“I’ve just moved house and I’m struggling”…….Anyone else?

[SoosanCarter]

I thought I’d start a thread for those of us who have just moved and are overwhelmed by what needs to be done. I know I’m expecting too much but I can’t help it.

last week I moved house to a different part of the country.
The house isn’t a fixer-up, more of a doer-up.

The kitchen is a homage to the eighties, the en-suite is very tired (with carpet!) and connects to not the nicest bedroom. So I need to move the access.
Admittedly the house is very clean, but the previous owner obviously didn’t understand what vacant possession is. She left her toilet brushes! Crap in the garage and in the loft. It needs a skip. She was very elderly and probably thought she was helping.

I know I’m trying to run before I can walk, but I’m someone who wants things done yesterday. I’ve organised appointments with kitchen and bathroom fitters and a carpet place.

I wake up in the mornings and long for organisation and sanity. I don’t regret the move but I’m just feeling so overwhelmed. I can’t find places to put stuff.
I leave messages with handymen but they don’t reply.

I’m due my bus pass in a few months; last time I moved was 27 years ago into a new build and it was just fun.

Would anyone like to join me?

@YukoandHiro were 5 months in. I wouldn’t say I’m ‘over it’ but I do feel a little better. I know exactly how you feel, I still really want to sell and move but the house is more liveable. I think once you start to see progress (no matter how small it is) you will feel a little better. We got our front room skimmed and redecorated so we have somewhere nice to sit, we’ve started stripping wallpaper in the bedrooms and I think now I’ve seen one room transformed it’s given me hope for the rest of the house. Have you hung any pictures up or added things that will make it more homely until you can get the work done?

I wake up in the night and feel sick thinking I’ve made a terrible mistake. There’s so much more to do than I realised, I’ve moved hundreds of miles away from a lovely home and friends and the enormity of it is hitting me.
there’s no going back now.

Don't forget the old saying about 'how to eat an elephant'. Just start a big project file and write everything down you want to do, even the small things that you can achieve easily.

I can't afford to do my bathroom until I've saved for about two years, I just bought the new towels. I'm in a terrible mess here but once the decorator has been, at least I can move everything back into the rooms, then I can buy some furniture. I can't face having carpets and will just make do with the few rugs I've got. It will all come together eventually! :)

I moved into my house 5 months ago and it's been such a shock to the system. The filthy cold space I moved into was not warm cosy home I had viewed at Christmas. For a start the boiler had packed up and had to be replaced. I don't know how I got through that first week but five months down the line I have new boiler, new kitchen, garden refenced and conifers removed, and one new window I'm honestly too exhausted to start on the decorating but I have to do it myself as the money is dwindling fast with all the extra jobs being thrown up. Finding tradespeople has been the worst. The emotional cost has been high and it has been hard to adapt to a new area. I still travel to my favourite petrol station and supermarket in my old town. That will have to change but at the moment it's comforting and familiar. I do hope I continue to eat my elephant one bite at a time.

Being a similar aged cat lady to the OP, and planning to move next year, I'm watching this thread with interest.

I'm very attracted to the idea of buying an small country cottage doer upper type property with a wildy, overgrown garden which the cats would love. But do I want to hassle? Would a new build be better? Will keep reading this thread for a reality check.

I’m with you, Chara.
Yesterday I managed to get someone to fit the cat flaps, fix a bookcase to the wall and replace two horrible light fittings with mine.
At least now I can think about letting the cats out.

Just discovered yet more leaks in the roof/chimneys 😓.
A few weeks ago I discovered brown water marks all over one of the bedroom ceilings. One of the valleys was completely crumbling away and lots of the ridge tiles were loose so it had been soaking through for a while.

Now I've discovered the front bedroom walls are soaked on the other chimney breast and the coving looks like it's on its way down. I'm glad we've discovered it now as it's the next room on the list to be renovated (for our toddler).
We're going to have to wait until my DP goes onto night shifts so he can get up on the roof and start fixing it.

The previous owners said they'd had the roof overhauled and the valleys re-done. Yet more lies by the looks of things. I wouldn't mind if they'd been struggling, but they were loaded and this house was just a spare that they hardly used anymore!

decorators are nearly done - honestly the difference it's made is amazing, really helping to erase the last owners and make it feel like ours, very expensive but well worth it as we would just never have got around to doing it all, and wouldn't have done as good a job really. I really want to do the bathroom next but the reality is that will have to wait for another year probably - not the end of the world but the more I look at the current bathroom the worse it looks!

Poor cats though haven't been impressed, we don't have a cat flap here so they've been stuck in with the decorators whilst we've gone to work, it gave one of our cats stress induced cystitis so that was an emergency vert trip earlier this week :(

I think you’re right, it’s all about erasing the previous owners.