Firstly, I think it is almost certain that Liz and I will be moving into a flat in the city centre. After all I am 25, so not that many chances left to squeeze in some hard core party time before I have to start thinking about responsibility and the cost of my mortgage. There seem to be some nice looking places in Leeds that meet most of my criteria – i.e. large(ish) living area, at least 2 big double bedrooms and a kitchen that you can actually use, but they do come at a price premium. This means my budget for nect year is going to be pretty tight, even with my pay rises and bonus.

This leads on to my second decision. I am going to ditch my car. I worked out that it costs me between two and three thousand pounds a year to run in insurance, maintenance, tax, petrol etc which I just can’t afford if I live in the city centre.

The money would be better spent on bus tickets and car hire when using a car is unavoidable (holidays etc).

So it is going to be the end of an era. I have owned a car since before I could drive and have always loved the independence and freedom that owning a car brings. It is going to take some adjustment, but it actually isn’t that bad. My car has eben in the agarge this week getting the handbrake fixed so have had to catch the bus to work and back everyday. Whilst it adds over an hour a day on to my commute time, it doesn’t feel that much. In fact, the time I spend on the bus is time I loo forward to. It gives me time to listen to music, read books and write notes etc for artcles and blog posts. All stuff that I never had time for before.