Moving House: Empty Box Idea: Ice box

I'm always one for wanting to try something out before I tell you about it, which is why this post has been sat in my drafts for a while.  However I think I'm going to have to admit defeat - the kids have gone back to school (well will have by the end of the week), I won't have a day off with my husband now until October and the sun seems to be intermittant.... I don't think we'll be having a BBQ any time soon (maybe next year).

Moving House: Empty Boxes

Well we're unpacked (sort of, in a fashion).  Don't you hate those first few months in a new house, everything had it's place in the old one.  Yes granted that might have been in a box but it was in a box in THAT cupboard, you know that one you no longer have and now you have that box sat on your bedroom floor because you just can't work out what to do with it now.

Anyway I digress, what do you do with the empty cardboard boxes?  Well if you are us you spend a sunny (well it was until we got outside when if kept drizzling on us) Sunday outside building a castle.

I asked Noah to take the boxes outside

Moving House: Last Minute Questions

YAY you have finally got the keys and can move in ..... but first things first .... here's some last minute questions to ask the seller/ previous tenants that may help in the next few weeks....

Just a quicky

Just a quickie to let you know what a fab time I had tonight at the Panache bloggers event.  I'll be letting you know all about it just as soon as..... However tomorrow I am moving house so may not be checking in as much, and certainly no time to write until the weekend,  which is soo annoying at I have so much to tell you.

And I apologise for the formatting. ...I'm writing this on the app which is awful (and won't even let me add photos where I want them)

Moving House: Involving your children on move day

Moving in T- 4 sleeps.  Actually moving day with the kids is not going to be too painful (she says giggling knowing she will be in work!).
Both boys are at school, unfortunately this means hubby will have to pick them up at  3 o'clock and they will be under feet after that time. So around about unpacking the van time unless we can find/ bribe someone to look after them

So just how do you cope with moving with little feet around?  Hopefully this guide will help whether you are going 10 minutes up the road like us and have them for half the day or whether you are going hundreds of miles with them in tow all day long.  If you can think of anything I've missed please mention it in the comments for others to see.

Move Day is drawing closer.....

After what seems like years the contracts were eventually signed yesterday and we get the keys to the new house on Thursday.  Typically it's this week that I have no chance what so ever of getting time off work so will have to trust the men to move everything .... a very scary thought.  However I have boxed or bagged pretty much everything to within an inch of my life so it should be easy enough for them,  I've also saved a huge box for dumping any last minute bits in on Wednesday night (after I get back from my bloggers night out... great timing eh!).

It's amazing just how much stuff you can hide in Attic eves and toy boxes, seriously who would have thought we would have sooo much stuff - and that's before you start taking the furniture to pieces.

And of course in the last week...........
.......... the kids have got orange paint over the upstairs playroom carpet
........... the husband has melted candle wax into the bedroom carpet.
............. the oven has broken down
...............I can't sleep!
................The job I've been waiting to be advertised finally has been.

Moving House: Move Day

Even without any kids to bring into the equation there is still LOTS to do when moving house on Move Day.

Whether buying or renting this guide should help you prepare (even it everything else goes wrong...)

Make an essentials box/es

Yup I mentioned it in the kids post and I'll mention it again as it's the most essential element.

Pack a moving-day essentials box containing snacks, kettle, tea, coffee, milk, sugar, mugs and spoons.  Don't forget to add loo rolls, general-purpose cleaner and any medication you might need, it's always a good idea to add paracetamol/ ibuprofen too, just in case.

Make sure these boxes are either unpacked first or travel with you so they do not get lost.
If you are making more than one trip you may want to buy a cheap kettle to have one for each house. It can be very thirsty work!

If you are making sandwiches do these in advance, buy fruit and have bottles of water to hand, personally I find it easier to have a good cooked breakfast in the pub and snack during the day or have normal brekkie and pop to Greggs or Subway for a takeaway lunch.

I'm still here......

Yes, despite my best attempts to move house I am now having to unpack boxes as I go along due to still not having a completion date,

As you will know moving out has been a contentious point for us.  Our new house contracts keep being delayed and we have made both our landlord and Blundells aware ever since our notice of tenancy ending came through that we would not be out by the date given.   All along they have said that's not a problem and, up until 3 weeks ago, we were told we'd be able to stay here as long as required (long story).  Come the week of the tenancy ending and they took back this word and expected us to move out.  Well like it or not they were not making 2 small children homeless so we went .... no where... and still remain in the property  and will do until the keys for the new place come through.  We have offered to pay the landlord rent (we have tried to keep this an amicable situation all along) but as we currently have no legal contract this is impossible.

With no clear completion date I am already feeling as disorganised as can be.  My "who to contact list" is impossible to do as how can I give someone my new address or re-arrange my utilities when the papers haven't been signed yet?

So you can imagine my surprise the other week to have a voicemail left from Yorkshire Water telling

me Spark Energy had called them on my behalf (a company I had never heard of) to tell them my
husband was moving out and could I confirm that I was too.  Either way they had stopped my account with them and could they have my forwarding address to send the refund too.

ERMMM - is someone winding me up????????

Moving House: Packing

I've touched on this subject in other posts but it really deserves to have one all of it's own.... after all I'd say a good 70% of the things you have to do is pack.

Speaking from experience there is nothing worse then bad packing.  Last time we moved we thought "how hard can this moving thing be?!".  combine that with 2 small children, parents who work 7 days a week between them and no one on the scene to babysit and actually it becomes a pretty big challange.

We bought loads of those huge re-useable bags from Tesco, Hobbycraft and other various locations and, along with lots of nappy boxes basically stuffed them to the top with books.

Then we got loads of re-usable plastic crates and filled them with anything we could find as we went along.

There was no method to the 'packing', no consideration of where it'll go the other end (I labelled a couple of boxes) in fact there was no planning went into anything.

Clothes were pretty much left on  hangers and dumped in a corner to go.

lampshades, lights, and anything to big for a box well they landed in another pile.

Then hubby told me a week before we got the keys that he couldn't get the day off work to help me move house!  But it was ok because he had around 5 friends and our neighbours to help (one who had a van).

So on the day of the move (with no one in sight) I set off with the boys to get the keys ..... and wait for someone to come and help move.  (but anyway that's another story in itself)  Lets just say moving day (which turned into moving week) was a complete and utter disaster and had me crying in many many corners.   Had the packing been done properly it would have been a far smoother operation.

Moving House: Books for kids

As I mentioned in my post about preparing children for a house move (here) one of the ways is to read stories with young children as a way to discuss their feelings and concerns.
My boys are HUGEEE Topsy and Tim fans so when we discovered "Topsy and Tim Move House" it was an instant addition to our collection.

Topsy and Tim: Move House (Ladybird)
Join Topsy and Tim as they prepare to move house with Mummy and Dad. In Topsy and Tim Move House, the twins are moving house but there is a lot of work to do. There are curtains to take down, toys to pack and pets to look after. It is an exciting time for Topsy and Tim, but Kitty, their cat, isn't quite so sure about the move...

But this got me thinking - what other books are there around?
Here's some of the ones we found - perhaps you have some other tried and tested suggestions?

Moving House: Involving your children before the move

My boys are really looking forward to moving house, probably because it's to a familiar location (road we used to live on) and closer to their schools so aside from a new house nothing else will really change for them.  We've involved them along the way, making no secret of the fact we are looking for a new house and for Noah (4 years old) he's even been able to come along on viewings with us.  However it can be stressful and distressing if children are leaving their friends, schools or a home that they've always known (we've only lived here 18 months), it's a great idea to ease them in gently and keep them involved before the move.

A lot of the moving tips below are useful whether moving small distances like 2 miles up the road or longer ones, such as trekking across oceans.
  Hope they help.

Top Tip for Moving #3: Label your cables

This is a fab tip from the team at Big Yellow Storage Company that is soo simple ..........

Top Tip for Moving #1: Eat a good breakfast

Whether it's the day of the move or just a day of packing everything in sight it's a great idea to start with a good breakfast..... hey who am I kidding - any day is a good day to start with a full cooked breakfast.

Moving House: Changing your address

So much to do...... so little time.....

  ....... I've made mine into a word document with my supplier and the cancellation/ change of address method that I need to use.

But I thought I'd post a basic list here........ Have I missed anything??

Last time we moved I was so busy I didn't get round to changing any addresses.  Fortunately I subscribed to the Royal Mail redirection service (fees apply).  Unfortunately for me this was rubbish and I know of at least 15 items (I know of) that they delivered to our old property that I was managed to get back.

Moving House: A quick guide.

So technically we are going to be renting again but with the really weird twist that we've been involved with the buying side of moving house too.

It's stressful but in a completely different way, I have no control over anything.  I cannot go and shout at someone when they take too long completing paperwork, I am entirely at the mercy of our friends solicitors.

Moving House: Decluttering

Whilst packing for our house move I'm having a massive Declutter session. This is resulting in boxes of packing and (almost as many boxes) of things to sell. In fact I've probably got enough for a car boot sale.... if only I have a car with a boot to be able to do it with! I remember when I was little we used to live on a really busy road and me and my sister would spend Sunday afternoons with a table in the front garden selling our old toys, gone are those days. For 1) it is probably now illegal (most things are) and b) I live on a side road with my kids so it's not got as much 'traffic' as other roads. To this end I am left with only one other option turn to the Internet.

I've currently got my 'clutter' listed on Sheffield Forum and Preloved - with some items on ebay. I hate ebay it takes so much in fees but sometimes you need items gone (a bed) and you have to take the last resort hit.  I also use Gumtree but won't pay to boost my listing after so many days which means I spend time copying and pasting it onto another advert to re-list.

I have hundreds (and I mean hundreds) of kids books to sell. I am so reluctant to give these to a charity shop after the way I have seen some of them deal with 'leftover' books.  I'd really prefer them to go to a home that will love them as much as we do.  Biggest problem is ...... I really don't want to have to post them.  Not only does Paypal take a % of the selling fee but then you have the post office to queue up at, the materials to post, and ........ well you may as well have given them away.

Anyone got any great hints or tips?

Moving House: Let the saga begin again.....

Long standing readers of my blog will remember back in 2013 when we were forced out of our old rental house and had to move to a new one (no?  read about it here).    In the last 18 months we have taken the shell from a run down house (with mould on the walls and ripped wallpaper) to somewhere we love to call our home.  3 months ago we finally finished (with the landlords permission) decorating the kids bedroom.... just for (a month later) a letter to hit our doorstep ....... the landlord was selling our house and we were to move out at the end of our tenancy (May).

Tuneful Tuesday - Madness "Our House"

It only felt fitting that this weeks "Tuneful Tuesday" should reflect the stress of moving with the memories of houses and homes.  Who better to sum it all up than Madness and "Our House".

I am sharing the lyrics and a link to a youtube clip to the song (this has been selected at random and is not sponsored or hosted by me).

Anyone who has followed my ups and downs the last few weeks will know just how close to my feelings these 2 lines are.  They just about sum up how I have felt by 10pm  8pm  6pm  2pm 10am every day.

 "Mother's tired she needs a rest

The kids are playing up downstairs" 

If you have a song that holds memories or that you simply want to share with other people let me know, I may just feature it.

Moving .... one more sleep (ish)

EEEkkk - we get the keys tomorrow.  Well when I say 'we' I do of course mean 'I'.  Hubbys boss has kindly said he can have Sunday off (but not Saturday ... I won't repeat what I called him!)

So tomorrow I will be getting 2 very excited very hyperactive boys ready to go and pick up the keys, I will apparently then be expected to concentrate while they tell me lots of very important things while trying to keep an eye on said 2 boys who will be climbing the walls of the estate agents.

It will then be across the road to B&M to buy:

- New towels

- New crockey

- New Kettle

and onto the house........ to clean it.

Moving..... another chapter in the saga of stress

Why do companies make moving soo hard??

I'm not asking the world?  I would like be able to be a successful full time working mum who does not have to phone a premium rate number (or a not-free phone from my mobile) to be able to cancel a service or to arrange another one.

Lets look at the journey so far (we'll take Blundering'dells out of the equation for a few minutes, I'll update on them shortly).


Sky (TV, phone, broadband)

Use our online Move application they say....."We know that moving can be stressful, so we have a dedicated Home Move team to help.   Simply fill in the online form and they will call within 36 hours to get everything moving........... except they don't!!!

A week later when you phone (not a quick call - will be posting them the phone bill when it arrives) to track the progress as you've had no communication you get told they did call - amazing, as the phone didn't ring and if you had called why not leave a voicemail??
   Given that when Sky desperately wanted to sell me something a few months ago they phoned once an hour every hour for a week I find it very hard to believe that with something this important they would only phone once before closing a case.