Done and (not) dusted!

This last week and the one before blurred together, cos of all the happenings.  

We had a lovely day on Saturday.  I went to a free talk about caring for historical photos, Di visited in the afternoon - then Nick and I saw an excellent string quartet performance that night.  

We really enjoyed taking some time out to relax but there was still more to be done at the old house, so we were back at work on Sunday.  

Nick finished clearing downstairs, while I continued to pack up the kitchen, dining and bathroom areas.  

It's tricky to catalogue everything we did - but we did a lot!  Given the house was going to be demolished, we didn't need to do a thorough exit clean - bonus!

My plants were taken to our new home, including my bottle tree who rode in Elmer (cos he was too tall for the trailer)!

You can read about Rupert (aka my bottle tree), here.  I haven't measured both of us at each birthday but he is now definitely taller than me and has developed a curve, which is sort of like my sciolisis!

I dropped my destiny cards when packing up.  The scattered reading was interesting.  Funny that Fulfilment, Strength and Reliability cards still featured - as they had when I'd done a reading the previous week.  

We had boxes left, so I listed them as freebies on FB marketplace, to be collected before our exit date (to save us carting them).  

There was huge interest and we were happy to help out someone else.  (As we continue to unpack, more boxes and packing materials will be given away - cos we're not expecting to need them again, anytime soon)!

We'd finished everything by Tuesday afternoon and the final inspection was done on Thursday - a week after we moved into our new home (and just under 13 weeks since we received our Notice to Leave).  I'm pretty impressed with all we managed to achieve in such a short space of time.  

Our Tweety Trailer was an excellent purchase and well worth our $700.00 spend.  We think Nick did 13 trailer loads in total.  (There were things the removalists wouldn't take and stuff that made more sense for us to move).  

I'd been given four moving boxes full of butcher paper and used just about all of that.  As I unpack, I smooth the paper out and fold it - ready for someone else to use.  We packed so many boxes but weren't really keeping track during the last two, hectic weeks.  I've found my tally book though and can add a few numbers to my spreadsheet. 

Final tally.  Boxes donated: 20.  Boxes packed: 155 (till we lost count).  Tape rolls finished:  8.  Trailer loads:  13.

Singing our praises!

Week 12 was huge! So much happened, it was hard to keep up.

Nick had his second gig at Platform 5, playing two sets of two hours each.  As much as there was still a lot to do for moving, we both needed some time out - so had a late lunch between those sets and dined out also, on the way home.  

It was back to packing on Sunday and we quite forgot about it being Fathers Day, till a lot later in the morning.  

We did a lot of work that day, which started with us taking fragile china boxes across to the new house - packed into Elmer, with larger stuff in the Tweety trailer.

Nick went back to work on Monday.  I'd booked a deep clean for the new house, so split my time between both properties (which impacted on my packing).  Erin and I did more work on Tuesday while Nick on day-shift.  

We opted for takeaway when Nick came home, watched some silly YouTube offerings as a family - then Nick and I stayed up till well after 1:00am, preparing for the removalists.  

I lost track of our box numbers.  Many were of the sturdy, open variety - and really we were too busy working to count how many we worked on.  It was hectic!  

Nick set his alarm for 5:30am on Wednesday morning, which gave us a bit of extra time for last minute preparation before the guys arrived, promptly at 7:00am.  

It was a huge day, not without a few hiccups (which is the way of moving).  Vaughan went to TAFE.  Erin and Bandit drove over to the new house (where it was quieter).  

Nick and I stayed at the old house, out of the way of all the lifting and carrying.  There was still work to do, that the removal guys weren't contracted for.  

I needed to direct the unloading at the new house though and there was lots of decision-making in terms of where furniture and boxes should be put.  

There was no real dinner that night.  I'd driven into town to collect Vaughan from TAFE (pleased of a reprieve from all the moving mayhem).  He'd brought home souffle crepes, pavlova and mango parfait.  We ate those samples at about 9:00pm - and then went to bed!  

I'd scheduled my regular chiro appointment for Thursday morning - and really appreciated the treatment!  I moved and walked so much better afterwards.  Nick and I brunched at a nearby cafe.  The waiter was concerned we might not manage to eat a full breakfast, till we told him of moving house and eating pavlova for dinner!

We did a few hours of clearing that afternoon - and then a solid day on Friday (with a pleasant pub lunch as a break between stints).

Week 12 tally.  Boxes packed: 20. Total packed: 155.  The actual numbers would be higher but we lost count!

Key achievements!

Another huge week! We achieved so much and are rightly chuffed with our efforts.  

Filling the skip was our main focus and we did excellent work with that, getting our money's worth from the hire.  To maximise useful space, we put all the flat things in first, creating many (and very neat) layers.  

An old desk was broken down into parts.  Given it's weight, Nick cut the top into pieces.  The smaller sections were lighter and easier to carry to the skip.

Our current house has issues downstairs during extended and/or heavy rain.  Those issues have worsened during our time here - and the old desk had water damage.

The second-hand carpet tiles, purchased in 2013 for our Victorian rental, came to Queensland.  

We'd used the tiles downstairs till we became aware of the water/flooding problems - so they were also binned (due to mould).

The skip was collected early on the morning of our settlement day, which was great timing!

Nick had modified our Tweety trailer during the week, to create a drop-down tailgate.  He'd filled it with our black metal shelving units (purchased to protect stored items from downstairs flooding) - ready to take over when we got our house keys!

Three of those four shelving units have been erected at the new house.  The previous owner was a metal fabricator and left a lot of very solid shelving already in place.  

We are still deciding where our stuff will go - so have measured some items, to aid decision making. The new living area is smaller than here - and though we have sold some furniture pieces, other items may also need to go (after we've moved).  

Our removalists are booked for next week.  I fine-tuned our inventory with them before paying the revised invoice.  Our $200ish of furniture sales reduced the volume of our move, saving about $120.00.  

Interestingly when I updated our address for insurance, we received a refund for one vehicle but the premium went up for another - both with the same insurer.  We're $55ish in front though - another bonus!

I've done a fair bit of admin for the move.  Services are semi-organised.  (We're working through some of the usual hiccups). 

Cleaners are booked - and yes, I'm really looking forward to them doing that work!  

We've packed up the greater majority of our current downstairs area, so will now shift (hah!) our attention to the main house, prepping everything for the removalists.  It still looks daunting at this stage but I'm sure we'll make serious inroads over the next few days - cos we'll have to!

Week 11 tally. Boxes donated: 1 (bringing that total to 20). Boxes packed: 22. Total packed: 135.  Tape rolls finished: 2 (five rolls emptied so far).