I’m a mum of six in a two-bed council flat – I’ve got 3 kids to a room & one bed is in a cupboard but we make it work
A MUM of six living in a two-bed council flat has opened up about their sleeping arrangements.
The Wisdom family matriarch has been forced to get creative to house herself and all of her children in her Leeds abode.
So she used her DIY skills to make a ‘Murphy bed’ – which folds up to look like a cupboard.
In a video on her TikTok page, she showed what her morning routine looks like, writing over the top: “POV: YOU HAVE 6 KIDS IN A 2 BEDROOM COUNCIL HOUSE.”
The clip showed her taking the duvet and pillows off the bed and putting them in a cupboard above it.
She then took the fitted sheet and electric blanket off, before pushing the whole bed – mattress included – up and back into the cupboard.
The final steps were to remove the two wooden stacks that had been serving as stands for the bed to rest on.
And once she’d done that, she was able to move the sofa back into place.
What is a council house swap?
A council house swap, also known as a mutual exchange, is a scheme for people who live in a council or housing association property who would like to swap their home with another tenant.
People often swap to get a larger or smaller home or to move to a different area.
When you mutually exchange your home, you are swapping tenancies with someone else.
Anyone with a full secure or fixed-term social housing tenancy in their name with a clear rent account can do a mutual exchange.
You cannot swap your home if you:
- have an introductory tenancy
- have a probationary tenancy
- are in temporary housing
At that point, you wouldn’t even know the bed was there, as the outside of it blended into the rest of the living room.
The mum also revealed that the two bedrooms in the flat were taken up by her kids – with the eldest three in one, and the younger three in the other.
People were quick to weigh in on her situation in the comments section, with one writing: “I don’t understand why they don’t give you bigger house!”
“She said her council are a bit strange about it and count children under a certain age as half a person, so I don’t think they consider her overcrowded (though she definitely is),” another added.
“Gosh, I have 1 kid in A 3 bed and it feels overcrowded!” a third commented.
“Fair play to you!”
“You’re amazing for what you have achieved, but have to say that the thought of taking out that bed and putting it back in every morning is draining!” someone else admitted.
“Do you ever just think, not tonight.. I’m sleeping on the sofa!” another asked.
With the mum insisting she “never” has that thought.
However, not everyone was complimentary in the comments, with some trolls insisting she shouldn’t have had as many children.
“I don’t understand why someone would have 6 kids if they can’t accommodate for them,” one wrote.
“I don’t understand why she doesn’t stop having kids lol,” another raged.
“Shouldn’t have had so many kids if she can’t afford a bigger house for them,” a third said.
“Don’t understand why people keep having offspring they can’t afford,” someone else agreed.
But another hit back, writing: “Well you’re quick to judge.
“No one ever teach you to not judge a book by its cover?”