Moving our things over wasn't too bad. We just put most of the boxes in the lounge as we had no furniture to worry about and what we could take upstairs we put in the spare room. Everything was labeled clearly and we had Crowne's master copy so we could kinda guess what was in what box and that made it easier for sorting out.
Then we went to IKEA. After no lunch and moving all day, clearance weekend on a Sunday afternoon at IKEA is NOT a good idea. We were warned, but did we listen? Of course not. Ken & Penny had warned that it is a place best avoided on weekends, long weekends in particular and public holidays. There was a serious case of shopping rage coming on by the end of it, where all I could see was red and the frustration was getting to the point that I could feel the tears starting to well up. The whole situation was not helped by the fact that everything bar the TV table and odd bits and bobs, was unavailable. Frustration abounded. No couch, no bed that we wanted, only the 2 things we wanted most of all naturally. All of the really expensive things were available, but that's not we could afford at the time. We really wanted to take advantage of the van but couldn't really. We were going to have to come back and pay for delivery.
And lastly, we went to the supermarket. That had to be the 2nd best moment of the day. We had decided to do a massive shop and stock everything up because we did have the car and some extra cash. So we set up the pantry. Spices, oils, fruit, veg, meat, dry goods, rices, pasta, everything. Every aisle. God it felt good. After living on $100 a week total for the last 6-8weeks, it was an awesome feeling of not having to make everything stretch. Sure we could have done it bit by bit, but this was much more gratifying, and the last stop was finding the bottle store and stocking up on beer and wine!
The car got unpacked, the fridge and pantry packed, dinner cooked and then the best part of the day - we sat down and had a cold beer. We set the TV up in a free corner and watched whatever required the least amount of thought. Then all we had to do was blow up the bed and crash!
The amazing thing was as bad a feeling as I'd had about moving into the last place, I had such a great sense of relief and being settled straight away in this place.
Meanwhile we were still paying rent at the last place - had paid for a whole month, and so I went back to do the last little bit of cleaning and get the carpets cleaned. The crazy lady, and she will always be remembered as, told me I hadn't cleaned the carpets, and I showed her the receipt. Then she started complaining about having to call and give the legal 24hrs notice before she had so show someone around once she discovered we'd moved out. I told her we had the place until the 26th of the month and if they wanted it before that she could refund whatever was left of the month and were more than welcome to take it over sooner rather than later. She waited and stopped moaning. Interestingly they put the rent up by another $20 a week - greedy buggers!
And we began to unpack. Each day I did a little more, but I did get the kitchen unpacked and livable that first day, and we'd bought a washing machine and book case on eBay so I got onto that too. We were also able to pick up the cats on Monday, and it was great to have our furry friends back! They thought the maze of boxes was quite overwhelming and far too much fun to even worry about going outside at that point, which was a good thing as we kept them indoors for a couple of weeks to get accustomed to their surroundings. We have a courtyard so they did get supervised outdoor visits when we were home.
The following weekend we went to IKEA early. I had picked up the wrong thing the week before, so we needed to return that first off and also organise the rest of the furniture we needed. We had a very helpful man at the returns desk to actually checked to see if everything we were looking for was in stock. They were! Victory at last. No car this time meant we needed it delivered. Handily, IKEA does next day delivery and the cost is proportional to how much you spend. It cost us $75and was at our house at 8am the next morning.
Marty got straight to work on the couch and then the bed. Having space for these 2 items had been a major incentive for unpacking boxes during the week. When he left for work I attacked the drawers we had bought. It took about an hour and a half to do the 1st set, and only about 45 minutes to do the second.
Unpacking the house was like Christmas - I got to see all our things again, and unpacking the clothes was even better. Especially when I hit my shoes! We bought another bed for our spare room eventually from J & D when they left for Shanghai, and have slowly filled the house up and replaced some things like the crappy washing machine, fridge and bookshelves we bought at first with new and better ones. We've furnished our courtyard and the garden looks good depending on how much inclination we have for it on the weekend. In summer there's some veggies and herbs growing so it gets a lot more love and attention then. Those 1st couple of months were extremely stressful, but on a residential side we're pretty sorted now!
xx
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