Happy Monday everyone, today I want to talk about something which I have wanted to speak about for a few months now, but I guess I haven’t been able to formulate the words right or have enough stuff to tell you about. As you know, we bought a house in September, so in 2 weeks we will have been living here for a full six months. It’s crazy how quickly time flies, but I want to share with you my experiences of being a homeowner.

Perhaps the first thing which has been amazing for me has been having a garden. I want to make it clear from the off that I’m no expert in gardening. That’s all my mums forte, and in fact she has a blog dedicated to it: Wild About Nature. I know what plants I love, I love being outdoors but having my own space has definitely been a learning curve. For example, a few weeks ago I decided to prune the hydrangea in the front garden to get it ready for spring. I thought this was a great idea until my mum told me I should have waited for a month or so… oops! It’s still alive though, and I think I did a pretty good job for a first time prune.

Anyway, we all learn from our mistakes and I haven’t touched the other plants yet.

I’m not really sure what my point to this is, I suppose I have learnt that having a garden is amazing and you should take some time to ask your mum or whoever else what you should do with it. It can be really fun and I’m already planning what plants I want in the summer.

The next big thing for me has been having a kitchen all to myself. The kitchen is my favourite room in the house, and this is simply because I love to cook. Having my own space to work in has been incredible and it has encouraged me to try a lot of new recipes.

Food doesn’t cost as much as you would think either. If you are smart about what you buy each week, you can get a full weeks food for 2 people for £30. That includes meat as well. I usually spend half and hour working out what meals I want to cook the next week, seeing if we have any ingredients to use up and then going from there. I like planning meals and I will usually make 3-4 different meals in a 7 day period.

Everything else doesn’t cost much either. You might think that running a household is ridiculously expensive, but it actually isn’t at all. Things like toilet roll, cleaning items and washing up liquid are super cheap from quality save and they are great value. We bought everything we needed in terms of cleaning in the first week we lived here and we have only had to top a few things up so far. As long as you don’t treat your house like a pig sty, you will be fine!

I’ve been much cleaner. Since moving into my own house I’ve become much more of a clean and neat freak. I find cleaning relaxing and making everything look good makes me feel happy. It’s crazy and I have never been this way until having my own space. Honestly, moving into a house will make you completely house proud.

Finally, it feels free. Being in my own house, working from home and having cosy nights in with Sam is the most amazing feeling. If we suddenly fancy a garlic bread at 11pm on a Friday (which has happened) we can just order one. There are no rules in our house and that feels amazing.