When saving for a first home the sacrifices can be challenging.
The six items you’ll find in every Sydney home
In this day and age, when so much of what we hold dear is either pasted on social media or stored in a nebulous cloud in cyber space, it can be difficult to figure out exactly what we find meaningful.
There is still one place where solid memories and mementoes live on – our homes. Especially if you haven’t cleaned the garage in the last seven years.
But how much do those mementoes reflect your geographical location? Presenting now, for your edification, the top six things you’re likely to find in every Sydney home.
A “green” supermarket bag
You had the best intentions when you bought them. Photo: Louie Douvis
You told yourself you’d re-focus your efforts after watching The War On Waste, so you went out and immediately purchased 17 of these environmentally-conscious bags from your local supermarket. But, in a tragic turn of events, you keep forgetting to take yours with you when you do your grocery shopping.
So, there they hang, on the laundry door, or the bottom of the “bag draw” while you mentally wrist-slap yourself every time you arrive at the check-out.
Several heaters of varying efficiency
We are never, ever prepared for winter.
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It happens every single year – winter. And with it, the strange feeling of being cold. And yet, somehow, it’s always utterly shocking to us. “Pray tell, what is this freezing liquid which falls from the sky?”
We are never prepared, ever! So we run out and get the cheapest heater we can find, just to tide us over, because it’s probably just a cold snap and it’s sure to get warmer in a day or two. And when that heater dies because we’ve kept it turned up to 11 when it only goes to a 3, we shove it in the closet, and buy another, just to tide us over until the weekend, when they predict this icy cloud cover will lift.
We do this three times every couple of years and what do you know? A nice little heater collection is all stacked up in our homes. Ditto umbrellas, to the power of 1000.
Beach paraphernalia
Boogie boards, beach shelters and snorkels. You’re likely to find these items in a Sydney home. Photo: Boutique Brollies
Speaking of umbrellas. There might be a beach umbrella or two stuffed away in a dusty corner. More likely, you have yourself one of those beach shelters or shades that you ruefully remember setting up on a scorching day, while your spouse sat there on one of those round towels that were supposed to make you feel hip, only your spouse was embarrassed by your incompetency and general character as a person.
There may be a boogie board or its equivalent in your garage. And then rashies and half-used sunscreen and flippers and goggles and snorkels, because underwater sight-seeing seemed like such a romantic idea before you looked down one day and freaked at the amount of jelly fish bobbing so close to your leg.
A ticket stub or wristband from the first meaningful concert you attended
That ticket stub is all you have to remember that you were once young and you knew what was cool. Photo: Edwina Pickles
It could be from the first time you saw Whitney Houston perform at the Entertainment Centre, or as it is fondly remembered by Generation Xer’s, The Ent Cent. Maybe it’s from The Sydney Cricket Ground where you saw Pearl Jam or U2 or INXS, (or an actual cricket game!). Maybe it’s from the first time you saw Bjork or Powderfinger play at the Horden Pavilion. It could be Lou Reed at The Metro or Vince Jones at The Basement.
Whatever it is, you live with the understanding that neither the venue nor the artist as you knew them exist now. That ticket stub or wristband is all you have to remember that you were once young and you knew what was cool.
Recipe books covering all the fads
And you cook from them probably about once every five years. Photo: Supplied
Jamie Oliver’s first one – check. Luke Nguyen, because you went to Red Lantern 10 years ago and you also went to Thailand once and you just really dig Asian flavours. Pete Evans before he went paleo –check. Pete Evans after he went paleo – check. That person who won MasterChef back when you watched it – check. A sugar-free one. An organic one. A blood type one. And you cook from them probably about once every five years.
An expensive scented candle
You’ll definitely light it one day. Photo: Jennifer Soo
One day you’re going to light it. And on that day, a real estate agent will come knocking and value your home at three times the price you were dreaming of and, as she’s preparing to leave, she will turn and ask you, “Um, what is that divine smell?” At which point you’ll bow your head, blush, and tell her, “Dunno, it’s written in French.”
