So I truly intended to update this blog regularly through the process of packing and leaving Sydney but it turns out that packing and leaving Sydney is truly all encompassing!
I will summarise it for here though - the six weeks that changed our worlds.
Firstly the unit.
Turns out renting numbers didn't add up. While I had planned on saying a firm "no" to selling, the convincing arguments by Mr T and the plain facts helped me decide to give it a go.
While the actions we had to take to prep for rent were the same or for sale, it was a lot of work. A lot to do in less than 6 weeks. Painting the whole unit, fixing all th things we had planned on fixing for the previous 6 weeks we lived there, tidying up jobs we didn't quite finish, cleaning things that had never been cleaned (now let me be clear here - these were the tiles in the ensuite above the door and the walls and roof inside the laundry - not the living areas).
Also continuing to sort, dump, pack, store all our belongings. We had a schedule. This involved preping for a real estate open viewing for prospective viewers the Saturday before Christmas (with flights booked for Christmas Day). Our only chance to have people see it with some furniture and nice things, before it would be emptied.
To make this work we had to have photos taken the Tuesday before. To make that worked we had to have new carpet laid the day before photos (Monday). To make that work we had to have the painting in the carpeted areas finished before Sunday including skirting boards.
To make all this work we had to have a little as possible in the unit before the painting, carpet, photos. We started packing and moving things to the storage unit in late November and it seemed there was more and more stuff to go...somewhere.
I packed up the kitchen into many many boxes - leaving only minimal cutlery, crockery, utensils for the next few weeks. I over did this. We had planned on microwave meals and take aways, but we're left without some others basics.... Small bowls, scissors, sharp knives... Oops!
A similar approach was take to the tools, Mr T packed lots that he had "finished with" which meant having to borrow or buy some other tools to fix and build some things.
There was a lot of work and a lot of laughter at times. Mr T and I worked so well together every night late, finishing with a G&T and a ritual crossing off of the list. There was hilarious moments with spilling paint over the kitchen floor, and stressful moments of little talk when things weren't going to plan.
But we did it. The rooms to be carpeted were emptied before the Monday, the rooms to be photographed were pretty on the Tuesday and the whole unit was ready for the viewing at 10am on the Saturday. We were both absolutely knackered and rather stinky when we were having brunch at the cafe - our first family break in long while.
