Help calm me. House buying and selling stress

Joining the thread because we are 12 days away from our big move. Downsizing from large house, gite, two barns, three cellars and potting shed to three bedroom house and small outbuilding. We are in France so the legal stuff has been complex and lengthy, but nobody can pull out now without a massive financial penalty. We have been clearing and getting rid of stuff for over a year; packing in the house pretty much done, still quite a lot to do in barns and cellars. Kind neighbours are taking in some stuff for us and new lockdown has been avoided for a bit longer.
There will be lengthy signing ceremonies with the lawyers and purchasers / vendors (?), then we move the next day. Stress is building.
Any tips on how to sleep better?

Good Luck Mamie Hope you are going to be very happy in your new smaller home. When trying to go to sleep try to clear your mind of NOW, and concentrate on how lovely it will be when unpacking all your stuff in the new place.

So happy for Shandy and welcome Mamie.

We've had a week of silence except for our vendor's EA who's been chasing up the chain.
News is that DD2, who found her new house last, is moving on Friday. She has won the family race!
DD1, who started the moving bug in the family, is waiting on paperwork from Spain.

Congratulations Shandy, you are now on the home stretch. I too took possession of my new home on a Friday, but moved out of my old home on the Wednesday to give me a chance to do a final clean without any furniture in place. I slept in my sister's on the nights in between.
Most of my furniture had been put into storage for a fortnight whilst I had the new house decorated and new carpets laid. I slept on a blow up mattress for a fortnight, but I survived.

Good luck Mamie, wishing you good weather for your move. I can't sleep either as my mind is overactive, I have got lots of lists I'm ticking off.

I'm sorry you haven't heard yet Pittcity, I hope you hear soon. I wonder what will happen with the SD extension discussion on Monday. Good luck to both of your DD's.

maytime2 as I'm also moving on the Friday I hope to have the weekend to come back to the cottage and clean. I've never used a carpet shampooer before but expect it is quite physical. I think I've said before that I look at the House Buying, Selling and Renting forum on moneysavingexpert, many people have deductions from their deposits due to a variety of minor things, I need to make sure it is spotless. I need to give a month's notice on 7 February to 6 March, and do hope the LL will grant me the extra week rent, rather than the whole month.

Good luck to everyone waiting, off to the beach in a minute, enjoy your day

Cleaning carpets in an empty house is so much easier! Are you able to hire a cleaner? Tesco’s have Rugdoctors for hire.....they are a doodle! Now you can get planning your new life!

Thanks for that midgey, I've not researched them yet, I'll find out where to get one. Not looking forward to cleaning all the windows inside either, but I think I might start that now, I'm not using the open fire anymore so should stay clean

Welcome Maime good luck with your move.
With just three weeks until our move there is much to do. It is amazing how much stuff we have accumulated in the last eleven months.
Our lease agreement is very detailed in regard to what we have to do in terms of cleaning when we vacate. This includes having the carpets professionally cleaned and flea treated and we have to submit the receipt for this.
We will move out a full week before the end of our lease so plenty of time to sort out the cleaning. The landlord is intending to come back to live when we move out but intends to replace the kitchen before they do. The kitchen is only a year old.
Seems a bit silly that we have to do the cleaning requirement when it is going to be taken out.

Morning all, I have the remains of very small hailstones here and sunshine!

I've just gone through all of the house insurance comparison sites mentioned on moneysavingexpert, as well as the web sites of the big ones that aren't on the comparison sites. The difference in price from the same companies on the comparison sites is astounding. I've finally chosen someone and will be buying both buildings/contents as there is only a week between exchange/completion. I've looked at the cash back sites but the cash back incentives are only if you spend a lot more, I want to cut back on all my outgoings.

Have a good Sunday

In the past I always had both bldgs and contents from the same company. Have always shopped around every year. Indeed, when I was working actually used to take a day from my annual leave to do this, and also my car insurance at the same time. So tend to swop around between companies quite a lot.

When I moved down here to the flat with nearly four months left on my blgd/content insurance I informed the company I was with that year - moving from a 3-4 bedroom house in an East London borough to a first floor flat in WSM, and just required contents insurance,and I was totally astonished that instead of the rebate I expected, they put a small surcharge on. When the renewal notice came it was higher for the following year for the one than I had paid the previous year for the two. Did not take long shopping around to find alternative which gave me a better contents insurance for a lot less money. Does make you wonder though!!!!

It's a pain having to spend so much time on it isn't it Franbern, I spent about two hours comparing and reading the policies. The cashback site offer was £135 cash back if I bought a £130 policy with two add ons that amounted to £90 ie £210 - but I managed to get the same deal (without the cash back) through Go Compare, for £98.00. Can't ever guarantee cash back, the site could go down and I'd never see the money, glad to pay the £98 and it's done.

I'm trying to bubble wrap yet another heavy mirror, I'm so glad I started early, I need a robot friend to help hold the other end of the roll!

Oh the joys of sorting things out before the packers come in. Remembering that last time anything that was in a drawer was simply upended into a box. That left me with a jumble of things to sort out. I’m not sure what the best way to do this is but am thinking of just putting drawer contents of each drawer into a plastic bag which would at least keep all those items together but seperate from the other drawer contents. Any gems of wisdom to share?

Has anyone used the bags that you use the vacuum to shrink things down in size? Could these be used for things other than clothes such as bottles of shampoo and lotions etc.

Spice I use those vacuum pack bags for storing my spare bedroom bed items (duvet, pillows, topper, sheet), The spare bed in there is a pullout one that normally 'lives' as a sofa. They work by taking out every single (inch/piece.cubic ? - not sure proper word) of air. So do not think they would be at all suitable for anything containing liquids. Shampoo, lotions, etc. are best stored for removal in boxes, preferably upright - I would use several small box containers inside a larger box.

I am also very involved in packing things away - ready for my new floor to be laid in a fortnights time in my Living/Dining Room and hallway. Trying to store all the boxes in my spare bedroom - this weekend completed all the cupboards in my Living Room units, - amazing what one person, living by themselves has!!!! Now to start on the large Ikea Unit in hallway - mainly containing books. At least the four wicker baskets in the bottom of that can just be moved and stored exactly as they are.

Re insurance, a friend recommended NFU to me and I'm very happy with them. We had an issue with a leaky pipe a couple of years ago and it was sorted very quickly. I pay monthly and there is no extra charge for this.

So glad to hear you are nearly in your new house Shandy.
We are now back in our house living with our daughter and grandchildren and most of our things are still boxed and in our 2 sheds. Every now and then I see what's in a box and take out what is useful and put the rest back.
Yesterday I made a fruit cake but did not have the weighing scales or beaters so just guessed and it turned out ok although a bit dry.
It's a bit like a survival movie.
Wishing everyone all the best with their moving plans,

Good to hear some people are making progress!

Morning all, pinch and a punch for the first of the month!

Nice to hear from you loopyloo, well done for guessing the fruit cake ingredients!

Time is flying Franbern, I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of it when it's down.

I have gone with Policy Expert if anyone is researching house insurance - never heard of them before, apparently No 1 in the UK?

I wish everyone well with their sale/purchases too. I've got the jitters now it's so near and am in a dilemma over how to move my elderly semi feral cat - I'm going to put my dog into kennels for two nights. I think I'm going to the house on the Thursday with the dog crate and will set it up in the bathroom, early on the Friday I will take her over before the removal men come. I''ll put a notice on the door and put tape across it so they can't go in there by mistake. I don't want the removal men to use the bathroom, so shouldn't be a problem. Ideally I would leave her here in a bedroom, but the bedroom bed will need to be taken, so that's not an option. People have suggested I crate her in the car, but she hates it, I'd have to drive around with her in there so I've dismissed that, the one short journey will be OK.

I'm in a real packing mess here, just don't have enough space to reorganise it all now the pictures are huge with the bubblewrap. Will be moving the sofa later so I can pull it all out and rearrange. I received a copy of the EPC and I've been living in 67 sq m - I think I've done quite well to adapt to it considering the station was 264 sq m!

Have a good day everyone, I hope you get the emails and phone calls you are waiting for.

We've used Policy Expert for the last 2 years Shandy and will probably ring them to transfer to the new house. They seem to offer the best value for money at present. We always shop around for everything once the contract is up but they seem to be worth keeping.

Nearly at the end of this thread. I'm happy to give it a go to do the continuation if no one else wants to do so.

Evening Spice101, that would be good if you can work out how to do it!

Room for a couple of posts here before this one is closed but I have done a new thread which seems to work.

Found the new thread. Thank you Spice