What Sophie Said

Before moving to London, my only experience of living with strangers was in my first year of university, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Before my move to London in August this year, I had been living alone. I loved living alone. The freedom. The space that was totally my own. The chance to be ‘selfish’ – as in, to do what I wanted, at whatever time I wanted. Not having to run plans past anyone. Not having to share any rooms or cooking equipment. Not having to think twice about having friends over. Being able to wander round the house or cook or shower at all times, on those nights I can’t sleep. Can you tell I miss it? I absolutely loved living on my own. However, that’s just not an option now I’m in London. And don’t get me wrong, my living situation could be much worse than it is. My room is big, my rent is reasonable (BY LONDON STANDARDS), and the other people in the house are friendly. I’m also the only one who uses the...

Slap on the wrist for Sophie, I didn’t press publish on my March challenge post! So now I’ll combine the challenge and results in one, which is great because it was a big fat success. The challenge was to properly begin our house hunt, narrow down our options, and put every effort into finding somewhere to live. For a bit of background, Andy and I lived together for two years whilst at university, then made the sensible choice to both move back home whilst we job-hunted after graduating. I started my job in September, then Andy his in about November. And whilst we fully intended to then find somewhere to live, life gets in the way a bit sometimes and the weeks rocket by. Anyway, just over a month or so, enough was enough. We were ready to have our own space again, and my parents said they could tell I was frustrated by having less independence, and that I should really get a move on and push forwards. After that decision had been made, it was like things were put on fast f...

At the beginning of our second year of university, Andy (my boyfriend) and I made the decision to move in together and commute to and from university. We settled on Darlington – a half hour train from each of our universities – and moved in at the beginning of September 2 years ago. Now, university is complete and we have temporarily moved home whilst we start to find our feet in the world of jobs, but two years of private renting has taught me a good few lessons. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made, but I’ve definitely learned some things for next time I leave home… British Gas and Sky will never, ever be on your side This was obviously the first time I’ve had to deal with bills, utilities and the like, and I was a bit unprepared for just how unhelpful the customer service departments at big companies can be. British Gas regularly tried to overcharge us, and when we moved out demanded an extra £200 that I knew we didn’t owe. Sure enough, about a month ago,...