10 Lessons I Learned From Moving A Lot

Over the last few years, I happened to move flats quite a lot. It´s true that moving flats can be a nightmare and during the process, it is not the most exciting experience. However, leaving the hassle behind, there are a few lessons I learned from it, involving both mental and consumer behaviour changes that I consider quite important and useful for my mental growth.

 

1. Emotional Attachment to Belongings

 

You are not your material items. It doesn’t matter how beautiful and expensive they are. They aren’t and shouldn’t be part of you. Emotional attachment to material items is a voluntary way of limiting your freedom, especially mental freedom.

 

 

2. New Place, New World

 

Even if you move inside your own city. You start discovering new supermarkets you didn’t know. You start trying some local food places that you had never tried before, and sometimes the environment itself just feels different.

 

 

The air you breath is different and you will be able to see and judge from a more objective perspective every place you have lived in before.

 

3. Mental Reset

 

When you move to a new place you have to adapt yourself to the new area, house and commute. It may seem a bit confusing at the beginning, but it feels like pushing some kind of Reset bottom.

 

 

Your goal once you have moved is to find the comfort that suits you best now that you are in a completely different place. Depending on the place you moved to, this can be more challenging than others, but once you achieve your goal, the results are extremely satisfying.

 

4. In The End, I Am Not SO Minimalist

As I mentioned before, I like to embrace so many minimalist tendencies. However, 3 days ago I discovered something that made me realise how subjective and abstract the topic is.

We have a few closets we use to store different type of products, for example, the cleaning products and the medicines, luggage, etc…

A few days ago, I was trying to find the spray we use it to put in the mop and clean the floor. I wasn´t being successful in my search, so I got so annoyed I went to the bigger closet and started throwing everything out expecting to find the f’n spray at the forgotten deep bottom of the closet. To my surprise, instead of the spray, I found a box.

 

 

When I opened it, I found a bunch of clothes. Apparently, we moved to the flat we had too many boxes full of items to store, so we decided to temporarily store one of the clothing boxes in the closet so we could move around the flat until everything was stored.

But we forgot…

Storing everything in the new place is one of the most tiring experiences for us. Having to find space for our belongings and settling is exhausting and apparently, when we finished, we didn’t remember the spare clothing box we put into the closet. Indeed, we were happily storing more items on the same closet, just on top of the box.

Now, we have been living here for a bit more than one month now and I never missed anything from there. The same goes for my partner. As always, we did a proper decluttering before moving to the new place and despite throwing away loaded bags of items we don´t need, we still had a full box with more clothes we haven’t used nor missed during the whole month.

That means I had enough pyjamas and sports clothes to completely ignore the ones in the box. Maybe we should declutter again?

 

5. Changes are exciting

 

During my whole life, my dream always has been “going out” and explore the world. But if you don´t love the idea of moving to a new area and you are still going to do it for family/work reasons, give it a chance. Feeling homesick won’t last forever and discovering the new place and surroundings can give you some great, positive experiences.

 

6. The Strange Feeling of Leaving a Place You Like

Last weekend we went to the area we had been living before moving. I hated the flat but loved the area. And of course, the day I left I felt extremely strange. We would be living just on the other side of the city but would be able to visit the area again. Yet again, I felt sad.

I wouldn’t go back to the coffee place I used to go every week. I wouldn’t buy dinner or get my shower gel on the same Boots. We wouldn’t be visiting the amazing food places in the area. It just felt sad, despite being there for not so long.

However, once we were exploring our new location and making a list of all the new coffee places we were going to try, I felt great again!

 

7. Cardboard Boxes Cuts DO Exist

And are very common and deeply painful. Remember to use some nice scissors, you don’t want to start your new era with a hand full of plasters.

 

 

8. Commitment Is Scary

Some contracts have a minimum stay of 6 months, some other 12, but during one of our last “flat hunting” adventures, we found that you could be asked even 18 months minimum!

Despite loving the place, committing to stay in a place we don’t know if we will love for so long is too risky for me.

Maybe it’s a different situation if you want to establish and settle forever. Then again, a new place in a new area is something you may want to try for a few months first.

 

9.Learn To Say NO To Other Deals

We loved the area we were living in previously. However, I was extra excited about trying a new one, a particular side of the city I had just visited before a few times. During our flat hunt, I was invited to see a lovely flat in the same area we were already living in. It was a perfect deal, yet I knew that one more year in the same area would get boring soon. It was a difficult decision but we said no to the flat, and just a couple of weeks later we got a great deal just in the area we wanted to try.

When I think about it now, I can’t imagine having accepted the previous offer and losing the opportunity to live in the new location.

 

It’s extremely important to know what you want. Otherwise, you can end up accepting some unattractive deal just a few days/weeks before your dream place appears.

 

10.- Everything Will Be Slightly More Expensive Than You Thought

Maybe you need to change your internet provider or buy a new iron. If you have a bigger place, you may want to get a new sofa or even a dinner table.

It’s important to bear in mind that you will probably end up paying a bit more than you thought.

 

 

Thanks for reading one more time!

How has your experience been when moving flats?