I’m so sorry it’s been a bit quiet here on the blog for the last few weeks and we haven’t been our usual crafty selves. Things will get back to normal I promise…soonish.
So why so quiet? Well finally I can spill the beans…excuse me while I jump up and down and squeal with excitement a lot here!!!
We are moving house…YAY!!!!!
We are leaving the city…DOUBLE YAY!!!
I have lived in the city for nearly all my life. I had a few years in my childhood when we were in the countryside and the love of that kind of life has stuck with me and I have been yearning to get back there ever since! Well it’s taken me over 25 years to be able to do it but now we are on our way!
Hopefully in a few days time we will be waking up to the smell of cows and countryside and having sleepless nights because it’ll be so quiet and we’ll be missing the sound of constant traffic, sirens and the students next door! I can’t wait! Really excited just isn’t big enough!
They say that moving house is one of the most stressful things we put ourselves through and I have to agree that it has been totally exhausting and I’m not even out the other side yet!
I was very lucky and selling our house fell into place really quickly, but it was so quick that I was sent into a blind panic trying to find a suitable house to move in to. I lost count of how many houses I went to view and how many miles I clocked up and how many days I lost scouring the countryside for one that met our needs that I could actually afford! I’d got to the point of despair when I finally found it, an ugly beast, old and battered, further away than I’d wanted to go, needing more work on it than I wanted to have to do, but it called to me! It was a gut feeling and I knew it was the one!
The most exhausting part of the whole process so far though has been the packing up. We’ve lived here for 12 years and it is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate over that time! I started out searching our local supermarkets for cardboard boxes but they’re incredibly hard to come by, often completely battered and it was taking me ages travelling around trying to find some! Total stress I really didn’t need at an already stressful time! Then a knight in shining armour in the shape of the lovely people at Boxes 2 Move came to our rescue!
We received their Godfather Moving Package and 2 additional wardrobe boxes by super speedy next day delivery. I never thought I’d be so glad to see a pile of cardboard!
Boxes 2 Move have a great range of moving packages for any size of property and a good online guide to help you choose which size package will best suit your needs. You can also pick and choose individual boxes too if you prefer, as stand-alones or to add-on to packages.
(Scroll down for a fantastic cardboard box discount offer)
The Godfather Moving Package we chose came flat packed and securely wrapped in heavy-duty plastic so I didn’t need to worry about the boxes getting wet or damaged during delivery if was raining. It had everything we needed to pack up the whole house…there were 45 boxes of different sizes, 3 meters of bubble wrap, 3 rolls of parcel tape and a marker pen.
The kiddies were so excited about all the boxes that I had to let them have a bit of a play with them first. I was a bit worried that they’d be ruined before we’d even started packing but the kiddies had free rein with them for a couple of days and they stood up to the trial really well so I’m very confident that they’ll move all our possessions without any breakages.
Here’s little Crumb having fun building the tallest tower he could with the boxes, he was desperate for me to photograph each stage “For the blog”. (It gives you an idea of the different box sizes too.)
And of course we had a blast building it and knocking it down over and over again!
Crumb also made some fabulous tunnels to crawl through, even his plaster cast covered broken ankle didn’t put him off and he had lots of giggles hiding in the different boxes, leaping out and BOOing us!
Big brother, bless him, was not so easy to hide! First you see him….then you don’t!?!?
What did we think of the cardboard boxes?
- The boxes are nice and sturdy and the sticky tape is a good quality and actually sticky (unlike some I’ve bought elsewhere in the past!) so they’re really easy to put together and I am reassured that everything is as secure as it can be.
- The fact that there’s a wide range of box sizes to choose from is great and means that heavy items can be packed in smaller boxes and lighter items in bigger boxes so I’m not left with boxes too heavy to lift when it comes to move day.
- I love the write on panel on the side of the boxes as it’s really prompted me to be organised and label which room each box needs to go in and to make a brief note of what’s inside too and whether it’s fragile or not. I know this is going to help a lot on the actual move day and when it comes to unpacking too.
- We’ve had great fun with the bubble wrap and had a massive jump up and down noisy popping session with it first! Then we got sensible and used it for wrapping all our fragile items like crockery and mirrors. It cuts easily so I’ve been snipping it to fit and haven’t had to suffer the black inky hand fate of wrapping with newspaper!
Top Tips For Moving House
Now that I’m finally all packed up and ready to go my 3 best tips to anyone moving house are:
- Buy yourself some removal boxes. They have been such a blessing and really helped to keep the stress levels down and kept me organised. If I ever move again they will definitely be top of my list.
- Don’t underestimate how long it will take you to sort and pack everything. I have spent more hours than I choose to admit and it has been totally exhausting!
- Take the opportunity to get organised and de-clutter whilst you’re packing. Yes it takes longer but it means that everything you actually unpack at the other end is actually needed and wanted. I was amazed at how much stuff we ended up parting with. We had 4 trips to the rubbish tip, 1 car boot sale and 3 boot-fulls to the charity shop too!
I am delighted to say that the lovely people at Boxes 2 Move are kindly offering all our readers
(valid for 12 months from this post 8th May 2014)
(Now expired)
10% DISCOUNT
All you have to do is enter the discount code below before you go to checkout
L1TTLE3
So if you’re getting ready for a move make the most of this wonderful discount and good luck with the whole exhausting but super exciting process!
I am so looking forward to getting settled in our new home away from the city. I can’t wait to unpack the boxes and start crafting with them too. Biscuit has already stated his claim on the wardrobe boxes for making some sit in racing cars and Crumb has visions of garden obstacle courses. If I manage to claim any before the children get their hands on them all, then I really fancy trying a bit of 3D sculpture with them…hmmm I can’t wait!
So start saving your boxes or treat yourself to buying a few and watch this space for lots of cardboardy crafts coming soon!
A huge thank you to Boxes 2 Move for providing us with these boxes for review…we couldn’t get through this move without them!