My oldest son is moving out this week.  He has, bless him, been saving for ages and with some help from my parents and a pretty big mortgage 🤔 he is buying his very own flat.  It is a really exciting time for him and he can’t wait, I don’t blame him really.  He’s already dreaming about having his own bathroom,  not having to share with anyone and being able to get up what time he actually wants to get up, rather than having to get up at a time just so we can all manage to have our allocated bathroom slot on weekday mornings.  Does your household work like that too? Ideally we all want to get in there sometime before half six but that doesn’t happen when there’s four of you.  Saying that he sometimes has to get up between five and half five, depending on when he’s working…

I think it’s really tough on our children when they want to get on the property ladder especially round this area.  It’s stupid.  He was hoping to be able to buy a house but in the South East (within reasonable distance of the M25 and London) you couldn’t get a two bedroomed house for less than about £280,000, in fact I don’t even think you could get one for that.  In London it is even more expensive.

For this reason he is buying a flat.  It’s two bedroomed  so he will have a room for his gym equipment and any other bits he needs.  He’s buying on his own as not in a relationship so good luck to him and well done to him for having the ambition and perseverance to get there!

I have mixed emotions, obviously I am really proud of him for managing to save up and having the ambition to buy his own first home, but equally I will miss him being around so much.  He’s only moving about ten miles away so I’ve told him he needs to pop back every now and again for dinner and to say hello!

I was chatting to my Mum and we thought it would be nice to buy him some things just to start him off- things that he might not think of getting.

My Mum has got him loads of things so far, including surface cleaner, bleach, cream cleaner, wipes, cloths, sticky stuff remover, sandwich type bags, Scissors, foil, cling film, black bags, washing up liquid, washing up brush, hand wash, kitchen roll, dish washer tablets, bathroom cleaner, limescale remover, toilet cleaner, loo roll, shower cleaner, shower squeegee, tissues, toothpaste, oven gloves, tea towels, chopping board, bottle opener, cheese grater and potato peeler.  Phew what a long list,originally she said she was only going to get him a few basics.

What a lovely Grandma she is 😊 It’s a pretty comprehensive list so I thought I would get him things he will need for the food cupboard. I don’t want to get him too much, not because I’m being mean but because I think it’s quite exciting when you first move out from the family home and it’s nice to kind of choose what you want, rather than someone else choosing for you.  After all that’s what standing on your own two feet is all about isn’t it?

These are some of the food items I have got so far:

Teabags

Coffee

Sugar

Salt 

Pepper

Vinegar

Baked beans

Tinned soup

Tinned spaghetti

Tinned tuna

Tinned sweet corn

Salad cream – he loves salad cream!

Tomato ketchup

Tinned tomatoes

Gravy

Oxo cubes

Peanut butter

Marmite

A couple of pot noodles

chilli flakes

I’ll get a few other bits as well but that’s something to start with.  I’ve also said I’ll get him a coffee table as he wants to get a really nice one, obviously I’ll let him choose!  He wants to go for a really  minimalist vibe in the flat – in the living room he only wants a corner settee, a coffee table and tv and in the bedroom, just a bed with a bedside table and lamp each side.  That’s it!! That’s not a lot is it? I wish I could be more like that, this house is full of STUFF.  I’m terrible, I don’t like throwing things away in case it comes in useful one day, I wish I could be a bit more ruthless and have just the stuff we need,  not the stuff I buy because I like so many things!

Guess my son doesn’t take after me in that respect, actually he does, he’s forever buying new clothes.  We have ASOS packages through the door so often the postman probably thinks we have got shares in it!