Moving Day and Happenings

Why does moving never go quite as planned? At the young age of 27, I have finally flown the nest and moved out. I started looking for a place in November, and now I am spending my first night in my new home with my fiancé.

Originally we were going to hold off on moving out until he got a proper job with a stable income and until we were married first – initial plans had been October 2020. However, as life does, it happened, things went a tad pear-shaped and here we are. My parents are traditional in the sense that they would have liked us to be married before we lived together. Keeping in mind we have been together as a couple for over 8 years and he has been sleeping on our couch for the past five years – still not officially living with us…details, details.

Once I had made the decision to move out, le fiancé and I settled on March 2021 being a good time, allowing us a few months to save and find a place we liked while he looked for a job. Yet, my mom dropped the news that my nana (who has Alzheimer’s and is 82) will be moving in, in February 2021. I knew I needed to speed up my plans. I love and adore my nana, yet I know my relationship with my parents (which was already strained) would be tested more than needed when she moves in. This bit of news was the final flag and motivator for me to move..

We were lucky and found a place really nearby my parents house. That way I can still help my mother with my nana but not adding to the household tensions and stress. It also means le fiancé and I are still keeping the same travel expenses for his current job and my meetings with clients. Thus, no new extra expense there.

Although I knew we were in for some initial expenses, I was still quite unprepared for what was coming and what is still to come. The place we have moved into has no kitchen. Meaning that there are no counters, no cupboards, no stove and no sink. This means no running water outside of the bathroom, nor drainable space for when I cook things like pasta. The place did come with a microwave and dining room table though and the owner is loaning us two wardrobes.

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I first decided to use the two wardrobes as a room divider, thus sectioning off the space we are using for our bedroom. The greatest decision so far. Then I went on the lookout for reasonable kitchen counters. Oh my gosh, that stuff is expensive! After about a week of searching, I finally had a look on Facebook Marketplace and found a 3 unit kitchen for R2 200. Since the stuff I had been looking at till that point started at R4 300 per unit, I instantly contacted the seller. Le fiancé and I then went to the seller’s shop and picked out a unit that we liked.

Then we went looking for a fridge. We remembered he owns a bar fridge. We plugged it in and were glad to find that it still worked. Thus we decided to buy a deep freezer since the bar fridge only has space for an ice-tray. I spent days arranging my kitchen layout and how it would work with my office space vs le fiancé’s gaming space.

While playing with layout my mother and I climbed into cleaning the flat. It had been used as a storage space for years, and it showed. Le fiancé had to sort the gate out, re-silicone the bath and shower and the windows as well. The wardrobes too needed deep cleaning from the thick layer of dust.

I had also spied a steal of a bargain when I saw an L-shaped couch for R3 000. Le fiancé and I discussed it and acknowledged that while it was not a necessity, it would be a worthwhile investment. So we went ahead and got one in grey. It matches my kitchen units incredibly well.

We were fortunate enough to be housesitting for the majority of December, meaning I could box up my life relatively easily. My books were a challenge to move through and I both look forward to and dread the unboxing and repacking of my books onto my bookshelves. I need to fit 5 bookshelves worth of books onto 4. I already had bookstore packing on two of the shelves. Also when we had just finished moving the last box of books, I had a delivery arrive with three new books. I know I have a problem – and it’s that I can’t part with books I have enjoyed and I enjoy most of the books I read.

I was also really sad to take down my 100 odd anime posters and pack up my figurines. However, I am already planning out where I shall be sticking my posters up and really getting into video content creation (now that I actually have the space).

Le fiancé made it abundantly clear that before we move in, the internet needs to be set up. Since everything we do from entertainment to work, this makes sense. So I got all the details and sat on the phone for a very long time, numerous times. Eventually, we get a quote, laughed and did it ourselves. Even if it meant a whole lot of work and sweat. Basically, we got the router and the cable needed for R400 less than what they quoted to just install the cable. A morning of le fiancé being in the roof and talking through the ceiling and a whole lot of ladder climbing, the cable was finally done and the internet set up.

After weeks of prep, our housesitting finally came to an end and we came home for the very first time. We unpacked and packed our clothes into the wardrobes, made the bed and swore at the fact the fridge was no longer cold. After phoning around and finding a reasonable place to re-gas our fridge, we awkwardly worked it into the car and dropped it off. The place is giving it a once over to make sure nothing is broken. They have already replaced one part and re-gassed it. We will find out more in the morning.

As we have been going along, we have found expenses cropping up here and there. Some little and some not so little.

Plus on top of all of that, we did Christmas shopping and have not yet paid our rent. All I can say is, thank heavens we had wedding savings that we repurposed and that we split the expenses over two months salaries, housesitting money and that we had been incredibly lucky to receive a surprising gift from an unlikely person. We honestly did not expect money and are so honestly grateful. That person really helped us out. The last bit of the money they gifted us, is going towards the repair and re-gassing of our fridge.

I am looking forward to being able to invite guests over, without having to consider my parents and I can finally cook or not cook whatever I want to (well, whatever my oven allows). The fact that we have managed to do this, boggles my mind and honestly astounds me. So many people helped us along the way. Some with labour and others with advice and a few with gifts. We are truly blessed with the people in our lives and I am excited for the adventures ahead.