This
is more of a journal entry than my normal posts. Normal blogging will
resume ... when I have the internet!
I
never really understood why people think moving home is stressful.
Packing up a room full of stuff to take to Uni was usually done in an
afternoon. Now that The Boyfriend and I have moved out properly into
a flat I understand and I NEVER WANT TO DO IT AGAIN!! When
I'm stressed, my ears feel weird and my back gets hot. Strange
symptoms I know, but close friends over the past few days!
I've
learned a few things about moving home now too.
Lesson
#1 – get a BIG van!
We
hired a van to move our stuff. It was a huge transit van, which I
thought would have TOO MUCH space! Haha! We secured The Boyfriend's
motorbike against the side, then put the bed in and I wondered how on
Earth we were going to get everything else into the half-a-van that
was left!
We
loaded all his stuff first because he had all the furniture, so by
the time we got to my house there was about a 2m x 0.5m gap at the
back. I kept thinking, “I'm NEVER getting all my stuff in there”!
Fortunately I'd downsized a lot and the boxes I had weren't as big as
I remembered!
Lesson
#2 – check everything works
When
we arrived in Bristol, we pretty much just unloaded all the stuff,
turned round and went back to Cornwall because we had to take the van
back. Two days later (Saturday) when we returned, we realised the
toilet had been leaking a trickle of water into the bowl, possibly
for the entire two days! Argh! Water meter! Hopefully
this should be sorted by the letting agents... Hopefully.
Lesson
#3 – never trust Jools
Long
story short, we decided to keep Jools the Peugeot. The cost of running him home to Cornwall every now and again was
pretty similar to the cost of two hugely expensive rail tickets, even
with the Young Person's Railcard discount.
After
returning the van we put the last of our belongings into Jools' boot
and set off for Bristol. We got almost to Devon before a bodged
repair on a radiator hose started leaking coolant, meaning I had to
pull over on the grass verge of the main dual carrriageway through
Cornwall (The Boyfriend didn't mind – we were opposite a Subway!).
After waiting for breakdown recovery (a worthwhile investment if you
drive an old car) we were taken back to my parents' so my Dad could fix the car. He
drove us to Bristol the next day (thanks Dad!) but we are carless for
now.
Lesson
#4 – life without the internet is very difficult
“Most
questions are answered on our website. Please go to www. ...”
Ever
noticed how EVERYTHING is online these days? It does make life a lot
easier, but if you don't have an internet connection it takes longer
than ever before to get anything sorted! Registering that we've
moved, setting up utilities, or even finding out what day the rubbish
is put out on – we keep getting referred to websites that we can't
access until our internet is set up. You
even need the internet to GET the internet!
So
yes, I'm currently fairly off the grid. We've come to a coffee shop
with free Wi-Fi in order to try and get everything sorted out. I
wrote this post sitting on our bed (we don't have a sofa yet!)
surrounded by half-unpacked boxes and piles of clothes, wondering how
long it will take for a wardrobe that I can't order yet to arrive!
Blogging
will return to my version of normal soon-ish. I'm trying out lots of
tips for saving water and power.
10 comments:
Good luck with everything, it will be so exciting to get yourself sorted and learn about your new place.
Sounds like fun. Don't worry, it will all come out right in the end. A brand new start, yipeeeeeeee
You have my utmost sympathy; we moved three months ago; only a mile away but it was our most stressful move ever. What I learned:
1) Go to the doctor for sleeping tablets when you are getting just 6 hours sleep a night, not when you get down to 3!
2) If utility companies muck you about, demand compensation. Virgin Media and npower both loused up BIG time and I got £40 from npower and £60 from Virgin. I'd rather have had them do their jobs properly, but it all helps.
3) Help all your friends move and then they turn up trumps when you move. We had 30+ different people help us. Fabulous!
Nice article, thanks for the information.
You have so much to look forward to!
Lots of good advice recently.
Those 100 non-spend days are a real triumph!
And I am too planning for Christmas.
Sft x
Moving? I love it, and I hate it! All the hassles of the packing, cleaning, selling the house (in our case), organising all the utilities, organising the children, aaaargh! But on the other hand, it is an empty canvas on which to paint a fresh picture, and I love that aspect of it. We had moved 5 times in short succession before we came here, and we have been here for just over 8 years now, so I do get slightly tingly feet occasionally now, but they are not quite itchy yet - I think I have a couple of years yet, I hope - at least until my younger DD is finished in secondary school!
Moving out for me is stressful thing to do. Requires a lot of effort and strength to pack and unpack things, you can even ask your friends to help you. Or better yet hire a removalist to do all things, check websites for their services.
Joseph @ removalist sydney
I agree with that BIG van. Hiring a truck big enough to fit all of your contents in one hit is a big help. That way you may also minimize green house gas emissions because you don’t have to make multiple trips!
Great Post. Removalists in Sydney Sydney Removalists Removalists Sydney to Brisbane Cheap Storage in Sydney Removalists Sydney to Canberra Australian Business Directory
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