I just wanted to write this post and share my personal experience on the whole move and the costs, hopefully, to help anyone who is thinking about renting and give them a rough idea how much money they may need, obviously it does depend on where you're moving to, for example, my three floored house in Yorkshire would be cheaper to live in than a one bedroomed flat in London (I looked on Zoopla, even renting a room is £500 and a small one bedroom flat/studio is about £700 and they're not even that nice, crazy).
The house that we’re renting has 3 floors (excluding the attic) it’s a two-bedroom house but we’re turning the other bedroom into a living room, there are also two bathrooms that both have showers, toilets, and sinks, we also have a wash cupboard ( I wouldn’t call it a washroom, it’s just a section under the stairs with a washing machine in it) there’s a dining room, kitchen and the very top floor is all one bedroom and one of the onsuit bathrooms and we also have a garden too!
Rent is £500 per month
Bond was £450
Admission fees were £200
Admission fees were £200
Last month we spent £40 on our energy (gas and electric), we have had smart meters installed since so we have more accurate bills and we can see our daily usage. I have gotten slightly obsessed with my smart meter, I always check it and I try and keep our daily usage below £2, which hasn't been difficult because roughly we use a £1 a day and a little more during the weekend.
We pay £85 per month council tax.
Our water bill is roughly £20 per month and our broadband is £18 per month, including line rental.
When you move into your home you need to find out and contact who supplies the energy to the property, you also need to find out if you have a billing or pay as you go meter, we have a billing meter, so we pay monthly, you will also need to contact your water supplier too!
When you move into your home you need to find out and contact who supplies the energy to the property, you also need to find out if you have a billing or pay as you go meter, we have a billing meter, so we pay monthly, you will also need to contact your water supplier too!
When we applied for the house the estate agents had to do check on myself and Aaron, both checks came back perfect, we then had to wait to move into the house, whilst we were waiting to move in we stopped at a friends house for 10 days whilst they were on holiday, then we stopped at Aaron's mums for two weeks. The day before we moved in we signed the tenant papers and paid the admission fees.
The day we moved in the estate agents dropped the keys off at Aaron's mum's house and we then paid the first month's rent and the bond, we pay our rent by transferring the money directly to the estate agents, which they take 10% of it and then they pay the rest to our landlord, who is a really nice guy.
(some estate agents/landlords, may ask for a reference and 3 months worth of wage slips to prove you can afford to live there and to see if you're a decent person, obviously they don't want to rent a house out to a tenant who would cause noise complaints or who would damage the house and not pay their rent, however, we were not asked to provide this information, although it wouldn't have been an issue if they had asked, but I just thought I would give a heads up just in case the estate agents you're dealing with do ask for this)
We both quickly figured out what works best for us in regards to chores, I do the cooking (because I'm the best at cooking everyday kind of meals, baking and homely food, whereas Aaron is amazing at cooking seafood such as lobster, unfortunately, we can't eat lobster every day, so that's why I do most of the cooking) but because I do the cooking, Aaron does the washing up (I do the washing up too), I also do the washing in regards to everything that goes in the washing machine, but Aaron has to bring to washing back into the house though (as spiders climb into the pegs and I can't deal with that shit, that's also the same reason why Aaron has to deal with the bins, the spiders out there are way too big) and we both hoover the house, I tend to do more of the dusting, but this just works for us.
In regards to living together, we're both really happy, we both still get time apart from each other, we both can still do our own thing, but we both love that we can spend more time together, that we can laugh together every day, that we can cuddle each other every night and every morning, that we get to eat together (sounds strange, but we both bond over good food), and I think the best thing about it all is that it all feels so natural, it feels like this is meant to be, that was one of the things we were worried about, if this could make or break our relationship, if anything we have become stronger as a couple, somehow closer, even though we've always been a very close, open and honest with each other, but yeah, this is an amazing step we have taken together and we're so happy and so glad that we moved in together, we both have a great love for our home and each other.
When we moved into the house we had little furniture, we had a small settee, a trunk, a king-size bed and mattress and bedding. A few months before applying for the house I bought lots of random bits and bobs for the kitchen, plates, bowls, mugs, cutlery, pots, pans, etc. So we had most of the things we needed for the kitchen/cooking with already.
Luckily, the house already came with a fridge, freezer, washing machine and built-in wardrobe, which was perfect since those tend to be the more pricey items.
Myself and Aaron were very spoilt with gifts, which also made things so much easier, Aaron's dad and step mum got us a toaster (which has a pull-out drawer that collects crumbs and I thought that was rather impressive), a matching kettle, a steam-powered iron, pegs (which are green, green is my favourite colour) and a mattress topper, to keep our mattress clean, they also lent us one of their TVs which we love having in the bedroom, I didn't have a TV in my old room and I thought it would be weird having a TV in the bedroom, but I've actually enjoyed it, recently before bed we've been watching Little Britain, Come Fly With Me, Over the Garden Wall, and we've just begun watching Gavin and Stacey (yes, all the old classics).
Aaron's mum got us a bookshelf, which looks amazing and has added a lot of character to our dining room. Aaron's grandparents from his dad's side got us a kitchen bin, I ordered it online and it is a pastel green colour (also, I didn't realise how expensive kitchen bins are, I got mine from a website called MADE.com and it was £40) Aaron's nannan from his mum's side got us a hoover! And my nanna bought us the settee and the bedding for our bed (which we went and got from Tk Maxx, both me and my nanna have a mutual love for Tk Maxx).
I just want to emphasise that I'm aware of how blessed myself and Aaron are for all these gifts and all the help we have had moving into our home and we are both very grateful and happy.
This past month we have begun buying more furniture for our new home as Aaron has recently passed his driving test and got a car, which makes it a million times easier to go out and buy furniture. We decided to go to Ikea on the same day that everyone else in the Sheffield area decided to go too, it was very busy and hectic, people were being savage in the car park (especially that one old guy who could see that we were waiting for a lady to pull out of her spot so we could park there and he sped in before we could) but anyway, we got some amazing bits for our house! This was the day we bought the bookshelf from Aaron's mum £115, we bought a green side table for our broadband box £15, a huge metal shelving unit (we were using the tops of our cupboards to store our kitchen stuff, it looked really cluttered and I was worried about putting too much weight on the top on the cupboards, so this metal unit was a lifesaver and looks amazing too! and it was only £10), I bought these white mesh drawers, so you can see the contents in the drawers, I bought this for my cosmetics and hair stuff, it came in separate bits, which I think in total it cost £40, we then got a little storage box which is perfect for storing important documents and bills, a plant which leaves hang over and a pot for it, a selection of 3 little cacti (which sit with our broadband box) and last of all we got a doormat for the inside of our house, I can't remember the prices of the last few items but they were all below £10.
We also recently got this really interesting unit, which has bottle holders inside, we got it second hand and it's really unique as it has engraved little people on it, almost Aztec looking, that was £20.
We also got a table with four chairs, it was a little project for us, so far we have painted the table with a vintage white chalk paint, we still need to sand it down a little and add a protective coat on top and we also need to paint and re cushion the chairs, but we can't complain, as the table and chairs were free, the chalk paint was £12 and the top coat paint was £10 and the sanding paper was £3.50, so £25.50 for a decent table and chair set!
Most of our rooms are now complete in terms of furniture, except for our living room, we still need to get a unit for all of Aaron's Blu Rays, a coffee table and we're thinking about getting an armchair for the living room too, because it would be a tight squeeze on our settee if we had guests round!
But yeah, that's our experience so far on renting and moving in together, so far so good! I hope this has helped or given an idea of what happens during the process of moving into a home.
Once our home is more complete, I will do a house tour, then you'll be able to see all these pieces of furniture together!
The day we moved in the estate agents dropped the keys off at Aaron's mum's house and we then paid the first month's rent and the bond, we pay our rent by transferring the money directly to the estate agents, which they take 10% of it and then they pay the rest to our landlord, who is a really nice guy.
(some estate agents/landlords, may ask for a reference and 3 months worth of wage slips to prove you can afford to live there and to see if you're a decent person, obviously they don't want to rent a house out to a tenant who would cause noise complaints or who would damage the house and not pay their rent, however, we were not asked to provide this information, although it wouldn't have been an issue if they had asked, but I just thought I would give a heads up just in case the estate agents you're dealing with do ask for this)
We both quickly figured out what works best for us in regards to chores, I do the cooking (because I'm the best at cooking everyday kind of meals, baking and homely food, whereas Aaron is amazing at cooking seafood such as lobster, unfortunately, we can't eat lobster every day, so that's why I do most of the cooking) but because I do the cooking, Aaron does the washing up (I do the washing up too), I also do the washing in regards to everything that goes in the washing machine, but Aaron has to bring to washing back into the house though (as spiders climb into the pegs and I can't deal with that shit, that's also the same reason why Aaron has to deal with the bins, the spiders out there are way too big) and we both hoover the house, I tend to do more of the dusting, but this just works for us.
In regards to living together, we're both really happy, we both still get time apart from each other, we both can still do our own thing, but we both love that we can spend more time together, that we can laugh together every day, that we can cuddle each other every night and every morning, that we get to eat together (sounds strange, but we both bond over good food), and I think the best thing about it all is that it all feels so natural, it feels like this is meant to be, that was one of the things we were worried about, if this could make or break our relationship, if anything we have become stronger as a couple, somehow closer, even though we've always been a very close, open and honest with each other, but yeah, this is an amazing step we have taken together and we're so happy and so glad that we moved in together, we both have a great love for our home and each other.
When we moved into the house we had little furniture, we had a small settee, a trunk, a king-size bed and mattress and bedding. A few months before applying for the house I bought lots of random bits and bobs for the kitchen, plates, bowls, mugs, cutlery, pots, pans, etc. So we had most of the things we needed for the kitchen/cooking with already.
Luckily, the house already came with a fridge, freezer, washing machine and built-in wardrobe, which was perfect since those tend to be the more pricey items.
Myself and Aaron were very spoilt with gifts, which also made things so much easier, Aaron's dad and step mum got us a toaster (which has a pull-out drawer that collects crumbs and I thought that was rather impressive), a matching kettle, a steam-powered iron, pegs (which are green, green is my favourite colour) and a mattress topper, to keep our mattress clean, they also lent us one of their TVs which we love having in the bedroom, I didn't have a TV in my old room and I thought it would be weird having a TV in the bedroom, but I've actually enjoyed it, recently before bed we've been watching Little Britain, Come Fly With Me, Over the Garden Wall, and we've just begun watching Gavin and Stacey (yes, all the old classics).
Aaron's mum got us a bookshelf, which looks amazing and has added a lot of character to our dining room. Aaron's grandparents from his dad's side got us a kitchen bin, I ordered it online and it is a pastel green colour (also, I didn't realise how expensive kitchen bins are, I got mine from a website called MADE.com and it was £40) Aaron's nannan from his mum's side got us a hoover! And my nanna bought us the settee and the bedding for our bed (which we went and got from Tk Maxx, both me and my nanna have a mutual love for Tk Maxx).
I just want to emphasise that I'm aware of how blessed myself and Aaron are for all these gifts and all the help we have had moving into our home and we are both very grateful and happy.
This past month we have begun buying more furniture for our new home as Aaron has recently passed his driving test and got a car, which makes it a million times easier to go out and buy furniture. We decided to go to Ikea on the same day that everyone else in the Sheffield area decided to go too, it was very busy and hectic, people were being savage in the car park (especially that one old guy who could see that we were waiting for a lady to pull out of her spot so we could park there and he sped in before we could) but anyway, we got some amazing bits for our house! This was the day we bought the bookshelf from Aaron's mum £115, we bought a green side table for our broadband box £15, a huge metal shelving unit (we were using the tops of our cupboards to store our kitchen stuff, it looked really cluttered and I was worried about putting too much weight on the top on the cupboards, so this metal unit was a lifesaver and looks amazing too! and it was only £10), I bought these white mesh drawers, so you can see the contents in the drawers, I bought this for my cosmetics and hair stuff, it came in separate bits, which I think in total it cost £40, we then got a little storage box which is perfect for storing important documents and bills, a plant which leaves hang over and a pot for it, a selection of 3 little cacti (which sit with our broadband box) and last of all we got a doormat for the inside of our house, I can't remember the prices of the last few items but they were all below £10.
We also recently got this really interesting unit, which has bottle holders inside, we got it second hand and it's really unique as it has engraved little people on it, almost Aztec looking, that was £20.
We also got a table with four chairs, it was a little project for us, so far we have painted the table with a vintage white chalk paint, we still need to sand it down a little and add a protective coat on top and we also need to paint and re cushion the chairs, but we can't complain, as the table and chairs were free, the chalk paint was £12 and the top coat paint was £10 and the sanding paper was £3.50, so £25.50 for a decent table and chair set!
Most of our rooms are now complete in terms of furniture, except for our living room, we still need to get a unit for all of Aaron's Blu Rays, a coffee table and we're thinking about getting an armchair for the living room too, because it would be a tight squeeze on our settee if we had guests round!
But yeah, that's our experience so far on renting and moving in together, so far so good! I hope this has helped or given an idea of what happens during the process of moving into a home.
Once our home is more complete, I will do a house tour, then you'll be able to see all these pieces of furniture together!
No comments