Useful moving in tips/advice

Hi, I’ll introduce myself, I’m Lyndsey & myself and husband are in the process of buy a villa in Quesada. We’ve had a date for completion of July 27th, so we will fly out on the 25th. We will have 2 nights in a hotel & then hopefully stay in the villa for a few nights.

We will have 1 of our teen daughters with us. As it stands there just 1 double bed so she’s going to have to kip on the sofa until we can get a bed.
I was planning on buying bedding here & bringing it out with us, and buy pillows/duvets there. The only reason being, is that I can have it washed and ready to use ASAP.
As our time is limited we planned on shopping for essential home furnishings the day before completion.
It’s getting quite overwhelming, and I’ve probably just waffled on, so I apologise. But if anyone has any advice/tips on how to do this please send them to me, it would be gratefully received. ️

Are you asking how/ where to buy things? 25th and 26th July are weekdays and not a holiday so everywhere should be open. For essential bedding, pillows, sheets etc ( you won't be needing duvets in July, I promise!) You can get everything you need in the Yorkshire Linen shop, which is on the street leading from the Arches. There are other linen and furniture shops on that street as well. The Chinese household shops will have everything you need straightaway in terms of plates, cups, cutlery etc. In fact they do bedding as well so you could just go stock up for essentials in one of the big Chinese shops. I would recommend the one by the Consum in Benimar as it has everything and the folk are nice in there. There's the other big one close to Mercadona too and others just about everywhere if you need one closer to wherever you are. You'll find it easy too to buy eg a bed, if a shop has it in stock they will deliver quickly, even possibly the same day. Places to look for a bed and other immediate bits of furniture for swift delivery that won't cost a fortune are House of Furniture and the Discount Furniture place in Benijofar. Will get the web links to those places for you. Generally, really, don't over worry about this sort of thing. You can pick up your new house keys on exchange day, one quick journey to one of the Chinese shops and you'll have everything you need for straightaway. You can always get other stuff more to your personal tastes over time.

http://www.globaldiscountfurniture.com/about-us/ The link to the Discount Furniture store. And they deliver stuff really quickly, all pre-built, you don't want to be wasting time struggling with flat-pack on your first few days when you can be enjoying yourselves. Here's the House of furniture link too.https://www.houseoffurniture.es/ and Yorkshire Linen https://www.facebook.com/YorkshireLinenQuesada/

As you will be over before getting your keys, you could arrange for the spare room bed delivered on the day you move in.
Why not book on a gold carry bag and bring it with you. Fill it with the type of things you’d really like to have with you. Be aware that double beds are available in Spain in 6’6’ length. ( same as our king size beds) our doubles at home are only 6’3” long so wiser to buy fitted sheets in Spain. Personally, I love Zara Home for bedding etc.,
Beach towels. Checkout DOCK& BAY on Amazon. Space age ! Fold into nothing. I think they are the best. Saves on storage big time. Buy xl.
If you are fussy about your beakers, bring a few from M&S with you, great quality and usually have seaside scenes available on them Good cutlery in TKMAXX. You can buy tea towels in Spain. When buying bath sheets for your own use, buy white for yourself and navy or grey for hubby. Easy to recognise your own towel. Perhaps you could packing a can opener. You can buy every kitchen item imaginable in the big Chinese stores inexpensively. I bought and brought with me a retractable clothes one for the solarium. BRABANTIA. Perfect. Out of sight when there’s nothing drying and ready to use whenever needed. Always retract when finished as the sun will destroy the cords. It’s a great length. Don’t be tempted to buy any of the cheaper type as too short in length.
Buy good pillows. Zara. May seem pricey but we’ll worth the money. Cheap pillows are hell to sleep on
Exciting times await you. Enjoy every minute of it. Remember to be vigilant. Keep all doors and gates locked. Thieves can be lurking about , watching and waiting for an opportunity. Try not to use cash. Halifax do an excellent card with no charge for using Euros. For large money transfers to your bank, use WISE. Instantaneous transfers and low cost.
Finally,never leave food lying about on worktops. It attracts ants/insects.
Keys. If not already named,buy the little colour key rings and put onto every key with its name eg. Gate, post box, garage door. We put hooks onto the inside of a cupboard door and hang them out of sight Enjoy your dream home.

Thank you both. You’ve really helped me, good tips & advice. I will definitely be looking & checking out the recommendations

The most important piece of advice is

"Remember to be vigilant. Keep all doors and gates locked. Thieves can be lurking about , watching and waiting for an opportunity"

Coming from the UK you are probably used to being security conscious but be doubly aware in Spain and enjoy your new property.

Bee

You were asking for tips, apparently mainly about buying stuff for your new home... and you may now be worrying about security, given the posts about " being careful" . Well dont worry too much on that. Bee is of course right to say be alert;just as one would anywhere. it is true that newcomers in any place can be more vulnerable to scams, cheats etc because they have let their NORMAL guard down, in the excitement of a new place. But, really, this is a very safe place to be, and don't worry. This area is almost certainly safer than where you have come from in the UK ( really,safer than just about anywhere in the UK ). A tip is to be alert, but not paranoid... personally I would say for newcomers is that the most important thing is that you have engaged a good spanish solicitor for your house purchase, one that is independent of the house seller. THAT is one of the things that is most likely to make your purchase and settling in easiest. Including, for example, that it is normal - and you should expect - for your solicitor to sort out setting up your utilities( electric, water etc) contracts etc in your name.

Thank you. Not overly worried. I am however a very cautious person. But it is a good idea to remind newcomers to be vigilant as it’s easy to feel in holiday mode.

I have some very usual advice from this site so far, I’m taking notes (literally) and checking all the info out.

Feeling a lot better about the process now.

Although…off topic, trying to find car hire for a few days locally is proving a bit more tricky.
Got stung by the hidden mark under the cars bumper returning our hire back to Alicante whilst we were out at Easter.
So, thought I’ll organise airport transfers & then hire a car in quesada to use for fetching bits n bobs.
Tried, Coys, car rental quesada & magnums - all booked up.

Try Peter and Carol Kennedy at hereandthere car hire. Email [email protected] Will look out phone/whatsappp number for you. Local firm, specialise in having car here at your accommodation and picking you up/bringing you back to the airport. They have a fleet of c 40 cars, all decent, if not necessarily 'this year's model', and they don't bother with all the "checking for marks" car hire nonsense. OK so Peter is on WhatsApp +34 649173739

Shiva wrote:Try Peter and Carol Kennedy at hereandthere car hire. Email [email protected] Will look out phone/whatsappp number for you. Local firm, specialise in having car here at your accommodation and picking you up/bringing you back to the airport. They have a fleet of c 40 cars, all decent, if not necessarily 'this year's model', and they don't bother with all the "checking for marks" car hire nonsense. OK so Peter is on WhatsApp +34 649173739

Thank you , that’s very kind of you. I will message them in the morning. We don’t need any flash just a decent boot to load up.