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Written by The McCarthy's Team on October 5, 2017

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You’ve bought your lovely new home, splashed the cash on a deposit, stamp duty, solicitors’ fees and estate agents – time to let the bank balance recover a bit!

Unfortunately, that’s highly unlikely, according to some new research from online estate agent Tepilo. Once you move in, the average person spends over £15,000 making their new house their home. Yikes!

The research revealed it takes four months for the new place to feel like it’s yours – and not without some hard work and a few jobs under your belt.

Obviously, some homes need a substantial amount doing to them – new bathrooms or a kitchen makeover, or more serious building work. But apparently, for most of us, it’s the living room we look to sort first – nothing says ‘home’ like a cosy lounge where you can put your feet up and relax after a hard day.

The first five jobs people tackle straight after moving in, according to the survey, are pretty practical – sorting out the broadband and TV (don’t want to miss an episode of Bake Off, and need to keep an eye on Pinterest for some new décor ideas!); cleaning; putting the bed up (no one wants to sleep on the floor on their first night in a new home), calling utility suppliers; and putting up blinds and curtains (otherwise you might have an interesting and unexpected first introduction to your new neighbours).

But one figure that caught our eye in particular was that it takes, on average, three and a half months to unpack all your belongings. Actually, to some of us, that sounds pretty quick (are we the only ones with a mystery box in the garage which hasn’t been opened since we moved a decade ago?!)

But this is something we experience with our removals customers quite frequently. When you’re moving to a new home you’re not always sure you want everything from your old house to go with you. It may be old paperwork or books you don’t need any more – although you might just hang on to them for a bit just in case! But, you certainly don’t want to unpack them in your new home to clutter up your lovely new rooms! Similarly, furniture, ornaments, artwork and soft furnishings are packed up from your old place, but you may be unsure where, or even if, they have a place in the new. For most of us, you need some time to figure it out, and to live in the house for a while, to see what works.

Self storage can be a great help in these situations and, quite frequently, our removals customers become self storage customers too! Rather than clutter up your new home with things you’re not sure you want or need, pop them into self storage for a period of time. Prices start from just £6 a month, and you can gain access whenever you need it – so if you realise that one of the boxes actually contains the toaster or – heaven forbid – the wine glasses, you can easily pop by and pick them up. Then gradually, as you live in your new home, you can figure out what should stay, what can be sold, and what can be sent off to the charity shop.

Changing the décor was the priority ‘larger’ scale home improvement people took on once they moved into their new home, followed by putting in new carpets and flooring. All of which is a million times easier if you’re not having to work around boxes and excess furniture! If you can keep it minimal, with the help of some handy self storage, the work can be done in half the time!

To find out more about our self storage facilities in Leeds, Harrogate and Wakefield click here.