It’s been a busy few weeks…!

As most of you know, we made the decision to move to New Zealand in January. It has been no mean feat to finish up working, pack up an entire flat of contents and pack for a significant extended time in a new country! Suffice to say there has perhaps been a few miscalculated decisions…!

A lot going on, but now finally a bit of space to allow those blogging fingers to put themselves back into action… (it’s been a wee while, I really haven’t done our adventures in Scotland enough justice!) I thought I would share some Edinburgh packing up tips:

• It takes you longer than you think to sell all your belongings.
• We had stuff in the flat listed on Ebay, Gumtree and many Facebook groups. All with their different pros and cons. Always get proof of postage for Ebay in case of a dispute. The benefit of Facebook – you don’t need to pay seller fees.
• Edinburgh based facebook groups if you are trying to sell (or looking for something) – Get Rid of it Edinburgh; Edinburgh Just Furniture; For Sale or Wanted Edinburgh & Lothians; Edinburgh and Lothians Ultimate Bargains; Free stuff/for sale in Edinburgh; Free items offered and wanted Edinburgh & Lothians; Edinburgh Buy and Sell plus many more. I’m sure many regional variations!
• These groups need to be treated with caution and persistence. We had some lovely people that came and picked stuff up no problem but there was frequently people who said they would come and collect and never showed, people would ask you to deliver, one guy even asked to post all our kitchen stuff to Haddington (?!), you wait because someone says they will collect and tell two other people who are interested you need to let them know (our advice – just say sold to whoever collects first), people frequently change their minds, you provide location and postcode on the item you’re selling then have a whole conversation to be told sorry no too far away (surely evident from the post itself), towards the end of our tenancy coming up I even offered to deliver two things just to get rid of it for the girl not even to reply to me… When you’ve offered to deliver for only £10 for your items… Persistence eventually paid off and I think we did well. Happy that our belongings have made it into a few different households and the rest went to charity. You will need to be able to find your ‘other messages’ folder on facebook to facilitate conversations though!
• Bedding, sheets and towels are only accepted by a few charity shops. Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home will take them but if you would like them to be used by people try Barnardo’s on Ferry Road or the Edinburgh Clothing Store.

A very busy 48 hours prior to our departure, still running around cleaning the flat, still trying to pack, see people and try and get some sleep, we flew out of Edinburgh with a little stopover in Sydney. Chai latte’s – how much i’ve missed you. A week down in New Zealand with some variable weather, sussing out the way of the land, having spent the weekend being tourists, I’ll be sure to keep you updated of what we get ourselves up to :-).