The one thing I now appreciate more than I ever used to is a cosy home.

I like to spend time cleaning it, making it practical yet homely, rearranging decor and burning candles/wax melts.

I like the smell of the bread maker baking our latest loaf, or the clink of the glass milk bottles rather than plastic ones.

I like putting my money aside now to save for our home improvements. For example, over the next few years we will be investing in projects that help our home become self sufficient.

To briefly explain, my family and I live in a farmhouse that the previous owners extended into a horseshoe shape around a courtyard. So we have a big but awkward home. There are 8 bedrooms in total and 9 bathrooms. However, my family lives in the original farmhouse that makes up the left side of the horseshoe. We have 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. We have separated our house with a lockable door so we are at no risk of people wandering in.

The entire house is run on one oil boiler that is temperamental to say the least. We also only have one hot water tank that’s enough for 2 normal showers.

This year’s investment is to open up the chimney and replace our small, non-efficient open fire with a wood burning stove. In theory we will go from about 30% efficiency to 80% efficiency with our investment!

Also, now that I’m working from home and Bertie will be home on the days I’m not working, we need to ensure the house is warm. Something that it never seems to be!

Next year or maybe the year after, we plan to separate our house with its very own heating system. We have solar panels so think that an electric boiler could be the way forward. As we do this we will also replace our upstairs bathroom and have an electric shower put in.

So, as I age I have started to appreciate how making a house a home is time consuming and costly. But it’s also so worth it.