If you follow me on social media you will probably be aware by now that my family and I have relocated from Essex and now live in Norfolk. Despite the fact we moved at the end of September last year I haven't actually written a blog post about why we moved or how we are finding it. NOTHING.

The reason for this is mainly because we had quite a lot of shit happen in great succession after moving here, it is only now nearly seven months down the line that we feel as though we are sailing through calmer seas, well hopefully anyway!

So why did we move from Essex to Norfolk?

In a nut shell; money. With me being a full time housewife and not currently earning a regular income from freelance writing there obviously wasn't two salaries being taken into consideration when we applied for a mortgage for our first house. In Norfolk our money was always going to go a hell of a lot further than in Essex. In Essex we would have ended up buying a flat most likely or a small two bed house in an area we didn't really want to live in. The prices in Essex are going up all the time! The two bed end terrace house we used to rent would be worth nearly 300k now! Our three bed detached house cost nowhere near that AND it is new. AND DETACHED YIPPEEE!

Patrick has family here with whom have always kept in regular contact so we visited Norfolk quite a lot and always enjoyed it whenever we did. It is a different life here and we decided it was the kind of life we wanted Savannah to have. Not that there is anything wrong with Essex, I am proud to be from Essex but I love the pace of life in Norfolk. I love that the locals are friendly and have time to smile at you and say hello. Even people who work in shops here are friendly and say hello! In Essex they scowl at you. Savannah has been going to her nursery in the next village for about six months now and absolutely loves it. She also has a best friend she is inseparable from and who we have met up with for a play date.

The schools are great around here and the surrounding areas are lovely, there are lots of pretty villages and green belt land as well as farms and great family days out.

Now I feel I have the best of both worlds because I can visit Essex and catch up with family and friends, have a lovely time seeing everyone and going to some of my favourite places then come home to our lovely house in Norfolk. Perfect!

Despite some of the crappy situations that occurred after moving - beginning with hubby being made redundant two weeks after we made in, BEFORE we had even made our first mortgage repayment - we have kept strong and made the best of what was thrown at us. We have had a run of bad luck including a major fault occurring in our car and Ford having it for two weeks because they weren't sure what was wrong (and me being stuck in Essex for my birthday when I had planned to be at home with my family!) Our pet rabbit suddenly dying as well as trying to keep on top of bills (especially after hubby then got made redundant again before his three month probation finished at his next job as the company had overstaffed themselves at that site.) Oh and my random sudden operation for a detached retina. It's been all go here I tell ya.

Luckily, we have been able to keep smiling through it all and just kept going. There have been other silly little odd issues like an unexpected bill or whatever and yes there have been times we have been down about it all but overall we know that you can't stress over the things your can't change. You just have to deal with each day and each issue as it presents itself.

So, we are already nearly halfway through 2017 - don't look at me like that you know it's true! next month it is the longest day of the year! - FINALLY we can start to look to the future now that hubby has a new job that he is succeeding in and I too have a lovely little weekend job which I am thoroughly enjoying. I am also really enjoying earning some money again. As well as my HuffPost Blog I now have another regular freelance job too which is great. Everything finally seems to be looking up (touch wood)

So why did we move to Norfolk? A fresh start I guess...and just as the bright weather begins to creep in, this fresh start finally seems to be brightening up too.