Upcoming move to Ireland from the UK - What do I do about furniture and personal posessions?

[actiongirl1978]

Hi everyone, I hope you can help me.

My husband has just been offered a great opportunity in Ireland and we will be moving in the new year.

I am a stay at home mother and have a 3.5dd and a 1.6ds. We are in an unusual position of keeping our home in the UK as we plan to come back for Christmas, holidays etc. We will be renting in Ireland. We have relatives who will be looking after the house while we are away.

I am therefore 'person in charge of lists' and one of these is working out what I take and what I leave for when we come back to the house. We live in a much bigger house than we will be able to rent and I don't want to end up cluttered in the new house.

On the other hand, I want 'our things' around us and I suppose I am linking items to emotional stability as I am really quite wobbly about the idea of leaving my two very good friends and their children I am lucky to have here and go somewhere completely new.

So can anyone offer me any advice? What is most important to take and what I should leave behind? Has anyone else kept their UK house and returned to it periodically? What did you leave which you really regretted and what was the most pointless thing you took with you?

I really hope someone can help as I am drowning in thoughts about how to approach this and don't know anyone else who has been through a similar experience.

Thank you!!

how long are you planning to stay in Ireland - is a couple of years or is it longer - if/when you come back to live would you move back to the same places.
if its move that looks more than a couple of years I would say having the UK house and coming back quite a lot might make it harder to settle
and also having done it for a few months it costs so much to run 2 houses - you would still have to pay bills such as council tax and water

so you might want to think about renting it out and then you could rent somewhere bigger in Ireland

with stuff - declutter as much as possible no point in moving stuff you don't need or like - if you havn't come across fly lady that is a good place to start
the kids things - take stuff so their rooms can look similar - other than that they won't be bothered
other stuff I think it will have to depend on what you rent in Ireland - is it furnished etc,
and finally having moved with young children - I have found it really easy to meet people - misss my good friends of course

Hi AnOtherName.

We are going for 3 years, plan to return to the same house and my daughter will go back to the same school she is in preschool at.

There is no chance of renting our house, we bought it as a renovation job and there are too many holes, draughty windows, no carpets etc, completely unrentable. We will be given an allowance for our rent and we have worked out the cost of bills etc bar the odd detail like healthcare insurance/mobiles.

I probably should have said that my Husband was born in the area we are moving to, and so at the very least I will have his relatives to fall back on, although they are a generation above us and none have young children.

Your point about decluttering is a good one but I really have no idea where to start! I do regular declutters, I suppose I am unsure about not having access to the one thing that I need at the time - which might well be at the back of a cupboard at home!!

Also silly things - do I take a mop/washing line/plantpots/washing basket or buy them there. It is ridiculous to focus on such inconsequential stuff, but this is what worries me the most!!

And I suppose, will I miss having 'stuff' - my books, photo albums, all the things you accumulate during life. And If I don't take it all with me, how will I pass my time without having it all to clean!?

Given your circumstances, I would probably leave behind most furniture, just take a small amount so that things are initially familiar, but have you looked into whether it is normal to rent furnished houses in Ireland? If you choose an unfurnished house, I'd just blitz Ikea. A second set of furnishings is going to cost you of course, but you save money by not transporting furniture across the sea and back, you can re-sell the furniture at the end of your stay.

Thanks Natation. Is there a list somewhere of what everyone takes?

Most houses in Ireland are rented out furnished with everything included, mops, crockery etc. So would just take personal stuff, toys etc.

Most uk shops are here, bar John Lewis.

You will find it hard to find an unfurnished as it is the norm to rent a furnished house, but everything is not included, you usually have to supply your own crockery and linen etc. Sometimes you get TVs and microwaves but not always. Check out daft.ie they have all the rentals for the whole country.

Thanks Lala and Shelly. Does that include beds?

Thats interesting to know as all the houses we have on our Daft list are unfurnished. I will keep my eyes peeled to see if there are other options.

Are you both in Ireland? Are you locals or expats? I am generally quite chatty, but really worried about how on earth to make friends. My friends here date to antenatal classes and I know it can be hard to make close friends once the children are not tiny any more.

We're renting in Ireland and it was unfurnished, so it's not that unusual. Which area are you moving to? We're just south of Dublin.

I'm local but you should be fine to make friends. Join a mother and toddler group when you get here.

Check out magicmum.com - I made some very good friends through local meet ups when I moved to a new area through here.

Southcoaster.... South Dublin hopefully!!

Lala - great tip on magicmum going to google now and add it to my admin list!!

We moved here in March, DS is 4.5 and has just started school, so he's too old for toddler groups and his friends will now be from his school. As for me ... well I work from home so it keeps me pretty busy but that doesn't help on the social front.