Moved to Griffin

Hello Griffin!

No, I am not randomly greeting a half eagle half lion mythical creature. Griffin is the suburb we moved into mid November. So here's the scoop on how it all went down.

MOVING

We applied multiple places, but this location in Griffin was one of the first. While flying to Utah we were approved for two properties at the same time and prayed to decide which one and eventually said no to both. Later we were approved for another in the ideal location - one that Matt had seen but I hadn't. We agreed to go ahead with it, but then we were also approved for this property in Griffin, which was not our ideal location. I was so unsettled with the property we chose I had Matt draw me the layout only to discover the only way to access the yard was through the carport. I hated this and it made me feel more unsettled and I struggled to sleep. What was the "right" place for us? After getting up early and talking to my mom I decided I really liked the property in Griffin the best, but they would have to get an aircon in the bedroom and a dishwasher for us to consider it. We had to wait many days for them to confirm things with the owner. This was stressful because we were supposed to be out of our place in Dakabin, had most things packed up, and we weren't sure what would happen if the whole thing fell apart. Luckily, we were able to extend our previous place by a week and worked out renting the house in Griffin on the condition an aircon would be installed in the bedroom for an extra $5/wk in rent. We agreed to organise our own dishwasher. Whew!

Lessons learned from this process: 

1. In the end there is no "perfect" place. While renting it doesn't really matter if it doesn't tick all the boxes because you can move again if needed.

2. Always pay for cleaners. Moving is so stressful it is just not worth stressing about the cleanup as well.

3. Organise electricity as soon as possible. We couldn't live in our new place for a few days because I didn't organise electricity early enough.

3. Have a specific day/time for moving plan. Ideally get it ALL out in one day. This allows to organise help, renting cheap trailers off gumtree, etc.

4. Get to know your neighbours early! We found out later that our neighbour would have loaned us his trailer.

RESULTS
We love our new place! It has so much space and Sakura is obviously happier. She is much better at being able to entertain herself with lots of room to run around and push her stroller. I also can go anywhere in the house without having to move her with me (ex: go upstairs or downstairs).

It's taken nearly two months, but we now have 80% or so of everything organised. I'll probably still be moving things around. We have also been busy getting proper closet storage and whatnot. My new favourite place is called the Treasure Market where I got some great furniture for around $4. It's all the items people donate when going to the dump.

Our current frustration though is that there are still some major unresolved issues with our place.
1. There are two drains that have no drain covers! Luckily we have blocked access to them, but you can just imagine the risks or potentially stuff that could be dropped in them.

2. A shed door off its hinges. The whole thing is pretty rickety.

3. Random exposed pipe. I confirmed it was part of the pest control at one time, but was likely installed improperly when the house was built (2003).

4. No aircon in the master bedroom still.
5. Missing keys to the garage door and a couple other things.

We have notified the real estate, but they always seem to say their hands are tied and they've done everything they could. I gave a negative review of the real estate only to have the agent let me know it really reflects poorly on her. Either way, I still can't say I have had a positive experience. This place had severe white ant damage in the garage and although the ants are gone, no one bothered to fix the damage. So much neglect.

We have made some of our own improvements. We put our old aircon unit in Sakura's room so now she can nap in a comfortable temperature instead of the 35 degrees Celsius. We have fans in the other rooms to try and keep it cool. I have finally babyproofed drawers and cupboards as needed. I got a doorbell so I can hear when people are at the door while I'm in the office. And a few other things are still left on the home improvement list.

We thought our fridge wouldn't fit, but it was the exact width!

Our outdoor space is great and we bought a trampoline to make it even better! We just got a cheap used one off Gumtree and Sakura loves it. I try to go out there at least once a day with her when it is cool. She has just learned how to bounce on her own. After Christmas we also got a small pool like we used to have in Sydney. I expect lots of play time in the water over the summer! Out of all of us, Shade is the one that is happiest with the outdoor space. He meows ALL the time to go outside. The only time he hasn't was because I forgot I left him outside and he was out there for 3 or 4 hours. Matt found him waiting by the door to come in.

I'm so excited to finally be able to have people over and host playgroups with Sakura. We are also starting a weekly games night at our place. I decided that I would rather just have an open invitation think with a dedicated day and time because coordinating things with others always seemed to be tricky. I'll never forget the last time I tried to do a monthly date night with friends and no one showed up. This way if no one shows up, it doesn't matter because we can just play two player games. I've finally solved my space and parking issue so my goal is we can have more opportunities to build friendships this year.

Take care all! Hopefully people will get a chance to visit sometime. More about our holidays in my next post!