Are HK apartments too small?

How many people in HK find their apartment just too small?


Has anyone found any good solutions to this problem? Or are most people happy with the size of their place?

Compared to apartments where?

when in Rome...

In HK I prefer to live in the right neighbourhood even though appartments there are smaller and more expensive. Living in a big renovated appartment in an ugly old building or poorer area just doesn't work for me long term.

we're lucky, we live in a house here thats bigger than our house in the UK.

small compared to where ever you came from before...


my real question is, what have people done to adjust to living in a small space?


do you struggle to store your things?


if you have kids, do you feel you have enough room for them to play?


i'm keen to find out how other people manage.

cd - you're really lucky that your place here is bigger than the UK!

"small compared to where ever you came from before..."


Well, we live smaller than before, but mostly the lack of space is in storage. We don't have a big basement like we had in the US. The living area is about the same. I would not say that apartments in general are smaller per se. You just pay more per square meter than in many other places.


"my real question is, what have people done to adjust to living in a small space?"


Get rid of stuff we didn't really need. If we use stuff so little that we only look at it every couple of years, or have it in storage, we don't need it at all. Also we think long and hard before buying stuff. We did all this before moving to HK though so nothing really changed.


Some examples:

- Books. Lots of people keep books they have read even though they will never read them again. I give away or sell my book except if I'm sure I will read them again. Even in the latter case, I often get rid of the book knowing I can buy it again later. Save a lot of space.

- Kitchen utensils. Haven't used a pot in 2 years? Time to give it to charity.

- Clothes. Haven't worn something for 2 years? Time to give it to charity. The exception would be specialized things like skiing gear and so forth.

- Toys. Kids haven't played with stuff in a long while? Give it away. If the kids resist, give them a choice of toys they can keep, but don't allow them to keep more than one in three or four.


It's amazing how much stuff is around that never gets looked at and only takes up space. Regular purges are the solution. One rule I have heard is "if you don't LOVE it, get rid of it."


Smart storage solutions are also key. Make sure you have lots of storage space so you don't get clutter. Clutter makes a place feel smaller.




"do you struggle to store your things?"


Not really, but we've been moving around for years. We know what we can purge and we are very careful about buying stuff.



"if you have kids, do you feel you have enough room for them to play?"


Sure. They have a play area with storage for their toys there. Plenty of space. It is key to teach your kids to tidy up and to put some toys away if their area is getting cluttered.



"In HK I prefer to live in the right neighbourhood even though appartments there are smaller and more expensive. Living in a big renovated appartment in an ugly old building or poorer area just doesn't work for me long term."


I agree.

"Get rid of stuff we didn't really need. If we use stuff so little that we only look at it every couple of years, or have it in storage, we don't need it at all."


if only i could convince my wife of the merits of this advice! lol


agree with you, living small takes getting used to but if you can reject the gross over-consumption lifestyle promoted by advertisers and society (look where that has got us now!) it's not difficult or a struggle to live with less.

"agree with you, living small takes getting used to but if you can reject the gross over-consumption lifestyle promoted by advertisers and society (look where that has got us now!) it's not difficult or a struggle to live with less"


Quite. Nowadays, I can typically figure out right away whether a potential purchase will be used or whether it will languish in a corner.


It is also interesting to observe children. Our kids will use about 20-30% of their toys 90% of the time. They don't have a huge amount of toys. I have noticed that kids will lots of toys will still typically only use the same amount as my children do, making it quite a "bad" ratio of usage to ownership. Moral of the story: buy fewer toys. ;) Kids want stuff all the time but they are just fine without most of it.

what about just having space to play?


we don't have a play room like we did at home and the kids rooms are just full of beds. how do people solve that issue?

we're lucky as we have a playroom and a garden. But indoors is used for small toys e.g puzzles, books, colouring, computer, play station etc. If we go out for dinner in Sai Kung, the youngest 2 take their scooters and a ball. For bike riding, we take them to Inspiration Lake.They get lots of sports, swimming and running around at the club we're members of, or on the beach, or at the park. So no, I don't think the kids miss out from lack of space. Even when we lived in a flat, so didn't have a garden they still did all these things.

that would be one of my few regrets about the 'living small' concept, that kids often have so much less space than they need...hitting home now with a baby starting to crawl, and it's only going to get worse as she gets older...we are lucky to live in a complex with a cavernous clubhouse full of stuff to do for kids, but nothing beats the great outdoors, which, in Hong Kong, are a luxury on the few clean air days we get...

cd...not sure about kids missing out on play space..we took our Kwun Tong born and raised nephew to my parents farm in Canada, where you can see to the horizon in every direction, and the kitchen/living room is bigger than his entire flat...he was absolutely gobsmacked for the first week lol! he learned to ride a bike (6 years old already!), fish in a real river, pick strawberries, camp on the ground in a tent and just run through a water sprinkler on a hot day...

do they have bike rentals at Inpiration Lake btw??

No, only the 4 wheel bikes that seat several people, and would you believe you have to be 18 to drive one...They have peddle boat hire too. Its possible to learn to ride a bike in HK, mine did it when they were 4, they've also been fishing here, the older ones have camped here, and we've just brought a new tent so hopefully the younger 2 will get to experience that too, they often get the hosepipe out on a hot day. Yes they miss out on some things here, but they also do stuff here that they wouldn't get to do much in the UK, like lots of swimming, junk trips etc.

"we don't have a play room like we did at home and the kids rooms are just full of beds. how do people solve that issue?"


Our kids play in the living room. We've designated an area for it.