home ownership

"Home ownership" means owning your own house. Although the phrase "house ownership" might also seem like it makes sense, English speakers almost always say "home ownership" instead.

People who own a house are called "homeowners", while those that rent a house or apartment are called "renters".

(something) is more trouble than it's worth.

Use this phrase to talk about something that's supposed to be helpful, but actually isn't. It means that the amount of work you have to do for something is higher than the amount of benefit you get from it.

Here are some other examples of things that might be "more trouble than they're worth":

• having a personal assistant
  (If the assistant doesn't do a good job, you might have to spend a lot of time fixing their mistakes.)
• cooking
  (If you live alone, it might be cheaper and easier to order food from a restaurant than to cook for yourself.)
• using a "rewards card"
  (Stores give customers rewards cards, and give a discount after the customer has gotten a certain number of stamps. But if the discount is really low, and it takes a lot of stamps to reach it, the rewards card might be "more trouble than it's worth".)