So…we now have less than two weeks before the big (moving) day, and it really is starting to feel like sh*t just got real house-wise. Our home is gradually being packed up be myself on my non-work days whilst the children are at school, and I’m not going to lie- it is MUCH harder than I thought it would be!
When we moved from our flat to our current house, we only had a baby Freddie, and a hell of a lot less stuff. Packing was a breeze! Another child, and a couple of house renovations/extensions later, and we seem to have accumulated a heck of a lot more. Since we exchanged on our house a few weeks ago, I’ve actually quite enjoyed have a good sort out, and attempting to be a ruthless de-clutterer. I’ve charity shopped, donated to a local preschool, binned and boxed up for storage a ton of stuff that we no longer want or need, and whilst we haven’t been living in a particularly cluttered home for the past four years, it’s made us realise how much ‘stuff’ we can live without, or stuff we haven’t actually used for a really long time.
I guess what I’m not so keen on is living among the boxes, and in rooms that are now devoid of the character they so recently had, the stamp that we put on each room to make it our own. My brain is starting to get slightly fried trying to remember what I’ve packed (despite labelling boxes thoroughly) and also what to pack and when, especially the children’s things. You know that if you pack something, a small child will suddenly need something crucial, like a doll’s outfit or a certain train! Once next weekend comes and we only have a week to go, then I think I’ll just go into binge-packing mode and be like a tasmanian devil whirling around the house and getting everything sorted.
My Mum made a good point that when she moved house a few years ago to be closer to us in London, that as soon as she took her pictures down the place no longer felt like her’s, and she’s SO right. It really doesn’t feel like ours anymore, and it’s quite a weird feeling to have, especially when you’ve put your heart and soul into somewhere. I’m also not very good living in mess and chaos, it makes me feel quite stressed and horribly disorganised. And you can see from the above picture how messy our kitchen is right now! No pretty Instagram pictures from me for a while!
However, having said all this, it’s hard to feel too negative as it’s only for a short time, and I feel really excited about getting into our new place and cracking on with the first bits of decorating! We visited it for the first time with F and S on Thursday evening, and much to our relief they said they loved it, and were excited by the ‘super-duper wood garden’ (Freddie’s words).
It’s a really crazy-busy and exciting time for us right now, and hopefully come November we’ll start to feel settled and can breathe a bit- bring on a whole new chapter!
I so could have written this myself! We are also in the middle of moving, I only have 3 weeks to pack up the whole house which I have lived in for 14 years and it is nigh on impossible with 3 children. I have clutter everywhere, boxes everywhere and so much stuff That I honestly don’t know what to do with it all. I hate the whole chaos of it all, I am starting to feel so stressed and you are so right when you start packing and taking things down it no longer feels like home. Such a strange limbo to be living in. Good luck with the move, hope it goes well and you are happy in your new home x