By Casey Neill
Moving house is a daunting prospect at the best of times, but throw kids in the mix and you’re in nightmare territory.
So how do you know it’s worth taking the plunge? And how do you smooth the transition for yourself and your children?
Berwick mum Jacqui James recently moved to the suburbs from the Dandenongs with husband Graham and daughters Matilda, 5, and Georgia, 3.
She grew up in the hills and while she loved the natural surrounds, she found winter cold and dark and seeing friends was difficult.
“I never imagined I would have a family in the hills,” she said.
“I always thought I wanted something different for my kids.
“Then I met Graham and he’d never been to the Dandenong Ranges.
“He came up to meet my family and he fell in love with it.
“I love the outdoors and I love nature, and when you’re away from it you forget all the negatives.”
Cut to Jacqui and Graham living in a unit in Ashwood, expecting their first child and unable to afford a bigger place in the area.
“In the hills we could get a proper house, and we’d been cramped in this two-bedroom unit for three years, so we wanted more space,” she said.
“I never intended to stay there forever.
“It was a truth that I had deep down.
“I was hoping that everything would work out and that maybe things would be different.”
But the negatives that saw her move off the mountain as a teen came back into focus: no footpaths, few friends for her girls, wild weather, and a never-ending home maintenance list.
“The final straw was when a tree fell on our neighbour,” she said.
“We’d had a number of close calls with trees over the years.
“After that I was too nervous to go for a walk.
“Matilda’s asthma was another reason we decided to move.
“The cold air really sets it off.
“She was having a really indoor lifestyle for four months of the year.”
So Jacqui and Graham made a list of what they wanted from their new home and weighed up their options.
“Our number one value was family, which is probably most people’s, and Berwick was going to put us halfway between my parents and Graham’s parents,” she said.
“It put him closer to work so he could be home with us more, and it had really good schools.”
They toured childcare centres, kinders and schools with Matilda and Georgia in tow.
“Where they felt most comfortable helped me make my decision,” Jacqui said.
“Letting them be a part of it helped.
“I moved when I was the same age as Matilda.
“I told them that story, how it became my new normal and I hardly remembered my old house.
“We spoke to them about it the whole way along, so it wasn’t suddenly ‘we’re going to move house’.
“We asked them what they thought. We brought them along for the ride. They came to all the house inspections.
“We came down to playgrounds and cafes, so they could see what it would be like.”
Step one of the physical moving process was to declutter.
“When you’re selling a house, too, you have to make it look like things are in order,” Jacqui laughed.
They used Facebook Marketplace, a storage locker and op shops, and gifted items to friends.
“A long settlement was good because we had time to do it slowly rather than all in a rush,” she said.
Using removalists was “a lifesaver” with two kids underfoot.
“We couldn’t have done it without them,” she said.
The family had been in Berwick for six weeks when we spoke.
“We haven’t met that many people yet, but through kinder Matilda got invited to a birthday party,” Jacqui said.
They’d introduced themselves to neighbours and in the depths of winter, found themselves outdoors much more.
“People are very friendly,” she said.
“It’s also been a lifestyle change for us. We’re doing more.”
