My Journey: from 12m2 to 108m2

Guest contribution by Lalitha

This is the journey of us – me and my husband about how we navigated together from living in 12m² to 108m².

A glimpse of my journey in 12m²

I started my life here with my husband in a small 12m² room in a small town named Jülich. Yes, a mere room. And we studied, worked, cooked and slept in that same room. We even had enough space to keep (extra) things to do our hobbies like painting, baking and also some extra pairs of shoes. So much could fit in that small room. There were two large windows and the room was bright and had a beautiful vibe to it. I could never have imagined having lived so happy in such a small place. We did search for other houses to rent and also there were a lot of confusions about various housing rules for couples and after an intense house hunt for a month which went in vain, we gave up, and decided to live in that same room.

I enhanced my cooking skills, taught myself to bake from scratch, made some art in my spare time, read books, bicycled a lot, visited fields, spotted rainbows, danced in the rain, worked meticulously, studied and passed some tough and not so tough exams, attended lectures at 8am in the winter, partied hard, went on holidays and most importantly, made some lifelong friendships living in this room.

Start of an amazing next phase of journey with surprise elements

After a year and half of living there, came the next phase of life, new corporate student job opportunity, another permanent job position in a faraway city, a new big apartment and it was time that we now moved from 12m² to 48m². I remember how happy we were about that new house we found in Aachen. We loved setting the house and bought new plant babies, as we had a beautiful balcony. The transition and shifting was hard, needless to say, but it felt so good to be moving to a nearby bigger town.

Now that a new chapter had begun, so had the challenges too. My husband found a job in the city which is 660kms away from Aachen, which meant, even if we had a bigger house, we could not live together. Life has very interesting ways of telling us some important teachings. He traveled to Aachen during all the weekends, I was busy exploring Aachen and settling with the new student job that I had found and doing further subjects at the University. A semester went by, and then the next season of this amusingly unpredictable life, the corona lockdown happened. It meant home-office for my husband and our joys found no bound. Home-Office became the new normal with the endless lockdowns and restrictions all through the country. And in the meantime, the life had thrown another biggest surprise at us. We discovered we were pregnant. It was time to step into the next lovely phase of becoming a family from couple.

A home is always hard to leave: next chapter in our journey

It’s been four years since we moved to this house in Aachen, we loved the experiences the house offered us. I could certainly say, it was one of the best phases of our lives. We lived in a community, which meant get-togethers, gaming nights, grill/summer parties, a big open courtyard with lots of plants were all a part of it. We have a lovely play area right downstairs for our little one. Being a student residential community, all of this was offered for exorbitantly low-priced rent. What more, what better could one ask for. We will miss this place, our home for four happening years.

Moving on to bigger and better things – with mixed feelings

It’s again time to leave this home of ours and move in to a new one! It was not easy to find and decide on a house. We are now a family with toddler, hence a lot of parameters had to match for us to get a house. But we were lucky enough to find a house, which is very near to the current house and it super spacious and big. It is a house which is 108m², which means more cleaning tasks and more maintenance. Nevertheless, the new house is dreamy and in the heart of the city.

It’s been two weeks of shifting and juggling constantly from this house to that,planning, journaling and writing to-do lists. Friends coming over to help us, we taking time to set up the new sofa, kitchen amidst the chaos of new job and handling an almost two-year-old. Exhaustion is for real. Life just doesn’t come easy and I’ve come to accept that it’s OK. Honestly, we were a little scared about this big leap, but eventually embraced this change and overcame the fear.

We are very excited to see what this new phase of life has in store for us. The only thing I wish to keep constant in this new house is the happiness, peace and love that we had right from our 12m² room. My heart is full today as I write this blog, it is very personal and has a very different feel.

Visit DanceofChaos for more beautiful blogs by Lalitha and check out our summer sale.

I am Lalitha, a freshly minted graduate in Germany. My newfound love is writing these days. I love reading books and I am very passionate about cooking and baking. Music and coffee help me navigate tough days. I like hiking and cycling. I live in Aachen and I am truly in love with my life.