Good luck on finding a place! As Amsterdam is pretty crowded and affordable accomodation could be scarce, you might be better off looking at places around AMS instead, I can recommend Haarlem as a good place to live.
Accomodation in/around Amsterdam is generally somewhat more expensive than the rest of the country, just be prepared for that. You could try Googling for 'huurwoningen' (houses for rent) and the name of the place you're interested in. You'll get Dutch language results that way, which might be good practice for you!
