The argument that I always have, " Why do we need a spare bedroom when we only have guests a few nights every couple of years". And yet every time I convert the guest room to an office I find myself buying new bedroom furniture and taking the office out when my mother-in-law comes to visit. Now, she lives very far away and the airfare is very expensive, so the argument is that if she had to pay for a hotel, she could not come, and we do want our children to have a relationship with their grandma, and is is far more cost effective for one person to fly to us than for us to fly to her at 4X the cost, The last time we flew to her was 8 years ago because its too expensive.

Just saying its ridiculous to be over housed for rarely hosting guests. My mother-in-law lives in a 4 bedroom house, as I said, the last time we visited was 8 years ago. My brother-in-law's family lives closer, but they still only visit every other year.

I think a lot of people stay in larger homes for the guests or children to visit, that in certain circumstances does not happen enough to justify the larger house and its associated costs.