Home - Want vs Need

We've had the keys to the house for 2 months now, its been a really busy past couple months what with sorting everything out, unpacking and starting to decorate, but more on that later!

So, you've made the decision to either rent or buy your own place - before you go off pinning your dream kitchen you need to think carefully about what you want vs what you need. 

The first thing you need to decide on are your essentials, what are the most important things you need, the obvious bits are a kitchen, a room to wash in as well as a room to sleep in and one to relax in. Talk to people around you, what is it that they find important. For me, it was important that there was a lot of natural light, I wanted to be in the kitchen and be able to look out onto something rather then be in a dark room. You also need to decide on what type of property you want, are you after an older building that you don't mind doing work on, do you want new build, house or flat? 

Once you've settled on that, you can start to look at other aspects that are important to you - do you want on or off street parking? Is a garden something you want or can you live without it? A spare bedroom, somewhere to store the many shoes you own? These things are things you would prefer but are not essentials to you, things that you can compromise on but can live without in the long run, its easier to do this when your renting, not so much buying but its something to take into consideration.

Finally, your lists of wants - things like fire places, bay windows, period features, styles of decoration - this is your Pinterest list of dreams, they are not essential but in an ideal world you could have them - as long as you know where they come on your list then that's OK.

Finally, the best bit - get looking, searching the papers, online and just drive around the area you would like to be in, you will find something you want.

I hope this has been helpful, next time I will be talking budgets so let me know any questions you might have!

What would you have on your dream house list? xx