There's been absolute radio silence over here for almost a month now and ... it's been kind of great. So great that I toyed with the idea of quitting blogging completely, but I really found myself missing it at times.
1.) A council tax reference. What is one of these allusive things, and why does it take so long to come through? If you need a parking permit for where your new home is you'll most likely need a council tax reference in order to obtain one, so it's best to get in early with registering your move with the council.
2.) Contents insurance. As a tenant your belongings are not covered by the home insurance that your landlord has. So, if the house gets broken into you'll have to replace anything that gets stolen out of your own pocket.
3.) A TV license. I'm still not over the fact that you now need one just to watch BBC iPlayer.
4.) A tonne of cleaning products. Polish, bleach, surface cleaner, bathroom cleaner, cloths, dusters, the works.
5.) Something special to get stains out of carpet. I love love love cream carpet, but alas, my clumsiness doesn't, and making a big stain without carpet stain remover on hand is practically my worst nightmare.
6.) Pots, pans and oven trays of various sizes. I was all set to make a casserole yesterday, until I realised my largest saucepan would only fit about half of the bloody recipe in.
7.) Condiments of all varieties. Salt, pepper, herbs, spices, ketchup, mayo, etc. etc. A home isn't a home until you can eat your favourite meals in it right?
8.) Endless amounts of storage. Clutter is so not on trend right now.
9.) Lots of snuggly jumpers and cosy bed socks, because you'll be paying for your own heating now, durr.
10.) A handyman that can come out and fix all the tiny things that go wrong for free so you don't have a meltdown because your dad isn't there to fix it anymore.
11.) A toolbox, because IKEA furniture (to my surprise) doesn't come with its own toolkit.
12.) A print-out of your local recycling/bin service days.
13.) A cork board to put all of your important notices up, to remind both yourself and everyone else you're living with.
14.) People's addresses. How are you going to send Christmas cards otherwise?
15.) A place of your own within the house. Even though you've just moved in with someone (probably), it's healthy for you to admit you don't need to spend 24/7 with each other, and having the space to be completely alone and do your own thing is important.
16.) A clear out. Go through your things before AND after you move to make sure that everything you have is something you need or want. I found a random assortment of cotton buds/tiny tweezers I never use and an iPod that's over 8 years old, water damaged with a 'crazy cats' cover on whilst unpacking today.
17.) A talk about all the boring/essential stuff with who you're living with. Who's account will bills be coming out of? How will the living room be arranged? Is everything going to be split in half financially or will it be shared according to your salaries?
18.) A kettle, toaster and microwave. These are just must-haves for any kitchen
19.) Doormats, so that you don't drag the outside all over your new inside.
20.) And finally, plenty of rest and food to get you through the unpacking, furniture moving and DIYs of the first few days!
Have you moved house recently? What would you add to the list?
Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube
I have got some major news for you guys. Me and Tyler are officially moving into our first home together on Friday *squeals*. That means no more grotty student houses, or living in a one room outhouse that his parents own. Hallelujah. Although we've been living together for a good three years now, we've never been living on our own, so it's still quite a big step forward in our relationship.
We're so ready to finally have a place that is just ours, that we can fill with little bits and pieces that mean something to us, and (most importantly for me) that we can host our first Christmas as real adults in.
Almost everything is sorted out now, and a finalised contract between us and the landlord just needs to be signed in the next few days and then we're ready to get the moving truck (thank GOD my uncle owns a plumbing company haha) down to our new place. Once Friday is over, Saturday will see us making a lengthy journey to go to Bristol's IKEA and pick up all the new furniture and decor we need.
You see, I've been super organised about some things. I know what I want to go in each room. I've got my deposit and first month's rent ready. I've booked the time off work that I need for the moving business. I've even gone onto IKEA's website to look up all the furniture I want and jotted down the price to get an estimate. The one thing I haven't done? Started packing. Yep, I have four days until moving day and packing is non-existent. The one saving factor in all of this is that we only unpacked half of our stuff when we moved out of student housing - everything for the kitchen and a few other bits went in the loft and haven't been touched.
With all this organisation, why haven't you started packing yet Steph, I hear you all muttering at your screens. Well, because packing is something that massively triggers my anxiety. Even the thought of it makes me want to shove the idea of packing into the tiniest corner of my mind so that I can (hopefully) forget about it. You see, my anxiety is largely based around the notion of being trapped, but it's more of a psychological entrapment than a physical one. For example, being in a lift or on a packed train doesn't really phase me. But, the idea of leaving my home and not being able to go back inside it for a few hours, ergo being trapped in the outside world, sometimes gets my hackles raised.
The notion, therefore, of having to 'trap' my belongings in boxes, shut them up and then not be able to re-open them or make sure everything is packed properly stresses me out completely. Let's not even talk about leaving something behind, and trapping it in a house that I no longer have access to! So, I decided to write this post partly to procrastinate from packing of course, but also to create some tips both for myself and for all of you on how to deal with anxiety based around packing. Anxiety affects everyone in different ways, but hopefully these tips will be broad enough to help a few of you.
1.) Have an action plan. Packing up an entire house is a mammoth task, and can(/does) feel completely overwhelming. Planning can help make that task a little bit easier, and as an added bonus, it's the perfect excuse to procrastinate, hehe. Seriously though, deciding what you're going to start packing, what you're going to leave until the last moment, and what bits and pieces are going to be packed together will take a weight of stress off when it comes to actually packing.
2.) Start with one room and move to the next. About a year ago I made the mistake of starting to read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Now, I'm not saying it was complete bullshit, but basically yeah. It advised you to work with themes rather than rooms, e.g. collect all of your makeup together and then sort through it, deciding what you do and don't want. Now, this is all well and good until you've boxed up all of your makeup and then remember that you've actually hoarded a set of lipsticks in a random place you've forgotten about. You see how this can start to go off the rails? So, stick to one room, and package everything up until you have packed everything you can and then move to the next room. Starting with your least necessary room is always useful: a spare room or conservatory is a good one.
3.) Declutter as you go. This is something that I always manage to do when I'm moving. Set up one bin bag for charity shops bits, one for the bin, and have a box for things you're keeping. This really helps in not feeling shitty when you get to the other end and have to unpack everything wondering why you bothered to pack Dinosaur Top Trumps when you didn't really need it.
4.) Get a friend or family member over to help. My sister is my go-to for this (and everything really). I'm pretty appalling at organising myself so she stands there, sharpie at the ready, and tells me what to put in what box, and helps to get things ship shape. Sometimes it really helps to have an extra pair of eyes. And someone to join in on snack breaks, obvs.
5.) Put your favourite music/TV show on. When I'm doing something that makes me a little anxious, I like to have something on in the background. My go-to is Youtube videos. I can tune into them, and tune out of my anxiety. I think having something extra to focus on can really help.
6.) Take time out to pack effectively. Packing in a rush after an 8+ hour day is always going to suck, anxiety or not. Packing on your days off, or booking a few in order to do it will help keep your mind free of work related stress (hopefully) so you can focus on the task at hand without being over tired.
I really hope these tips were helpful! What do you do to make your packing less anxiety-ridden?
Follow me on Bloglovin | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | Facebook
