I don't consider myself a pro at moving house as I have only moved house once in my life but I thought a lot of people who read my blog will probably be around the same age as me so will probably be in the same situation too (first time buyer) and would appreciate this post. I know for a lot of people moving house is really hard, especially if you already have a house so you have a house full of items to move with you. Being a first time buyer made moving much quicker and easier then for other people as most of the big items we bought once we moved in. I have so much admiration for people who moved from one large house to an even larger house with children!
So here are a few things that I think help making moving house so much easier.
1. Preparation
I am quite an organised person anyway but when we started the process of putting in an offer for our house in January 2017, I started sorting through my wardrobes and draws straight away and I moved in in May! Some might call that eager but it helped out a lot. Knowing that I had sorted and thrown away all the old stuff I didn't need to bring with me beforehand made me feel much better when it was time to move. A week before we moved I boxed up all my bedroom and just kept a few things out that I would have needed over the week and it meant I didn't have to worry about anything. I know some people are very last minute and would pack their belongings the day they moved but I can't do that, it probably would have given me a heart attack when the day came! Preparation is everything!
2. Friends are life savers
Now its your first big house and you want to do everything yourself because your a big girl now... but you need help. Our friends were life savers when we moved because they helped up bring round our sofas in a van we borrowed, they helped build lots of Ikea furniture and they spent quite a few trips driving boxes between our old houses and our new house. If it wasn't for them we wouldn't have moved in as quick and it would have cost us money to pay for vans or removal services. They also make moving house even more fun because they lighten your mood when your stressing about your kitchen floor and after everything is in you can all sit in the sun in the garden and have a nice cold beer/cocktail.
3. Plan your work
I am quite lucky in the fact I told my work straight away in January that I would need a week off around these dates to move house and they were very good about that. I know some companies aren't this laid back and wouldn't give people time off work but you might as well ask and shout and scream until they agree! If both Cal and I didn't have the week off after we got the keys the house wouldn't have actually been a home for weeks. Still now nearly a month in the house and we still are adding bits to the house to make it feel more homely.
4. Getting friendly with neighbours
This point is more for new build buyers who have neighbours who will be moving in around the same time as you. We were very lucky in the fact the site that runs our development stagger moving in dates for the buyers so in our little cul-de-sac we were the first to move in on the Friday, then the following Friday another house moved in and so on and so forth. This made moving in so much easier because we had everyone's packing space to pack our cars full of stuff and when everyone came round to see the house they all had somewhere to park their cars. Now I know some places don't do this and everyone moves in on the same day (I can't even imagine...) so if you get the chance I would get friendly with the neighbours so you can find out what time they were planning on bring their vans/cars so you can try to work around each other. The worst thing would be you can't get to your house because three vans from next door are taking up the parking and the road. If our moving in dates weren't staggered I think Cal and I would have moved in the following day to everyone else since we had to the week off just to make life easier to everyone especially us.
5. It won't all come together straight away
When I imagined my moving in day I imagined every room to be perfect and filled with furniture and for it already to look like a home. This didn't happen obviously. We only had two sofas and a TV in the living room, one bed in the second bedroom and every other room was storage. It is impossible for your house to be ready straight away unless you have literally moved everything already from your old house into your new. We spent the first 3 weeks without a TV unit, kitchen table, microwave, coffee table and chest of draws. We still don't have a washing machine, blinds or curtains and wardrobes but new houses are homes in progress. I find its better to wait to buy something then rush our and buy the first thing you see because you spend more than you should on the item and it isn't exactly the one that you wanted.
I will give you a house tour soon once I feel like it is ready and we have all we need. If you have moved house yourself and have any other tips leave a comment below with them. I'd love to know how yours went!
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