Firstly, happy new year!
Secondly I’m happy to inform that we’ve moved into the new place and that’s where I’m bashing this out today, my first blog update for the year from my new office.
Of course getting everything from point A to point B was not without incident(s). Why should I think that moving house at any time was going to occur without hiccups?
Our latest house move was a family affair
Yes as much as I like to give them stick, we’d be stuck without my in laws. Especially since both Baz the father in law and Trev the brother in law brought both their Colorado utes complete with trailers, ropes and straps. Between the three of us (and the occasional hand from Jackson my son) we got all of the big bulky stuff over to this new place over a weekend. However along the way..
-Trev’s oven blew up the night before he arrived to give me a hand. Now obviously me moving house has zero connection to his oven, but shortly after he shared that story, the rest of the family arrived and shared their tale of woe. Or in this case, roo.
-Yes on their drive to help us out, a kamikaze kangaroo took exception to Baz’s incredibly useful ute and jumped straight into it. At some speed. As you could imagine, the panels where the animal threw itself into have seen better days. After hearing that, I was really hoping moving house bad luck didn’t happen in threes..
-It ended up being a bee’s privates away from a 40 degree day (that’s 104F for those playing overseas). Combined with a steep driveway, a carport full of junk and lots of things to move of all sizes, you could imagine how good everyone was looking after a couple of hours on the job. Luckily I’d thought ahead and had a slab of water on hand for hydration.
-Even though our new place is just 900m away from the old one, I lost track of how many back and forth trips we did in the end. And to their credit, no one grumbled. Well I did, but not loud enough to hear.
-Figuring that most of the hard work was done, I gave myself a full day to get the last little things. One day turned to two, then two to three because every time I opened a cupboard, there was more stuff. Oh god, so much stuff. So much more than a family of four should probably have.
Also I’ve praised my Mazda 6 plenty on these very pages but boy oh boy did I wish I had the wagon version on hand to make moving house a touch less painful.
-I’m sure the ladies at the local tip know my name by now given how many trips I’ve made there. Likewise the charitable staff at the local Salvos. When it comes to my family moving house (again), both those businesses come out big winners!
-Having sold all my shares to furnish a bond for this new place (and I was going so well too :/) I’m now thinking I should invest in companies that make ibuprofen. Because boy has my back and the rest of my bones appreciated them at the end of some very gruelling days.
But now we have a working house, a shed full of stuff and a garage full of stuff. So much washing and sorting to do. But we’re here!
The new house – connection pains
‘Getting the net up and running shouldn’t take more than an hour.’ -Me being stupidly optimistic again. In the end it took two days and a bloke called Mick to come into the house and test the plugs to find out: ‘You’re not connected. I’ll just wander down the road and hook you back up again.’
Now I’d understand if this place had been empty for a bit but we literally took over from another family moving out so why the internet suddenly decided to unhook itself was anyone’s guess. The good news is that my little office here has a network line installed which leads back to where my modem router sits. I think this is the first time my computer has had a direct connection to my modem in years.
‘I didn’t realise it was so big.’
As blogged about earlier when the adventures of moving house were formulating, we ended up selling quite a few things on Facebook marketplace. Of course I was flooded by scammers and of course I gave them both barrels every time they came out of the woodwork.
And I’d like to say that 96% of all transactions went just fine. People showed with cash in hand, they got the goods, I got the cash. A fun time had by all. Then of course to make up the 4 remaining percent..
-The stock standard is this still available and not a single response when I point out that yes it is.
-Organising a time to come around and never showing. Then organising another time and never showing to that one either. Lucky me.
-Wanting to be next in line please but deciding they don’t actually want your item anymore when it comes round to them. Joy.
-People who don’t read the full ad. Or understand measurements. Both relating to this pink box:
This was my daughter Sophie’s toy box which I built when she was around one using both scrap wood and tools donated by Baz. I can’t remember where the pink paint came from but my wife Donna painted it up, started painting Disney princesses on the other side and the box has held toys and gone from Bendigo to the Gold Coast and then to Albury, in two different houses.
I put it up for sale and a local woman jumped at it, offering more money for me to drop it round to her place on the other side of town. So I wrestled it into the car (it’s solid wood and not light at all), drove over, wrestled it out of the car and dragged it to the door only to find that she had no idea how big it was. She wanted a place to put her dancing shoes but no, she wasn’t Imelda Marcos and she didn’t realise the sheer dimensions of the creation.
(Even though said dimensions were listed in the ad because I knew someone was bound to ask.)
That was a fun round trip!
Moving house, the old house lingers..
Yes we’re not free of the previous residence just yet. Wanting to save possibly hundred’s of dollars on a bond clean (I paid over $1000 once and they still had to be called back..), I decided to roll up the sleeves and do it myself. And so it was a couple of massive days of scrubbing, wiping, mopping, vacuuming and listening to a tonne of podcasts (a shoutout to 83 Weeks, Midflight Brawl and The Dollop). Then my wife got in a couple of cleans to quote on the near impossibles – the oven and the shower doors.
While there, they had a look at my handy work and seemed impressed. Until we got to the part where we found out if they were hired to get the place ready again, we’d be looking at around 18-20 hours of cleaning. Cleaning gods of the warp, wasn’t that a clothesline out of nowhere?
That’s at their speed too. Given my pace, I’d probably have to double that. And since I’m back at work in a couple of days, suddenly my idea of trying to save was on fire and throwing itself directly off the nearest cliff.
So they’re coming in on Monday to do the deep clean. Same with the steam cleaning carpet bloke because that’s required upon exit. The pest guy (because we’ve had pets) drops round Friday, same day we hand the keys back.
Moving house – supporting local businesses each and every time.
Meanwhile I’m tackling the gardens and running out of green bin space. In fact after three hours today I had to bag up my lawn clippings and take them home to this place because I had no idea on where to put them. I’ll be back tomorrow with the whipper snipper and Trev will soon give me a hand with one last tip run. I’m sure there will be something I’ll miss at the end but no point in stressing about it now, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Seriously, if there was ever a good reason for buying a house instead of renting? It’s this pain. Moving house sucks and I should know, I’ve done it too many times in one lifetime.
Anyway, happy 2025 everybody!
-Almigo