Well, since everyone else seems to be doing it, I thought I’d join in the fun! I’m looking for a house or rather, a houseshare, because even though my salary is sufficient to get at least a 1 bed studio (or even a 2 bed house in some places) anywhere else in the country (even London, because I’d get a £3k weighting), I have to live in Guildford. Stupid expensive commuter town. Yes it’s pretty enough, and nice in some ways to be so close to London, but it’s still ridiculous money.
Anyway, the plan was to live at home until my training year is finished (at which point I’ll be escaping back up north quicker than you can say “woohoo, pay rise!”), and so gather a handy housing deposit sized savings account. However, it got to the middle of May, and I realised that I’ve almost lived at home for a year… which is fine really, but it’s a bit of a psychological upper limit for me. There’s living at home for a while to find your feet, and then there’s mooching off your parents for years and years. I’m not the kind of person who falls easily into the latter category, even when there’s £15,000 in it for me. Anyway, I think I’ve found my feet now, living at home gave me the chance to jobhunt (much as I hated it) rather than temp, and I don’t think I’d have applied for what I’m doing now if I’d been temping. I applied on one of my weekly “lets mix it up a bit and apply for random jobs” days, which I doubt I’d have given myself if I was paying rent.
So, I’ll have been here a year in 3 weeks time. I’m not going to say I’ll move out before France, because frankly, that could be a bit silly – the most important thing here is to live with the right people, then the right place, then the right money… and while I’ve got the time to look without a contract running out or anything like that, I’d quite like to make the most of it and get it all right.
I went to see a place last night… a bit of a flat within a flat, if you will. It’s the loft of an upper floor flat, so all sloping ceilings and the like (which I had last year and love, even if it’s not the most practical). It had a really nice en suite, a little study space thing, and quite a big main room, but was £540/month, with no parking – not even residents permits, and sharing with a young mum (which I have nothing against in particular, but might be a bit of a lifestyle clash.) So not perfect, and at that money I won’t be taking anything that isn’t.
Next on the list is a houseshare with 4 others for £400 inc bills, but 3 of the current 4 are moving out over the next few months. Makes it hard to judge what people will be like, but also means I’d have more of a say in which tenants are taken on. I’ll obviously have to make sure I’m not signing up to a joint and several contract where I’d be responsible for covering the rent of empty rooms.
One more thing. Most of you know this, but it needs to be written – Vickie and I broke up a little while ago. We’d been together for a great two years, and it was difficult to do – there are a few reasons for it, and I’m not going to write about them, it wouldn’t be appropriate, so don’t ask in a comment 
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