(Note to Self) 4 Quick Lessons from Moving Houses

Gday peeps,

How’s it all going! February’s here, which means we are well and truly into 2018.

Going to be a short post today guys because MrsFrugalSamurai-to-be and I are in the process of moving into our new place, i.e. boxes and sticky tape and shit strewn everywhere like a bomb site.

I thought about continuing with the real estate series but wouldn’t have done you all justice considering I can’t even find a cup to drink precious, precious water out of – probably pass out from dehydration at this rate.

However, what I will do is share with you 4 lessons we have learnt in moving places which I hope can assist you in the future.

Take Inventory.

It wasn’t until we started packing that we realised exactly how much “stuff” we have. I mean do you need a dozen pairs of jeans? Most times you might only be wearing the same 2 or 3.

In fact we grossly underestimated how many boxes and packing containers were required to do the job.

You might not notice it day by day or week by week, but those little purchases do add up both in your bank balance and your wardrobe.

Moving out to a new place is a great opportunity to take inventory of what you currently own (and what to chuck out).

Lesson: We’re trying to limit our spending on what we have now. By we I mean she…

Pack Early. 

So obvious but so true, unfortunately MrsFrugalSamurai-to-be and I aren’t the most proactive of individuals when it comes to packing boxes.

We both had a very busy work schedule during the week, which explains why we were up at 3 am on Saturday morning still trying to dismantle the bed. Like a kick in the face when you’re down.

Looking back, I wonder how much simpler it would have been if we had both been motivated enough to pack a couple of items here and there throughout the week – instead of one last all-nighter binge reminiscent of cramming for end of year final exams.

Lesson: Pack the non-essentials away early guys, will save a lot of headache and heartache.

“A” class Removalists.

We thought that we would save time by hiring professional removalists who are yknow… professionals.

Unfortunately we were caught out by not researching online properly. The removal company who had 4+ stars in reviews, was good value and were quick to reply with our emails, well on the day they didn’t… show… up.

You see, at the beginning we thought that it was a standard delay – we waited, then waited, then waited some more – all the while speaking with the company who assured us that the removal team were on their way.

We canned them in the end – long story short, a phone call was made, voices were raised and words were said.

Luckily, I happen to get a kick out of making formal complaints against businesses to relevant government departments – I’m so glad they gave me an excuse to go through the process again.

Thank goodness we live in the age of disruptors for we managed to hire a 2nd removalist firm via Airtasker pronto.

Lesson: Always double or triple confirm whether online reviews are valid and credible. There’s also great disruptor websites these days like Airtasker, Fiverr and Freelancer.com which you can use if you’re going to be hiring people to get the job done.

Ask for help.

Seriously, I still don’t know why we didn’t just ask for our friends and family to help us move. It would have been a much more enjoyable experience (quicker too) in hindsight.

At the time, I spose we thought hiring professionals would be much easier.

Honestly though – hire a truck, grab a bunch of mates over, pay them in beer and away you go.

Lesson: Not even a lesson, just common sense TheFrugalSamurai – let’s never go through this experience again.

Sigh – life is hard…

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P.S. I’m drinking water from a wok.. how the mighty have fallen.