The big move and moving around
What a crazy week it was! I moved into my own place together with my girlfriend and her mother came over to visit.
For a week, I drove around Belgium and The Netherlands to help them discover this little corner of the world. All while trying to get stuff from Ikea and moving the last things.
With all of that done, I can say I officially moved now. Even though my contract started the 9th, now that my bed, clothes and my computer moved I really have moved away. It’s a strange feeling. But overall I’m happy to take this step. I know that at age 29 this is very late. It all just fell into place.
The “downside” to all of this is of course the impact it has on my wallet. Not only the rent but also the one time expenses to get the apartment just right cost a bit. I was able to get some second hand things, but not everything. In the end I bought a total of 880 EUR worth of furniture at Ikea. On top of that while her mother was here we ate out and I treated them a few times. Overall it wasn’t much but enough to leave a dent of about 150 EUR in restaurant bills.
Furniture purchased
- VIMLE sofa — 399 EUR
- NYBODA table — 39.99 EUR
- LACK wall mounted plank — 4.99 EUR
- NORDVIKEN table/desk — 129 EUR
- ELVARLI open closet — 295 EUR
- GIMSE plastic bed drawer — 9.99 EUR
TOTAL: 877.97 EUR
Tour de force
All this moving around did mean I couldn’t write anything for over a week. By the time I was able to sit down it was already 10 p.m. or later and I had to get up on time to get the car and drive to Brussels to pick up the family for the next excursions.
Since I didn’t have a permanent resident card for the rental car that my girlfriend’s mother booked, and I wanted to save on stupid parking fees, so I parked outside of the city every day. This meant I had to run for 10 minutes every day. I got a good morning run out of it, that’s for sure.
Moving forward
With the move out of the way I now have to look one year and a half forward for my next adventure: my apartment in Brussels and the mortgage that goes with it.
The main fight will be getting a good deal and at the same time leave enough to survive -in worst case on one salary- the weight of rent and later the mortgage payment plus food and others.
I will write more on that last part in the coming weeks. Look forward to that.
If you want to know how my journey went so far, don’t hesitate to read up on my other posts in this series:
Brussels is SUCH a beautiful place to live! Do you know where you’d like to go next or just playing it by ear? It seems like you live pretty minimally? Is that just your preference or does it make easier for when you decide to move next? I’d love to see pictures of your new place though! I’ve always wanted to live in Brussels!