For the past few days, we have been helping Peter's mum move from a large house (which housed a whole life) to a small flat. It's been a busy few days with lots of physical labour and many opportunities to test our problem-solving skills. We offer some reflections from the chaos of the move.
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1. tidy up while you can!
It's easy to accumulate things throughout your life, especially if you have an attic, basement, storeroom or barn to store them in. Maybe you've inherited it, received it as a gift, bought it while travelling, needed it in another part of your life ... but where will it go? On the day when the kids are there to take care of everything (probably under time pressure), it's not easy.
2. It is easy to be a time optimist
Peter and his brother are time optimists. They don't like it when I say that, but they know it's true. They had some kind of initial plan that explained how the whole clearing, moving and unpacking in the new apartment would be done in three full days (with 2.5 men as labourers). You could say that there was a bit of a shift in the plan ...
3. hire a removal company - or have a lot of people moving!
Someone wrote in the comments section "Hire a moving company!". Well, of course that's a very good idea! In this case, we have a limited budget, so we have to try to keep costs down. It is also difficult to ask a removal company to manage the move, when on the day of the move it is still unclear what will be moved and what will be thrown away. But if you have to move yourself - we would have needed more people!
4. Write properly on all moving boxes
Well, the ambition was of course to write on all the moving boxes, but since it was so incredibly stressful to pack when we arrived (and since the only pen kept disappearing), it didn't really happen.
When we arrived at the new apartment, we had to spend an unnecessary amount of time looking for important things like medicines and breakfast food. The remote control for the TV disappeared completely, which (together with other problems with the connection of the TV) meant that we had to order a new TV.
4. Ikea furniture is good, but you shouldn't be too tired when putting it together.
Because Peter's mum's new flat is quite small and because she used to live in a big house, a lot of the furniture didn't fit. We had ordered a new bed, a new sofa and a new kitchen table to be assembled.
The instructions were ok and all parts were included. But some things (especially the sofa!) required some thought. It's not a great idea to start assembling at 10pm in the evening when you're about to collapse from fatigue.
5. What do you do with the cats?
Of course, Peter's mum wanted to take the two cats with her, but how do you take two outdoor cats that don't want to move at all and get anxious about everything that happens? We don't have any tips here, unfortunately!
We managed to get one of them into a cat cage, but the other stayed at a safe distance despite repeated knocking and several "capture" attempts. We had no choice but to give up unfortunately. Now a neighbouring lady in the new housing area has promised to bring Peter's mum some day for another try. We simply have to wish the ladies good luck!
6. Services for the elderly can be surprising
It was really chaotic and hard during the move, but I must also say that I was surprised by the service from the local supermarket. The food delivery came to the door and the delivery man stayed for quite some time talking about the goods and this and that.
Peter's mum asked if she could order a sink stopper next time, and the man came in and looked in the sink to see which model would fit. What a fantastic service! Perhaps it is like this in smaller towns? I have a hard time imagining this in Stockholm, or am I wrong?
7. Motorhome is good!
Last but not least, motorhomes are great! When you have to help someone move to another place - it's so nice to be able to take the motorhome with you and live in it!
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Frido says:
I still think you seem to have had a good co-operation, despite time pressure and stress. When my grandmother and grandfather's house was to be packed/unpacked, it was my mum, aunt and me. My aunt had a lot of opinions beforehand and even during the actual packing, even though she lives by herself so she does not have the opportunity to take care of some of the things, there were opinions about most things. On the actual cleaning day, she mostly walked around and puttered, grumbled, moved one thing here and one thing there, thus to zero help. She doesn't have the physique to carry heavy things, but it was the case that we would have preferred to lift the whole lady out of the house while we were at it. She wasn't angry or anything (at us) but she was grumpy, now afterwards I realise that all the nuts and bolts were a kind of grief reaction. But it did not help the rest of us exactly. A tip if you feel that way is perhaps to offer to take care of a certain thing, e.g. the books, or to fix lunch/snack/coffee and only have to answer yes-no to questions. But it requires some self-awareness of course.
But good job, guys!
03 October 2020 - 8:01
Helena says:
Thank you for telling us! Yes, it's probably true that we still had pretty good co-operation. It is certainly easy for things to turn out as you describe, when there are different relatives and many emotions involved.
03 October 2020 - 10:12
Ama de casa says:
Many good tips there! Maybe you should have read them before... 😉 I'm glad it went reasonably well anyway and I hope the cat will recover!
03 October 2020 - 10:14
Helena says:
Yes haha, that's how it usually is. I would also like to read my own tips for cities before I go there 😉.
03 October 2020 - 18:26
BP says:
Yes, one is always hindsight;-) Now that you have written down the points, you may remember them when it is time for your mum to move. Well, as I said, it was me who suggested the removal company. Your mum may not have such a limited budget. With the RUT deduction, it will actually be cheaper than you think.
03 October 2020 - 16:21
Helena says:
My mum has booked a removal company. The problem this time was also that it was not cleared. But we should probably have cleaned for three days and then booked a removal company. Hindsight 😉
03 October 2020 - 18:27
Frankie & Co says:
Do not want to change with you, have moved around 26 times and it is just so boring! But - nice when it's done?
We just have to share our lovely weekend with you and tell you about the beautiful Cesarstugan in Falköping with a pitch, restaurant, museum, shop, bakery - we want to return there so you understand it's a wonderful place! ?
Enjoy your work!
03 October 2020 - 16:33
Helena says:
Oh what a lot of moving, phew! But then it will be cleared! Sounds cosy there in Falköping, thanks for the tip!
03 October 2020 - 18:38
Matts Torebring says:
I see how you look at the clock almost all the time, you feel the pressure of time. What you have done is at least a week's work. We ourselves said time and again during our move, poor children if they would have taken care of everything we had. An elderly lady, living in a villa in Huskvarna, was advised by a good friend to leave her villa and move to an apartment. The lady replied, "I don't visit those who live in flats".
03 October 2020 - 18:27
Lena - gott för själen says:
Oh, my God! Was it not even packed before? Some people just don't have the energy/ability to prepare what can be prepared. It's just sad that it becomes even more chaos when everything just has to be "thrown" into boxes and you can't find anything afterwards.
Hug Lena
04 October 2020 - 7:47
Berit says:
What a job you have done in connection with the move. Now I see that I also have to start thinking, since I have lived 41 years in the same house. But you would like to think that I do it later 🙂 .
04 October 2020 - 11:29