7 things I've learnt in my first year as a first time homeowner
As my first full year as a homeowner has now passed, I’ve decided to look back at the lessons I’ve learnt so far.
Buying your first home is a huge achievement… it does also feel like a huge leap in the dark!
It especially felt so for me as me and my partner were both first time buyers, purchasing a home in a city miles away from any friends and family.
When something went wrong over the year, we therefore had no one to come over and help- it was late night phone calls and attempts to explain the situation with pictures.
From the little mishaps to the big problems, I’ve ended the year safe in the knowledge that I have learnt a lot along the way so I thought I would share some of my biggest tips with you all.
1- Print out your bin schedule
As my bin schedule only changes every other week to one of two options, I thought there would be no need to print a schedule, I would obviously remember which bin to take out every Sunday night. Wrong. So wrong. Every Sunday I would have to look it up on my council website without fail. We’ve now printed the schedule and stuck it inside a kitchen cupboard and we will never look back.
2- Make a spreadsheet for your household finances
Owning your first home for me suddenly meant dealing with bills I’d never dealt with before. This caused two main problems initially: the first was feeling clueless and panicked, trying to remember what needed sorting and when. The second was that my monthly paycheck suddenly didn’t stretch so far, and I was running out of money faster than ever before.
The solution is as boring as you might expect - writing out all my definite outgoings on a spreadsheet, in the order in which they come out, meant I never forgot to pay a bill, I was never surprised by any direct debit, and I was able to calculate how much I could spend on the non-essentials in life.
3- Get your boiler serviced!
When we were buying our house, the sellers refused our request to get a boiler service in advance. We let it slide in the end as the competition for houses in our desired area was too high, telling ourselves we’d pay for it ourselves once the house was ours. Flash forward three months and upon leaving the house, I - having entirely forgotten to sort a boiler check - felt a drip on my head. Our boiler had been leaking unnoticed all day, so much so it created a hole in our ceiling. Knowing nothing about boilers, we switched it off and paid an extortionate amount for an emergency boiler man, fearing the worse.
After forking out £350 for the emergency company to come look at it and tell us 1) it was a minor issue that didn’t need an emergency fix (a worn away band) 2) they couldn’t even fix it that day without another expensive appointment, we learnt not to jump to extreme panic mode when anything went wrong, to do more research before choosing traders in future and of course to keep on top of our boiler services! The worn away band would’ve cost just a tenner to change if spotted in advance rather than the £700 we ended up spending overall!
4- Watch out for lilies
Having my own house meant being able to pick my own flowers whenever I wanted and with lilies always being my favourite, they were the first bunch I ever put up. That first bunch however ended up resulting in one of my worst days I ever had in the house, when I thought I had ruined the entire lounge. I noticed the stamens in the middle of the flower had fallen all over our brand new white side table. When I swept them up, I horrifyingly merely spread dark red smudge all over the table. I panic carried the flowers away into the kitchen, dropping bits of stamen on our white sofa pouf as I went…
Over the next hour I tried all the cleaning products under the sun on the new red stains all over my new lounge, to no avail. I apologised to my partner for ruining the lounge and we went to bed that night, coming to terms with the fact some new furniture already had to be bought. The next day - just like magic, all the stain had disappeared! I don’t know if my cleaning efforts kicked in at last or if the sun naturally bleached it out, all I do know is that I now cut the stamens off my lilies before placing them in my very white lounge.
5- Multi purpose spray is your hero
On the topic of cleaning, I must share the somewhat boring fact that multipurpose wipes are a scam. That very first household shop, I picked up more cleaning products than I would ever use in a year but slowly learnt that the least cost-effective item of all - the wipes - were the biggest waste of time. They don’t go very far; they don’t absorb dirt and dust, merely spreading it around; and the packaging flap always manages to find itself open, meaning I always had to bin the pack half way through when it had all dried out.
On the other hand, I have been delighted at how the cheaper multipurpose spray has worked for stains and dirt of all kinds instantly- I even discovered it was better at cleaning my tiled floors than mopping! So if you’re feeling strapped for cash, know that the £1 spray in your local supermarket will satisfy almost all of your cleaning needs!
6- Treat every guest as an excuse for a deep clean
I feel like I’m a clean person but as full time workers, it’s easy to settle with doing just the most basic clean most days. The wipe down of the kitchen surfaces after cooking, the odd bleach of the toilet, the changing of the beds every two weeks. Having anyone around, whether for the night or just a half hour catch up, I’ve taken as an excuse to do a full house clean. It’s not the pressure to impress guests but more the well timed reminder that a deep clean is needed.
7- A night in is always superior to a night out
I have always had a reputation for being a party animal. I’m the friend who begs you to go out, the one that keeps you up until the early hours of the morning and the one that knows all the best places to go. As I’ve gotten older, I have of course calmed down. That however has escalated exponentially since owning a house. Now when me and my partner have a free weekend night, the idea of going out on the town and spending a week’s budget doesn’t even cross our mind. We have excitedly already planned our homecooked meal for the night, the film we’re going to watch and the drinks we’re going to make from our delightfully full drinks cabinet.
Even when a special occasion tempts me to go out - birthday celebrations with friends, mine and my partner’s anniversary - we’re always tucked up back in my cosy lounge by midnight, already working on the hangover cure with a cup of tea. I’m grateful that owning my own home has given me the house pride that makes it hard to leave - rather than those rented student houses I used to do everything to avoid!