Moving House - is it just me or is there anyone else out there?

[Demented]

My DH and I took a rather sudden decision to move house about two weeks ago. We spotted a property that was just right for us and threw our own on the market, unfortunately we did not get the property we were after and ended up in no man's land, getting great interest in our own but not being able to find a property we liked in our price range.

Our area is having a bit of a property boom at the moment and our flat is now considered to be in a very sought after area (a big change from when we moved). Obviously this has been to our advantage and has allowed us to go for the 'house of our dreams'. I still cannot believe it and am waiting for something to go drastically wrong. There are a couple of hiccups at the moment, DH is partially self-employed and the rest of the time works short-term contracts however at the moment he does not have a short-term contract and we are relying on his self-employed wages which at the moment are barely enough to keep us afloat here never mind at the new place with a bigger mortgage. I really do hope he gets something soon. I keep going through it in my head that we should not be moving when he is not earning but then the property we are buying will be good for his business, on a main road so he can have a sign out front and a room for him to have as an office and certainly over the past few years (have now accepted that this is just life for us) he has not been without a contract for more than two or three weeks.

Anyway I'm going on a bit I thought if there was anyone else out there moving house we could support each other through the highs and lows and perhaps offer some advice. I have read through some of the moving threads and have to admit some of it terrifies me. We have moved before but not with two small children. I have all sorts of strange questions going through my head, like would it be OK to ask my current next door neighbour to store my EBM in her freezer for me to pick up at a later date, I don't mind throwing out a few fish fingers but draw the line at EBM, or do you think this would be a bit much to ask, she is a old dear who has never been married or had children herself, do you think she would find it a bit strange.

My mind is buzzing just now and I can't think straight and it would be nice to hear other's experiences. We are in Scotland (believe this makes the conveyancing more straight-forward) and our entry date at the moment is 25th Oct, although I think all the parties are happy for this to be brought forward a bit.

Look forward to hearing from anyone with any advice, funny stories or anyone in the same situation and we can support each other!

[SoupDragon]

We moved a short distance (15 minute drive) and the removal company moved our freezer full. Last thing to be loaded, first to be unloaded and it was fine (green light when plugged back in so not too warm). If this isn't an option, put the EBM in a box so your neighbour can't see what it is and don't tell her what it is if you're worried!

Other tips for 2 small children... get rid of them for as much of the moving day as possible! We didn't. Pay for someone to pack EVERYTHING - it's not extortionate. Again, we didn't.

Pack personal things, valuables and overnight bags yourselves. Pack a box with kettle, tea, coffee, milk, sugar, biscuits & a toilet roll to take with you in the car.

Do NOT drop your only container of sugar on your new kitchen floor - 99% of removal men take tea with at least one sugar!

We moved with a 3 yer old and a 1 yr old this January and the experience is still something we don't talk about...

[Lucy123]

Hi Demented

We're also moving at very short notice. As I described on another thread, we've been having major drain problems here which have culminted in the landlady asking us to move out so we don't have to live here when they dig up the whole garden!

We're only renting, but I've had my heart set on moving to Granada (in Spain, an hour and a half or so away from here) for a while there so we're off house-hunting tomorrow.

Dp has promised me proper removal men this time (though money will be tight as we also have to pay for removal of satelite, and for 2 adsl lines in the new house - we both work self-employed from home). We also have a bit of a gap in projects work-wise at the mo, but we have no choice. Rents are much cheaper in Granada anyway so in the long run we'll save a fortune.

But I've never moved with a baby before either and it is a bit daunting. Luckily she's a very good sleeper (though it could throw her a bit), but don't have much ebm in the freezer anyway! The whole thing just hasn't really hit me yet I guess. I'll let you know when it does.

[Demented]

Lucy123, glad to hear it is not just me. Unfortunately I am just moving a couple of streets up the road in rainy Scotland, doesn't sound as nice as Granada. I second the vote for proper removal men, we moved ourselves last time, my DH is still attending the Chiropractor to repair the damage (sure this has cost much more than a removal company would have).

I am nervous of moving with small children, DS2 will be 21 weeks (and DH wants to move sooner, we are waiting to hear). I think DS1, 3 1/2 will go to my parents overnight but we will have to think about that a bit more as that means missing a playgroup session, I am trying to keep to his routine but it may be unavoidable.

Interesting about moving the freezer, Soupdragon, we are going to look into that a bit more. We have one of these frost-free jobs that is forever breaking down in fact we are now on our second freezer (thank goodness we bought the five year cover this time) and I am not sure it would survive being taking down stairs, we are currently in a second floor flat and then installed at the new house, must get the instruction books out.

My first post is a bit garbled, as this one probably is too, a reflection of my brain just now. When I said initially this is the house of my dreams I must just say I have fairly modest dreams, however I view it as my house for life, it meets all our needs for the foreseeable future, sigh of relief from DH!

I don't have masses of EBM in the freezer either but I just couldn't bear to throw any of it out! Will try the putting it in the box trick but will probably tell her what it is as she is very nice but very nosey!

Thanks for the tips about the kettle etc, packing toilet paper to put out right away had not entered our heads but I would imagine it is a very good idea!

Keep us updated Lucy123 and I'll probably just come on here if I need to ramble on!

[Azzie]

Demented, we recently moved a short distance (within the same village) with our kids (4 and 2). We found that they took it pretty much in their stride, probably because although the house changed everything else stayed the same!

If you can get someone else to look after the kids for you on moving day, then definitely do it (although obviously your younger one may have to stay with you). I can't imagine how things would have gone during our move if the children hadn't been at nursery that day. Have you got a relative or friend who could come along and hold the baby (so to speak) while everything is happening?

As Soupdragon said, our removal men moved our freezer full - last out, first in, no problems.

Contrary to Soupdragon's experience, our move went very smoothly and we found it a pretty OK experience, so take heart - it's not necessarily a nightmare .

[Jendy]

When I moved I numbered all the rooms in the new house including the halls any small rooms and the garage and workshop. I labelled my stuff for removal either large items or boxes with a number - so that items ended up in the correct room at destination. Any boxes with essentials I marked with 'essentials'. It didn't take that long I used stickers and it meant that all my stuff ended up where it should be.

[Harrysmum]

We are hoping to move - again having found the house of our dreams only to come second. However, we're going ahead with the sale of ours partly because people seem to want to buy and we'll do very well from the sale (identical flat above ours sold in 3 1/2 weeks!) and because I don't want to live in a 2 bedroomed flat with 2 small children. We've decided to rent in the short term because there is very little out there that we want to buy and would rather buy at leisure than make a hasty decision and need to move again and so that we know just how much money we have to offer over the valuation to make sure we get what we want. It's all quite stressful (and leaving our first home seems a wrench) but worth it in the long term.

[Demented]

Harrysmum, sorry to hear you lost out on the house of your dreams, hopefully things will work out for you as they have done for us in that the house we are now buying is better than the house we originally lost out on, more expensive mind you , but better value, the first house we were paying £6,000 over valuation and would have a lot of work to do to it whereas this house we have bought under valuation (put in a cheeky offer and can't believe it was accepted) and it doesn't need any major work done!

Know what you mean about two kids in flat, it is only now that we are moving that I am beginning to think how much time is spent hauling kids and buggies up stairs and as we are in the town centre and parking is a nightmare how much time we lose walking to the car because we could not park anywhere remotely near the flat, no wonder we are late for everything!

Hope your move goes well, keep us posted.

We had the removal firm out for an estimate today, I asked about the fridge/freezer and he did not advise transporting it without letting it defrost and then letting it sit at the other end, if it was a more robust and reliable model I might try it but I have had no end of trouble with this fridge/freezer so don't want to risk it.

The people we are purchasing from want to bring the date forward about three weeks and hopefully our buyer will be happy about that too, I am starting to feel the same way as DH that the quicker we get on with it the better.

[Demented]

Harrysmum and Lucy 123, how's it going? Any progress?

We have at long last concluded the bargain for both the sale and the purchase, the last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. So many things have happened that I don't want to bore everyone with. Thankfully DH is working again (has been for a couple of weeks now), the removal van is booked and the boxes have been delivered (we just have to pack them now!). Our entry date has been brought forward to 11th October, one week on Friday aaargh!

Think I had better go now and pack something!

[WideWebWitch]

Some great tips here. I just came on for a whinge really. I HATE PACKING! AND CLEANING! Aaaagggghh! We have packed up 80% of the house and ds is away at ex mils til next Sunday (we move on Thursday) so I know it's not all bad but I stink of bleach, well, I just stink actually, we're knackered and our landlord is being a s* so we're concerned about getting our (big) deposit back even though there's nothing wrong/damaged (but there is a leak he's refusing to repair and I'm wary of being asked to contribute to the cost of the carpet even though it's not our fault and I have put this in writing). Then, even when it is packed I've got final cleaning to do and THEN we've got to unpack it all the other end blah blah, winge winge, whine whine. Feel a bit better for that, thanks for listening!

[Demented]

WWW, I hope your move goes well. My best tip would be to try and get away and leave it to your DH. This is what we did in the end and it was great, DS1 was at my parents' and DH told me to take DS2 to the creche at the leisure centre and go to my aerobics as normal, he would see me at the new house!

Oh yes and removal men, I could've kissed them!

[Chiccadum]

I must be really sad because I lurrrrvvvvvvveee moving. When I was aged 19 to 24 I moved every 12 months, after 6 or 7 months I got itchy feet. But, now even though my feet have been itchy for a couple of years I will not move again because of my girls.

If I thought dh would I would move gladly tomorrow.

[NQWWW]

WWW - I totally sympathise. Can't believe we've got to move again - 2nd time in 6 months (and 4th time in not much more than 2 years, come to think of it - which I now wish I hadn't cos I feel even more depressed). And this time its worse as I'm pregnant and feeling sick and tired. Why do our landlords seem to get the urge to return from overseas postings every time we move somewhere new? We have to stop renting, but the length of notice they gave us wasn't enough time to clinch a purchase, so we're stuck with renting again.

Just to put the cherry on the cake, if we get given notice on our next place to move out in 6 months, that will be 1 week after my EDD! (Hope I'm still in hospital).

[lou33]

I love it too chiccadum , we moved in september and it gives me a new lease of life. We won't be moving again though for the same reasons as you, but I find it so exciting.

[WideWebWitch]

NQWWW, what a PITA! We've been here 2 years so I shouldn't moan, your situation sounds much worse. Let's hope you don't have to move 1 week after giving birth. Demented, we do have removal men so I may well be kissing them

[seahorse]

Can I just add my moan www - I have to move in 6 weeks with ds (3.5) dd (1) and dog - dh is away indefinately! keeping calm about it though - getting removal men to pack its just the other end though unpacking putting curtains up etc- I also work from home so have to move all my work files contact details company address etc-and not miss any work deadlines! family live 400 miles away so dropping the children off is not an option there - family in law live 1.5 hrs away but seemed less than enthusiastic about having the children for even one overnight!

Looking forward to it though....

[tilba]

Hi, I am moving next week and we have had about 3 weeks notice. I have moved several times before with the dd's 3&4 but this time I am getting someone else in to pack, move and unpack and it wasn't as expensive as I thought. Am hiring someone to play with the children at their "new" park and the best thing I did last time was pay for someone to clean the house we had moved from. It was actually a service offered by the removal company and it was the best money we spent. All that grot behind the fridge etc etc.We could just concentrate on settling into our new houme withought feeling exhausted.