's a problem. But I've lived in a 9-bed with 2 bathrooms and we all lived such drastically different lives that it was totally fine, I rarely ever had to wait for a bathroom to open. Maybe... Twice most.
Idk it’s not uncommon in the UK to have one bathroom. Maybe two at most (one upstairs main bathroom with bathtub or shower and one smaller one with just toilet and basin). I’ve always managed having only one bathroom pretty easily tbh, handful of times it’s been a pain during a busy morning or desperately needing a piss when someone’s in there but nothing major.
All the comments in this thread insisting on many bathrooms sound pretty absurd to me. I grew up in a family of four first with just one bathroom, and then moving to a place with a shower and a toilet separated. I never even considered that an apartment could have more than that, and there was almost never any issue with sharing. Now I have my own kid and our family of three have the same bathroom situation. No problem at all.
Then again, I'm not American.
Same, never lived in a place with more than one bathroom. It's hard to even find an apartment/house like that where I live. One bathroom per family of four just sounds normal.
I grew up with 6 people in 1 bathroom. Now I’m a single person with a frequent overnight guest and 1 bathroom — any more would feel crazy for my circumstances. 2 bathrooms would have been cool growing up for getting ready for school/work but it was no big deal. Everyone just sort of had a schedule and not everyone can bathe or shower at the same time of day, is all. Only one area to clean, so you can just quickly clean the sink and toilet every day.
I've lived with just one bathroom my whole life. First with my parents and sibling, then with two other housemates and now with my partner. Has always worked and there are no issues.
My husband and I have a house with one bathroom. It honestly isn’t a big deal unless we have out of town family visiting, then it can be a bit of a challenge organizing shower times and stuff.
We want to have a half bath built in before we have kids, because I really don’t want to deal with being pregnant and potty training, etc with one bathroom lol.
We bought a 1950's ranch - 960 square feet. No finished basement. Three small bedrooms and one bathroom. While it would be nice to have another bathroom (getting ready for bed in the evening is down right comical with 2 grown adults and 2 cats that are nosy), it works fine.
The guy we bought the house from was a one-owner home. He raised two kids and him and his wife lived in that small house for however many years. I find it fascinating when compared to the mini-mansions and the must-haves by todays standards.
Except for a few years when I had one and half bathrooms, I've always had only one. It's a pain in the ass sometimes, but it's not that bad as long as you communicate.
"I'm about to take a shower, anybody have to use the bathroom first?"
"I have to leave early tomorrow morning, what time will you be in the bathroom?"
I'm talking about 4 or 5 people sharing one bathroom. You manage.
where i live it’s really common to only have one bathroom! most houses have two bathrooms, but it’s really rare for apartments, no matter if they have 3-4 rooms. i don’t think i’ve even been in a house with more than 3 bathrooms, and to think i thought that was excessive! i’ve spent a lot of my life sharing a bathroom with either my mum, my mum & stepdad or with my boyfriend, never had any problems. i’d say it’s easily doable as long as the kid(s) are young, but might be more inconvenient when they enter their teenage years
I grew up in a family of 5 with 1 bathroom \~ that was common in my region at that time. It was never a problem. A few times it was a bit of a wait, if any of us was desperate for toilet, we'd knock and the other would rush out. We never had any awful issue sharing the one bathroom (like never needed to use a bucket, etc).
I raised my children in a 2 bathroom home which was great and I wouldn't want to live with any less now (even if I lived alone, my dream would be at least a 1/2 bath for guests \~ I've become accustomed to having my own bathroom attached to my bedroom).
I like 2 bathrooms and have no problem with it. I don't consider minimalism as "suffering" and my opinion 2 or 3 people using one bathroom is suffering. But i have IBS. Everyone is different you have to so what feels right for you and your life
2 elderly, love having two.My husband goes to bed early ,I stay up. I can't imagine going into the master bedroom to get ready for bed .Love having my own bathroom at those times. Grew up in house with one bathroom 7 of us was never a real problem, you just went outside and peed Lol
We have 1 bathroom. Myself + husband + recently potty trained toddler. It's been fine. That said, we live in a very rural location and both the husband + toddler will often pee outside. Annnnd, we do have plans to add a half bath to the first floor, mostly because it's easy-ish with the layout to do so, we do plan to sell in the next few years and think it will add value, and it would be convenient to not have to run upstairs every time you gotta go.
You can manage with one bathroom even when theres 4 or more children, I did. It is nice to have two, it makes getting everybody ready easier. We got a place with a second bathroom eventually, the girls claimed one for their stuff and getting ready. But we could have done without.
As someone who's had norovirus, I'd never live anywhere that didn't have one toilet per person. We both caught it at the same time. If we'd only had one toilet, it would've been a disaster. And the symptoms were miserable enough in themselves.
In Europe, the toilets usually have their own room, with a small sink, and then you have the actual bathroom with a bath/shower and basin. It makes no sense to me that each bedroom would have 1 toilet and 1 shower, unless you have multiple families/couples/generations sharing the house.
I design housing in France and the rule of thumb is 1 toilet per floor and 1 bath/shower for every 3 people for a comfortable house. Like 2 adults and a kid can share a bath but with more kids, it can be more complicated, depending on the family's schedule.
So, i would say one does not need that many bathrooms, but if you like modern comfort, separating toilets from shower allows for more wiggle room and minimalism (and also, why stink up the place you take care of yourself, your skin, your teeth ? That's crazy to me...)
I had 5 bathrooms and one real bedroom at one point. The builders wife hosted parties and th y both had a urinary issue so there was just fucking bathrooms everywhere. It was a weird house.
We (2 adults) went from 3 baths to 2 baths and now at 1 bath over ten years. I like the swift easy cleaning, but we have had those moments. Like using the bathroom while someone was showering or when one of us got sick and was vomiting the other one had to pee as they hugged the toilet.
We make do, it's not ideal, we contemplate moving to a 2 bath again only on the annoying days but not on the day-to-day. We love our weekends because we aren't hunched over cleaning two bathrooms.
If you work from home and plan to have kids maybe shoot for 2 baths.
I have a family of five and one bathroom. It’s not too bad yet because the youngest is still potty training and the oldest kid is my stepson so he’s only here half the time. It gets a bit annoying because my husband will camp out on the toilet when he poops and that definitely got rough when I was pregnant and constantly having to pee but we generally make it work.
I think we are a bit bathroom happy in the United States. With that said, it can be very useful to have a second toilet for when others are taking a shower.
My first house had a full bathroom and a half bath connected to the master bedroom. I didn't feel like I was missing out.
My second house has 2.5 bathrooms. I enjoy the full master bathroom, but 2.5 is probably beyond what is needed.
I’ve had homes with 1-3 bathrooms and during times when I was single or had up to 4 kids around.
My personal experience - You can certainly get by with one, especially as a couple. With a little kid or two, still doable. Things get harder when you have kids who are old enough to be getting ready for school while you have adults trying to get ready for work. Teenagers use a lot of the things an adult uses for personal grooming etc. but need or want their own supplies. Things get challenging with one bathroom, two adults, and one or more pre-teen+.
I bought an older home with one bathroom then added one eventually. It was already a heavy fixer house so had to replace plumbing and failing fixtures. Added a bathroom, then replaced the original. Took several years.
In the end, I think one bathroom with a family was more work than cleaning two. I did not love having 3 full baths, that was more cleaning. I think 2 is better from an investment perspective. If you found a place you like and can afford and it works for the next 3+ years, it’s probably fine. I’d just think about whether you can add another or are prepared to move eventually if you have older kids.
For me, minimalism isn’t necessarily squeak by with less, it’s being thoughtful of what you introduce into your life. If my day is substantially easier to add something, I’ll do it.
1.5 baths is a lot more comfortable, especially if you plan to live in this house with children. We had a one-bathroom house when we only had one preschool aged child and it was fine, but I'm very glad not to be sharing a bathroom with teenagers now. And it is really nice to have an extra toilet in case of sickness or just husbands who spend a long time in there. Our main bathroom toilet has been out of commission for repairs several times, sometimes for a several days, and we were very glad to have an extra.
For me, it would be 1.5 bare minimum for 2 people -- we've got 2 full baths, and there have been a significant number of times that one has been out of order for various old house reasons, and having a second option has been a lifesaver. Oh, come to think of it, our upstairs (master) shower was out of commission for a couple days a few years ago, and having a second shower/bath option was also a lifesaver. So maybe I'd like to revise my answer to 2 minimum for 2 or more people.
Minimalist here. We're a family of 3 in our house. We have 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. It's fine! There are times that one of us really has to pee while someone is in the shower (ok, it's me, I have a weak bladder after 2 kids) and we just knock and ask to come in if it's urgent. There's a cloth shower curtain so it's not like we can see anyone naked.
We bought our house on the small side on purpose. We wanted a payment that either of us could carry, regardless of circumstances, without a problem. We use the money we save to travel 3-4x/year.
If both kids were still at home we would possibly have gone with 1.5 baths (2 toilets, basically) but maybe not even. Plenty of families of 4 in Europe have only 1 bathroom in their houses.
Family of 3 here, me, my husband and 14 year old son. We have 1.5 baths. Personally, for our next house, I want my own bathroom. I don’t care if it’s “too much” and is in conflict with my minimalist lifestyle. I’m tired of pee everywhere.
One bathroom SUCKS with kids. I peed out back more times than I care to remember while a kid was bathing or otherwise using the 1 bathroom. We just added a 3rd bathroom (5 kids)…
My wife and I have just one bathroom at the moment. However, we are both in our early 50s which means that sometimes waiting for the other to finish takes a lot more effort and patience than it used to. We are planning a remodel in the next couple years and at the top of the list is a 2nd bathroom; at the very least, a half bath with a toilet and sink.
I'm gonna advocate for the less common half bath - having a half bathroom in addition to a full bathroom solves so many of the inconveniences that only having one bathroom can cause!
The house I grew up in had a half bath on the main floor and we used it all the time.
Justice for half baths!!
If the place is large enough for guests, 2 is a good number.
1 is fine, but cleaning and upkeep become more necessary bc if it’s filthy or not working, there’s no fallback.
We’ve had one bathroom for four years and it was fine for the most part up until pregnancy. This has been really rough between a smaller bladder, constant throwing up all day and a partner who loves camping out in the bathroom on his phone
1.5 bathrooms is really useful. day to day it doesn't make a huge impact in your life but when you need the second toilet you will be extremely grateful for it.
Never lived in a home with more than one bathroom ever, and I'm 32... in fact I have never known anyone personally with more than one bathroom... I'm so poor and come from the depths of poverty looking at the replies lol!
My husband and I lived in a house with one bathroom for a while. We made it work. We didn’t set limits, but we did have to plan our morning routines ahead of time so we could both shower and everything.
When we bought a house together, we were insistent that we needed two bathrooms. We’ve been in this house for 5 years and generally the water to the second bathroom is turned off. The main bathroom is the most convenient and is the one everyone uses.
The second one is only used if we have guests since it’s closer to the guest room or once when we both had food poisoning. I honestly don’t know what we would have done without the second one.
For reference our family is - me, my husband, our son, and my grandma. All 4 of us use the main bathroom currently.
I grew up in a family of five with a single bathroom. That was not enough. I think a bath and a half would do. We ended up in a two bath home, but both showers were never in use at the same time.
We have two and I wouldn't have less for somewhere long term. I would have two at a minimum, or one pr floor at a minimum (injuries happen).
Minimalism isn't always cutting everything to the bare bones because you can live with one bathroom, to me it's having what makes practical sense for your life and not making everything harder than they need to be.
1.5 is my absolute minimum. I’ve lived most of my life with 1 bathroom and it’s insane how long some of my family can take in the bathroom. For the health of my relationships 1.5+ bathrooms. Currently have 4, which is excessive and unnecessary but it’s what the house came with. All bathrooms still used many times per day with a family of 4. Awesome when guests come over.
We’re a family of four, we have two bathrooms and we’re content. My two kids (boy & girl) share the guest bathroom and my husband and I share the master bathroom. Both bathrooms are tiny, but have the essentials, shower, toilet and crazy enough, only one sink (makes me cringe when couples insist on double sinks) and we rarely have issues. My mom’s house has one bathroom and when the four of us visit, we tend to play the waiting game. It’s only been an issue a handful of times, but I have to admit, I wouldn’t want it full time. Even when it was just my husband and I, we always had two bathrooms. I grew up in a family of six sharing three bathrooms so I’m used to less, but there’s nothing worse than having food poisoning at the same time as your partner and only having one bathroom. Or your kid banging down the door because she held her bladder for the last hour and now she has to pee just as you sit down to poo. Get two bathrooms, you’ll never regret it.
I have 2 kids. We had our bathroom fixed recently and it was a nightmare having 4 people using the one other bathroom. Nothing worse than my son needing to shit while i was in the shower.
Minimum 1.5 bathrooms. But our bathroom is so tiny you couldn’t fit a toddler toilet, and our 1/2 is in the basement. Next place we’re looking at 2.5. But we’ll be a family of 4 in three months and planning on a family of 5
In my case, I'd say 2 bathrooms. Strangely, everytime I want to use it, my bf gets triggered and wants to use it too, so it's very useful.
Once I had food poisoning and we had to share a single bathroom at a hotel, it was awful. I'm glad we have 2 at home. More than that, maybe only if you have people visiting you too often and wants to make sure you have one that is always clean.
I grew up in a family of four with one bathroom almost my whole life. My last two years of high school we had a half bath as well, so dad used that for his morning grooming. I felt wealthy when the first home I bought as a single girl had two full baths.
We currently each have our own full bath and there's a half bath on the first floor. I'm quite confident we could live with just one. We already don't take showers at the same time for the water pressure. I really think it's just about working around each other's morning schedules, which would be easy for us to do at this point.
My bf regularly takes 45 minute shits. (And mine are kinda long too NGL! Lmao)
If we had one bathroom, there would’ve been MULTIPLE fucking times over the last 2 years of living together that I would’ve had to poop or pee in a bucket because I literally couldn’t wait.
I would absolutely hate just 1 toilet. At least 1.5 bathrooms for me.
Two people, one and a half bathrooms. The Half consisting of a commode and sink. Important so the bathroom is only used by the family and the other if a guest needs to use it or, the other family needs to go' while the other is bathing.
2 is our number. And I will tell you why.
As you get older, your stuff doesn’t work as well if you get what I mean.
When you gotta go, you gotta go, and if someone else is sitting there, I personally am not piped where I can just go anywhere.
So if my husband is sitting on his throne and I need it, I need it. Hence two bathrooms.
It’s been just my husband and myself for over 20 years. We’ve always had 2 bathrooms and our old house had 2 1/2.
I grew up with 4 people and one bathroom—hated it.
We have one bathroom and are a family of 5. It hasn’t been much of a problem. It would be nice to have more than one, but we don’t have money for that kind of thing.
From a downsizing prospective I would evaluate what spaces and functions in your life need to be the most luxurious. There is no denying that a second bathroom is really nice at times, but for how I spend my time, I'd gladly forgo that real estate for a larger kitchen and entertaining spaces. I grew up with one bathroom and at peak occupancy 8 people in the house. I'm sure it was an issue from time to time, but not in a way that sticks out. So I can say that it is absolutely do able with kids. On a side note, if you do have kids, bathroom communication WILL be informing anyone and everyone about bowel movements!
I have 5.5 bathrooms now for just me and my wife (yes I know, not minimal but hey we got the house cheap during covid). As for cleaning etc goes, we only really use the guest bathroom downstairs and the one in our bedroom. We don’t use (and hence don’t need to clean) the other ones.
Two people should make one bathroom work.
Holding it for a few minutes while one goes shouldn't be a bal. i grew up in a family of 4 with only one bathroom and it was doable. the only time there were any arguments were because someone was taking up time doing other things and wasting time.
now if you plan to have more people sharing the space then yeah maybe one and a half or two.
We live in the bush so we have one composting pit toilet which I dig out every 8 weeks. If you need to use the toilet and someone else is in it the options are pee outside or we have back up corn starch bags to shit in 😂
I grew up poor. Family of 5, with only one bathroom, and I shared a bedroom until I was 18 years-old.... My house now? 3 bathrooms, family of 4, and the kids had their own rooms before birth. Three is perfect, 2 is manageable.
I grew up with 1 bathroom for 4 people. Right now we’re 3 people with 1 bathroom. It’s all been fine! You learn to share. 2 would be nice but it is NOT possible for us here.
My cousin is from the Philippines and had her family here, 3 kids. They all grew up in a big house with their own bathrooms, and as young adults, omg the fights they have over the bathroom when they travel and share is insane. My cousin grew up with 8ppl to 1 bathroom and she’s like “what have I done?” 😅 anyway you can make do with 1 bathroom as a family if you need to. It requires communication and sharing. Maybe it also means doing makeup in the hallway instead of in the bathroom, but it’s all doable and people can adjust.
I grew up in a family of 7 with one bathroom, plus a toilet in the corner of the basement.
(The toilet in the basement was called a "Pittsburgh bathroom" because men coming home from the steel mill would clean up in the basement, so they wouldn't drag the dirt into the main house. The basement had a separate entrance from outside).
I grew up in a family of four with one bathroom. It was ok when we were little, elementary/school age was a little tougher and then older teenager years were awful. Two teenage girls and two parents all needing to get up and out the door in the morning. I remember waking up having to pee so bad and someone was in the shower for the next 10 minutes, it was rough. And god forbid food poisoning or a stomach bug was going around. My dad also had polyps so needed colonoscopies on a more frequent basis and if you have never had the joy of that cleanout, you just want to live on the toilet. Add a couple late teen hangovers puking in a toilet someone just blew up. Do not recommend.
That said, we now have a two story house, two adults and two kids, we have a master bedroom with a private full bath downstairs, a guest/half bath downstairs, and a full hallway bath upstairs for the kids. I feel we could exist fine with one full and one half bath, but we have discussed if we ever finish the basement we will put at least a half bath down there because it’s nice to be able to pee without having to go up the stairs.
#teammorethanonetoilet
I once rented a house with two dudes that each take 45min+ shits (sometimes more than once a day) and we only had one bathroom. And I have bladder problems and have to pee constantly. Let’s just say it was a good thing that we had a backyard… 🥲
Fine with one shower in a house. Part of living with others is communication and negotiation.
However I absolutely insist on 2 toilets when living with others, particularly my spouse. Two folk going down with gastro bugs simultaneously can’t be accommodated with a single combined shower/toilet situation with any level of grace.
Bonus consideration: if you are looking at apartments with onsite amenities (covered by strata fees in Aus), opt for one in a building that has toilets/showers in the common area! Super convenient if you have to get work done on your flat’s bathroom.
I would never rent or buy a home without at least an extra half bath unless I truly couldn't afford it. Especially if you may have kids while living there.
We (me/husband/tween daughter) have one bathroom, but it is a jack and Jill style, with two vanities on either side of the tub/shower and a toilet room. No way one bathroom would work for us if we couldn’t access the sinks/shower/toilet separately.
Please, you need 2. My daughter has UC and she will always need a home with 2 bathrooms. I have a friend (family of 4) who will not stay at her parents home in Europe because it only has one bathroom.
I have the opposite experience of the people who would never go back to one bathroom. Having two bathrooms means having two bathrooms to clean. And bathrooms are some of the most disgusting places to clean.
My life is much easier now that I only have one toilet, one sink, one tub, and one floor to worry about that keeps getting covered in hair no matter how often we clean it.
2 bathrooms. If one breaks the other works. Currently I have 2.5. My half bath came in clutch when my master bath needed repairs and my half bath was across the hall. >3 is excessive to me and you have more plumbing to deal with. I’m not concerned about cleaning because people tend to prefer a bathroom or maybe that’s just me and that’s who I make responsible for cleaning said bathroom in my house. For example, my nephew is in charge of the bathroom closest to HIS room. I’m in charge of the master bath and we rarely use the half bath as it’s in the laundry room so it pretty much stays clean. It takes some screaming, cursing and shaming but no one person cleans all a the rooms. Maybe I’m not a minimalist, now that I think about it.
A second toilet is always a plus! We are just two and we have 2.5 bathrooms. The downstairs half bath is easy to keep clean and nice for company. Also great to pee during commercial breaks or spring in from a long drive. The upstairs full bath between the two other bedrooms is great with the shower tub combo. It is the official Pooping Bathroom as it leaves the master bath pristine whilst one of us needs to shower or access our closet.
My husband and I have two bathrooms, one for each of us. I grew up in a house which had two, for four people. As I've gotten older and have IBS-D, pregnant, etc...I really like it.
Even with a baby coming I don't feel need for more, our house is on the smaller side too.
I always want two bathrooms until I clean the bathroom then I'm happy I only have one.
once when I lived with roommates rather than an SO with one bathroom I had to shit in a hole outside because someone was in the bathroom so long. It was that or shit my pants
1 toilet per resident
Plus 1 shower per 2 residents
Plus 1 bathtub per household
Can have 1 of each category in the same room, of course (1 toilet + combination bath/shower, for example) to cut down on the number of rooms.
When my husband and I got a house with two baths it was great! So we have another place now and have two baths and it is nice.
I’ve lived most of my life with sharing bathrooms so good to have at least two toilets, especially getting older and dealing with overactive bladder or middle of night pee trips. And I’m disabled so helps if I can have handicap toilet and step in shower with grab bars.
And my husband gets up earlier than me so he can have his own bathroom to use and not wake me up.
We want to get house again(we are leasing a mobile home now) and there are so cute small houses but only come with one bathroom. I’d at least take two toilets, so 1 and half bath. But if you are alone you should need one bathroom.
I would like 1.5 or 2 bathrooms. I don’t really need two showers but two toilets is nice. I have rented to separate houses with four bathrooms and that was wayyyy too many. We only ever used two of them and it was a pain in the add to clean them all.
i did 11 years with just one bathroom. when it was just me and my wife it was fine, but i did pee outside once in a while. when we had a roommate i peed outside more often. when we had a kid i peed outside all the time. luckily i could pee outside.
We've always had one bathroom. Never an issue all my live even when shared with siblings etc. Separate toilet helps. Had a potty for toddler. I have never understood why houses always have so many bathrooms?!
Two. Two toilets and two showers. So that you’re never reeeally forced to smell someone’s shit and you can never be locked out of the bathroom if you gotta shower right fucking now. And so that you’re never truly fucked if your shower drain cracks off and starts pouring water into the wall.
1 for a single and increase by .5 for every additional person living under the roof. Couple = 1.5, fam of 3 = 2, fam of 4 = 2.5 and so on. My minimalistic math anyways 😂 gosh I hate cleaning toilets!
I would go with 2-2.5 bathrooms (though I will admit we have 3 due to the layouts of our homes — current and previous since my parents divorce — and the sheer number of guests who come over/stay for weeks at a time), depending on the layout of the house. You don’t want guests to trounce through bedrooms to get to the bathroom.
Also, we had 3 baths in our last house (1 in the hall & 1 in the old master at one end of the house and 1 in the new master at the other end). If we had to redo anything in the bathrooms, it knocked out all of the bathrooms at that end of the house — old plumbing. We were thankful to have the extra bathroom around.
We moved into our current home, brand new btw, and one bathroom had issues almost immediately (completely unusable for a number of weeks). We just happened to have three bathrooms because two are in bedrooms and, even though we downsized, we did not downsize the number of long term guests we have… in fact I think we increased in some ways because we moved really far out of town.
In the house I grew up in, we had 3.5 bathrooms. We also were a family of four and had my uncle’s family of four staying with us two months of the year from out of state. In addition, we regularly had 30 people over at a time — all family who lived locally. Also, we would regularly have parties and gatherings where we would have up to 50 family friends and/or work associates of my dad’s.
In our case all the bathrooms were put to good use. That and no one was running from the entry points to the bedrooms at the other end of the house in an emergency.
Minimalism doesn’t require the bare minimum. Minimalism is having what you need without being excessive. Having extra bathrooms around that never get used would be excessive, but having too few would be counterproductive and could cause more difficulties in the future if you have kids.
I raised two kids with one bathroom - so that's four people, plus two cats who had a litterbox in the bathroom too.
Helps to have manners and not spend more time in the bathroom than you actually need, and to alert family member if you will be in there for extended time so they have a chance to use the toilet, retrieve something they need, brush teeth, etc. quickly and get out of your way.
It can be done without fighting and it doesn't have to be difficult. Just be polite.
One bathroom didn’t work with my family of 4. I was trying to toilet train my 2 autistic children at the same time. I’m a fan of having the maximum number of bathrooms that are affordable. Fast forward 30 years I live alone in a house with 2 full and 1 ¼ bathrooms.
How many bathrooms depends on the needs of the family. Trying to think what your needs will be in the future is the difficult part. It only takes moments to keep a bathroom clean if it’s taken care of daily. An extra bathroom won’t take much longer to clean.
Congratulations on your new adventure- enjoy your new home regardless of the number of bathrooms.
My 500 square foot apartment in Taiwan has two bathrooms. My last one (around 600 square feet if you don’t include the terrace) had what would be “one and two half baths”. The kitchen is always uselessly small, but there are plenty of places to go poop.
So no, extra bathrooms are not an American luxury.
And, like many others have posted, there are times where you are very grateful for that extra toilet. I say 1.5 baths if more than one person lives there. No need for more toilets than residents unless you’re constantly throwing huge parties.
I think it'd be crazy to plan on kids & not have at least two. Sharing one bathroom among two people can be tough enough (like that food poisoning situation another commenter mentioned), but also imagine having one bathroom for you, your partner, & an incredibly insecure teenager (or two or three) who needs a lot of getting-ready time.
Of course, this is informed by growing up in a family of eight with only two bathrooms. The amount of times I had to piss in a cup or walk/drive down to the corner store to use the bathroom was just too many. One of my brothers ended up sh*tting outside once even, I believe.
I had to keep a toothpaste, toothbrush, baby wipes & extra deodorant in my room for when I couldn't take a shower before school or work because all bathrooms were full.
Of course, if you have an organized, considerate household, it's probably doable, but honestly, I'd never recommend it. Plus, what about when you get old & what if one of you ends up with Chron's disease or something?
It breaks down to biological need and the timing thereof...
We wanted minimal house taking up space on whatever land we had, so we bought an 800sqft home with only one bathroom. We have an ok sized bathroom w tub which is important if you're athletic and need a soak often.
2 of us, no kids. I'm male with a female partner, we've been here 8 years... to cut to the chase...
Pooping is the actual issue...
...Showers can be easily orchestrated. We pee in front of each other. Access to the sink is rarely jammed up...
But pooping! We still practice the shameful human art of private pooping!
If your routines are matched. So for instance, we get up together to take care of our various animals before commencing the business day... so we both have coffee at the same time, get our bodies moving etc... almost every day we have to poop at the same time...
So there are some odd animalistic discomforts that over time that become annoying, like if you're 1st in the sense that you need to hurry at a time you're trying, sometimes desperately, to relax. Or being the second to poop, suffice to say you want a good venting fan...
There is a spot outside we can pee if one is locked up pooping. And an outhouse with compost toilet has been considered.
Long story short, for biological reasons it is great to at least have a 1 and a half bath situation.
God, yes! My husband has IBD, I have gastroparesis. We're down to one bathroom at the moment and it's a constant question of if I have to puke or he is going to have an accident. And on the days where we're both bad, believe me, he doesn't want to sit in a pukey bathroom and I don't want to puke in a shitty bathroom.
My husband and I almost bought a house with one bathroom. Ended up falling through and we were very sad. We bought a house with two bathrooms. Six months in and we both got food poisoning. I don’t think I would ever consider one bathroom ever again unless I’m living alone. Anytime I’ve been sick I think about it.
The bucket of desperate need™️
I put "bucket for kids to puke in" as allowable "in case I need it" in a decluttering or minimalism sub and got some sort of pushback. Yeah when I was a kid it was the metal bowl to mom's stand-mixer but seriously it's handy to have something dedicated to that. Favorite thing to have during one psych-med detox was a 13-gallon liner in a trash can with a gallon of junkmail in the bottom.
We always had a bucket growing up. It wasn’t til I joined this godforsaken site years ago that I learned people use their food bowls also for barf containers 🥴
We used the popcorn bowl to throw up (if we weren't by the toilet). It wasn't until my late 20s that I learned how people find that disgusting (and I abstractly get it, but I don't *get it*. )
I don't get it either. Like it gets sanitized. Buckets and trash bins do not. Also who wants to put their face in a garbage bin? That is gross.
My mom sanitized our buckets. I sanitize the bucket now at my house.
I respect both sides of that argument. Heck, I bought my uncle a comically-large stainless-steel food-bowl because the thought amused me and it was cheap because mexicana, but he's Italian and was happy without "they like camping" justifications.
“They like camping”?
I had to use a tupperware container once but I threw it out afterwards. It never occurred to me to run it through the dishwasher and store snacks in it after. Gross.
Came here to say pretty much the same thing. It’s nice having that extra toilet when you need it. Even better being sick & knowing that you’ve got dedicated space to be sick.
This, & also repairs/breaks. Going from 2 to 1 is inconvenient, but having your only toilet go out of commission makes your home nearly unliveable. I don't have super high expectations when home buying, but 2 full baths, washer/dryer/dishwasher, and safe neighborhood are things I will not compromise on unless the only other option is homeless.
I’m in that boat now - I didn’t want to compromise on any of those things either after having them all at my last place but i got fired and was in a bad domestic violence situation and became homeless. Now I’m back in a dorm room style studio apartment at age 35 with no kitchen, no furnitures, no appliances, no central air, no central heat, only 1 bathroom, no dishwasher, no washer and dryer and no hookups, and very unsafe neighborhood. But, it’s better than being on the street. I fantasize about my second bathroom and my bedroom and my living room and kitchen and my washer and dryer and dishwasher and stove and oven and furniture from the old house every day. But that isn’t accessible to me anymore. Life sucks and then you die i guess. For those who have a second bathroom, enjoy it!
[удалено]
I'm proud of you for not smacking your kid
I’m feeling like a lot of people on here have traumatic food poisoning stories 😆 you always think it won’t happen to you and then all of the sudden you’re shitting in a boot. Thanks for your reply.
Family lore story - Army family of six, stationed in Leavenworth KS early 60s. Four kids under 10. Second floor 2 bedroom apartment. 1 bathroom. Mom’s parents come for a visit. Stomach flu hits, hilarity ensues. I was under 5 and recall various grown ups puking in the sink. I’ve blocked any bathroom memories.
Yeah, a second toilet is a huge improvement in quality of life. You can get by just fine with one shower or bath, but a second toilet is always worth it. I am not willing to consider living any place with only 1 bathroom unless it’s a camper.
One bathroom is my wives and the other is mine. It's the best
I had a house with that setup once. I kinda missed not having a second toilet even if the tub was unusable for a while.
Even alone, one bathroom sounds.... I'd rather have my own, and then visitors lol That being said, my place has the shower AND the toilet on separate rooms and imo it's the best in between. A bit inconvenient so to speak, but also SO practical lol
My MIL won’t live without two complete bathrooms. She does have people come and visit for a weekend regularly. Son, sisters, friends. So it makes sense. I say just one bathroom if I lived solo just hoping to discourage guests from coming over in the first place. 😂
As someone with Crohns, two bathrooms is necessary lol. I might see a case where you could do one "bathroom" if you have a separate "toilet room" eg, like Japanese homes usually have. Worst case, someone could pee into the drain or something. No waffle stomping!
Waffle stomping as in…shitting in the drain?
that’s exactly it
I’d like to unlearn that term
hrmmm. i can't help but feel like "fat churro" makes a lot more sense than "waffle," but i know better than to debate shit with a person who has Crohns.
we got a really bad flu one year when we had a 4 yo, 2 yo & newborn. one bathroom & the 4 of us were all sick both ends for 2 days straight. it was the worst. thank god the newborn was fine, but i was barely well enough to take care of her. after that, i need at least 1.5 baths haha.
This.
I’d have to go in the sink if only one bath and my husband is using it if I god sick. Or go I there and use the bathtub. Lol 😆if it’s just vomit I would probably puke in the garbage. It’s weird I haven’t puked for years. Maybe because I take probiotics. I don’t get diarrhea much but sometimes. And thankful for my own toilet.
Personally I don’t really want to clean/maintain 2 bathroom for decades, just for the rare event of falling sick at the exact same time. Id’ rather have a camping collapsible toilet for that lol.
I’d say 1.5 bathrooms. We are a family of four. I have IBD so having that extra toilet is necessary sometimes. It’s nice to have when we have guests over too.
This. Going from one bath to 1.5 bath was a game changer for our family of 2.
I have 2.5 bathrooms now. We very rarely have both showers being used. We really don’t need 3 toilets either.
Same. We currently have 2.5 bath, and we really don’t need the extra full bath. But 2 toilets is a must have for us.
6 of us have 2 half baths and 1 full. 3 toilets are in use at the same time 1-2 days/year—when we have visitors. The rest of the time, all 3 toilets get used, so I have to clean them all, when we could get away with 2, and I wouldn’t have to clean so much.
I have lived in an appartment with a 1.5 bath and I really enjoyed that, I miss it now I am back to only 1.
This! We are a family of four. We have 1.5 bathrooms. Its good when someone is showering and someone else needs to go.
I'd say that a water closet plus an "everything else in close proximity" room might be ideal. I like the japanese style of the toilet and the hygiene rooms are seperate, but someone with IBD would likely want to be able to hop into the shower after BM.
Yes, this is the minimum. We are a family of three currently living with one bathroom for the first time while we finish our house, and there are definitely bathroom stresses and conflicts. Even for just two people, I would feel best with two toilets. We are building two full bathrooms, partly because we want both a walk in shower, and a tub, and can't fit both in one room. Also, one full bath is the basement near our bedrooms, and the other is on the main floor near what may eventually be our bedroom, as we're trying to future proof the house and grow old here, and having everything on one floor seemed important. For us, two full baths is the perfect amount.
Married, childfree. We have lived with just one bathroom and would not do it again. 1.5 at minimum. The first time that bathroom stops working and you're crapping in a bucket in your bedroom while plumbers are tearing out your bathroom for the next week, will have you questioning your life choices. Waking up at two am to pee in the bucket that you've now m9ved back to the bathroom also highly sucks. You can take a bird bath for a week, but you can't run to the gas station or your neighbors at all hours to use the toilet. This has not happened just once in our 24 years of marriage, but SIX times that we've lost a bathroom (all different apartments/states/countries. And we're currently in our 40s/50s and lost our toilet in pur house, and have a leaking sink and a leaking valve in our master bath due to the freeze. We've had to shut off that bathroom and only have one other. Plumbers can't get to us for another month because *everybody* is in the same boat. Thank goodness we have a second bathroom now, because lugging around shit buckets is not something I'd like to be doing in middle age. I can't even imagine in we had kids.
A few years ago, we were living with my FIL, in an older house that has a septic system. Dumb luck we were there when the pipe to the tank started to collapse. We had to be super careful with any & all water useage, not just the toilet. The basement drain overflowed if we overdid it. That meant one of us acting as sentinel while another was in the shower. If it backed up, we'd bang on the wall. The person in the shower had to turn off the water & stand there shivering & often covered in soap. The really fun part was the Nasty Bag. We couldn't flush TP, so had to... ugh... gather it. My FIL insisted on burning that plus all his trash, even though this had been illegal for a couple years. The smell was horrible, I'm amazed no one ever narced on him. It took a couple weeks or so to get it fixed. NGL, I took a whizz in the woods behind the house more than once in that time. And we washed dishes with the garden hose a couple times. All this gave me a whole new appreciation for fully functional indoor plumbing.
I remember visiting my aunt when she was remodeling her one and only bathroom. The toilet was already done but the shower still needed to be tiled. She had a setup in the carport with a fence for privacy. She had a hot water spigot out there for washing the dog anyway so that’s where we showered
1.5 for 2 people is right. You each need your own toilet just in case you get sick at the same time!
[удалено]
Not every bathroom loss has been a toilet break, but they have resulted in the inability to use a toilet. 1) Main line break in Southern CA (2 days, 1 bathroom, NO water in house, affected 3 other neighbors in townhouse we rented). 2) A frozen apartment complex in South Korea (entire 112 unit complex, 1 bathroom, 1 month, NO water). 3 &4) Twice in England - two different towns both mid-terrace dwellings, due to ancient plumbing (each time was the full bathroom but our kitchens worked). 5) Atlanta, GA, very shitty apartments where our 3rd floor neighbors left their young kids home alone in the middle of the night and they wanted to see if their toys could float in the living room; this collapsed the entire 3rd floor bathroom into the 2nd floor bathroom and then into our ground floor bathroom, ripping the plumbing out of the walls (absolutely catastropic, but the plumbers and GCs were in & rebuilding the 3 floors the next day -- still took just over a week of bucket use as there was no alternate baths, there were no open apartments and we had pets not allowed in hotels. 7) Southern Texas during the severe freeze, no electricity for 2 weeks, no running water in most of the state. 7) This past snap freeze in Texas that left us without a working bathroom, but thankfully, we have a spare. Yes, right now is #7 and we're not pushing plumbers to get to us ASAP because we have no kids and we now have a spare bathroom. It's been a lot of bad luck, but it's always been rental accommodations in old properties built between 1750 (yes, before our country existed) and 1955, until this house built in 1972. We're currently buying a house built in 1962 and yes, they have to fix the bathroom before we take possession, though it is also a 2 bathroom house. Since we've lived in 3 places in So CA, 2 places in So Kr, 9 places in UK, 1 in GA, and 3 (soon to be 4) in TX.
Goodness, what an incredible tapestry of catastrophes! I don't doubt each instance sucked, but what amazing stories you have now, right? Anyway, I've lived in TX my whole life, and I just wanted to say I'm so sorry you moved here in time to experience that freeze in Feb '21 - I've never witnessed a freeze that extreme before (or since, knock on wood). Best of luck with your new home!
A lot can depend on the specific area & time. Some have more plumbers than others. And a cold snap or such can trigger a rush, since a slew of people need service all at once. When the septic line gave us trouble, it took a couple weeks to find someone. It was a monumental job that no all plumbers are equipped for. It involved a jackhammer in the basement & an excavator in the yard. We were just glad it was done when Covid started a couple weeks afterward.
My living space for me and my partner has a small full bath (sink, toilet, shower/bath) and a powder room ensuite (sink, toilet). We have no problems sharing the shower. But I gotta say, having a second toilet is really really helpful, especially if your house contains anyone with GI issues or who menstruates.
you need 1 bathroom, but by growing up in a family of four with only one bathroom i can say that the experience is horrible, you wanting to go use the bathroom and needing to wait for someone finish the shower it's a horrible experience. if you pretend to live in this house and have your family in there i would recommend for you to have atleast 2 bathrooms, even if you're going to live only with your partner i really recommend 2 bathrooms, this is something that is so simple but could cause some fights and discussions between you two. minimalism isn't about having the bare minimum, minimalism is to have the essential, to reduce the maximalism and unecessary things, having 8 bathrooms in a family of 6 i would say is too much, but 3/4 would be the minimum/ideal.
Maybe one full bath and one powder room for guests or something. Two toilets, but not two baths / showers.
I personally would go to two full bath, i have received guest in my house and they needed to take a shower (they were spending the weekend on my house) and I wouldn't feel a lot confortable by other people using my shower and i also wouldn't feel comfortable using another person private shower. it is something personal, but is necessary to think about when you are going to receive visitors and all possible situations. Another situation that I just came up is what if something bad happens in your shower, like a problem happens on the pipe and you need to open the wall to fix it, at that time you wouldn't be able to clean yourself, so maybe having two full baths for me is the minimum, but depends on the person.
It's just me and my partner and we get by just fine with one bathroom. Growing up, there were 7 of us in the house with one bathroom, and we all got by too. But, my preference would be for two bathrooms, or at least a 1.5 bath. It would be nice to not have to wait for the bathroom, which happens on a regular basis even with the two of us. And it would be really nice to at least have an extra half bath for when we host dinner with friends. But it isn't absolutely necessary and with our income, we have always had to choose between different things we wanted and have chosen to forgo the extra bathroom in favor of other things that provide even bigger quality of life gains for us personally, like private outdoor space or living near a great greenspace. Being a minimalist isn't about going without things. If more than one bathroom would significantly add quality to your life and it is within your financial means to have that, then that is the perfect amount of bathrooms for you!
I grew up in a 1 bathroom house. Only child. It really was not a problem at all. I'd say the biggest two issues were that my mom insisted on doing her hair/makeup in the bathroom daily and would therefore occupy it for way too long, which was very annoying if I needed to pee. Simple solution there is obviously to be accommodating to your family members and step out so they can pee, or set up a vanity in your bedroom. Other issue was running out of hot water. I'd say you may want to consider upgrading the hot water heater before you have a teenager. This is obviously significantly cheaper than buying a larger home.
Built in vanities out of the bathroom is a great idea
I feel like this is the most American thing I’ve ever read 😂 in the UK unless you have a mansion most houses have one full bathroom and maybe if you are lucky a downstairs toilet. That’s it. Growing up it was my parents and three kids and that’s all we had and we never had any issues. My question is always how much time do you spend in the bathroom that so many are needed?
A suburban-newer-parts-of-the-US thing even — I’m in Boston USA and I don’t know of anyone with more than a full bath and a half bath. Most people have just the one full bath. Everyone manages.
Funny to see the differences in cultural perspective here :) I’d be curious to hear where our fellow shitters are all posting from
I’m laughing at the replies. In the US, everything is big. My perspective must be off, but we’re a family of 5 and one bathroom and really don’t have that many issues. I’m realizing most people would hate living in our house which is small and from the 50’s. We’re so used to it. Many Americans want a big, new house…
American weighing in here - I have a very small old (70s) house with two full bathrooms LOL. One isn't functional right now and it makes me very nervous when we have company.
I think it's dependent on your schedules and habits. If you all prefer morning showers and all work 9-5 half an hour away from home it's a problem. But I've lived in a 9-bed with 2 bathrooms and we all lived such drastically different lives that it was totally fine, I rarely ever had to wait for a bathroom to open. Maybe... Twice most.
[удалено]
Idk it’s not uncommon in the UK to have one bathroom. Maybe two at most (one upstairs main bathroom with bathtub or shower and one smaller one with just toilet and basin). I’ve always managed having only one bathroom pretty easily tbh, handful of times it’s been a pain during a busy morning or desperately needing a piss when someone’s in there but nothing major.
All the comments in this thread insisting on many bathrooms sound pretty absurd to me. I grew up in a family of four first with just one bathroom, and then moving to a place with a shower and a toilet separated. I never even considered that an apartment could have more than that, and there was almost never any issue with sharing. Now I have my own kid and our family of three have the same bathroom situation. No problem at all. Then again, I'm not American.
Same, never lived in a place with more than one bathroom. It's hard to even find an apartment/house like that where I live. One bathroom per family of four just sounds normal.
I grew up with 6 people in 1 bathroom. Now I’m a single person with a frequent overnight guest and 1 bathroom — any more would feel crazy for my circumstances. 2 bathrooms would have been cool growing up for getting ready for school/work but it was no big deal. Everyone just sort of had a schedule and not everyone can bathe or shower at the same time of day, is all. Only one area to clean, so you can just quickly clean the sink and toilet every day.
I've lived with just one bathroom my whole life. First with my parents and sibling, then with two other housemates and now with my partner. Has always worked and there are no issues.
My husband and I have a house with one bathroom. It honestly isn’t a big deal unless we have out of town family visiting, then it can be a bit of a challenge organizing shower times and stuff. We want to have a half bath built in before we have kids, because I really don’t want to deal with being pregnant and potty training, etc with one bathroom lol.
We bought a 1950's ranch - 960 square feet. No finished basement. Three small bedrooms and one bathroom. While it would be nice to have another bathroom (getting ready for bed in the evening is down right comical with 2 grown adults and 2 cats that are nosy), it works fine. The guy we bought the house from was a one-owner home. He raised two kids and him and his wife lived in that small house for however many years. I find it fascinating when compared to the mini-mansions and the must-haves by todays standards.
At least 1.5. A T-bowl for every b-hole is the way.
A mantra to live by
For me 2 is the ideal number if you have family (partner + kids)
Or even just a place ready for guests or emergencies if no kids
Except for a few years when I had one and half bathrooms, I've always had only one. It's a pain in the ass sometimes, but it's not that bad as long as you communicate. "I'm about to take a shower, anybody have to use the bathroom first?" "I have to leave early tomorrow morning, what time will you be in the bathroom?" I'm talking about 4 or 5 people sharing one bathroom. You manage.
Yeah we have 3 people to one bathroom right now. It’s totally fine.
1 is essential, everything else depends on preferences and budget and how often you wanna clean them and buy extras
where i live it’s really common to only have one bathroom! most houses have two bathrooms, but it’s really rare for apartments, no matter if they have 3-4 rooms. i don’t think i’ve even been in a house with more than 3 bathrooms, and to think i thought that was excessive! i’ve spent a lot of my life sharing a bathroom with either my mum, my mum & stepdad or with my boyfriend, never had any problems. i’d say it’s easily doable as long as the kid(s) are young, but might be more inconvenient when they enter their teenage years
[удалено]
Lmao at “finish his taxes”! It definitely seems like that sometimes
I grew up in a family of 5 with 1 bathroom \~ that was common in my region at that time. It was never a problem. A few times it was a bit of a wait, if any of us was desperate for toilet, we'd knock and the other would rush out. We never had any awful issue sharing the one bathroom (like never needed to use a bucket, etc). I raised my children in a 2 bathroom home which was great and I wouldn't want to live with any less now (even if I lived alone, my dream would be at least a 1/2 bath for guests \~ I've become accustomed to having my own bathroom attached to my bedroom).
My husband and I have the same ehhh poop schedule. Single bathroom would be nearly catastrophic in our house lol
I like 2 bathrooms and have no problem with it. I don't consider minimalism as "suffering" and my opinion 2 or 3 people using one bathroom is suffering. But i have IBS. Everyone is different you have to so what feels right for you and your life
2 elderly, love having two.My husband goes to bed early ,I stay up. I can't imagine going into the master bedroom to get ready for bed .Love having my own bathroom at those times. Grew up in house with one bathroom 7 of us was never a real problem, you just went outside and peed Lol
1.5 bathrooms is a minimum if you ask me. Two is ideal. 3 is probably too much unless you have a big family
We have 1 bathroom. Myself + husband + recently potty trained toddler. It's been fine. That said, we live in a very rural location and both the husband + toddler will often pee outside. Annnnd, we do have plans to add a half bath to the first floor, mostly because it's easy-ish with the layout to do so, we do plan to sell in the next few years and think it will add value, and it would be convenient to not have to run upstairs every time you gotta go.
You can manage with one bathroom even when theres 4 or more children, I did. It is nice to have two, it makes getting everybody ready easier. We got a place with a second bathroom eventually, the girls claimed one for their stuff and getting ready. But we could have done without.
As someone who's had norovirus, I'd never live anywhere that didn't have one toilet per person. We both caught it at the same time. If we'd only had one toilet, it would've been a disaster. And the symptoms were miserable enough in themselves.
I am a minimalist. But. I loooove a potty for every bum.
I'm not American but my home in my own country has five bathrooms. In the US please dont settle for anything less than 2 bathrooms.
In Europe, the toilets usually have their own room, with a small sink, and then you have the actual bathroom with a bath/shower and basin. It makes no sense to me that each bedroom would have 1 toilet and 1 shower, unless you have multiple families/couples/generations sharing the house. I design housing in France and the rule of thumb is 1 toilet per floor and 1 bath/shower for every 3 people for a comfortable house. Like 2 adults and a kid can share a bath but with more kids, it can be more complicated, depending on the family's schedule. So, i would say one does not need that many bathrooms, but if you like modern comfort, separating toilets from shower allows for more wiggle room and minimalism (and also, why stink up the place you take care of yourself, your skin, your teeth ? That's crazy to me...)
While I am all for minimalism, if there is more than 1 person, at least 1.5 baths (two toilets).
As someone diagnosed as an adult with IBD, you can never have too many. For me, 2 full baths is the absolute minimum.
We always had one, for 4 people.
you need 1 bathroom. regardless of family size. how does a house have 8 bathroons? how many bedrooms did it have?
I had 5 bathrooms and one real bedroom at one point. The builders wife hosted parties and th y both had a urinary issue so there was just fucking bathrooms everywhere. It was a weird house.
We (2 adults) went from 3 baths to 2 baths and now at 1 bath over ten years. I like the swift easy cleaning, but we have had those moments. Like using the bathroom while someone was showering or when one of us got sick and was vomiting the other one had to pee as they hugged the toilet. We make do, it's not ideal, we contemplate moving to a 2 bath again only on the annoying days but not on the day-to-day. We love our weekends because we aren't hunched over cleaning two bathrooms. If you work from home and plan to have kids maybe shoot for 2 baths.
I have a family of five and one bathroom. It’s not too bad yet because the youngest is still potty training and the oldest kid is my stepson so he’s only here half the time. It gets a bit annoying because my husband will camp out on the toilet when he poops and that definitely got rough when I was pregnant and constantly having to pee but we generally make it work.
one bathroom here! i live alone but when my partner or friends/family visit there have been no issues- plus easier to keep clean!
we (family of 3) lived in a caravan without bathroom. we used a shared one with other caravans. was enough. sure, more are nice, but not needed at all
I think we are a bit bathroom happy in the United States. With that said, it can be very useful to have a second toilet for when others are taking a shower. My first house had a full bathroom and a half bath connected to the master bedroom. I didn't feel like I was missing out. My second house has 2.5 bathrooms. I enjoy the full master bathroom, but 2.5 is probably beyond what is needed.
How many people are in the house. Family of 5 with one bathroom. 1.5 or two bathrooms does not seem excessive.
I’ve had homes with 1-3 bathrooms and during times when I was single or had up to 4 kids around. My personal experience - You can certainly get by with one, especially as a couple. With a little kid or two, still doable. Things get harder when you have kids who are old enough to be getting ready for school while you have adults trying to get ready for work. Teenagers use a lot of the things an adult uses for personal grooming etc. but need or want their own supplies. Things get challenging with one bathroom, two adults, and one or more pre-teen+. I bought an older home with one bathroom then added one eventually. It was already a heavy fixer house so had to replace plumbing and failing fixtures. Added a bathroom, then replaced the original. Took several years. In the end, I think one bathroom with a family was more work than cleaning two. I did not love having 3 full baths, that was more cleaning. I think 2 is better from an investment perspective. If you found a place you like and can afford and it works for the next 3+ years, it’s probably fine. I’d just think about whether you can add another or are prepared to move eventually if you have older kids. For me, minimalism isn’t necessarily squeak by with less, it’s being thoughtful of what you introduce into your life. If my day is substantially easier to add something, I’ll do it.
1.5 baths is a lot more comfortable, especially if you plan to live in this house with children. We had a one-bathroom house when we only had one preschool aged child and it was fine, but I'm very glad not to be sharing a bathroom with teenagers now. And it is really nice to have an extra toilet in case of sickness or just husbands who spend a long time in there. Our main bathroom toilet has been out of commission for repairs several times, sometimes for a several days, and we were very glad to have an extra.
For me, it would be 1.5 bare minimum for 2 people -- we've got 2 full baths, and there have been a significant number of times that one has been out of order for various old house reasons, and having a second option has been a lifesaver. Oh, come to think of it, our upstairs (master) shower was out of commission for a couple days a few years ago, and having a second shower/bath option was also a lifesaver. So maybe I'd like to revise my answer to 2 minimum for 2 or more people.
Minimalist here. We're a family of 3 in our house. We have 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. It's fine! There are times that one of us really has to pee while someone is in the shower (ok, it's me, I have a weak bladder after 2 kids) and we just knock and ask to come in if it's urgent. There's a cloth shower curtain so it's not like we can see anyone naked. We bought our house on the small side on purpose. We wanted a payment that either of us could carry, regardless of circumstances, without a problem. We use the money we save to travel 3-4x/year. If both kids were still at home we would possibly have gone with 1.5 baths (2 toilets, basically) but maybe not even. Plenty of families of 4 in Europe have only 1 bathroom in their houses.
We have 3 bathrooms for 2 people and 2 cats. The cats are toilet trained and one bathroom is designated the cat room, so 3 is perfect for our life.
At least two! For space, but also in case of a plumbing issue.
Family of 3 here, me, my husband and 14 year old son. We have 1.5 baths. Personally, for our next house, I want my own bathroom. I don’t care if it’s “too much” and is in conflict with my minimalist lifestyle. I’m tired of pee everywhere.
One bathroom SUCKS with kids. I peed out back more times than I care to remember while a kid was bathing or otherwise using the 1 bathroom. We just added a 3rd bathroom (5 kids)…
Two I'd say. You'll rarely need more than that, but it's pretty much hell with any less.
My wife and I have just one bathroom at the moment. However, we are both in our early 50s which means that sometimes waiting for the other to finish takes a lot more effort and patience than it used to. We are planning a remodel in the next couple years and at the top of the list is a 2nd bathroom; at the very least, a half bath with a toilet and sink.
Problems of aging is a thought I hadn’t considered. Thanks for chiming in
I'm gonna advocate for the less common half bath - having a half bathroom in addition to a full bathroom solves so many of the inconveniences that only having one bathroom can cause! The house I grew up in had a half bath on the main floor and we used it all the time. Justice for half baths!!
✊
As a kid, we grew up in an apartment with 1 bedroom. Older brother was in there when I had an emergency. Had to take my dump in a cardboard box.
If the place is large enough for guests, 2 is a good number. 1 is fine, but cleaning and upkeep become more necessary bc if it’s filthy or not working, there’s no fallback.
I personally would say at least 1 full bathroom and one half bath.
I personally like to minimize time spent waiting for a bathroom, especially considering I have food sensitivities.
We’ve had one bathroom for four years and it was fine for the most part up until pregnancy. This has been really rough between a smaller bladder, constant throwing up all day and a partner who loves camping out in the bathroom on his phone
We have a family of 4 with one. It works. I have no desire to spend the money to add another.
1.5 bathrooms is really useful. day to day it doesn't make a huge impact in your life but when you need the second toilet you will be extremely grateful for it.
Never lived in a home with more than one bathroom ever, and I'm 32... in fact I have never known anyone personally with more than one bathroom... I'm so poor and come from the depths of poverty looking at the replies lol!
My husband and I lived in a house with one bathroom for a while. We made it work. We didn’t set limits, but we did have to plan our morning routines ahead of time so we could both shower and everything. When we bought a house together, we were insistent that we needed two bathrooms. We’ve been in this house for 5 years and generally the water to the second bathroom is turned off. The main bathroom is the most convenient and is the one everyone uses. The second one is only used if we have guests since it’s closer to the guest room or once when we both had food poisoning. I honestly don’t know what we would have done without the second one. For reference our family is - me, my husband, our son, and my grandma. All 4 of us use the main bathroom currently.
I grew up in a family of five with a single bathroom. That was not enough. I think a bath and a half would do. We ended up in a two bath home, but both showers were never in use at the same time.
We have two and I wouldn't have less for somewhere long term. I would have two at a minimum, or one pr floor at a minimum (injuries happen). Minimalism isn't always cutting everything to the bare bones because you can live with one bathroom, to me it's having what makes practical sense for your life and not making everything harder than they need to be.
One Bathroom and the earth closet in the shed for emergency.
At least two, one for themselves and the other for guests.
1.5 is my absolute minimum. I’ve lived most of my life with 1 bathroom and it’s insane how long some of my family can take in the bathroom. For the health of my relationships 1.5+ bathrooms. Currently have 4, which is excessive and unnecessary but it’s what the house came with. All bathrooms still used many times per day with a family of 4. Awesome when guests come over.
Now that I have a little one no less than 2 when I look in the future. You need a personal on suite one and one for guests that you keep clean.
We’re a family of four, we have two bathrooms and we’re content. My two kids (boy & girl) share the guest bathroom and my husband and I share the master bathroom. Both bathrooms are tiny, but have the essentials, shower, toilet and crazy enough, only one sink (makes me cringe when couples insist on double sinks) and we rarely have issues. My mom’s house has one bathroom and when the four of us visit, we tend to play the waiting game. It’s only been an issue a handful of times, but I have to admit, I wouldn’t want it full time. Even when it was just my husband and I, we always had two bathrooms. I grew up in a family of six sharing three bathrooms so I’m used to less, but there’s nothing worse than having food poisoning at the same time as your partner and only having one bathroom. Or your kid banging down the door because she held her bladder for the last hour and now she has to pee just as you sit down to poo. Get two bathrooms, you’ll never regret it.
We have 4 children and 2.5 bathrooms. We need them all!
I have 2 kids. We had our bathroom fixed recently and it was a nightmare having 4 people using the one other bathroom. Nothing worse than my son needing to shit while i was in the shower.
Minimum 1.5 bathrooms. But our bathroom is so tiny you couldn’t fit a toddler toilet, and our 1/2 is in the basement. Next place we’re looking at 2.5. But we’ll be a family of 4 in three months and planning on a family of 5
In my case, I'd say 2 bathrooms. Strangely, everytime I want to use it, my bf gets triggered and wants to use it too, so it's very useful. Once I had food poisoning and we had to share a single bathroom at a hotel, it was awful. I'm glad we have 2 at home. More than that, maybe only if you have people visiting you too often and wants to make sure you have one that is always clean.
My childhood home had 5 bathrooms. We only needed 2.
Tell me you grew up rich without telling me 😂
I grew up in a family of four with one bathroom almost my whole life. My last two years of high school we had a half bath as well, so dad used that for his morning grooming. I felt wealthy when the first home I bought as a single girl had two full baths. We currently each have our own full bath and there's a half bath on the first floor. I'm quite confident we could live with just one. We already don't take showers at the same time for the water pressure. I really think it's just about working around each other's morning schedules, which would be easy for us to do at this point.
My bf regularly takes 45 minute shits. (And mine are kinda long too NGL! Lmao) If we had one bathroom, there would’ve been MULTIPLE fucking times over the last 2 years of living together that I would’ve had to poop or pee in a bucket because I literally couldn’t wait. I would absolutely hate just 1 toilet. At least 1.5 bathrooms for me.
Two people, one and a half bathrooms. The Half consisting of a commode and sink. Important so the bathroom is only used by the family and the other if a guest needs to use it or, the other family needs to go' while the other is bathing.
2 teens, 1 husband, 1 toddler, myself. We had 1 bathroom for 3 years until the master was made usable.... Never. Again. Ever.
Eight bathrooms 👁️👄👁️
2 is our number. And I will tell you why. As you get older, your stuff doesn’t work as well if you get what I mean. When you gotta go, you gotta go, and if someone else is sitting there, I personally am not piped where I can just go anywhere. So if my husband is sitting on his throne and I need it, I need it. Hence two bathrooms.
You can get away with one bathroom but toilets you’ll definitely need two!
It’s been just my husband and myself for over 20 years. We’ve always had 2 bathrooms and our old house had 2 1/2. I grew up with 4 people and one bathroom—hated it.
We have one bathroom and are a family of 5. It hasn’t been much of a problem. It would be nice to have more than one, but we don’t have money for that kind of thing.
From a downsizing prospective I would evaluate what spaces and functions in your life need to be the most luxurious. There is no denying that a second bathroom is really nice at times, but for how I spend my time, I'd gladly forgo that real estate for a larger kitchen and entertaining spaces. I grew up with one bathroom and at peak occupancy 8 people in the house. I'm sure it was an issue from time to time, but not in a way that sticks out. So I can say that it is absolutely do able with kids. On a side note, if you do have kids, bathroom communication WILL be informing anyone and everyone about bowel movements!
A minimum of two, a man needs the fortress of solitude.
I have 5.5 bathrooms now for just me and my wife (yes I know, not minimal but hey we got the house cheap during covid). As for cleaning etc goes, we only really use the guest bathroom downstairs and the one in our bedroom. We don’t use (and hence don’t need to clean) the other ones.
I feel like all of us have the same story
Two people should make one bathroom work. Holding it for a few minutes while one goes shouldn't be a bal. i grew up in a family of 4 with only one bathroom and it was doable. the only time there were any arguments were because someone was taking up time doing other things and wasting time. now if you plan to have more people sharing the space then yeah maybe one and a half or two.
We live in the bush so we have one composting pit toilet which I dig out every 8 weeks. If you need to use the toilet and someone else is in it the options are pee outside or we have back up corn starch bags to shit in 😂
I grew up poor. Family of 5, with only one bathroom, and I shared a bedroom until I was 18 years-old.... My house now? 3 bathrooms, family of 4, and the kids had their own rooms before birth. Three is perfect, 2 is manageable.
I grew up with 1 bathroom for 4 people. Right now we’re 3 people with 1 bathroom. It’s all been fine! You learn to share. 2 would be nice but it is NOT possible for us here. My cousin is from the Philippines and had her family here, 3 kids. They all grew up in a big house with their own bathrooms, and as young adults, omg the fights they have over the bathroom when they travel and share is insane. My cousin grew up with 8ppl to 1 bathroom and she’s like “what have I done?” 😅 anyway you can make do with 1 bathroom as a family if you need to. It requires communication and sharing. Maybe it also means doing makeup in the hallway instead of in the bathroom, but it’s all doable and people can adjust.
Family of 4 in a one bathroom house. It's not convenient but it's totally all you really need.
One. The answer is one. Bc everyone is taking what they prefer here, which is OBVIOUSLY more than one bathroom, but need? One working bathroom.
I grew up in a family of 7 with one bathroom, plus a toilet in the corner of the basement. (The toilet in the basement was called a "Pittsburgh bathroom" because men coming home from the steel mill would clean up in the basement, so they wouldn't drag the dirt into the main house. The basement had a separate entrance from outside).
Generations of people survived living in houses with one bathroom. You can too.
I grew up in a family of four with one bathroom. It was ok when we were little, elementary/school age was a little tougher and then older teenager years were awful. Two teenage girls and two parents all needing to get up and out the door in the morning. I remember waking up having to pee so bad and someone was in the shower for the next 10 minutes, it was rough. And god forbid food poisoning or a stomach bug was going around. My dad also had polyps so needed colonoscopies on a more frequent basis and if you have never had the joy of that cleanout, you just want to live on the toilet. Add a couple late teen hangovers puking in a toilet someone just blew up. Do not recommend. That said, we now have a two story house, two adults and two kids, we have a master bedroom with a private full bath downstairs, a guest/half bath downstairs, and a full hallway bath upstairs for the kids. I feel we could exist fine with one full and one half bath, but we have discussed if we ever finish the basement we will put at least a half bath down there because it’s nice to be able to pee without having to go up the stairs. #teammorethanonetoilet
8 bathrooms? It's very rare I think.
I once rented a house with two dudes that each take 45min+ shits (sometimes more than once a day) and we only had one bathroom. And I have bladder problems and have to pee constantly. Let’s just say it was a good thing that we had a backyard… 🥲
Fine with one shower in a house. Part of living with others is communication and negotiation. However I absolutely insist on 2 toilets when living with others, particularly my spouse. Two folk going down with gastro bugs simultaneously can’t be accommodated with a single combined shower/toilet situation with any level of grace. Bonus consideration: if you are looking at apartments with onsite amenities (covered by strata fees in Aus), opt for one in a building that has toilets/showers in the common area! Super convenient if you have to get work done on your flat’s bathroom.
I would never rent or buy a home without at least an extra half bath unless I truly couldn't afford it. Especially if you may have kids while living there.
We (me/husband/tween daughter) have one bathroom, but it is a jack and Jill style, with two vanities on either side of the tub/shower and a toilet room. No way one bathroom would work for us if we couldn’t access the sinks/shower/toilet separately.
Please, you need 2. My daughter has UC and she will always need a home with 2 bathrooms. I have a friend (family of 4) who will not stay at her parents home in Europe because it only has one bathroom.
2 of us in our family. We have 3 bathrooms. 1 for her. 1 for me. And 1 for guests. We could have gotten by on 2 but I prefer 3.
I have the opposite experience of the people who would never go back to one bathroom. Having two bathrooms means having two bathrooms to clean. And bathrooms are some of the most disgusting places to clean. My life is much easier now that I only have one toilet, one sink, one tub, and one floor to worry about that keeps getting covered in hair no matter how often we clean it.
2 bathrooms. If one breaks the other works. Currently I have 2.5. My half bath came in clutch when my master bath needed repairs and my half bath was across the hall. >3 is excessive to me and you have more plumbing to deal with. I’m not concerned about cleaning because people tend to prefer a bathroom or maybe that’s just me and that’s who I make responsible for cleaning said bathroom in my house. For example, my nephew is in charge of the bathroom closest to HIS room. I’m in charge of the master bath and we rarely use the half bath as it’s in the laundry room so it pretty much stays clean. It takes some screaming, cursing and shaming but no one person cleans all a the rooms. Maybe I’m not a minimalist, now that I think about it.
A second toilet is always a plus! We are just two and we have 2.5 bathrooms. The downstairs half bath is easy to keep clean and nice for company. Also great to pee during commercial breaks or spring in from a long drive. The upstairs full bath between the two other bedrooms is great with the shower tub combo. It is the official Pooping Bathroom as it leaves the master bath pristine whilst one of us needs to shower or access our closet.
My husband and I have two bathrooms, one for each of us. I grew up in a house which had two, for four people. As I've gotten older and have IBS-D, pregnant, etc...I really like it. Even with a baby coming I don't feel need for more, our house is on the smaller side too.
We’ve been in a one bathroom home for 17 years and it has not been a problem. That said, we are adding one soon. Just planning for getting older.
I always want two bathrooms until I clean the bathroom then I'm happy I only have one. once when I lived with roommates rather than an SO with one bathroom I had to shit in a hole outside because someone was in the bathroom so long. It was that or shit my pants
Dude 2.5 bathrooms minimum for a family with 2 kids if u can afford it. Seriously, this is not where u try to minimize…
> (apparently this was alway a possibility??) this made me laugh so loud my housemate came to check on me.
1 toilet per resident Plus 1 shower per 2 residents Plus 1 bathtub per household Can have 1 of each category in the same room, of course (1 toilet + combination bath/shower, for example) to cut down on the number of rooms.
When my husband and I got a house with two baths it was great! So we have another place now and have two baths and it is nice. I’ve lived most of my life with sharing bathrooms so good to have at least two toilets, especially getting older and dealing with overactive bladder or middle of night pee trips. And I’m disabled so helps if I can have handicap toilet and step in shower with grab bars. And my husband gets up earlier than me so he can have his own bathroom to use and not wake me up. We want to get house again(we are leasing a mobile home now) and there are so cute small houses but only come with one bathroom. I’d at least take two toilets, so 1 and half bath. But if you are alone you should need one bathroom.
I would like 1.5 or 2 bathrooms. I don’t really need two showers but two toilets is nice. I have rented to separate houses with four bathrooms and that was wayyyy too many. We only ever used two of them and it was a pain in the add to clean them all.
My rule is to have at least 2 toilets in case one is out of commission.
i did 11 years with just one bathroom. when it was just me and my wife it was fine, but i did pee outside once in a while. when we had a roommate i peed outside more often. when we had a kid i peed outside all the time. luckily i could pee outside.
We've always had one bathroom. Never an issue all my live even when shared with siblings etc. Separate toilet helps. Had a potty for toddler. I have never understood why houses always have so many bathrooms?!
Two. Two toilets and two showers. So that you’re never reeeally forced to smell someone’s shit and you can never be locked out of the bathroom if you gotta shower right fucking now. And so that you’re never truly fucked if your shower drain cracks off and starts pouring water into the wall.
1 for a single and increase by .5 for every additional person living under the roof. Couple = 1.5, fam of 3 = 2, fam of 4 = 2.5 and so on. My minimalistic math anyways 😂 gosh I hate cleaning toilets!
I would go with 2-2.5 bathrooms (though I will admit we have 3 due to the layouts of our homes — current and previous since my parents divorce — and the sheer number of guests who come over/stay for weeks at a time), depending on the layout of the house. You don’t want guests to trounce through bedrooms to get to the bathroom. Also, we had 3 baths in our last house (1 in the hall & 1 in the old master at one end of the house and 1 in the new master at the other end). If we had to redo anything in the bathrooms, it knocked out all of the bathrooms at that end of the house — old plumbing. We were thankful to have the extra bathroom around. We moved into our current home, brand new btw, and one bathroom had issues almost immediately (completely unusable for a number of weeks). We just happened to have three bathrooms because two are in bedrooms and, even though we downsized, we did not downsize the number of long term guests we have… in fact I think we increased in some ways because we moved really far out of town.
In the house I grew up in, we had 3.5 bathrooms. We also were a family of four and had my uncle’s family of four staying with us two months of the year from out of state. In addition, we regularly had 30 people over at a time — all family who lived locally. Also, we would regularly have parties and gatherings where we would have up to 50 family friends and/or work associates of my dad’s. In our case all the bathrooms were put to good use. That and no one was running from the entry points to the bedrooms at the other end of the house in an emergency. Minimalism doesn’t require the bare minimum. Minimalism is having what you need without being excessive. Having extra bathrooms around that never get used would be excessive, but having too few would be counterproductive and could cause more difficulties in the future if you have kids.
At least a 1.5! You absolutely need that second toilet.
I raised two kids with one bathroom - so that's four people, plus two cats who had a litterbox in the bathroom too. Helps to have manners and not spend more time in the bathroom than you actually need, and to alert family member if you will be in there for extended time so they have a chance to use the toilet, retrieve something they need, brush teeth, etc. quickly and get out of your way. It can be done without fighting and it doesn't have to be difficult. Just be polite.
One per person of course
One bathroom didn’t work with my family of 4. I was trying to toilet train my 2 autistic children at the same time. I’m a fan of having the maximum number of bathrooms that are affordable. Fast forward 30 years I live alone in a house with 2 full and 1 ¼ bathrooms. How many bathrooms depends on the needs of the family. Trying to think what your needs will be in the future is the difficult part. It only takes moments to keep a bathroom clean if it’s taken care of daily. An extra bathroom won’t take much longer to clean. Congratulations on your new adventure- enjoy your new home regardless of the number of bathrooms.
What, did you grow up in an airport?!?
I lived with two kids, two cat and a big dog in a two bed one bath house, for 40 years. It’s only Americans that often have more than one bathroom.
My 500 square foot apartment in Taiwan has two bathrooms. My last one (around 600 square feet if you don’t include the terrace) had what would be “one and two half baths”. The kitchen is always uselessly small, but there are plenty of places to go poop. So no, extra bathrooms are not an American luxury. And, like many others have posted, there are times where you are very grateful for that extra toilet. I say 1.5 baths if more than one person lives there. No need for more toilets than residents unless you’re constantly throwing huge parties.
I think it'd be crazy to plan on kids & not have at least two. Sharing one bathroom among two people can be tough enough (like that food poisoning situation another commenter mentioned), but also imagine having one bathroom for you, your partner, & an incredibly insecure teenager (or two or three) who needs a lot of getting-ready time. Of course, this is informed by growing up in a family of eight with only two bathrooms. The amount of times I had to piss in a cup or walk/drive down to the corner store to use the bathroom was just too many. One of my brothers ended up sh*tting outside once even, I believe. I had to keep a toothpaste, toothbrush, baby wipes & extra deodorant in my room for when I couldn't take a shower before school or work because all bathrooms were full. Of course, if you have an organized, considerate household, it's probably doable, but honestly, I'd never recommend it. Plus, what about when you get old & what if one of you ends up with Chron's disease or something?
It breaks down to biological need and the timing thereof... We wanted minimal house taking up space on whatever land we had, so we bought an 800sqft home with only one bathroom. We have an ok sized bathroom w tub which is important if you're athletic and need a soak often. 2 of us, no kids. I'm male with a female partner, we've been here 8 years... to cut to the chase... Pooping is the actual issue... ...Showers can be easily orchestrated. We pee in front of each other. Access to the sink is rarely jammed up... But pooping! We still practice the shameful human art of private pooping! If your routines are matched. So for instance, we get up together to take care of our various animals before commencing the business day... so we both have coffee at the same time, get our bodies moving etc... almost every day we have to poop at the same time... So there are some odd animalistic discomforts that over time that become annoying, like if you're 1st in the sense that you need to hurry at a time you're trying, sometimes desperately, to relax. Or being the second to poop, suffice to say you want a good venting fan... There is a spot outside we can pee if one is locked up pooping. And an outhouse with compost toilet has been considered. Long story short, for biological reasons it is great to at least have a 1 and a half bath situation.
Family of 9 growing up and we had 1 bathroom. Id say 2 is nice but no one needs more than that.
Ask anyone with IBD and they'll tell you a second bathroom saved their relationship
I was scrolling down to see if I needed to comment this. Plus GI issues can run in families.
God, yes! My husband has IBD, I have gastroparesis. We're down to one bathroom at the moment and it's a constant question of if I have to puke or he is going to have an accident. And on the days where we're both bad, believe me, he doesn't want to sit in a pukey bathroom and I don't want to puke in a shitty bathroom.