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Organising Chaos

Just when I thought I've gotten to a state of routine suddenly I find myself having to abruptly change. I've gotten good at doing this change management on a personal level but I hate to have to change for my family's sake. I've come to understand that my family's security is really important -- especially for the simple things like what day I get paid, what time of the month the bills arrive, how much the rent is, etc. Now that I've found some semblance of flow and routine though something comes up that tests this routine.

So now we're going to have to find a place to move into fast. It's a long story why we're going to need to move (there's a lot of factors involved) so I won't go there. The logistics of this is the easy part (believe me). It's the non-logistic things that come with moving that's really hard -- which is why families don't usually plan on or optimise for moving houses every year. Off the top of my head, these are the things that I have to think about before, during, and right after the move happens:


  1. Get my essential services moved. Electricity, gas, phone/internet, and the address the Government knows where I live.
  2. Have my mailing address on subscriptions and essential accounts changed. Things like banking accounts, magazine memberships, Internet domain registry account address, and other things like where my Greenpeace and Mission Australia correspondence (yes I want to get the dead tree version of the mail) get sent to.
  3. Change my daily commute patterns. Not only mine but also my wife and daughter's commute patterns going to/from the mall, daycare, church, etc. It's one of those things to learn and get used to again.
  4. Get movers. So far I've had experience with one removalist company which is pretty positive. I'm going to call them up and schedule the moves as well.
  5. Clean up. It's a good thing that we've invested in an amazing multi-purpose cleaning machine -- it's already paid itself in virtually dust-free and hassle-free cleanups of carpets, walls, screens, and even the mattress.
  6. House warming. We're going to have to cozy up to a new place, get used to the quirks, and establish new usage patterns of the new space. Also we're going to have to host our friends and family at the new place to make it feel more like home.
This is a minor hassle though, but the thought of having to do this again when we buy our own place is a little stress-inducing. I'm looking at this from a "practice" perspective -- hopefully we'll get this moving house bit down to a science so that we we move into our own house then we'll be a little more adept at it.

Still it's not a skill I want to hone too much lest it become a habit.

Anything you think I should put on the list up there?

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