The Move Part 1: Chaos reigns

So, moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do, or so they say. Our move was no exception. My poor parents, it was a disaster.

The bottom line was: too much stuff, too small van. The combination of the 2 problems meant that I was somewhere close to having a nervous breakdown at various points of the day.

Packing up day was supposed to be a breeze. Parents arrive, we deliver furniture, take some to the tip/recycling centre, then load up the rest. Which we did. Except it became clear at a certain point that the van wasn't big enough. Cue a mass cull of stuff. And me going through mild panic.

Ultimately, a decision was made: we needed a bigger van. Luckily we were able to arrange that, even though it did mean my dad, myself and The Beard driving an hour back into Cornwall to swap vans over, a process which surprisingly only took 10 minutes (given we had to swap about half a van's worth of stuff into the new one). Once we'd got back the van loading process was surprisingly quick - we managed it in about 45 minutes in all, with 4 of us doing the loading.

It was quite possibly the most stressful day I've had in a long time - the last time I was that stressed was when I moved into the last house from my first flat. That was stressful for different reasons though, and I have to give massive props to my parents, The Beard and our dear friend Gray for being champs and helping me retain some level of sanity! Especially my mother, who had expressly told me that she didn't want to do masses of cleaning, and I'd kinda promised her that she wouldn't have to... and then she had to. Also massive thanks must go to JP, my parents' friend who helped with the van rental, and the replacement bigger van - an absolute star.

So, by the end of the long day, we'd packed up the van, cleaned the house and were ready to set off for the ferry port, leaving The Beard behind to finish up the last bits, head to a friend's house and then get a plane a couple of days later.

The thing is, you never realise just how much stuff you have until you start packing it up into boxes. Even though I was trying to be ruthless and we did get rid of a fair bit of stuff, the amount of things we had stashed in that little house with the limited storage is nothing short of amazing.

My top tip for moving? Don't underestimate how much stuff you have. I have no idea how you measure how many boxes you will need, but it will more than likely be more than you think.

Next up: Ferries, cats and vans