Settling In

We have been in our house about a month now- and paid our first mortgage (only 359 more to go)!
I just have to say I am so glad we did not go with a house that needed some work. Our house was pretty much move in ready and we have still found plenty to do! It's been so exciting to set-up rooms and decorate, buy a few new things and really start to make the place feel like our own!

However, it's also been a little overwhelming!  We are trying to be very budget conscious because we have a house now and all the bills that come with it!  But we have had to purchase items we just never had to worry about before- all sorts of landscaping tools, shovels, clippers, a weed-wacker, a saw.  These items were especially frustrating for me to buy because frankly, I do not want to use them- but I can't have our house looking like a jungle either so.... we bought them. We also went from a small apartment to a three bedroom house with a large living area- so we have purchased a chair and an additional sofa. While we got a good deal on both items- it was still a large chunk of change!

We were lucky enough to pay for our down payment and still have some money in savings so most of these expenses have come from money we had put aside for moving- but sometimes it's still hard to spend the money we worked so hard to save!

One thing I have especially enjoyed is having a larger kitchen!  I finally have all the items we received as wedding gifts out of my parents basement and they are now happily being used in our new kitchen! I just have to say you can never have too many Pyrex containers!

Having a larger kitchen has allowed me more space to store food. I am trying to be very diligent about planning our dinners out for the week and then following this plan when grocery shopping each week.  This is helping our budget as well. I have become a Pinterest nut for quick and easy dinners to prepare.  I know I'm only a month in but I am hoping I will just make this a routine each week. So we don't run into what we had at the apartment- there is nothing for dinner, let's just go out.

Now that we are settling into our new place, I feel like this is the new beginning of a new chapter in our lives- dare I say I feel like a grown-up! Maybe part of the reason I feel this way is because on top of buying our first home, we are also expecting our first baby- a little boy due in exactly three months (Sorry, I have been keeping that from you for quite a while).  So I guess it really is time to grow-up and dive right into the land of diapers and milk!

I have to say moving and getting set up our new house has really allowed me to see how we can have a family here, and I am just so excited to be in a place now that gives us the space to raise our family.  It's definitely been a year of change and we are going to be ending with the biggest change of all- a new baby- I am excited and intimidated (I hope we can do this- since it's not just about us anymore) but most of all I just feel so blessed and grateful!

J.S.