This week in thoughts: remember me?
Dear Substack readers; its been a while. My last post was (gulps) December 11th; coincidently the week before we moved for the first time; and right before we upended our lives and started afresh in our new home.
You might be thinking; ‘what do you mean-moved for the first time?’ so I’ll explain. It’s not that we love moving or anything; far from it-rather we had an enthusiastic buyer and we scared shitless of losing them. So on December 18th, 7 days before Christmas 2023, we completed move number one and spent the holidays in a rental. To say we were unenthused about this move would be an understatement. Considering we had been told by our solicitor that the actual move (into our actual new house) would be likely first week of Jan; it felt frustrating (and a bit pointless) to make this interim step towards our end goal.
However, with the UK market as it is, we decided to honour our buyer’s wishes and go. We absolutely couldn’t lose the new house (a total non- negotiable) and didn’t want to risk upsetting our buyer for the sake of a few weeks. We of course, recognise that being able to live in a rental for a very short lease period is both very lucky and also incredibly unusual. I’ve been asked how we managed to secure this a few times by my instagram followers and my answer is that we have a good relationship with out local estate agents; small town and all that and mainly because my husband is a massive people person whereas I, absolutely am not.
So with that, we moved all of our belongings.
Twice within 3 weeks.
SUCH FUN.
The physical side of moving twice was a LOT. Terry has permanently buggered his knees, and I’m still recovering from the stress of trying to organise a zillion boxes into one tiny room only to get them all back out again in the blink of an eye. We *had* considered hiring removals but it was just too expensive so we did it ourselves. TWICE. Bruised, broken but at least we’re finally here.
And anyway, the physicality of those few weeks PALES into significance compared to the mental anguish of the entire selling and buying process (at leat here in the UK.) I’m just glad that’s behind us *shivers in disgust*.
So here we are, in our new cottage and feeling very VERY lucky. Last year was a tricky one to say the least. You can read about the why’s and wherefores as to what prompted our move here but suffice to say that the stuff that led us to being here today feels oddly worth it. Yes it was shitty, and scary and all that but actually, things are infinitely better and I think we are better for it.
We are planning to take our time with this renovation, and hopefully get things right first time. I don’t feel so obligated to get to the finish line at lightning speed, I almost feel (what’s the word?) relaxed.
Over the next few weeks and. months I’ll be sharing plans (initial in some cases) for each space in our new house and I would love for you to ve part of the journey.
Big love as always,
Nina x
Nina- I admire your honesty in sharing the rough patches you’ve endured and not “sugar coating” it for the sake of appearances. Sharing your past struggles has reinforced why I have so much respect for you as an influencer (and human!). You’ve provided support and optimism to so many of your community by sharing your story. Thank you. xx
I’d like to echo what Heather has said. Myself as an undiagnosed neurodivergent and someone who had been in debt in the past gives me an insight in to what can be achieved and that I don’t have to feel I’m constantly climbing a ladder in an upward direction, sometimes a step back or sideways is just as important. Thank you xx