AIBU to ask you what to buy for our first home?

[feylock]

My partner and I (both 29) are moving into our first home after years of renting/living with family and student accommodation. We're going from one tiny room between the two of us to a three bed house.

We have about £1000 to spend on life improvements. We have most of the usual stuff like sofas, white goods, quality bed and television.

What little life savers do you have that have improved your quality of life in some way?

(And yes, we have a saving fund before someone asks and yes, we put money into our pension pots every month).

Robot hoover
Airfryer (doesn’t have to be ninja)
dishwasher
100% cotton bed linen!

Honestly I wouldn’t buy anything you don’t need until you’ve lived in your home. You need to live it before you know what you need. How the light falls in different rooms and which rooms end up feeling light and which ones dingy.. changes how you feel about the layout and colour schemes and everything.

Maybe you mean something like smart heating or a smart doorbell? But I think unless you know you definitely need it, live there first and figure it out.. you’ll know if you’re missing something or if there is something glaringly obvious to make your life easier.

I think very little that we ended up doing to our home we knew we wanted to do before we moved in.

Robot hoover for sure. £134 ish on Amazon Eufy refurbished site.

google home (we have 4) with smart bulbs in the lamps.

Robot vacuum + mop! Best purchase of my entire life.

I would wait until you are in. It has a funny way of showing up what you don't have already and mist need.

When we moved to our first place it needed work, so we spent money on repairs, tools, light bulbs, ladder and what was most useful was the Henry vacuum cleaner as it could cope with rubble.

When we moved to a bigger house we needed beds and wardrobes. Weirdly the thing we found hardest about moving to a three bed was finding pictures and stuff to go on the walls, they are still quite bare now as I am massively fussy. What I enjoyed most was having the space to put up wall hooks to cope with coats, bags etc.

Its boring but nice slippers. They feel good when you put them on. Our floors are concrete, and although we have carpet on the stairs its better for neighbourly relations if we don't sound like a herd of elephants.

I really love my cordless vacuum. Honestly just makes the job so easy. I guess a robot one would be ever better but there's always too many toys about haha.

Save some money for an air con unit in the summer...love ours so much!

Save some money for an air con unit in the summer...love ours so much! I think this would be a really good example of something you may or may not need though and won’t know until you move in. Unless you live in the South of the U.K. and have a south facing attic room I guess, then the chance is good.

I live in quite a similar property in roughly the same area as a good friend but her places gets so much colder than ours does. There are a few reasons for it I suppose but nothing anyone ever thought would make much of a difference. You really only know the ins and outs of property by living there.

That's a very fair comment. We're up in the chilly north but I must admit this year's extreme heat has me considering a nice cooling fan. I can't live for another summer like that!!

Also, can't believe that up to this point, I forgot we need a new hoover. That's going to the top of my list. The old died a death in the storage unit!

Honestly wait. You might well find out there are multiple dull things that need doing and cost a surprising amount. Boilers, fences, garden maintenance, setting up TVs and a ton of other stuff that has to be paid for.

Then wait and see what feels missing- it is likely to be something you haven’t thought of.

Enjoy your new home.

Another one saying wait till you've moved in.

One the main things we've spent money on are having under stairs shoe drawers built in. Because there was nowhere we could kick off our shoes without it looking super messy.

And art. But art has been a gradual thing over the years. Some bought at auction, some from galaries, one small painting that was on the wall in a local cafe. Sometines bought as birthday/Christmas gifts for eachother.

And plants. Because i love plants. Indoor plants.

So our storage drawers are similar to this

I am aiming in the long term to turn our back garden into a working garden with raised beds and all that fuss. Unfortunately with moving in during the dead of winter (exchange date is set to be the bloody 19th Dec!) there's not much I can do about the garden until early Spring has sprung. I do love my plants though.

Robot hoover
Smart bulbs
Ring doorbell/similar

I'd wait until you move in. You will find actually you need x, y and z rather than what you think.
I love our Ring doorbell, our Nest heating system. Our tumble dryer. Our airfryer, our slow cooker.
Also if you are moving from 1 bed to 3 bed you will need curtains. I woukd get lined heavy curtains, not just for black out purposes but for keeping heat in Duirng the winter or keep a house cool in summer.

Move in first, see what you feel the house needs - every house is different, it might be a particular piece of furniture, another seat, kitchen equipment, repainting or repairs. Having a pit to use is really helpful

Agree with wait, but having gone from a tiny flat to a house one thing that felt really luxurious was having a dining table. We'd never had room before! Then the unexpected things were heavier curtains and rugs because the house is cold.

The previous owners put in Hive heating which I really like having. We have Sonos throughout the house now which is an indulgence I enjoy.

I agree that there will be some maintenance or other issues that will present themselves.
Otherwise -
A safe for passports etc
New smoke alarms or at least batteries
Change the locks
A key holder

My OH and I moved from two separate homes into one, and we had 5 sofas and no wardrobes between us. 23 years later we still don’t have any wardrobes, just the couple of clothes rails we bought as a temporary measure. Wait and see what you really need, then buy it. I’d warn that “buy cheap, buy twice” - you get what you pay for, generally.

I agree with waiting to see what you actually need. Things that I personally enjoy having and would recommend are a dehumidifier, steam cleaner and a decent set of tools for DIY.

I'd second save the rest until you're in and you've been in for a few months.

My head told me to do similar with buying things when I moved for the first time in 16 years and it was 100% the right thing to do. As you live in the space you understand what you need far more.

Robot hoover
Good towels
A big snuggly throw for watching tv

If you are planning on having kids, a super king size bed (not king size). Really wish I had done this instead of going for a king size.