I already know this list is going to be too long, but I am going to try to keep it as compact as possible so I don’t bore you. I’ve lived in a house with my boyfriend for the past two months and it has been nothing short of amazing. Having our own space is better than I ever imagined. I love that I have been able to decorate it how I want it and that we both have our own spaces to make our own (though I have put much more of a personal touch on my space than the Hunky Engineer has put on his, shocker!) This list will hopefully tackle everything I have learned in the past 2 months of having a home.
1 – Bills suck
This seems like something obvious, but I cannot tell you have stressful it is to manage bills and make sure they’re paid on time and filed away so you can reference them later. I sat on our office floor making file after file to organize EVERYTHING we had for bills, work, and other miscellaneous important documents. We still need to buy a safe for our important paperwork like passports and social security cards, but I’m sure we’ll get there soon.

2 – Cleaning takes way longer than I expected
Maybe this is due to the fact that I cram everything into one day, but cleaning our house top to bottom is one of the most exhausting things EVER. I wake up and throw in laundry, deep clean the kitchen, dust the first floor, and clean the first floor bathroom all before the Hunky Engineer wakes up in the morning. Once he’s up, I can clean our room, switch laundry over, vacuum, and mop. And then there’s more folding for the laundry and cleaning up the kitchen since we mess it up when we meal prep. B the time the day is over, I feel like I ran an entire marathon! And don’t even get me started about the days I decided to trim the bushes outside too…

3 – You will find new ways to love…and hate…each other
This is meant as a slight joke, but you know that saying about how you never really know someone? Well, when you move in together, you  really start to know who you live with. You learn how they eat, cook, clean, sleep, spend their free time. You start to appreciate small things they do for you, but also start to get more annoyed when they don’t do things that you think are normal (like picking something up as soon as you drop it on the ground… WHO WAITS?!). But, this is where the importance of communication comes in. Never let these things go unmentioned, the good and the bad. Trust me, if you can’t make it through this, you’ll never be able to spend your life with the person you’re living with.

4 – Grocery shopping becomes a piece of cake
I love going grocery shopping with the Hunky Engineer because it takes all of 10 minutes to get everything we need and get out (unless he’s choosing a cereal flavor, then we are there for hours). We have a app for our grocery list that we both add to throughout the week and we ALWAYS HAVE FOOD WE WANT TO EAT! One of the most wonderful things of having a house (our really your own space) is always being able to have the food you want.

5 – Maintenance is scary
Our house is only 9 years old, so we don’t have any major issues or renovations. That said, the previous owners of our house kept it in immaculate condition and our goal is to do the same…which is a lot more work that I thought. We have to keep up with sealing the driveway, staining the deck, and cleaning our AC/Heat system. We still have time before we need to do any of this, but the thought of our house not being properly maintained because we missed something is a but stressful.

6 – Yard work… UGH
I wish I was like my dad and enjoyed doing yard work. He loves being outside and mowing his grass and keeping the outside of the house looking nice. Me, and the Hunky Engineer, not so much. Every time he has to mow the lawn it is the BIGGEST struggle for him to get started because he just doesn’t want to do it…and I don’t blame him. We have to buy fertilizer this month and neither of us has ANY desire to do the research. It will happen, but we will be dragging our feet the whole time.

7 – Decorating is fun but expensive
Probably my favorite part of having a new house is decorating it the way I want it (and the Hunky Engineer gets little say). My favorite room in my house that I’ve decorated is my office! We are currently working on how we want to design our living room as it is the only room in our house that isn’t finished. This winter, we hope to paint EVERYTHING! But, as fun as decorating is, it costs a LOT of money if you don’t do it right. I buy most of my decorations from the $1, $2, $3 bins at Target right when you walk in the front door. The decorations are cute and if you don’t like the color, it is cheaper to spray paint them than go out and buy is for 4x the price just to get the right color.
We also bought canvas prints to hang in our house from CanvasChamp at 93% off, I plan on making my own throw pillows when we design the living room, and I buy my Halloween/Fall decorations on Amazon. You’d be amazed at how much you can save by doing that. I refuse to buy $100 decorations that I can make myself. However, they still add up, so decorate sparingly when you first move in!

There are still so many others I could list here, but I will build them into another post later on. Overall, I LOVE having a home and taking care of it. I love having my own space that I share with someone I love. I can’t wait to see what the next few months bring with the holidays! We are hosting Thanksgiving this year..oh boy!