SO... I'VE MOVED AGAIN!

Afternoon lovelies!

It's been a while since I updated the old blog. My last life update rambled on about how I was planning on saving for a trip to Japan. Well, that hasn't happened! Things have changed quite a lot over the past few months, mainly because I decided to move flats.

When I first moved to Manchester, I had to find somewhere to live fairly quickly. I didn't know the area at all so decided to settle on Didsbury - a suburb 4 miles south of the city centre. It's very popular with young professionals and has great transport links into the city. Luckily, my flat was right next to the tram stop, meaning it would take me around 35 minutes door to door to get to work. The flat felt quite studenty and definitely wasn't to my taste, but at the time it was the least of my worries. I was lucky to be living with 3 other people I really got along with, and my focus was settling into my new job and living in a new city.

My contract was for 6 months with 2 months rolling after that. When I wrote my last life update, I had no intention of moving when my 6 month contract was up. My priority was getting back into travel and making the most of saving whilst I had cheap rent - which is where my Japan plans came from. It was only around a month or two later that I completely changed my mind and decided I wanted to move.

The main reason was because I couldn't deal with how messy and dirty the place would get. Since living with other people, the one thing I've learnt about myself is that I AM MONICA FROM FRIENDS. My flatmates and I used to joke about it, but in all seriousness, it's really hard living with people who aren't as OCD about cleanliness as you are. Everyone has different habits, and that's fine, but I guess I've been brought up in quite a strict, overly spotless household - to the point where I expect everyone else to be like that too. It doesn't quite work like that in flatshares. There were certain things I could overlook, but things like sticky glasses in the cupboard and plugholes getting blocked with clumps of hair - I just couldn't deal with it anymore. I've always been really into my interior design too, and would happily spend £££ every month on new cushions and trinkets. Not only were my flatmates not bothered about that, the flat was so studenty that it never would have looked nice anyway. None of the furniture matched, things were falling apart and the pots and pans were god knows how old. As much as I wanted to, I didn't see the point in investing my money in new things when I knew they wouldn't get taken care of.

My other reason for wanting to move was so I was closer to the city centre. When I first moved to Manc, I was scared of spending a lot on rent as it was my first 'proper' time paying my own bills (apart from uni and travelling). I didn't want to underestimate how much it would cost me to live, so I opted for cheaper rent instead of living in the expensive city centre. Even if I'd have wanted to, city centre apartments get snapped up so quickly and it's really competitive. I didn't have the time to wait, and I certainly didn't have the money saved for an expensive deposit. So I chose Didsbury - a nice area with great transport links and no deposit required. Houseshares in Didsbury tend to be a lot larger too, meaning I could meet more people rather than living with just one person. It made sense at the time, but after a few months I knew it was time for me to move more central. I worked in the city centre, a lot of my work friends lived there, and it was where I socialised the most. After work drinks meant I would always miss my last tram home at 11.30pm, so I would end up spending £20 on an Uber instead. Not ideal. My flatmates didn't work in the city either, so would spend the majority of their time socialising in Didsbury. I moved to Manchester to experience the cool stuff MANCHESTER has to offer, not a small suburb 4 miles away. I sometimes felt like I was missing out on the buzz of the city, so wanted to be in the thick of it whilst I was still young enough to enjoy it.

I knew moving would increase my rent by about £150, but to me it was worth it. The way I see it, I have my whole life to live in a suburb or town when I get a mortgage and have kids. If I'm gonna spend a lot on rent and council tax, I might as well do it whilst I'm young with no responsibilities. I'm paying for convenience, which I'm more than happy with right now. In a few years I'll look to cut my costs when I'm thinking about buying, but at the moment I'm pretty chuffed I live a 30 second walk from work. I'm pretty chuffed that I can walk home after a night out, or go home and cook during my lunch break. I even have my own car parking space - which I didn't have in my old flat - that I'm thinking of renting out when I sell my car. (UPDATE: I sold my car and now rent the space to a guy at work. My flatmate and I both pocket £45 a month from it, which massively helps towards bills!)

The best part? I finally live in a NICE flat. A modern, spotless apartment with a balcony and my own private bathroom. My flatmate Cat and I are on a mission to make it as Pinterest as possible. Well... within reason! We're only renting after all, so we can't replace the furniture as much as we'd like to! First world problems ay...

Let me know what you think!

xxx