The Big Decisions in Life

There comes a time in everyone's lives where you have to make some big decisions. To be honest, most of us will have quite a few of these decisions to make - ones that may have a massive impact on the rest of your life. It may start with what subjects you want to study at school, whether or not to go to university, and if you do go what degree to take. It may get real when you decide to move out from your parents' house (and sometimes when you have to bite the bullet and move back in).

For me the first of these Life Changing Decisions happened when I was about 18 years old and I decided I wanted to go to university in the UK. I applied to several, and got a bit upset with each declined application I got. When I got my first (and only) offer I was delighted and so excited. You see, in the process of applying I had met a guy. I had gone to London to take a test, and I had chatted to him a lot online before hand, and when we met it was love at first sight, and I was very excited about the prospect of getting to live in the same country as him. He was my first serious boyfriend, and I was head over heels in love. I moved straight from my dad's home to university halls, and life could not have been any more different. But I enjoyed it.

Two years after first meeting this guy I had another Life Changing Decision to make when he asked me to be his wife. It was one I had already thought about, and it was an easy decision to make, and today that guy is my dearly beloved husband and father of my child. I won't bore you with even more of my life story and further Life Changing Decisions. Except the one I'm facing now.

It may not be as serious as moving out of your parents' home, moving to a different country or deciding to spend the rest of your life with someone, but it's a big deal. We need to move. We need to find a bigger home for our little family as our current one simply is not very toddler friendly, and we're heading to that stage at a record speed.

Finding a house we like (and most essentially can afford the mortgage of) isn't necessarily the hardest part. Houses in our little town come on the market relatively frequently, though when they do they also tend to sell quite quickly. This time around, however, I have a more personal problem that worries me when looking for a house. My brother- and sister-in-law are looking to move to our lovely town from about 20 minutes away. Their budget and what they want in a house is very similar to us. So I'm very worried we will end up falling for the same house, and without knowing ending up in a bidding war against each other. I know I would be gutted if I really fell in love with a house only to end up visiting it frequently when they move in. I know it's just a house, but it's just something that niggles on my mind every time I see a house. Especially as I know my sister-in-law really wants a house (which is at the top of our price range) which I too absolutely adore and would love to live in. I have deliberately not looked too much at it (or any other house around at the moment for that matter) because I'm worried we'll "take their house" from them.

Stepping carefully through the house market.