Widely regarded as one of the most stressful things you can do in life, the nightmare that is moving house is almost upon us.

But it’s only a year since our last move, and I don’t remember it being that painful. Apart from my youngest vomiting all over her bedding on moving day. And the sheer mountain of stuff we’d accumulated being rather larger than expected. Apart from all that it wasn’t too bad, I don’t think. Maybe I’ve blocked out the worst bits?

Some say a solid week of prep is required before D-Day, but being such a seasoned mover - ha! - I’m hopeful we can do the bulk of it in a solid one-day hit.

Yes, one day. Is this insane? Possibly. Half of our stuff is in storage, so what’s left can’t take too long to sort, surely? We’ve taken the day before the move off work and plan to spend it solidly packing and dismantling stuff ahead of the movers’ arrival first thing.

On the bright side, our family of five humans and three pets will soon have the space required to avoid each other more easily, having been excessively close to one other for almost all of the last year.

The new pad has issues too, of course. It’s now been six weeks since we got the keys, and it’s still not reached the stupendous standard of homeliness we’d been hoping for.

While lots of puffy wallpaper, old carpets and alarming Artex have left the building, the kitchen is still lacking in all areas (including, crucially, units – it has four) and the wooden floors remain a work in progress.

We spent last weekend oiling floorboards, and while they still aren’t quite done, they’re nearly there.

And with only a couple of small setbacks along the way (a handyman narrowly avoiding calamity on two separate occasions, by drilling through a water pipe and putting a foot through a ceiling) it could have been a lot worse.

Here’s to as stress-free a move as is possible...