When I decided to buy a house, everyone told me I was crazy. At the very least, they were adamant I was making a poor choice. I was 24, buying a home seemingly at the spur of the moment that exceeded the recommended 30% of income budget, and I didn’t have a whole lot saved up either.

But I had a problem: I needed to move out.

Rent in my area is $1300+/mo for a 1 bedroom apartment that might be nice but more likely is in a not so great neighborhood, too far away, or isn’t so nice looking. The “luxury” apartments that were for lease a few minutes away fit all the requirements other than the fact that they were going for nearly $2000/mo. Maybe it’s me, but that’s just a wee bit ridiculous for an apartment. Never the less, I’m happy to say I have a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom home that I own for half that.

Living alone, of course, also has its perks. I love being able to stumble out of bed in the morning and head to the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee without a care of what I’m wearing or what I look like. I love not being judged for who I have over (Well the cats judge everyone, but that’s another story…). I love deciding whether to leave my dishes in the sink until the next day, and I adore the fact that I can do laundry whenever I want.

My favorite part is being able to decorate things my way. I love seeing my Pinterest boards come to life in my home.

BUT…

There’s a flip side to homeownership that’s not so lovely.

For starters, I cry a little every time I think about how my bank account had 6x as much money in it a few months ago. Bills, repairs, and stocking a new home add up and they add up quick.

But really what kills me is all the stress of managing this entire place myself. Every day is a new adventure and not necessarily in the fun way.

I’ll take you through the timeline of some of the various crap I’ve dealt with since starting to buy this place

1) It took weeks to get the power on. – Everyone involved could not figure out why there was no power. The electric bill was paid. The meter was receiving power, but there was still nothing. It actually stalled the inspection and delayed the whole buying process. Turns out there was a separate breaker outside that was only discovered thanks to a passing neighbor.

2) My cable connection didn’t work. – The bill was paid. My cable modem and router arrived. The modem was provisioned (since I bought my own). Everything looked right, but nothing worked. Taking a wild guess, I decided to check the closet where the electric breaker was… sure enough, 8 cable jacks (1 for each unit) that were all being used except there was also a wire disconnected… mine…

3) My bank kept trying to get me to pay for additional insurance. – When you have a condo, you pay for your own insurance which covers the contents. A portion of your HOA dues go towards a master insurance policy for the building. For a while it seemed like every other day I got a letter from my bank insisting that I 1) didn’t have a master insurance policy 2) my master insurance policy didn’t have the right coverage or 3) the policy had expired. All of these things resulted in something along the lines of “If you don’t get this by x date, we’ll add it to your mortgage for you.” It took about 2 months (and probably 2 reams of paper) to get that worked out.

4) Mice in the walls don’t mix with electric wires. – Turns out vacant condos = perfect homes for mice, and the building I live in seemed to be no exception. I didn’t have mice, but they did chew my electrical wires, a fun fact we discovered when we noticed the line to the dishwasher arcing in the wall. All I can say is I’m glad this was discovered before I started using it.

5) Thermostats that are broken in the middle of winter are absolutely no fun. – Of course the one day it drops to 30 degrees is also the day I don’t have heat. I’ve lived nearly a week without heat thanks to an ice storm that knocked out power to my house, but having power but no heat is even worse (especially when you’re alone). I now own a small portable heater, but living without heat for more than a couple days is still a no-go from now on.

6) Plumbing nightmares always happen at inopportune times. – Like an overflowing toilet first thing in the morning, or getting a call from your neighbor 15 minutes after you got to work telling you something in your kitchen is leaking down her walls.

7) A house that sat vacant for a couple years is full of surprises. – I literally never know what to expect every single day. For instance, that random leak my neighbor called about – the dishwasher that looked brand new ended up having bad valves that allowed water to flow into it until it overflowed (even though it didn’t even have power running to it.) On that very same day, fixing a clogged sink turned into replacing a garbage disposal that rusted out.

In hindsight, yes I wish I had saved up more money. (Don’t we all though?) Thankfully, my wonderful realtor gifted me a home warranty that actually covers all the appliances (even the 30+ yr old ones on their last legs). At the end of the day, I know I’m saving money buying this place rather than renting. I also know that every little bit I fix will only make this place increase in value more than it has already. I just have to keep reminding myself that every fix I make is being done right, and eventually the daily problems will subside.

But really – I’m 24, and I’m a homeowner! How freaking cool is that!

Rant over.

It’s been a little over a week since I moved in to the condo, so it’s time for an update.

Despite most of my week being spent binging on True Detective and Girls, I’ve managed to get nearly every box unpacked. I think I have about 3 left to unpack.

My main priority was getting the boxes in my bedroom unpacked. The large majority of the boxes were filled with items in the closet. I’m happy to report my closet’s now organized. Thanks to having “hers and hers” closets, I even get somewhat of a shoe closet, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t like a shoe closet? Looks like I need more shoes though.

Second project of the week was putting together the window bench in the master bedroom. I never got to complete the entertainment center/desk combo I had designed for my old room, so I had left over cabinetry still in boxes. Turns out some of that cabinetry fit perfectly in the nook in the master bedroom. As expected, it turned into an instant cat magnet. Not expected was how the cats now growl at everyone walking by.

Other projects for the week included unpacking the several boxes of disorganized toiletries which are now stored neatly in plastic containers in the linen closet and master bathroom, starting to unpack things in the second bedroom (aka office/gym), and of course getting rid of the plethora of moving boxes that I’d been storing on the balcony until recycle day. I’m pretty sure I had more recycling than the whole building.

I wish I could say that everything turned out to be roses, but this week was full of plenty of fun new homeowner experiences. The biggest annoyance was that my Nest thermostat shorted out, a fun fact I discovered when I realized that my thermostat thought it was almost 80 degrees inside and there was only cold air coming out of the vents. While I wait for Nest to send out a new thermostat, I’m stuck using emergency heat. I’m thankful for heat, but more thankful that it’s finally warm enough that I don’t have to use it too often. If that were it, I’d have had a fun weekend, but I also got to deal with an overflowing toilet at 7AM and an incredibly slow kitchen sink which is great when the dishwasher and disposal are both not working.

On the schedule for this week:

• Apply the top coat to the cabinet bases in the kitchen and bathrooms.
• Get my office set up.
• Getting the cats toilet training started.
• Getting the remaining doors installed.
• And getting the heat fixed.

It’s official! I’ve now moved into the condo!

Saturday was only a tentative moving day, but I was getting so stir crazy, I decided it was going to be actual moving day. There’s still plenty to finish up, but that will just have to get done while I’m there.

Around 10AM I finished my coffee and cereal bar (the only thing I managed to eat that day…), and got started packing.

I didn’t get any special truck or anything. We moved everything in my car, my mom’s SUV, and a tiny work van. Thankfully, I only moved a few miles away. If I hadn’t a big truck would have been better.

By mid afternoon, my room looked like this. The sofa was going to the dump, so all that was really left was a bookcase, my bed, and the necessities left in my bathroom.

The final trip was the worst. By that point, everything was out of my room except for the TV, computer monitor, and cats (who don’t like cars…). Twenty minutes of cat wrangling and narrowly missing a plethora of opportunities to be scratched, we had all 3 cats in crates, and the last of everything packed up. I took the TV and monitor so I didn’t have room for the cats in my car, but I can only imagine how noisy that short 10-minute car ride was based on how loud they were just walking out of the house to the car. It didn’t take long for Skyler to claim the best spot in the house – the top of the cat tower which has a view outside plus views of the kitchen, dining room, living room, front door, and hallway.

At around 6PM, I sent everyone that helped move home. I was exhausted and ready to sleep. Sadly I was left with this, so sleep was not in my future.

The real problem, though, was that my bed looked like this!

I took it apart before moving it, hoping it would get less damaged in the move after seeing how badly it held up to being moved when the floors were installed in my old room. (To anyone who’s considering the Brimnes bed from IKEA, don’t. It gets damaged way to easily.) The bed frame faired pretty well, but the one piece I didn’t take apart, the headboard, got banged up even more.

An hour later, I had a bed.

And before I eventually retired to that bed, my living room looked like this. Not bad for moving in that day.

The cats are still adjusting to the new place. Skyler seems to be handling it better than the other two. Chase is still incredibly scared and spends most of the day meowing loudly or under blankets hiding. Hopefully they calm down soon.