We’ve started working on the details of our upcoming move. The two most important things to organise are (1) finding somewhere to stay, and (2) moving all our stuff.

Finding somewhere to stay actually has two parts. We are hoping to become homeowners for the first time – we’ve been renting until now. But it’s hard to buy a house from a distance, and it would entail more travelling back and forth than we’re willing to accept. So instead we will stay in a temporary place during our first few months in Stockholm, while we look for a permanent home. We have a temporary place lined up so we won’t be homeless, but we will be living out of suitcases and boxes for some time.

It turns out that the actual move will be horrendously expensive… We’ve found two companies that manage moves between Sweden and England. The first one came up with what I thought was a jaw-droppingly expensive quote for moving our goods and furniture. But they prepared the quote without having seen our current home (they’re based in Sweden) basing their estimate only on our floor area. We have a rather sparse furnishing style so we thought that might be a bit excessive, and contacted another firm for a second opinion. This second firm actually has a local representative in England. Their man came by, surveyed the contents of our apartment, promised us that they would “sharpen their pencils” to give us a really competitive price, and went off to work. A week later they sent us an estimate that was indeed based on a lower total volume (32 m² instead of the 40 m² that the first firm guessed)… but a total price that was 15% higher than the first one. Ouch. (Admittedly their estimate includes a bit more work on their part, including packing all breakables, but still – ouch.)

The first, lower quote isn’t quite high enough to make us throw out all our furniture and buy new things in Sweden, but certainly high enough to make that thought at least cross my mind. However my brain has now been numbed and is slowly getting used to the idea of paying several months’ salary for moving.