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[quote=Anonymous]This was us in our starter house! You’re already not seeing or feeling the payoff for your hard work when you come through the door every night, so yes, sometimes treat yourself in small ways so you don’t go insane, but otherwise save, save, save whatever you can for your next downpayment. I don’t see this happening anytime soon, but should interest rates go way down again like they during the pandemic, refinance your mortgage and put any extra money towards that downpayment for your next house. Also know that the unsexy needed maintenance spending you’re doing is making the house way more comfortable than it would be otherwise, and anything big eventually shows up in your real estate listing, which gives buyers confidence in your house—especially first-time buyers who might be your market.

Make the house as sweet and cozy as you can, but skip expensive cosmetic changes you’ll have to leave behind like recessed lighting and custom window treatments and put the money into things you can take with you to your next house like artwork and accent furniture. See if there are any rooms, nooks, or hallways that can be given a new purpose, to add to the feeling of space, utility and newness. In addition to the above, I also decluttered like crazy and rearranged my rooms as if I was staging the house to sell. Going Home Edit levels of ocd in my pantry and closets really made the house work *for* me instead of against, and made it feel a lot bigger and better. Those are also areas that can look totally modern and clean-lined, without it feeling incongruous to the architecture. Added bonus when you move into your next house and enjoy tons of space because you didn’t immediately fill it up with crap you’ve been schlepping around since college.

Remember that the point of this current house is to learn some lessons about the minimums of what you personally want in a house to be happy, and to build equity that you can roll over into your next, much better house. Be comfortable but don’t spend $ turning it into an expensive perfect jewel box. I don’t know what your price point is, but often at starter house range, when you eventually go to put it on the market it needs to look as basic vanilla eye-roll hgtv as possible taste-wise, to appeal to the largest number of buyers.

Hang in there! You will look back fondly, sooner than you think, over your sweet little first home together. Wishing you all the best!

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TL;DR: 3 different ways to love where you live, that worked for me: (1) remember the unique function it plays, serving as an investment in your future while simultaneously meeting one of your most basic needs in life, right now; (2) place beautiful things around your home that make you happy, so those little moments of joy are around every corner—make sure they’re transportable to your next house; (3) experience novelty and improved utility by rearranging furniture, repurposing spaces for completely new uses, and decluttering. [/quote]

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