Move it yourself
If I had a pound for every time someone said to me ‘Oh, so you’re just going to carry your stuff down the road?’ when we announced we were moving around the corner, I’d be rich. And I had ABSOLUTELY NO INTENTION of doing this. Because round the corner or the other side of the country, some things are just too big and too heavy to carry down the road.
When we moved into our old house back in 2004, it worked like a dream. Packers packed for us and the next day they came back and moved everything for us. Just like that. Nothing forgotten. Nothing put in a neighbour’s garage or my mum’s house. Nothing carried down the road.
This was what I wanted this time round. But it wasn’t to be.
We had the packers and the removal men, but it didn’t really go to plan. Things were moved in various different directions and plenty of things went missing. Having forked out for removal men once, we couldn’t really do it again, and they hadn’t really done much to redeem themselves first time round. And anyway, a lot of our stuff was already at the new house in the garage and we’d been surviving with the minimum of possessions for seven weeks. How difficult could it be to move it yourself?
We started off bright and early on moving day. Well, it wasn’t bright. It was still pitch dark. My husband, my daughter and me carrying her bed down the road, with me still wearing my pyjamas.
It was a lovely, sunny day and we were all feeling positive. We went backwards and forwards up and down the road carrying all of our things – the washing (still hanging), bags of food, bags of towels, duvets and pillows, cushions, mattresses…
My husband and I carried our double mattress on our heads, which wasn’t easy.
We got an awful lot of smiles from the neighbours and passers-by. What could be nicer than a woman and her 10 year old son carrying a load of washing on some clothes horses down the road, or the same woman and her husband balancing an armchair on their shoulders?
I emptied the random boxes packed by the packers – a whole box of toys with a single pair of shoes in it. Why not just pack a box of shoes? A lid from the Denby teapot in a whole box of medicines and first aid stuff? Why not just pack it with the rest of the Denby?
We were so pleased with how well the move had gone, that I actually COOKED THE TEA. This is despite the fact that it is The Law that Thou Shalt Always Eat Takeaway When Thou Moves House.
It was about 4pm when we carried the armchair down the road.
‘This is the way to move,’ said my husband.
At midnight the following day when he was STILL moving, I think he may have changed his mind slightly.
Move it yourself? Carry your own stuff down the road? Just say no, people.
Haha moving yourself down the road sounds like hard work especially if you’re having to carry it all yourself. I guess the positive is that you’re not having to pack absolutely everything into boxes. Hope the unpacking is going well!
Oh, but what a good way to meet your new neighbours 🙂
Oh no! Love that pic, too.
Haha, I love this post. We are about to do the same thing! We have some of those rolly trolley things but not sure how useful they will be when it comes to moving the wardrobes…
hahaha! Great post! That photo of them carrying a load of washing made me chuckle!!
haha! We’ve been there! Packing up the boot 7,000 times and getting my husband’s rugby team round to lift the heavy stuff! It’s stressful but always pretty funny! lol xx
Lucky you, moving down the road. This will not be our case as we need to move closer to a good secondary school. Hopefully we will find a nice place soon.
Oh I hear you. When my husband and I moved from our rented flat to our first ever house (ehm, where we are still living now) we still thought like students. We rented a van and got his mother (who can’t lift things) to come and guard the van while he and I moved all our stuff. Boy was that a mistake! My husband had refused all offers of help, but by about 9pm we were on the phone offering my services as a babysitter so strong men could come and help empty the van. When we were done my husband said: well, I hope you like the house because we are never ever moving again.
Wow, you are obviously one very tough cookie! Well done to you all, but as you say – never again! Wishing you every happiness in your new home x
What a terrible service you got, you should ask for some money back! Moving is hell, I am still recovering from our most recent one in August.
Congratulations on the (relatively) painless move. It sounds as though there were no serious breakages, and that you’re mostly unpacked. That’s the bit that took us all the time – we were still opening boxes years later!
Grace thinks this is quite funny and Lucas thinks you should’ve have camped out in the street and made a base camp with all your stuff – that would’ve really got the neighbours talking……… #pocolo
Oh bless you guys – I have been reading your moving stories and have enjoyed them so much. Good Luck with everything #pocolo
Glad the move went well and I wish you all the best in your new home.We moved to the next road and using just the car was hard enough.
The last time I moved house I was almost 9 months pregnant so we had movers do it for us. It went surprisingly well, the movers put everything in place and we didn’t really have to think about anything. Well that is until the two days after we moved in when my eldest decided it was time to arrive. Two Weeks Early! Let’s just say I wasn’t ready. 😉
Glad your move went well. xx #PoCoLo
You’re going to carry your stuff down the road? haha sorry couldn’t resist that one 😉 love this picture, I can just imagine you carrying it 🙂 I hope you have everything this time where you can find it ?
Haha bless you all! I am dreading the actual moving part so much that it is almost enough reason not to move house at all! But at least now you are in your dream house, you shouldn’t have to do it again for a very long time! Xx
A couple of years back we moved around the corner too. I spent hellish days filling up the car and unloading while the movers took the big pieces. Great photo!
I absolutely hate moving house. I’m never doing it again! I always found it once of the most stressful times of my life! x
awww this brings back memories!! we moved round the corner so almost everything got carried round by us!…. we got some looks lol #pocolo
Crikey! This is so ruddy brave of you! I probably would have tried the same thing – Removal companies don’t half charge a fortune! Thanks for linking to PoCoLo x
Thanks very much for your lovely comments, everyone 🙂
Good luck, Gin! It’s not for the faint-hearted – hope your trolley helps!
Good to know that a few of us have done it. We won’t be moving ever again, either, Judith!
Nell – the boxes are doing my head in, not surprised you left some of them for years!
Good job your baby hung on for those two days, Morgan!
Cooked while moving??? Nooooooo. I feel your pain though. We did the move your own things down the road once. We were young, we had fewer things, we really believed it will be easy. The next time we moved down the road we called a moving company.
Hopefully by now you’ve gotten it all moved and are enjoying the organising everything 🙂
#PoCoLo
That clothes horse photo is priceless! Good luck in your new home 🙂 #pocolo
Thanks very much, ladies!
I don’t know what I was thinking of with cooking, Orli! We kind of thought we didn’t have much to move, as a lot of it was already in the garage of our new house. How wrong we were! I think ‘enjoying’ is the wrong word, but we’re getting through it!
The photo is great, isn’t it Lisa? One of us carrying an armchair would have been even better!