How I manage my moneyThe first home needs a list of repairs, not a perfect makeover

The reality of a first home

Buying a house was always the goal, but no one prepares you for the sheer volume of little things that break the moment you move in. My home is modest, but with a mortgage of £650 per month, it consumes a significant portion of my £33,700 annual income. I started with a repair fund of £1,100, which I thought would be plenty. I was wrong.

Choosing utility over style

The leaking tap was the first priority. It was followed quickly by drafts coming through the windows and the general shabbiness of the existing flooring. I wanted a total makeover, but I had to be honest about the cost. I looked at a £450 plan for new flooring and ultimately decided to put that on hold. The tap and the insulation were non-negotiable for my health and the house's integrity.

Learning to compare, not guess

I am learning that contractors have very different ways of viewing the world. I have spent my weekends getting three different quotes for everything. It is time-consuming, and honestly, quite dull, but it saves me from making rash decisions based on enthusiasm rather than data. I am not trying to turn this into a luxury property; I just want it to be functional.

Making a home liveable is a process of prioritising the plumbing over the patterns, one room at a time.

The room-by-room approach

Instead of trying to fix the whole place at once, I have focused on one room. It is a slow, grinding pace. The rest of the house still has poor curtains and tired decor, but I am learning to live with the imperfection. The priority is making sure the house is warm, dry, and safe. Photogenic is a problem for a future year.

The burden of the list

My notebook is now a graveyard of deferred projects. Every time I cross something off, I seem to add two more. It is not the dream scenario I imagined when I got the keys, but it is my reality. I am choosing to manage the house slowly, keeping my debt restricted to the mortgage and my maintenance costs strictly within my fund.