To say the move into our new house was a smooth transition would be a big, fat lie. I wasn’t going to blog about all the juicy details as I didn’t want to relive the past week. It was shit. But I can’t help myself.
In a nutshell, we were told the people buying our old house wouldn’t be able to settle as their bank had stuffed up their own mortgage application. And if they didn’t settle, we couldn’t settle on our new home. This was told to me as my husband was loading the last of our furniture into the storage pod. I was told this on the same day my husband was flying out to Darwin for work. I was told this as myself and the three girls were about to go to a friend’s house to stay for four nights. I was already feeling nervous about cramming their already full house with five more people. I didn’t know how we would cope if we would not be able to move into our new home as planned. I sat on the step outside of our old house and cried, for about one minute, until I realised it wouldn’t do anything, so I picked myself up and broke the news to my husband. There were many swear words.
Anyway, we were leaving and we had a farewell to do. The girls decided they would kiss all the walls and the doors of the old house. Nearly Three thought she’d kiss the trees too.
Then we took a few family photos. I cried some more and then we drove away not knowing when we would be able to move into our new home. I felt very displaced and anxious. I am not sure what happened, but after many tense phone calls and waving my husband off to his work trip, we were told that the people buying our house would be able to settle after all. Hooray!
On the morning of settlement for our new home, we got a worried phone call from our Bank Manager. Our own bank had stuffed up our mortgage application (can you see a theme here) and we had to come up with thousands of dollars right away. We cleared out all of our bank accounts and a friend kindly lent us the shortfall. The bank opened the branch early and forms were frantically filled out. Crises averted, but not before more swear words and tears.
Things were finally looking good. We got the keys to our house and started moving our stuff into it. Later in the day, we realised we had no hot water and there was a smell of gas in the air. AGL was called and they joyously told us the problem was ours. We had a gas leak.
So, the plumber came the next morning. He began replacing our gas pipes and hot water system and told us the $4,000 payment was required at completion of the job. We had NO MONEY. Once again we had to call on another of our friends for a loan. I had by this stage lost all my pride. I needed a hot shower. I needed to bang my head repeatedly against a brick wall. I needed a bottle of gin with a straw. We have amazing friends.
When my husband was waving goodbye and thanking our friend, the car nearly didn’t start. It had chosen that day, of all days, to alert us to the fact its battery had to be replaced. There were more swear words. Once home, the RAA was called and our car was fixed. I do believe my husband may have kicked a cupboard at some stage. He never kicks things.
In amidst the unpacking, the car breaking down, the gas leaking and the money worries, I was forced to have a freezing cold shower in order to look respectable as I was taking Miss 4 to her first day at her new kindy and didn’t want to have that greasy hair sticking up in the air, smelly underarms, fishy style I was rocking with gusto. Let’s just say Miss 4 was brave. The kindy teachers amazing and the walk home through the streets of our new neighbourhood confirmed why it was all worth it.
We love our new home, although it keeps breaking around us. Even as I type, there is water flooding out the back verandah. We suspect our pipes are blocked. The plumber has been called again. I’m hoping they wont charge much more than $2.55. We have now resorted to attaching ourselves permanently to mini IV Drips of pure alcohol just to get through the day. Now I know why they say moving is one of the most stressful periods in your life. It is also one of the best. This house and this suburb are wonderful. My family are happy and healthy. We are very lucky. My heart is singing.
Here are a couple of my favourites places in the house so far…
Have you got any crap moving stories?
Hi, I'm Bianca Wordley, I write about life.
Oh, hon, I feel your pain AND your pleasure, I rooly, trooly do.
House #1 was simple and pleasant, but we were newly married, just back from our honeymoon and too loved-up to notice we had bought a house with a butt-ugly kitchen, pale carpet which was impossible to keep clean, and neighbours who had racing pigeons. Noisy, pooing, racing pigeons.
The move to House #2 was more dramatic. (really, really long story about the purchase dramas, but will leave that out) Also discovered we had no hot water. Luckily a friend who was a sparky (HWS was electric) came over, took one look at wiring, and said “wow, lucky you had a house to move into”. We stood in awe as all our eyes travelled up the wall, following the blackened trail the flames must have made as the copper wiring caught at some stage between previous owners moving out & us moving in. (house was vacant for 6 weeks). Then we went out to the shed with the plan of storing some boxes of stuff, only to find it full of previous owners stuff. We called them and said “WTF?”. “Oh yeah, we haven’t had time to get everything yet.” “SORRY? You moved out SIX weeks ago! Come get it tomorrow or it’s ours, or the Salvos. Your choice.” They were there by 8am next morning.
And we did it again. Move to House #3, a 100 yr old untouched renovator’s dream. You name it, we found it. Blocked drains, white ant damage, dodgy wiring, blah blah blah, but we kinda expected it. Kinda.
But in the end, it’s all strangely wonderful, innit? bless. xx
Oh Lord, I am teary just reading that! You poor, poor thing. I knew there had been a bit of drama via your tweets, but NOTHING like that!! This probably not the time to tell you that we have now bought two houses over the net sight-unseen (pictures, sure, but we hadn’t visited- they are in other states) and they’ve both been fine. Great, even. Clearly I’ve taken some of your luck. Sorry!
I really hope you get to enjoy your new house now…
If that had been my husband kicking the cupboard, I would have told him through clenched teeth ‘If you f**king break that we can NOT afford to fix it’.
My crap moving story is that I sent my husband back to Australia to pick a house, then had to stay with my in-laws for weeks while the two departments of his employer argued over who was paying the shipping bill, while the shippers (is that a word?) held all our worldly goods to ransom.
Oh no. Oh no no no. What a horrible week.
I have 2 moving tales that I save until the moving friend is comfortably ensconced in their new home. The 1st was our move from Sydney to Newcastle. I was a month off having our daughter, when my husband finally got a new job. We had been trying to make the change since I found out I was pregnant. Then I got diagnosed with preeclampsia, spent days in and out of hospital. Then finally (the day before moving day) was told they had to induce me RIGHT NOW. In retrospect that was my easiest move, because I just had to give birth instead. Of course my husband no longer had a home in the same city. Driving up the F3 post caesarean was also fun…
Next horror tale… Next move… The removalists didn’t show up! We changed times to allow for settlement and they cancelled instead of changing! By the time we had it sorted out, the new owners were trying to move in, and we had to move all our furniture onto the nature strip. And then the. storm clouds gathered… Luckily it held off. We were in our house by midnight, with our 1st meal of 2 minute noodles, sleeping on mattresses on the floor. 😀
But it was the best move for us. Great neighbours, great schools, a lovely leafy area. We have been very happy. Next move will be to the retirement village!
Oh wow, you poor thing! You have great friends – the whole situation sounds scary! We didn’t have quite the same dramas when moving but I can relate to the tears (at leaving a house we loved, where our two eldest were first brought home from the hospital) and can relate to the boys saying goodbye to their bedrooms and then every room of the house…I cried some more and took pics of every room and wrote a blog post about it 🙂
Oh wow, that is stress to the max!! We have only ever bought properties, not sold them (yes, we live in poverty so we can collect properties for other people to live in) so when we sell the first one, we can still safely hide in our Army house & not skip a beat. We don’t have any friends who’d put up a family of 6!! Even when we build, we’ll happily live normally in our Army house, it’s the only way, we move interstate ALL the time, we have children in high school now, i can cope with so much but the roof over my head in doubt, no, i’d FREAK OUT. You’ve done well, enjoy & maybe see if sleeping with the plumber knocks a few million off the bill. Love Posie
Oh my LORD! That sounds bad. The photos are gorgeous, Bianca. Soooo sweet they kissed everything including the trees. Love that. Don’t love the disastrous car battery and settlement/nearly not settlement dramas. Who needs that when it’s traumatic enough?! No nasty moving stories thankfully, but I can definitely attest to the heart singing about the joyful suburb-change. We did it a few years ago to this place and haven’t looked back, no regrets. Oh, except… a little more money to fix up our fixer upper would be nice so we can just do it all at once! It is wonderful to hear you are happy with your move (eventually) xox
Oh..you mean like the day we were moving into our new house with no grass and mud for the front and back lawns and it rained and the truck got stuck and I didn’t know how to drive it so had to push the thing out of the mud…gee I must have been strong in those days!
I really do hope nothing else cracks up or dies in your new house!
What a shitstorm!!
Bloody banks!
I’m glad the house is worth it, in spite of blocked drains etc.
Forget the straw, just chug the gin.
beautifully written, love the $2.55 line… everything is falling into place… i must get your new addy and send you something. Em Shannon xxx
Um I want to say it can always be worse? Maybe not. May that be the storm clears and gives you a rainbow.
Tough, tough, tough! No wonder moving is, like, number 3 on the ‘life’s most stressful’ list. At least you will know that your gas and plumbing is top-notch at the end of it all, right? Hope things settle down so you can settle in! x
We just moved a few weeks ago. It was relatively painless because we decided to rent this time.
Hmm – a horror moving story? Here’s some from our other places.
It rained for two weeks straight and every single item of our stuff got covered in mud and rain while we carried it. Then grew mould because it was too damp to dry.
Our electricity company ‘forgot’ to turn our power on and I spent four days of a long weekend, with 4 kids without power.
Didn’t get a buiilding inspection. Mind you they don’t find everything. I know one family that after a couple of weeks discovered that the wall oven door wouldn’t stay shut. They decided to alter the kitchen sooner rather than later and discovered that the pipes in the wall at the kitchen sink were leaking and had to remove tiles and part of one interior wall, so decided to replace all the tiles as threy had removed a whole section and couldn’t match them. Another family rented a house and discovered that the reverse-cycle airconditioner didn’t work after a few days. They they have been told that the house is up for sale and they have to contend with open inspections but the landlord had to replace the airconditioner as it is listed on the lease which isn’t supposed to expire until July 2012. The house was broken into within a month of them moving in.
Sound like it’s tough moving week. Another of my friends is homeless and she got the news when she was takinh curtain measurements. Seems like the neighborhood will make it up to you. Wishing you lots and lots of luck.
Btw, your little one is too cute.
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What a stressful event! But you have survived…if only just 🙂
I have moved house all up probably about 30 times. Mum and Dad were serial movers addicted to moving, but we only ever moved around the same base. Seems like I have inherited their ‘itchy feet’ but I do love moving. Not the actual physical packing, unpacking but the settling into new surroundings and the feeling of adventure. But hey I don’t have any horror stories so that is why I still love it 🙂
Oh that sounds like a complete horror. I’m glad to hear you survived – and you were able to keep your wits about you (albeit through IV). I get so freaked out that my things are going to be damaged I take myself away from the actual moving process – just so i’m not standing there saying “don’t do it that way, you’ll scratch it” etc. You sound like you have some wonderful friends – very hard to come by. Surely things can only get better from here? Good luck with the new house!
I’d rather drink my own urine than move again – but my horrors are more about moving many times, not having the nightmare horror move from hell like you did … I guess the positive thing is that you’ve used up all your ‘bad move’ points now, so the next one should go like clockwork!!
Nothing quite as stressful as yours but did nearly miss a contract going unconditional because the stupid bank got our names & the solicitor firm’s name confused so I had become Mrs Blake-Dawson-Waldron. Also nearly missed settlement as well due to bank sending the forms to some other bank.
Have had the removalist truck waiting at the new house whilst the previous owners got their shit together with their end of settlement & then discovering they still had items to move out of the house (bummed they came back for the trampoline) as well as needing to return items that were meant to stay with the house. Would have helped if they’d cleaned the place before moving out too but apparently they’d all had gastro leading up to moving day. Domestos please!!!
I’ve also made an error in moving. Forgot to completely pack a bathroom vanity cupboard along with the laundry cupboard. Went looking for a particular mop about a month later & couldn’t find it. Then went looking for a particular attachment to the vacuum cleaner. Couldn’t find it. Remembered that I also couldn’t find some perfume a few weeks back … that’s because they were all still sitting at our old house & the new owners hadn’t been arsed to let us or the agent know.
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oh hell you really have had a crap time!!! When my OH proposed a few years ago we went on the hunt for a home together. We had never lived together and both had our own houses. We finally found our ideal home and on moving day we had to pack up and move out of 2 separate houses! A logistical nightmare. By the day before the moves we seemed to have everything under control. I wasn’t too concerned as I took my daughter to the hospital for some tests and an MRI scan. We were told we would be at the hospital for 2 hours max and i could get back to my packing. 12 hours later, we were still at the hospital as my daughter took a major seizure!!! Not want you want to be happening at anytime, but particularly when you are due to move house! The move did go ahead as planned and it all worked out in the end but the stress was mad! Hope things settle down for you and you enjoy your new home.