I don’t know about you but whether I’m feeling like an impostor, self-censoring my own tweets because I don’t want to appear too opinionated, or apologising for existing, I often feel like I’m the poster girl for the overly polite working woman stereotype. I triple and quadruple check my emails before sending them, painstakingly analysing every word. I play down my own achievements. I often criticise myself and point out my flaws so that other people can’t be the first to do it themselves. I’m ambitious, hard working, intelligent and creative. But I’m also overly conscientious, a little bit of a worrier and a wannabe people-pleaser. I want to be successful but I don’t want to be threatening or rude or *gasp* bossy in the process. Heaven forbid!
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Life & Style
We’ve spent the last few months glued to our phones. Whether we’ve been tweeting support for #BlackLivesMatter, arguing with our grandparents about the Brexit result, or condemning brutal attacks on humanity, it’s been hard to escape the suffocating negativity and harrowing news stories in recent months. And yet, over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been given something to smile about. It’s a small thing. A trivial thing. But it’s something. Thanks to the release of mobile app Pokemon GO, we’ve been given something to talk about that doesn’t involve hatred, death, or disaster.
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It’s been two months now since Jake and I got the key to our new flat and moved in together. Neither of us have lived with a partner before, so this was an exciting (and eye-opening) life milestone for the both of us.
When we told our families and friends about our successful flat hunt, we were inundated with free stuff. My mum gave us a ton of pots, pans and cutlery that she’d been hoarding in the cellar, a family friend gave us a bookcase, desk and fold out bed, and relatives clubbed together to get us a kettle, toaster and a microwave. Because of the generosity from friends and family, we assumed our moving in spending would be almost non-existent. Oh how wrong we were!
In this post, I’ll outline everything we’ve bought for the flat in the first month alone. I’ll also include essential living expenses so far such as rent, bills and food costs. This list won’t include items such as clothes, entertainment, whiskey or Twirls. Some of the items on the list below have been rounded up or down to the nearest ‘tidy’ number or grouped together.
Rent & Bills
- Letting agent fees and deposit - £850
- Rent, internet, electricity, water, council tax etc - £950
- Annual TV licence - £145
- Contents insurance - £50
- Virgin Media install charge - £25
Total: £2020
Furniture and soft furnishings
- Bedroom rug - £60
- Mini coffee tables x 2 - £40
- Bedside cabinets x 2 - £50
- Cushions for dining room chairs x 4 - £16
- Bookcase - £40
- Tablecloth - £5
- Living room rug - £30
- Cushions x 3 - £30
- Throw - £20
- Clock x 2 - £20
- Indoor plants - £12
Total: £323
Kitchen
- Oven gloves - £3
- Baking trays - £4
- Food bags - £2
- Tea bags - £2
- Glass worktop cutting board - £3
- Chopping boards - £4
- Nescafe - £2
- Compost liners - £1
- Mug with a bike on - £3
- Kitchen scales - £10
- Pedal kitchen bin - £25
Total: £59
Cleaning
- Vacuum cleaner - £50
- Bathroom cleaner - £1
- Anti bacterial spray - £1
- Hand wash x 2 - £2
- Scourers - £1
- Microfiber cloths - £3
- Dishwasher tablets - £1
- Cream cleaner - £1
- General purpose cleaner - £1
- Harpic toilet cleaner - £1
- Mr Muscle - £1
- Wilko Dish Brush - £1
- Anti-bacterial wipes - 50p
- Soap dish - £1
- Baby wipes - £1
- Shower curtain - £5
Total: £71.50
Food
- Aldi and Sainsburys food shops - £270 (approximately)
Total: £270
Miscellaneous
- Bathroom light switch cord - £1
- Ironing board cover - £2.50
- Extension lead - £8
Total: £11.50
Grand total spent in the first month of living together: £2,755
Considering how many items were gifted to us and how much stuff we had of our own already, it’s shocking to see just how much money we spent in our first month alone. And, while this list demonstrates some non-essentials, I think we did well not to go overboard filling the flat with impulse purchases.
Here’s a list of the items that we fortunately didn’t need to buy…
Items donated to us
- Desk
- Chair/fold out bed
- Full dining set, cutlery, pots and pans, glasses and mugs
- Toaster
- Microwave
- Kettle
- Curtains (2 sets)
Things we already had
- Bedding
- Storage boxes
- Lamps
- Armchair
- Dining room chair
- Mini chest of drawers
- Projector (instead of a TV)
- TV stand
- Bookcase
- Wall art, pictures and photo frames
- Iron
- Ironing board
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Job hopping has long been considered the ultimate career sin, with many employers and recruiters saying it can have an impact on the way they perceive a potential candidate.
Although I would never label myself a ‘job hopper’, I’ve worked at three different companies in the last 12 months. I had good reasons to switch between each job but I can see why some people with more traditional attitudes to workplace loyalty would accuse me of hopping around. Some people might consider three jobs in the space of a year to be career suicide but it’s had numerous benefits for me.
Job hopping has long been considered the ultimate career sin, with countless employers and recruiters citing it as one of the primary reasons candidates get turned down for a job. However, while it may have once been the norm for workers to stay with the same employer for the majority of their career, such loyalty is no longer a realistic option for many.
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In April I set myself the challenge of writing down everything I spent my money on. You can read all about my Everything I Buy April challenge here. It was hard work but it really helped me determine how reckless I was being with my spending. As my mum would probably say, so much of my money was being wasted ‘willy nilly’. I haven’t actually managed to bring myself to tot up exactly how much I spent in total (partly due to shame, partly due to laziness) but I’ve learnt the following anyway…
Life & Style Savings
The Realisation I Don’t Actually Have To Get Married Has Made Me Feel £20,000 Richer
October 2016 update: Jake and I have split up since I wrote this post. Cringe. I’ve not yet decided what to do with posts like this, but for now I’ll leave them as they are.
Ever since I was a child I always assumed I’d get married one day. I never put too much thought into it, I just always assumed I’d get a good job, buy a big house, get married, have kids, and live the perfect life.
Thankfully, Jake and I are in agreement that we’d like to spend the rest of our lives together. We’ve talked about who we’d invite to our wedding and we’ve bickered over the names of our future kids. He wants to call his son John. Jake’s last name is Smith. I’m not letting my kid share his name with ale and Pocohontas’ boo. I digress.
After spending almost 2 years living with my parents in an attempt to save up for my own place, I’ve finally moved out! I wish I could tell you that I’d bought my own place but unfortunately I don’t have enough money yet so I’m renting again instead. (Still will be saving money…watch this space)
Jake and I have moved into a lovely 2 bedroom flat in Sale. Embarrassingly, this flat is down the road from my parents’ house. My life really is like Everybody Loved Raymond. One minute I was Robert Barone, living with my parents as an adult, and now I’m Ray Barone, living across the stress from them.
Jake and I didn’t exactly plan to live this close to my parents. Ideally we wanted to live in Manchester city centre or Didsbury or Withington or Chorlton. But, at less than £600 a month, this flat in Sale was below our budget and hard to pass up. When we visited it for a viewing it just felt right. It was the only flat we viewed where we looked in each room more than once. It was the only flat we viewed where we had a smile on our faces throughout the visit. Sure, it was a bit scruffy in places and the small bedroom was lilac, but we loved the size of it and we could really see ourselves making the place our own. So we took it.
By living here, we’re going to be in a position where we can continue to save for the future. I originally planned on buying a house alone but who knows, in a couple of years we may wish to buy a place together!
Anyway, let me tell you about our move in day. I was like an excited little puppy and could not WAIT to move in. So imagine my absolute horror when we opened the door of the flat equipped with an arsenal of cleaning products Kim and Aggie would be proud of only to discover the cupboards were filled with former tenants’ junk.
We found dirty pillows, a yellowing duvet and cupboards filled with stuff. We also found lube, a receipt for a Rampant Rabbit (let’s be honest, who in their right mind would leave an actual sex toy behind?), and dirty tights that looked like they’d been pulled down in a hurry. I wanted to cry.
We knew we’d have to give the place a clean before moving our belongings in. Even if the flat had looked sparkling, we still would have cleaned it for that lovely fresh start feeling. But we never imagined we’d be having to retrieve personal items from the cupboards and pack them away for the landlord to collect.
We moved in on the Saturday and, after phoning the landlord to let her know about the mountain of crap left by old tenants, she came to visit us first thing on Monday. She bundled as much as possible into her own car and arranged for someone else to come and collect the rest. So that was good. Problem solved. Relief at last. Once everything had gone and we’d scrubbed every wall, carpet and cupboard in the flat, we felt like we could finally settle down and make the place pretty. We made the bed, hung up our clothes, put some pictures up (former tenants had made holes in the walls - the only thing we’ll thank them for) and decorated the place as best we could.
Here are a few before & after photos for you. You’ll notice that some are missing and that’s because there hasn’t been that drastic a change in some rooms yet. We still have a lot to do and we want to buy some big plants and more pictures and pretty rugs so the place looks a little more colourful.
Rest of the photos coming soon!