This time last year, I was frantically packing (panicking) to move house with less than a month’s notice. I had not even been looking for places to live, but this flat was offered to me and it was too good an opportunity to pass up. And so I began the process of trying to raise a child, pack up a flat and run a business. It wasn’t much fun, and the move was probably the most stressful, depressing time of my life.

S was two and a half at the time, and didn’t really understand what was going on. On the day we moved, I took her to nursery and tried to explain that when I collected her that evening, we would be going to a new home. She didn’t really get it, and wasn’t too impressed later that day when I brought her home to what looked a lot like a small room filled with badly organised furniture and boxes.

I wish I’d seen this infographic from Volition Removals London before we moved; it was my first experience of moving house with a child, and now I finally understand why moving house is always listed as one of the most stressful life experiences!

Moving House With Children

Going through the steps in this infographic: I couldn’t get S involved early on, as there was no early on; we couldn’t start packing early for the same reason. S was too small to help, and I couldn’t afford a removal company. I had my mum driving, but she couldn’t lift anything, and my sister helping to lift boxes. Then we had my friend Fran who could drive but not lift, and my friend Sam who helped but was only free for a couple of hours. A friend with a van came and moved the larger pieces of furniture for us. Between us, we emptied out my old flat and got everything into the new one. It was hellish. None of us was professional removal people, and we all felt it the next day!

I didn’t pack a bag of essentials either, because I’m an idiot and have never had to worry about it before. S came home from nursery to find my sister’s friend putting our bed together for us. In the morning she got up and I didn’t know which box the peanut butter was in, so she had to have an apple for breakfast.

On the whole, my experience of moving house was hellish and about 5 hours into the moving process, I swore that I would not move house again without hiring a removal company. In fact, next time we move I’m just going to hire a company to do the whole shebang for us, and S and I will go and live in a hotel for a few days!


Vicky Charles

Vicky is a single mother, writer and card reader.

1 Comment

Harby · 25/09/2015 at 03:21

It is good to let the kids contribute in small ways. With they tend to learn things and get ideas on how to properly move to new house.

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