Moving On Up…

Hi everyone!

I hope you’ve all had a great start to the week! I’ve come back to work for a rest, after a hectic house move! Rich and I have left Berkshire, and are trying out Oxfordshire for size – looking forward to having a bit more room in the house, and a bit more countryside around us!

I can’t lie, moving hasn’t been one of my favourite experiences. When we moved into our first house over four years ago, we had the easiest time of it, so I hadn’t really mentally prepared for what was ahead this time. Four years ago, we were essentially moving two childhood bedrooms into a two-bed house, and since we were both coming from our parent’s houses – there was no real time limit. I remember the day we got the keys, posing for a photo outside the front door with a full face of make-up, hair straightened, little black dress – proud as punch of what we’d achieved. This time we were uprooting ourselves, plus a house, plus a garage, plus a hutch, plus our four little animals – so the photo the other end was one with two tired faces (although Rich did manage to carry me over the threshold…chivalry’s not dead here yet!) both without make-up, and both without any signs of shampoo being used – the joys of selling and buying, hey!?

I have to give all credit to our outstanding family removal squad – they worked their little socks off for two days to get the job done – and we were so grateful. I have promised dinner to all involved, once the carpets have appeared, the cupboards have been filled, and the boxes have disappeared – I’ve told them to keep the diary clear for April 2019.

We moved in last Thursday, so Friday was our first full day in the new house. The day where you can’t find anything you need, and realise how poorly you’ve packed the boxes you thought you’d been really organised with. I had labelled virtually every single kitchen box as ‘fragile’, and hadn’t really bothered to write the exact contents of each box…so the word fragile lost all its oomph, and we had no idea where to find plates, cutlery, mugs or anything of any use. (If you’re concerned for the welfare of my moving team – I had taken mugs, teabags, and the kettle with me in the car to ensure nothing of true importance was lost en route – I’m disorganised, but I know how to keep the workers happy!) I also packed the bathroom poorly, so had no idea where to find my electric toothbrush and my plethora of dental accessories – but fortunately my dental nurse brain forces me to carry a spare manual toothbrush and travel toothpaste in my handbag for these emergency situations, so no sleep was lost – although flossing was put on hold for a day…

So, for the last few weeks, the bite guard has been back in to protect my poor teeth from my stress. It’s the one thing I could hand on heart say I knew where it was – the last thing I needed was to end up back at work mid-move to have a broken tooth repaired(!) I remember blogging about this move in one of my first posts back in August, saying how stressful it was back then. If only August Amy knew what was coming. If you feel you’re a clencher when life gets stressful, it is well worth a conversation with your dentist – bite guards are a simple, yet really effective method of protecting your teeth from themselves, and can usually be made in a couple of short appointments.

—————————————————————————-

So, knowing what I know now – here are my top ‘moving house yourself’ tips…

– Know, without a doubt in your mind, where the kettle, mugs and teabags are at all times. From my experience, caffeine free workers are not happy workers.

– Do not over use the word fragile – it will only lead to questions being raised about what you actually consider to be fragile. A box of chopping boards for example, is not fragile.

– Keep a toothbrush on your person at all times – moving house is no excuse for poor dental hygiene.

– Be accurate with your labelling. ‘KITCHEN’ on 15 boxes isn’t helpful. Neither is the word ‘GLASSES’ scrawled underneath – champagne flutes just don’t cut the mustard when you want to chug a quick glass of orange squash.

– Know where your mirrors are. This one might only apply to me because I’m vain, but having to do make-up in my car, rather than my warm house, was not a welcome start to Friday.

– Hire a removal company.

I hope you all have lovely rest of the week, and a fabulous weekend!

Amy x