This week marked 2 years since I packed up all my crap into boxes (I am not gonna lie there was a lot of it - seriously why do you save some stuff) and me and Adam moved into our first home together.

It honestly thought that moving in with Adam would be easy. Don't get me wrong, the us living together bit is a breeze cuz ya know I'm quite fond of him and getting married and stuff but the other side of it - boys be crazy! I thought growing up with a brother who was practically the same age I would be totally ready for all the bad habits and the boy stuff but heck - its nothing! They have a lot of sneaky little habits and things that nooooo one knows! So here we go!

So as promised, I thought I would share with you my favourites of the past year. 2014 was a pretty whirlwind year with so many exciting things happening! Warning this post WILL be photo heavy!!!

Probably the best thing about 2014 is getting to spend the year with this amazing boy! I literally feel like we have been together forever (although we have been friends forever)


 Im sure you can guess what this is all about! Right in front of the castle at Harry Potter Studio Tour, Adam got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife.

As you may or may not already know - 6 months ago I packed up all the crap I had hoarded over 25 years and I moved out. Me and Adam decided that we were going to rent somewhere, mainly because we just didn't have the money for a deposit right now. I learnt and have picked up loads of tips and I thought I would share them with you all :)

• When you first pick up the keys to the house, make sure you check your gas and electric metres and take a picture of them. I did this the first day I picked the keys up and it meant that we were not paying for any gas and electric that was not ours. 

• When your boxing stuff up be ruthless. As I say I had collected quite a lot of crap over the years, stuff I had intended to use and never did, clothes I had never worn, get rid of them if you haven't used them! 

• If your moving out of your parents house you probably have little or no furniture like we didn't. Shop around and get the best deals for what you want and don't be afraid to buy from different places, it is tempting to just get everything from one place and pay one lot of postage (if you do it online) but sometimes shopping about can save you a fortune.

• Don't be afraid to visit charity shops - we have a couple of charity shops around Stoke which specialise just in furniture and you can pick up an absolute bargain. I knew when we moved in I wanted a 6 seater table so we could have both sets of parents around or more room for guests. We picked up this 6 seater table and chairs in Oak (solid oak) which also folds down to a 4 seater table if you want more room. This was an absolute bargain of £75 from our local British Heart Foundation. 

• If you want to buy furniture new - visit Ikea! We got quite a few bits from Ikea including a lot of kitchen basics which are dirt cheap, plate sets, glasses. We also picked up a lot of other furniture such as an awesome coffee table for £5, drawers for the bedroom which were £35 and bookcases for £10. The awesome thing about ikea too is that their prices depend on what colour furniture you chose. Most of their pieces come in white, black and various wood pieces. 

• Consider setting up an account for Bills. Me and Adam set up a joint bank account where we both pay into every month. We then have our all bills and rent come out of this and the left over is what we have for food. Saves us both gaffing. 

• Use apps. A lot of companies now have apps that you can use. We have our gas and electric with Eon and we can upload our metre readings and keep a check on our bill on the app. 

• One piece of electrical equipment I would defiantly recommend that you buy is a slow cooker. It is so tempting when you move out not to cook. I have never had a problem because both me and adam love to cook but I know friends who have moved out who go mad and live on take away. If you invest in a slow cooker you can whack something in before you go to work and when you get in, its done, little effort involved.

• Tying in with the above, plan your meals. I always plan everything because doing slimming world it is easier to track but I have found too that it can save you an absolute fortune! I make a list on a Saturday or Sunday of what we are going to eat in that week and then make a list for the supermarket based on what we actually need to but not just winging it! Even if I end up with a couple of extras it still saves me buying things we have plenty of.  Ive got the below planner from the Martha Stewart range at staples so we both know what we are having on what day. 

• Again in with shopping make sure you use all the resources around. With Asda you get can price check on your receipt, Sainsburys do it for you and give you a voucher if they were not cheaper. If you don't mind shopping at a different supermarket every week, download an app called My Supermarket allows you to put in what you want on your shopping list and it tells you where the cheapest supermarket is - great if your a planner who knows what they want like me. 

• Use the local amenities rather than supermarkets. We shop at a local butchers who has a massive outlet where the meat is so much cheaper than at the supermarkets! We go about once a month and stock up!