- Kristi of @kristiipartyof6 and her husband, who works in financial technology, are the parents of five children — one from each of their previous relationships and three together
- Four years ago, the family moved to New York. Since then, they have rented an apartment for $12,000 a month
- This summer, as they continued to grow their family, the couple realized they needed more space. They ended up renting an apartment across the street for $6,000 a month
- Since going public about the situation online, Kristi tells PEOPLE online followers have criticized her family’s decision
Kristi of @kristiipartyof6 explains her family’s decision to rent a $6,000/month second apartment in NYC in addition to their $12,000/month primary apartment.
The Salt Lake City native and her husband, who works in financial technology, are the parents of five children — one from each of their previous relationships and three together. Speaking with PEOPLE, the content creator shared insights into their lifestyle, including why their family of seven initially chose a $12,000-a-month apartment when they moved to NYC four years ago.
In addition to two apartments in New York, the family also owns a large house on half an acre in Utah, which they built in 2017. They spend summers in the house, and try to get out at least once for a few weeks every February or March.
“We originally started with our master apartment, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom unit on a very high floor in an upscale concierge building,” the mom tells PEOPLE. “When we were looking for an apartment before we moved here, we fell in love with the area.”
“We really liked how family-friendly it was and how safe it felt,” she adds. “There were so many parks in the area. We loved the area and loved the apartment we found.”
Kristi and her family.
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This summer, as they continued to grow their family, the couple realized they needed more space. They wanted to stay in their neighborhood, but since they already had the largest apartment in their building, they knew that staying there was not an option.
When they started looking for other apartments, they didn’t find anything that they liked or that would solve their space problems. Then one day Kristi opened the door to see her neighbor across the hall moving out.
“It literally felt like God opened a door,” she says. “It was right there, right across the hall. It’s a one bedroom, one bathroom unit with laundry in the unit, kitchen and multiple closets.”
“I texted my husband and said, ‘I think I just found our solution,'” she continues. “We talked to our building management and at first there was resistance because technically you can’t have two apartments under one person. But we solved it so that my husband rents our main apartment, and I rent the apartment across the street.”
Since renting the extra apartment, Kristi says she and her husband have taken everything out of their master bedroom closet and turned it into a nursery for their little girl, since the parents welcomed their daughter this summer. In the second apartment, they stored clothes, shoes, children’s winter coats, scooters and strollers.
They also turned the main living space of the new apartment into a large playroom and moved all the children’s toys from their main apartment to the second apartment.
“We also often use the second apartment for laundry,” she adds. “With seven people in our family, we do a ton of laundry. We use the washer and dryer there and we also hang our clothes there.”
“It was also amazing to have a second fridge, because again, we’re a big family,” she says. “It allows us to stock up on groceries, whereas in our current apartment we could only keep a small amount because the kitchen is so small. We were also able to host family and friends visiting us in New York. The second apartment gives them a place to stay close to us, but not in our actual living space. It was really, really useful for our big family living in the city.”
Kristi says that since she spends most of her life on TikTok, it felt very natural to share this apartment-hunting journey with her followers. But while her longtime followers were understanding and excited about the move, other people online were more critical of the decision.
“People were just saying it was wasteful and a very expensive ‘storage unit,’ which I use those words in my video because that’s what my husband says,” she says. “True it is. We use it a lot for storage and it’s a very expensive storage unit but I understand it really wouldn’t work for most people but I feel very lucky that it works well for our large family.”
“I think people who live in New York get that,” she continues. “They understand, but I think it’s people who live outside of New York that I get so many comments like, ‘Oh, what you pay in one month is what I pay in a whole year, and I own my home,’ or ‘That is my mortgage.”
“I think people who don’t live in the city don’t really understand that, but I also understand that it’s a huge luxury,” she adds. “This is not a necessity. We could definitely make it work in one apartment and we’d be just fine, but this is a luxury and we’re extremely lucky to have this second apartment, and I didn’t miss it. I totally get that.”
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New York City.
John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock
However, for the foreseeable future, she thinks the two-apartment situation will work well and expects the family to keep it for a while.
“It really fulfills all our needs for more space,” she says. “I like that we have that separation.”
“Once you find an apartment you love and then really build your community, it’s really, really hard to leave,” she adds. “I know we could find a bigger apartment somewhere else in the city and pay less than what we’re paying now, but the community is a really big thing to us. This is our home. This is our community, this is where our friends are, and it’s really hard to leave.”
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Source: HIS Education