Moved house and totally lost

dandy-candy

Well we finally moved in to our new house 2 weeks ago and I'm still all muddled!
I had such plans for how this would be a good time to pull up my socks and start new diets, cleaning regime etc. Instead I don't know where I like the furniture, all the curtains need shortening, I haven't moved more than about 1/3 of our stuff in, there are no pictures or mirrors up yet - and worse yet is I'm not keeping up with the immediate chores like cleaning, washing clothes or meal planning!

HELP!! Can some super organised people give me tips on coping with a new house move?

Linda32

Hi,

Give yourself a chance! I shouldn't think you are 'keeping up' with cleaning and meal planning. Heavens above

Meal planning is only something us lot have made up anyway

Have you found the wine yet or kettle, depending on your preference?

On a more serious note. Exactly what needs to be done first. Look at that first, and breath.... It is one of the most stressful things to do.

Best of luck and I hope you eventually enjoy your new home.

monnagran

You poor dear love. Stop stressing at once andresist any urge to beat yourself up. It takes ages to get everything sorted when you move. Nothing has a home yet so putting things away just can't happen.

Now. Take things in little bites. The phrase "baby steps" could be made for you.
Choose one small area, even a cupboard will do, and get that sorted. Unpack what you want to put there and get it arranged. It will make you feel better and you can keep going back to look at it.
Make sure that you have one corner to relax in. A group of comfy chairs with a coffee table can be an area you can keep tidy and retreat to for a restvand a cup of tea when it all gets too much.
Then one room at a time. Don't worry about where furniture will go. You can always switch things later. The main thing is to get rid of the wretched boxes.
Leave diets and meal,plans and such, plenty of time for that later. Make things as easy as possible. Ready meals and take-always won't hurt for a short while.

It will all get sorted but it will take time.

Good luck.

jackyann

It always takes a good while to get organised in a new home:
Try to make sure your general diet is reasonably healthy, without making too much of it.
Clean what bothers you most, and do the rest as you get organised.
You will want to move stuff around, change it about. Enjoy doing that and thinking about how you will organise things and live happily there. The rest will follow.

gentlepurr

Im living in my 12th house at the mo, (and looking to go through the whole buying and selling again before too long, lol!) and totally understand where you are coming from.

Moving to a new home is a really exciting time, and over the weeks you have spent so long dreaming and planning, but you have to remember you need to stop, take a breath and learn to walk before you can run. You need to live somewhere for a while before you start really"seeing" whats going to look right where, or what is going to be the most practical use for spaces and furniture. Only by living in it can you see where is light and airy, where needs warmth, which rooms are going to be more practical (i move my dining table into the kitchen in the summer, and back to the dining room in the winter, for example).

Spend some time enjoying the anticipation of it all coming together, and less time worrying about it

Be happy xxx

pigpen

curtains... fold them up and either staple or duct tape them where you want them to be.. its temporary but if it makes you feel better do it!

meal planning.. regurgitate an old one..


Washing.. one load every day... it takes 5 minutes.. if you sort as you take stuff off you know which pile is biggest.. do that one..


pictures and mirrors are clutter.. ignore them for now. I've lived here 11 years in July and still have a box of pictures to go up and have 3 mirrors to go up.. 1 I've had 6 years the other 2 I've had 10!


if you've lived 2 weeks without the rest of your stuff do you need it? can it just be sold as house clearance??

My priority would be clean the bathroom and kitchen.. then get your bedroom as you want it.. so you have a hygienic place to eat and bathe and a comfortable place to sleep.. the rest will come together..

Shortypie

It hung my first picture up on the way through the hallway the day we moved in - as there was a nail in the wall and it got the picture out of the way - I didn't put another picture up for 6 months! We moved the week before Xmas (and did the moving ourselves - knackering!) The next day I was at work, moving offices - knackering! Then it was Xmas hols and had all the kids around me. One year on, I still haven't got straight! :rotfl:

As long as you are able to prepare food, I would concentrate on one room - I started with our bedroom, then at least we had a "haven" from the mess.

moneyistooshorttomention

I will echo one room at a time and trying to keep one room "normal" whilst its all going on (or as near to as possible - which, of course, depends on whether you are having to renovate the house and live in it at same time).

In hindsight - I would have focused on healthy eating more than I did in recent move - as the "grab what I can" eating ended up going on for months (courtesy of combination of house renovation and my income had gone down temporarily for nearly 3 years:mad:). That wasnt good idea - as it made me feel worse and resulted in extra weight to diet off when life settled.

If its a new area to you - make it a priority to find a couple of nice bits of countryside, a place to eat/have cup of coffee out and a couple of friends as soon as you can. Exploring the area and making some more friends to be done when you can.

If its a new area - check out what health facilities there are asap (esp. if there are less). If its an area with less facilities - finding at least a couple of friends asap is even more important (as its harder to live "independently" in an area with fewer facilities).

If its a new area - then, if its rural or semi-rural - finding a good taxi firm promptly is high up the list - as the public transport won't be up to much.

GreyQueen

Hell, I'm pretty darned organised and I still had several weeks of chaos after moving from a slightly-bigger (but not by much) one-bedroom flat into this absolutely tiny one. And it was exhausting, because I still had to go to work.

You can't decide the best configuration of the furniture until you've lived in a place for a while, so put it down somewhere for now and accept you'll be moving some of it later. You may even be getting rid of some pieces and replacing with other. And you can't get pix/ mirrors up until you've decided where to put the furniture, so regard that as the cherry on the cupcake of the move.

Curtains being too long isn't a critical problem, shelve that for a few weeks or months or ask for help if you have sewer who's willing to do you a favour.

Above all, try not to spin live a dervish or you'll exhaust yourself and may get ill. These things take time. So long as everyone is fed and you've got enough clean undies, anything else is gravy.;)

Siebrie

We moved 4 years ago into a property that was being renovated. We moved in as soon as the bathroom was finished. Two bedrooms, the bathroom, and the (awful) kitchen were kept neat; I was 8 months pregnant at the time We did the normal housekeeping, and a little extra every day. Eating properly was priority. Not until a year later, did I unpack the last boxes, one per evening. Not all pictures are hung on the wall, not all lights are in place, not all paintwork is finished, but we will get there. As the girls get older, they can be instructed to play elsewhere, where before they would want to 'help' - not a good idea when painting doors!


What I'm trying to say: we have a priority list, where 'liveable house' is high up, but 'perfect house' is somewhere at the bottom, way below 'healthy eating', 'exercising', 'socialising', and 'limiting stress'.

PasturesNew

Linda32 wrote: »

Meal planning is only something us lot have made up anyway

OP - this is the reality.

When moving into a new home it's good to decide on the day what you'll be eating.

I never meal plan. I've no idea what I'll fancy later today, never mind tomorrow or next week! I eat what I fancy when I can be bothered to pull it together.