Cuppa and a Chat: How To Stay Positive When Buying A House

All photographs via the Design Sponge Sneak Peek series.

Ha! The people who know me well and read that title will be spurting out their coffee onto their computer screen right now. You see, I haven’t been the positive or optimistic lass I usually am of late. Instead, I’ve been a nervous, anxious ridden numpty who daren’t look at the direction of the new house incase everything goes wrong. It doesn’t help that we can see it from our bedroom window across the other side of the valley!

You see I’m pretty good at offering 5 positive things to do every week, if they include skimming stones and baking cakes, but when it comes to the nitty-gritty I falter. But hey, I’m only human.

All photographs via the Design Sponge Sneak Peek series.

You see, this house we are planning to live in and own feels just too good to be true. It not only means we will have more space than we are used to in our bedroom, lounge and kitchen but we will also have two extra rooms, one of which will be an office. It also has two rooms in the cellar (albeit dark and dingy – I imagine utility room awesomeness), it has an open fire, lots of lovely light and outdoor space so we can finally get a dog. Oh and it is in Hebden Bridge. It basically means the world. THE WORLD.

So you can imagine why I’ve swapped my regular English Breakfast brew to Camomile, why I now sleep 4-5 hours a night instead of 7-8 hours and why I have treated my under eye grey circles to a Lancome concealer.

All photographs via the Design Sponge Sneak Peek series.

Nevertheless, throughout the past 6 weeks, I’ve learnt a few tricks and tips along the way on how to stay positive when buying a house. As we are still awaiting our completion date, I thought I’d share my thoughts!

1. Stay busy. I feel pretty fortunate to have thrown myself into work lately, it really is helping with keeping my mind of house stuff. Instead of waking up thinking of the house, I’ve been waking up thinking of my new jobs. Hurrah!
2. You are not alone. Lots of people go through the house buying process and have made it through to the other side. You will too.
3. Look after yourself.  I can’t reiterate enough how important it is to take care of yourself with a good diet and exercise during this time (and all of  the time of course!). Great foods that fight stress are avocados (perfect on toast for lunch), blueberries (add to your cereal) and snack on vitamin-rich almonds.
4. Stay away from negative folk sharing their bad house buying experience. I’ve heard lots (and lots) of stories and it hasn’t helped at all. Yes, you do need to be a little prepared for bumps in the road but you can’t worry or deal with them until they happen, so there is no need to be filling your brain with negative things.
5. Take each day as it comes. Stay organised, chase up your solicitors, estate agent and bank. You pay them big bucks for this and they will be used to frantic emails from their customers.
6. See the big picture. You are a lucky so and so to be able to have these kind of worries in today’s climate. If it all goes to pot, book yourself a holiday and start over again. Stay focused and try not to be overwhelmed. In the end, friends, family and memories are what is important; your future home (wherever it may be) is out there waiting for you.

All photographs via the Design Sponge Sneak Peek series.

Do you have any tips for staying positive when buying a house?

♥