I need to fall in love again...with my home!

We're two days in to a new year and I declared to make no resolutions, instead creating a Mood Board, but I do have the intention of getting back to work this year. Initially the reason for this was for me to reengage my brain and feel of value again but also it will give us an opportunity to move house. A while back my husband's position at work, and my state of mind, was thrown into turmoil and we thought we would be forced to move to the Midlands. A nice part of the Midlands it has to be said but we didn't want to move the children to somewhere where none of us knew anyone. A bit of me thought - fresh start, new house but the reality of no friends or support soon kicked in. At the time of writing things are still not 100% but it looks more than likely that the husband will go to that area two days a week so we can stay here in Wiltshire. Although not ideal it means the childen stay settled and I can start job hunting.

So back to me falling in love again - with my house, or more importantly my home. The idea of going back to work has got me on the moving house train of thought again.

"We could get a house with a fourth bedroom - a spare room / office space we will need for all my teaching paraphernalia and a space to plan"

"We could get a house with a driveway!"

"We could move to 'the village'!"

The first thought is the crucial one as for now this is my work area and there is NO space for all of my files and resources etc that are currently weighing down the floorboards in the loft:

A crammed area in the corner of the dining room/family area/kitchen space - cosy!

I did the sensible thing and thought about finances and went online on a scary mortgage calculator. The interesting bit is the How much can you borrow? element. I furiously started typing in figures. Just my husband's salary = we'd be lucky to buy the house we are in now. The fun started though when I typed in a full time teaching salary alongside my husband's - good grief, I cannot believe the banks are still willing to loan THAT amount of money! Wow, we could move to the village into a 4 bed house with a garage - how exciting would that be? But then I checked the monthly payments. That's where the excitement stopped - yes, we could move but most of my salary would cover the mortgage, just the mortgage - nothing else. If I had to stop work for whatever reason we would be stuffed. We live where we are currently with just my husband working and just about cover the rest of the outgoings every month. However, if I get back to work and stay put we could 'live' a bit more - actually have a proper holiday with the children in the summer beyond a few nights in the tent. We could run a second car again. Be happier with ourselves. Be grateful for the fact we can even afford a house however modest or compact. And my workspace? I have a solution - we have a long garden and I've thought about a little home office at the bottom!

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