Moving House

Moving house was one of the highlights of the year! I have NEVER moved house before in all my life so it was a real big event for the whole family! Planning for the move was a big project. We planned about 2 months before - charting the activities for the weeks to come and spending almost every Sun looking for new furnishings. Everything was kind of overwhelming at first but as we went along, things became smoother.

I think the biggest headache when it comes to moving house is packing! But take this chance to clear your stuff and be ruthless about it. If you find stuff you haven't missed for so many years, it shows you won't miss them if you throw them away! If you do not bear to throw stuff away, you can donate to Salvation Army or give things away on Sgfreecycle. I gave away quite a lot of old books and bags through Sgfreecycle and the recipients were all extremely grateful.

You can find much info online on how to pack for house moving. Basically, be very organised when you pack as it will help a great deal when you move in to your new place. I bought different coloured markers to indicate different rooms on the carton boxes and numbered them too. And I had a clipboard with a masterlist that listed the specific items that went into each box. So when the movers came, it was really easy for them to move the right boxes into the respective rooms and when we needed to find certain items, I just checked my list and could easily locate the item.

We didn't intend to bring much of our existing furniture so we generously gave away our furniture to the new owner who was only too happy to receive them. This was one less issue to think about - disposal of furniture. From what I know, you can get the town council to get workers to help you remove your old furniture. However, that meant that we had to spend time getting new furniture!

We didn't get the keys to our new place yet so when we went shopping, a lot was based on gut feel as to whether the furniture could fit. Thank goodness majority did but I highly recommend that you measure your place before you go furniture shopping! For example, we bought 2 coffee tables for the master bedroom but there was no room to fit two. In the end, one was placed in the living room as a side table!

I scanned the Saturday Life section every week to check out on good deals and find out where the furniture outlets were. We bought our furniture from Lorenzo, Cellini, OM, IKEA and some shops at The Furniture Mall. Furniture shopping was quite fun at first but I think I burnt out later! Perhaps we were in a hurry to see as many shops as possible and it became very tiring and exhausting. Do start your own furniture shopping early. Walk around and have a feel of what you want then come out with a detailed list and shop around!

If you are looking for mattresses, do try Serta mattress. I bought mine from a shop at The Furniture Mall. It's not a Serta Sleep Center per se as it sells other brands as well and I got a very good price for my mattress! Go to SleepPost located on the 1st floor. The lady, Sharon, was very friendly and accommodating as well.

The forums on Singapore Brides helped a great deal too. I was able to find out about a storeroom rack supplier online, I gave them a call that very day, they came by to take measurements and the storeroom rack was up the very next week! Check out Yee Sin, they have been in the business for a very long time, apparently they are the pioneers of such racks.

As for lightings, we got all of our lights at Chan Huat. The lady who served us was very helpful and gave us good advice. The prices were pretty reasonable and once again a recommendation from the online forum.

The weeks before moving in, there was painting, polishing of the floors, chemical wash of the toilet bowls, aircon servicing and other minor repairs done. Delivery of furniture also kicked in and just a word of advice, delivery guys don't always come at the allocated time. Sometimes they come much earlier, expecting you to be there and sometimes they come very late. Try to specify for them to call you an hour before reaching but even then, don't expect them to actually do it.

The week before the actual move was stressful. Everyday I would go straight home after work just to pack, pack, pack. There were carton boxes all around and little space to move. Everyday I would just wish that the boxes would magically fill up on their own. Mum was also spending all her evenings transferring our hundreds of photos from the small albums to the big albums. Nis and Adriel also came by to help. We spent Deepavali packing and packing and cleaning and cleaning..

When THE DAY came, there were still a few things not packed. But when the strong, able-bodied guys from The Helping Hand came round, they wasted no time, helping us to tape up the remaining boxes and swiftly bringing down our 40 boxes and other loose items. They were very professional and I highly recommend them. They charge a fixed amount per lorry per trip and you can get more details by giving them a call.

Upon reaching our new place, they were also very brisk, shifting all the boxes to the respective rooms, properly labelled by yours truly. The whole moving process took maybe 1.5 hours! It was that fast! Then the other tedious part, unpacking! But I guess we had the momentum and in my mind, I had already decided where each item was going. Over the next week or so, we slowly unpacked the remaining boxes.

I am SO GLAD that everything is OVER and I can now happily blog away on my experiences and say it is truly HOME SWEET HOME!