A change of address checklist when moving house!

There is so much to think about when moving house and all the people you need to tell about your change of address is crazy. I spent a good few hours after we had moved house filling in forms paper and online. Some I found you could do beforehand but others I waited until we had actually moved as we were moving out of Northumberland to North Lincolnshire.

Here are the main organisations and people to inform about a house move!

Redirect your mail!

This was the first thing I did. As well as getting your post it is a good way to stop identity theft. It is so easy to set up via Royal Mail. The fee starts from around £34 for three months, and you can redirect your post for up to 12 months to your new address. It cost us a little more than £40 as Stu and I both have different surnames.

The Bank!

It is so important to inform your banks, building societies, insurance companies or any other businesses that deal with your money so they can update their records of you. Keep in mind that once you change your address with your bank you’ll also need to update your billing address for any stores or services that bill you through that account too.

Inland Revenue, National Insurance, Department of Work & Pensions, Child Benefit!

The Electoral Role!

It is so important to be able to vote but being registered at your new house can also help to improve your credit score.

Inform your local authority

We informed Northumberland Council we were moving to a different area and it took 5 minutes to fill out a form to check we had paid all the council tax we should have. When we moved here I filled in a form online so we can pay the council tax. 

Utilities!

Make sure your provider knows what date you're moving and then take a reading of your gas and electricity on the day you leave to send to them. This will stop you from being charged for gas and electricity that you haven't used. I forgot about this and probably going to have to pay an estimated bill. Ugh! With the water as we were moving counties and water supplier we had already paid our bill for the quarter so they ended up owing us money. A grand total of £3.74. lol

TV, Phone and Broadband!

We rang Sky and did everything over the phone. We got a great deal for being a long time customer. They disconnected us the day we moved and the broadband and phone were reconnected in the new house the day after, then the engineer came the day after that to install the Sky TV. It was so straightforward and I am glad we rang up a couple of weeks in advance.

TV License!

This is something you can do a few months in advance. When we arrived at the new house there was a letter saying there was someone coming to check there was a TV license in this house so I am glad I had already changed the address.

House Insurance!

It's important to remember to update the details on your home and contents insurance as your insurance premium is likely to change alongside your address. Our contents insurance is actually cheaper here where we are now. I think it's because there is less crime. hehehe

DVLA: Update your driving licence, 

Vehicle Breakdown Cover, Car Insurance & V5C Vehicle Log Book!

Your GP!

You can inform your GP that you are moving house but we waited until we had moved house to register with a new one. The amount of forms to fill in were unreal. There were about 6 each and I had the honour of doing them all. Ugh! 

Store Cards!

This was something I had forgotten about until I went to order a Tesco shop and changed the address for delivery. You have to go on their club card website and change your address separately. It's a bit of a faff but can all be done online! It also gave me change to order a new card as I didn't have one and there is a Tesco within walking distance.

Online shopping sites

With sites like Amazon and eBay, it’s easy to place orders without looking closely at the shipping details and if you fail to change your address early on you might forget to make the change during your first purchase at your new place.

Is there any I have forgotten about?

A Sunday roast was what we needed.

When we moved house we had pizza the night before we moved, fish and chips the next night and ready meals for the next two evening meals. I felt like that we were all ready for a home cooked meal and I was so keen to give my new kitchen a proper work out and the gas cooker a try! 

For the last 12 or so years I have only ever had an electric cooker and I really missed a gas cooker. I was itching to try it out and thought what better than a roast dinner! We had the shopping delivered on the Friday and everything came so I was all ready!

I sometimes cheat with the potatoes and buy peeled one's. It's pure laziness and costs more but cooking a roast dinner is a lot of work. They taste the same so why not. I also cheated with the Yorkshire Puddings. They were the ready made frozen one's which just needed popping in the oven.

I don't cheat with the roast parsnips though. They are my favourite vegetable and I could happily just eat a plate full of them covered in gravy! 

Stu and the girls are crazy about broccoli! I always buy a lot of it but this time went a bit over the top because I usually buy two of the pre packed one's but Tesco had none in stock so I went with the loose one's and had no idea of the size of them so went for three. They were actually the same size and cost 1 pence less. lol No more pre packed one's for me.

As fast as I was peeling and chopping the carrots the kids were eating them. They do love raw carrot. I think I've raised a pair of rabbits sometimes. lol There was also mashed swede, Brussels sprouts, chicken of course and my favourite ever stuffing! The apple and herb stuffing from Tesco. It is amazing and nearly half the price of other brands!

Cooking with the gas cooker was even better than I imagined. Everything seemed to be cooked a lot quicker and instead of spending hours in the kitchen I had the afternoon free.

In our old house when I was serving a roast dinner up I would end up so stressed as our old kitchen was tiny. There wasn't enough room to swing a cat. I would never enjoy the meals I cooked as I would leave the kitchen feeling stressed but this time I didn't. We were all in the kitchen. Stu making the gravy, Becky keeping and eye on the Yorkshire puddings and Ellie helping me dish up. There was room for us all. When it was time to eat I enjoyed it and nearly ate everything, that rarely happens.

We all enjoyed the first proper, home cooked meal in the new house. I can't wait to cook more! It was a pleasure to cook and not a chore.

We have moved to Scunthorpe.

I wrote that we have moved out of Northumberland in my "I'm not Northumberland Mam anymore! Introducing Life As Kim!" blog post but I don't think I mentioned where we had moved. If you follow me on social media you will know as I have been tweeting and posting photos on Instagram. I did write this a few weeks ago before we were settled in.

We are now living in Scunthorpe which is in North Lincolnshire and is over 150 miles from where we used to live in Northumberland. The way I'm describing it is that it's somewhere between Hull and Doncaster, down from York and up from Lincoln. Geography is not my strongest subject. lol

I have been telling some fibs for a while (I'm sorry). We have known we would be moving since this time last year. Stu and I have been talking about moving to be nearer my dad for at least 3 years but it just wasn't possible with Becky studying for her GCSE's. We decided that when her GCSE's were finished we were off.

My dad lives in a small town/large village just outside of Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire and when a house became available and the money situation in our life changed a little we jumped on it. It seemed perfectly timed and is just a 20 minute walk from where my dad lives. We never dreamed we could move into the village, we just had our sights set on Scunthorpe.

Over Christmas when we were away on holiday with my dad, on Christmas Eve we went to visit Scunthorpe and managed to view the house. We fell in love with it. We all agreed that it was a bit of a fixer upper and there is plenty of work that needs to be done which I am so excited about.

When I first saw the carpet and the fireplace in the living room I hated them. For years I have always had wooden or laminate flooring and could think of nothing worse than a patterned carpet. When we viewed the house they started to grow on me. We had decided to paint the wood on the fireplace a different colour, put the TV on the wall and put shelves in the alcoves at the sides of the fireplace. It will all take time but we'll get there in the end.

The kitchen is amazing!! It is about 4 times bigger than the one we had and has so much storage and a gas cooker! I do prefer a gas cooker but have had to make do with an electric one. The kitchen units looked so worn and tatty but now they've had a clean they look fine. I am in love with the back door too. It is a stable style door where I can just open the top half to let some air in.

Between the kitchen and the living room is the dining room. It is a good size and there isn't much to write about. The cupboard under the stairs is huge! You could fit a bed in. lol I did think about making it into an office but there is no window and I think it would be a bit claustrophobic.

The bathroom is downstairs and it is twice the size of our old one. I will be sharing photos soon as it is so cute. There is shelving all of the way around and the bath is in a little alcove. It is going to be so cosy when I go for a bath.

The bedrooms are a good size and has so much storage but they do need decorating and the kids will need new carpets eventually. Becky has chosen the smallest room which I am very happy about but it's still bigger than her old room. It's already had the wallpaper stripped, painted white and she has a new carpet. Ellie has the bigger bedroom and will need the space to store all of her toys. We're having a new rule. She can bring toys downstairs to play with but they're not going to be stored down here. Toys are to live in her bedroom!

Outside is AMAZING! There is a outhouse which has plumbing and electricity which means we can put our washer, a tumble dryer and a chest freezer in it. There is a garden too which is way longer than it looks. The kids already have plans for a trampoline, paddling pool and to camp out in it. Eek! I haven't had a proper garden with grass since I was a child and it is a dream come true. I can't wait to be able to grow plants and flowers. I am so keen on getting myself a greenhouse.

There is a garage at the bottom of the garden which Stu has claimed. He can put all his things that I don't really like in the house like tools, all the computer parts and what not.

We've starting a new chapter or our lives and I of course will be blogging all about it!

Our weekly meal plan! 1st - 7th July. #MealPlanningMonday

I am amazed, last weeks meal plan went to plan despite moving house. We found the new fish and chip shop when we had moved house and I don't know if it was because we were starving but they were so good. I would go as far to say better than our old chip shop! 

The food shop was delivered on Friday and it gave me great joy to put it all away. There is so much cupboard space here.

Cooking the roast dinner in the new kitchen with the gas cooker was a dream. I think I am going to like it! Only problem I had was one of my roasting tins was far too big to fit in the oven. New roasting tins are going on the list of things that I need to buy.

This week on the menu we have:

Monday - Bubble and Squeak with poached eggs. (Using the Sunday dinner leftovers)

Tuesday - Tuna salad with new potatoes.

Wednesday - Creamy ham & mushroom pasta bake.

 Thursday - Fish fingers, chips and baked beans.

Friday - Pizza.

Saturday - A BBQ!

Sunday - Toad in the hole, mash and veg.

What are you eating this week?