We’ve decided! And I’ve realised that I am in a much better place than when it all felt in ‘limbo’ – now that we have actually decided to pack up and move, things feel so much clearer.
Although we are still looking for the forever home, just living in the new area has made a huge difference. So, what exactly were our steps?
1) Making it real
The biggest thing that made it real was moving the children’s schools. This was hard, as we’ve loved our previous school and the community we were part of. A big help has been that we’ve not moved a million miles away so we can still meet up with our friends.
The first thing when changing schools was to make a list of all the schools in the new area and going to each of the websites to get a feel for what they are like. We then also went on to the government page where you can compare different schools in terms of their size and school performance – not only in terms of Ofsted, but in terms of average reading, writing and maths skills of the pupils. We took a look at the school the children were at and used that as a benchmark to then try and find a school that was performing at a similar level in the area we were moving to. And then, with that shortlist, we applied for places at 7 different schools. You can take a look at the process here. We had missed the normal window, so had to go for a so called ‘in-year application’. This basically meant filling in a form (that you get from your Council’s website) to then send directly to the schools you want to apply for.
Another site we found really helpful was locrating.com – we signed up for a short period of time and were able to then see what catchment the schools we liked had – and that then helped us narrow down the areas we chose to look at for houses.
The kids got turned down for a number of schools, as so many of them are oversubscribed, but we ended up with a choice of 2 and went to go and look at both of them before deciding. Key things that stood out for me were how the children and teachers interacted – were they happy/ overly strict? As well as the facilities – one was more of an inner town school with a small playground, whereas the other one had more space, a great forest school and a wonderful new library space.
2) Moving things
We did this in stages, asking the children to take one small box each with their favourite toys and books and then brought everyone’s beds, and the kitchen over to our temporary new home. This has meant that we’ve been forced to live more minimalist and it’s been truly quite wonderful. There is less clutter, less washing to do, less tidying up and we’ve all enjoyed the few things we did bring so much more. It’s also helped us really do some more decluttering so that when we do move to our forever home we’ll be more selective about what we want to take.
3) Saying goodbye and celebrating
We got ourselves a takeout to celebrate and thank our old home for all the wonderful memories and to take stock of how many good times we’ve spent in that home: The children’s parties, our dinner parties, the birth of our children, the various phases of extending and building work, the fun stories – all the joy, happiness but also the sadness of leaving.
It was really helpful to consciously say goodbye – especially for me. And it helped me then to welcome in the new home. We did a similar thing there – the kids had a bath and we cooked their favourite meal – Daddy’s Spaghetti Bolognese and then had food together taking in the new place, talking about the things we are excited about in this new town of ours.
It worked well – and although we all have days where we miss our old home, and particularly our friends, it’s been a good start.
Have you moved house with your family recently? If so, what are your top tips? I’d love to hear from you!
Anika x
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