It's been over three months now since we moved into our new house, and in those three months I have learnt so much about being a homeowner. I always had an idea of how our life might be like when we moved out and I was so excited to have a place of our own. I can happily say that moving out has lived up to my expectations but I have also learnt some lessons along the way that I've put together in a list to share.
- I always said that when I moved out, I would cook fresh meals as often as I could. I quickly learnt that cooking proper meals everyday isn't easy, especially when you're both working full time. There's day where it's just easier to pop food in the oven and wait rather than prep everything and cook it all from scratch. I enjoy cooking but sometimes you just don't want to.
- Something else I learnt is that food runs out of date quicker than you think. We started realising how much food we were wasting so we began planning our meals out carefully to reduce it. It's something we've successfully managed to do and it also helps reduce the cost of our weekly shop. Some things we do to help this is buy frozen vegetables which lasts longer and is actually cheaper, and we also freeze fresh poultry and fish and take it out when we need it.
- On the topic of food... food is expensive! I didn't realise how much some things cost, especially things like fish, poultry and fresh vegetables. I'd like to say that I'm a pretty savvy shopper and I'm doing okay with saving money on my weekly shops. Supermarket own brands can be just as good as the leading brands products and sometimes buying in bulk isn't always cheaper.
- Come to think of it, everything is expensive. We still haven't got all the furniture we'd like and there are things around the house that need doing up. I didn't realise how much some furniture costs and things like doors and skirting are so much more expensive than I expected. To be honest, I don't understand why it's so expensive but it's one of those things you just have to deal with, isn't it?
- Controversial but... The bills aren't actually as expensive as I expected. If anything, I thought these would be the things I worry about the most, but actually, paying the bills hasn't been so bad. The direct debits are set up and we worked hard to find the best deals, so it's just a case of making sure money is in the right place at the right time. It's not something I've stressed about once if I'm honest.
- Washing piles up. If there's something I learnt that I don't like doing that I didn't think I'd mind, it's washing. I don't like it. I love my washing machine, it's an eco machine, it cleans well and it sings to me when it's done but WOW. Does the washing pile up? Yes, it does. There's only two of us, I don't understand. I iron it all too, because I hate creased clothing so it's a huge job. I just spent my afternoon doing it and I've already got a half full basket of clothes to wash again. Tell me, how does this happen??
- The one I think I was most upset about is finding out that my free time isn't as free as I thought. With working full time, all the housework, cooking and going through your day-to-day routine, the next thing you know, it's time to go to bed. I genuinely thought I'd have more time for myself but it's not been that way. When you own a home, you run it too and so the things you do to run it prioritise over your free time most of the time.
- You learn so much about each other when you're living together. I didn't think after 7 and a half years, there was much more I didn't know about my boyfriend. Everyone says, "it all changes when you live together, you'll learn so much more about each other, you have to learn to live together", are all right. If you say otherwise, you'll only be proven wrong. I was and I'd honestly say we're still learning a lot about each other. Sometimes I annoy him, sometimes he annoys me, sometimes we highly disagree and sometimes we're laughing about how much we agree. It's nice to be at another level in our relationship where we're learning about each other again, but in a different way.
Have you moved out yet? Is there anything else that you learnt when you moved out for the first time? Share them in the comments below!
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