The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

SingleSue

Pyxis wrote: »

Tempting though it might be to chuck out a lot of stuff, please don't go too mad, especially as you're feeling pressured.

Am wondering whether the Council or HA have any ideas about the packing service/removals etc? There may be a source of funding for such things.
I agree with Pastures, the packing service really takes all the stress out of it. Plus, things like the cardboard packing wardrobes are great, where they just put all hangered clothes straight into them, still on hangers, so no need to pack them.

Been meaning to ask, Sue, are you still doing your part-time job? You haven't mentioned it lately?

I'll have to ask on Monday.


Yes, still doing my part time job. I've been covering holidays for the last few weeks so my hours have ticked up a fair bit with the result my body has ticked down a fair bit :rotfl:

Joking aside, the extra hours has come with extra collapses and falls, I even had a collapse at work where I lost the feeling/use in both legs at the same time and found myself stranded on the floor between the 'shop' front and the back room with no customers about to rescue me.


Thankfully the total loss was only temporary and I was able to drag/crawl into the office and onto my chair and recover a bit before a customer came in.

SingleSue

ivyleaf wrote: »

I was going to look at our local adult ed brochure which came through the letterbox last month, so I could tell you (just for curiosity's sake) whether any A level courses were available, then realised that I'd put it in the recycling last week, as all the classes were so expensive that I'd never get around to signing up for anything anyway

To think that in 1981-82 I was able to do a course totally free through the WEA It wasn't an exam course, it was called "New Opportunities for Women" but it was so much fun and so interesting.

I'll carry on catching up with the thread now.

I did the first year of an A level back in the early ish 90's, the cost was £15 or something silly. Unfortunately they cancelled the second year due to low numbers and their only solution to our moans was for us to go to Ippo and start over.

Completely impossible for most of us as the start time didn't give enough time for those of us in this town to get there after finishing work.

PasturesNew

I'm going to have to pack "twice", so I'm also mindful of that.

For now I am packing so that everything that's of the same sort is together - I finally went through all my old paperwork, shredded old stuff and really got it into piles of "same stuff", then used two archive boxes to store ALL paperwork... I've got to be able to find the "house purchase paperwork" for when I sell this house - and my tax stuff/historic tax year stuff - and my "household paperwork I'm keeping as I don't know how long to hold onto this". So that's taken 2/10 archive boxes I bought. I need to find any paperwork "instantly" in the coming months... and know where it is.

I've packed away lots of linens/towels/old clothes (vacuum bags) and picked the minimum items I can "get by with" for now .... to reduce space of those items.

I'm packing first "to make the house clutter free for marketing/viewing". Then, once sold, I'll be packing things "to actually move".

Because I made my "fake bed" which has a base of storage boxes, most of which are empty ... I'll end up filling those with "what's left over, just stick it in there".

Next: it's "packing to actually move"..

I'm also having to work out what "little finishing jobs need to be addressed" - and having that little handyman (that came, and hasn't been back yet, but I believe he'll come Monday again) - and buying bits/bobs (cheaply) to "dress" the house like a normal person's house.... and clean, clean, clean comes next.

You are able to skip the "staging" and not worry about "the state of the place when you leave it" too much ... which is what's taken up my time to date.

I have to present a clean, clear, clutter-free house, with all my clutter neatly tucked away out of sight.... and live like that for 2-4 months until I get an offer... then live like that for 2 months in case they want to pop back for another look .... and ... find another house ... and try to not lose a buyer while I hope it'll all turn out all right in the end

PasturesNew

SingleSue wrote: »

... A level back in the early ish 90's... they cancelled the second year due to low numbers...

That used to happen a lot, bl00dy annoying. I joined Russian once. Cancelled after the first term due to low numbers. Got one 10 miles away and the same thing happened....

It stops you bothering....

And, many are cancelled before you start.

I think these days, if the same system were in place, with social media it'd be easier to get enough numbers.... as people share/chat etc.

SingleSue

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'm going to have to pack "twice", so I'm also mindful of that.

For now I am packing so that everything that's of the same sort is together - I finally went through all my old paperwork, shredded old stuff and really got it into piles of "same stuff", then used two archive boxes to store ALL paperwork... I've got to be able to find the "house purchase paperwork" for when I sell this house - and my tax stuff/historic tax year stuff - and my "household paperwork I'm keeping as I don't know how long to hold onto this". So that's taken 2/10 archive boxes I bought. I need to find any paperwork "instantly" in the coming months... and know where it is.

I've packed away lots of linens/towels/old clothes (vacuum bags) and picked the minimum items I can "get by with" for now .... to reduce space of those items.

I'm packing first "to make the house clutter free for marketing/viewing". Then, once sold, I'll be packing things "to actually move".

Because I made my "fake bed" which has a base of storage boxes, most of which are empty ... I'll end up filling those with "what's left over, just stick it in there".

Next: it's "packing to actually move"..

I'm also having to work out what "little finishing jobs need to be addressed" - and having that little handyman (that came, and hasn't been back yet, but I believe he'll come Monday again) - and buying bits/bobs (cheaply) to "dress" the house like a normal person's house.... and clean, clean, clean comes next.

You are able to skip the "staging" and not worry about "the state of the place when you leave it" too much ... which is what's taken up my time to date.

I have to present a clean, clear, clutter-free house, with all my clutter neatly tucked away out of sight.... and live like that for 2-4 months until I get an offer... then live like that for 2 months in case they want to pop back for another look .... and ... find another house ... and try to not lose a buyer while I hope it'll all turn out all right in the end

That was one of my comments yesterday to the boys...at least I don't have to have it in showroom condition to show people around, I can just get on with sorting, throwing and packing.

I'm looking on the bright side, at least it gives me the opportunity of getting rid of the crap that we all seem to collect for no reason at all over the years.

PasturesNew

I remember nearly 50 years ago when we moved house - and most of our stuff was packed into TV boxes... back then, with those huge tellys, those boxes were really strong and a good size! There was still one in my parents' loft when we cleared it out 40 years later (even though they'd moved since).

Big square things they were! Dad had almost unlimited instant access to them too, so they weren't hard to get.

PasturesNew

SingleSue wrote: »

...f the crap that we all seem to collect for no reason at all over the years.

... but it might come in handy!!

What has, minorly, annoyed me is that I'm throwing things out now rather than holding onto them - then a few days later needing them.

e.g. the other day I had two half bottles of anti-bac spray - so I decanted them into one, popped the empty bottle into the recycling and put the recycling bin out on the Wednesday. One week later and I'm down the shop buying sugar soap .... which you dilute with water - and if only I'd kept that spray bottle it'd have been perfect to make up/store some diluted sugar soap ready for instant use *sighs*.

Oh well. I guess I'll have to buy one from £land now...

As an owner/seller, I will literally have to clean/wash/scrub at every square inch in the house in some way, with something. Every inch will need to be hand-cleaned to perfection .... every tap, even the little rubber strip that adjoins the bottom of the shower screen so it fits the bath edge.... every bit of grout, every corner, every window, every lampshade, every skirting board, every door, every handle, every floor tile, every corner, every tiny, tiny inch of the house will need a wipe down, a scrub, another wipe ..... and polished/shone. A perfect sink every day, an immaculate bath/loo/sink every day.... worktops cleaned and wiped all the time/every time for every crumb of bread from a slice toasted...

chris_m

SingleSue wrote: »

I'm looking on the bright side, at least it gives me the opportunity of getting rid of the crap that we all seem to collect for no reason at all over the years.

Oh yes. I was able to spend over a year decluttering before I moved, which was handy as otherwise I reckon I could have needed two removals lorries instead of just one and/or twice as many trips in the car to get everything moved - and I'd then have still got all the carp that I hadn't seen/used for years.

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

I remember nearly 50 years ago when we moved house - and most of our stuff was packed into TV boxes... back then, with those huge tellys, those boxes were really strong and a good size! There was still one in my parents' loft when we cleared it out 40 years later (even though they'd moved since).

Big square things they were! Dad had almost unlimited instant access to them too, so they weren't hard to get.

Ooh! That's a point! You might find that removals firms don't like you using your own boxes, especially if they are very large boxes, because they don't know what's in them for insurance, but also because they might be too heavy; people packing their own boxes when they're not moving them themselves may tend to 'overpack' them with heavier things. The packing boxes they supply tend to be smaller.

And books, certainly, they insisted be in smaller boxes, because of the weight.

SingleSue

We had tea chests as they were readily available via work (both our companies imported tea), brilliant for all the books except when it came to moving them, a full tea chest with books is not the lightest thing in the world.