Ikea - As crazy in Dublin as it is in Seattle

Setting up a new home in a new country involves buying lots of new things. Fortunately, our rental house came fully furnished and included things like silverware, pots and pans, glasses and dishes. To be able to stay, we only needed the very basics: bed linens, bath towels, and our basic toiletries. Normally, in the US, this wouldn't have been a big deal. We would have jumped into our suburban and head over to Target, Walmart, or Ikea for everything we needed.

Without a car, things were a little more complicated here. We had to be able to carry everything back and forth. Sometimes, Mr Puffles makes a perfectly dense suggestion that I take the kids to go pick up something (like hangers and comforters and pillows) by myself during the day. When I react negatively, he doesn't understand why the kids can't help carry anything.

Hello? I have four kids ages 1, 5, 7, and 8. Asking an 8 year old child to carry an awkward giant package and walk a mile home? No. It just means that I have to carry everything plus push the stroller.

Anyway, luckily for us, there is an Ikea in Dublin and since we were well acquainted with the the merchandise and quality of Ikea, we planned to purchase our pillow and bedding at Ikea. Even the designs were basically the same as the stuff in the Seattle Ikea. Another bonus was that Ikea offers home delivery. The cost is based on how much you purchase. 

So, we made plans to go to Ikea after we signed our lease. We needed a place that delivered and offered lots of inexpensive options. We knew we wouldn't probably ship these items back when we return to the US. So, we didn't want to spend too much money (although I really want Orla Kiely stuff!) but still wanted decent quality. I can't say the same for a lot of Ikea furniture, but the duvets and pillows were certainly cheaper than at the department stores and decently soft. 

The Dublin Ikea is located about a 20-30 minute bus ride north of the city center and near the airport. Dublin bus 3, 13, and 140 all go to or close to the Ikea. I would definitely try to take the 140 if you can because it picks up and drops off right on the side of the Ikea. We planned to arrive there as early as possible and arrived shortly after they opened. If you have young children and want to avoid a mental break down, try to go as early as possible because there is NEVER a time when you can just pop in and pop out of Ikea. Any Ikea. Ever. Especially on a weekend.

We chose to go to Ikea on Father's Day because I saw a coupon on the Ikea website for a free bacon sandwich for all fathers. The catch was that we had to get there before 11am. Another important reason why we chose to get there as soon as possible! Of course, Dublin Bus doesn't run on the weekends especially on Sunday quite as frequently. Mr Puffles misread the bus schedule. So, we were a whole hour early to the bus stop. So, we decided to take a walk around Trinity College for about 40 minutes and then went back to the stop and caught the bus with plenty of time. 

We arrived at Ikea at about 10:30am and went straight to the restaurant which is on the third floor. We had breakfast/lunch and Mr Puffles enjoyed his Father's Day bacon sandwich along with probably the cheapest Full Irish Breakfast (€2.99) you can buy in Dublin and coffee. The children ate their little kid's meals and when everyone was happy and full, we made a pit stop to the toilets on the same floor. With four kids, that's how we roll! Toilets first! Fun second! 

We quickly got our cart and entered the maze that is Ikea. If you have been to an Ikea before, there should be no real surprises. The merchandise is pretty much the same and the displays and layout were also pretty much the same as the Seattle Ikea except it was on three different floors instead of just one. We shopped and shopped and when we finally got to the bed linens, I discovered that I had to forgotten to save the document I had created on my phone with all the exact measurements of our mattresses. Doh! I would have to rely on my memory and if you know me, you would know this was a dicey thing.

But luckily, I remembered enough and was able to get the correct sizes (it's not all full, queen, and king here - I had to go by exact cm measurements because not all king, doubles, and singles are the same size here). Thank god. Seriously. Having to exchange stuff would have been a nightmare.

We checked out and paid for our loot and then walked over to the home delivery desk in the customer service area. Thank goodness there was no line and we didn't have to wait because it was 2:30pm and the kids had had enough of Ikea. It cost me €75 for home delivery for the next day. Success!

Ahh. Ready for our tired heads!

Renting a House in Dublin

One of the houses we viewed. We didn't get it. I think our rowdy children scared the landlord.

Finding a house to rent in Dublin was more challenging than I expected simply because we had specific demands - a specific area, family-friendly amenities nearby, good schools, close to public transport, large enough for our large family, and within a specific budget. Not too much to ask for, right?

Where to Start Looking

Almost all rental listings are listed online on Daft.ie, a comprehensive website that lists properties for sale as well as for let (for rent). There are some other websites, but everyone (from other bloggers to estate agents) that this was THE site to go to find the latest listings. Other bloggers like Gabrielle Blair at Design Mom had success using www.sabbaticalhomes.com to find a house in France. 

We started looking while we were still in Seattle and were able to get a good idea of the relative size and amenities that were available. Obviously, the more you had to spend, the more you could get. There were some beautiful, historic properties with gardens, Georgian townhouses, and even castles for rent!

The most challenging part of looking for housing before you move is that it's very difficult to tell where the neighborhoods are by just looking at the names. The website search tools allow you to look by postal code (e.g. Dublin 8) or by neighborhood. However, it was impossible for us to tell what amenities were available in each neighborhood and the expat and Daft forums were generally not helpful.

The greatest determining factor was which side of Dublin do you work on (North or South) and how much do you have to spend. Because Mr Puffles' put him on the South side, we concentrated our efforts although we wistfully looked seaside communities on the North side like Clontarf and Raheny.

Beginner's Guide to Dublin Neighborhoods

Obviously, I only have very limited experience with the neighborhoods in Dublin. We found that the best neighborhood for your family depended on you budget, your transportation needs, and how much space you need. If you have a car, you have a lot more flexibility.

Most of the neighborhoods in Dublin have access to some green space. Just from walking around and taking the public transportation, we noticed a lot of parks and squares that offered an outdoor space for families. Most of the expat blogs that I visited were generally singletons or couples without children. So, if you are looking to be close to the action and only require a small apartment, you have a lot more options. 

Some of the neighborhoods that were recommended to us were close to the city center and had bustling village centers that offered walkability and nice amenities like good restaurants and decent shopping options. However, the closer to the city, the smaller the homes became that were in a reasonable budget. In some areas, it was completely impossible to find a flat or apartment that offered more than two bedrooms unless you were willing to rent an entire Georgian building for €5000+ per month.

So, we had to look further. If you are without a car or need to rely on public transportation, the most reliable public transportation is either the LUAS (Dublin's light rail system) or their commuter trains (the Dart and commuter lines). The RED Luas line runs east and west on the North side of Dublin and the GREEN Luas line runs north and south from the city center. Unfortunately, the two do not connect (although they are working on that). The Luas is very efficient and housing close to the Luas stops are accordingly more expensive. South end neighborhoods include Ranelagh, Rathmines, Sandyford, Dunrum, and Rathfarnham.

The Dart and commuter train lines run North and South along the coastal areas of Dublin. At this point, I have only tried the Dart along the north side of Dublin. Based on the listings on daft, the neighborhoods close to Dart stations and nice coastal communities are also expensive. Some of those communities include Clontarf and Raheny on the North side. On the Southern coast, Dun Loaghaire and Blackrock.

If you are willing to use the Dublin bus system, they service a much greater area than the rail lines. But they are also less frequent. If you choose to live in an area serviced by a single bus line, you could be waiting for an hour between buses and service can be spotty on the weekends.

Riding the bus.

Based on the chatter on daft forums and expat forums, North side folks seem to think the South side is overpriced and yuppy and full of fee-paying schools and South side folks seem to think that the North side is scary and full of drug dealers. I have heard good stories from people happy on both sides. So, basically, you just need to come around and walk around the particular neighborhood and home you want to rent and decide for yourself. If you don't have kids, it is even more easy because walkability for an adult is much different than if you are considering schlepping 1.8km from your home to the Tesco with young kids and bags of groceries or trying to maneuver a double stroller in a grocery store or onto the Luas. It's all relative.

Our House Wish List

Things we definitely needed:

• 3 bedrooms
• more than one toilet and at least one bathtub
• walkable (with four young kids) to public transportation
• walkable (with four young kids) to shopping, especially groceries
• good schools
• safe

Things we wanted but didn't need:

• 2 showers/bathrooms
• a grassy rear garden completely fenced
• 4 bedrooms
• a dryer
• gas central heating
• a cul-de-sac
• hardwood floors or a wood laminate

After viewing many houses, we realized that we really wanted to be on the Luas line. Mr Puffles went to a couple of our first viewings with me on the bus and it took a lot of extra time to plan the timings and give us enough time to walk from the stops to our destination. We always seemed to be late because the children just didn't walk very fast.

The first house I viewed sans Mr Puffles. I took the Luas with the children by myself and it was dreamy! The tram comes frequently (about every 5 minutes) and I could easily put the baby buggy onto the tram without trying to fold it up on a crowded bus. It also runs frequently on the weekends and evenings which just made life easier for us if we wanted to go visit other areas of Dublin and Ireland on the weekends.

We also found that the rental market is red hot right now. We looked at several homes on the lower end of our budget that were not on the Luas line that we liked because the neighborhoods seemed very family friendly. The first house was in an area that we were looking in while in Seattle. We quickly realized that it was much too far from good bus service and shopping to work for us without a car. 

All of our doors have these great handles. Not so good for baby proofing, but very charming!

We then went on to view several other houses in better locations. We put bids in and got none of the houses! As we had a short timetable to find a rental, we were really sweating it! The estate agents and landlords all seemed to hold 15 minute viewings at open houses. So, there were a lot of people looking at the houses in general. We tried to talk to local people in the neighborhood and actually got some good information on which other neighborhoods might be more suitable for walking and targeted our efforts in those areas.

We viewed the house that we ended up renting twice. I viewed it first with just myself and the children and then Mr Puffles met us there a week later to view again after some work had been done on the house. The house had previously been rented to three (hard-partying according to the neighbors) college co-eds. But the landlord was now looking for a nice family who would take better care of the property. Enter us! The house still needed a lot of deep cleaning but it seemed to have almost everything we were looking for! We put our bid in and after a couple days were given the good news that the house was ours!

Our house has:

• 3 bedrooms (2 doubles with 1 single with room enough for a toddler bed instead of a dresser
• 3 bathrooms (2 full bathrooms one of which is ensuite with a powder room downstairs)
• a small rear garden and a small front garden (what we would call a yard though so small that you really would just call it a tiny patch of lawn)
• very close to the Luas
• very close to a grocery store and shopping center
• a cute village with a couple pubs, several local banks (including ours), several cute thrift stores, local pharmacies and other eateries including Indian and Thai food
• a large enough kitchen for an eat-in area large enough for all 6 of us
• access to a larger green for the children to play
• a dead-end cul-de-sac with limited traffic
• several other children in the same age
• several retired couples (trust me when I say that this is the best because they are home and keep an eye on things and keep the most beautiful gardens - US or Irish, it's the same!)
• friendly neighbors!
• close to many good schools 
• gas-fired central heating

Our house doesn't have:

• a dryer (welcome to hang dry, crunchy clothes)
• wood floors (it has lots of worn carpet - so, we've invested in rugs and do a lot of vacuuming)
• a fourth bedroom (we'll have to rearrange the kids when guests come to visit)
• a grassy rear garden (our rear garden has been paved in - low maintenance but not very toddler friendly)
• cheap rent - we definitely paid on the high end of our estimated budget amount. But we figured that the money we would save from having to take the bus to get shopping done and the convenience of being in such a great location would be worth the €250 difference of some of the other homes we viewed.

So far, we have been in our house for three weeks and it is working out great. The children have adjusted quickly and made friends in the neighborhood. We've found the shops and amenities close by are really great considering that I have to go shopping for groceries every 2-3 days. Four young children means that we are always buying bread and milk and fruit! In Seattle, I used Smith Brothers for milk delivery and Spud.com for organic groceries. Without that service here, I am constantly running out of milk and am walking to the grocery store with four kids every few days.

LuLu Belle enjoying some oatmeal at the breakfast table.

Mr Puffles is also finding the commute on the Luas to be easy and convenient. With the tram coming every few minutes, he can come and go easily without worrying about missing his bus. Even in Seattle, he often  took a bus between our house and Bellevue. Whenever he had to work a bit (or a lot) late, he would be stuck for hours waiting for a bus. This is much easier and has cut his Seattle commute from 1.5 hours to about 30 minutes from door to door. We are very happy so far!

Setting up a new life in a new country

When you move, there are so many things to do. Set up new utilities, purge and pack your things, buy new furniture to suit your new home. When we moved overseas to Ireland, we had to do all that plus figure out all the basics you need for living like get a PPS number (Personal Public Service number) which is like your Social Security number, setting up a new bank account, registering with Immigration, etc. We also needed to figure out basic things like how to get our trash picked up at our flat and where to buy bus passes. Things you generally don't need to relearn if you are simply relocating in the US.

Setting up Mobile Phone Service

When we first arrived in Dublin, we went immediately to get our cell phones service set up so that we would have a form of communication. Luckily, wi-fi is available all over here and our flat included it as an amenity. But we definitely wanted to have our cell phones set up so that we could contact each other and have a contact number to put on all of our future paperwork. Before we left the US, Mr Puffles did some research and knew that we would be able to buy new SIM cards for our smart phones if they were unlocked. Luckily, he was able to easily get the unlock codes from ATT and unlocked our phones before we left the US.

For our phone service, we decided to go with Tesco Mobile which has a no contract/pay-as-you-go program that has an unlimited text and data plan for 25Euro per month. Since we were staying in the city center, we walked up to the Jervis Shopping Center to the Tesco Mobile kiosk and were able to purchase new SIM cards there. We "top up" or pay by going to a Tesco customer service counter and paying there. They give you a slip of paper with a code that you enter when you call their top-up number. It's fairly easy and it gave us immediate mobile and text service. I'm still not able to send files or photos on my SMS for some reason, but hopefully, I will be able to call their customer service and get it sorted.

Registering with Immigration

On the second day we were here, we explored the city a bit and tried to figure out where everything was located. We walked back up to the Tesco to purchase some basic groceries and on the way back, we stopped at the Garda National Bureau office in the city center to register. If you are moving to Ireland or planning on staying beyond the 90 day tourist visa period, you must register with the Department of Immigration.

When we arrived there was a large group of people already waiting and it was already 4p.m. in the afternoon. We quickly received numbers after explaining why we were there and then we waited for an hour. Strangely, no one was called to any of the service windows for 45 minutes and we were beginning to think that the staff had all left for the weekend already since it was a warm Friday afternoon. Imagine that this is the DMV and there was the same sort of depressed waiting happening. And then imagine that you brought your four tired, hungry, cranky, jet-lagged young children with you. I spent a lot of time letting them scribble on receipts and letting them get paper cups of water from the dispenser hoping that they wouldn't suddenly lose it and have a tantrum.

Finally, we were called up with Mr Puffles going to one window and me called to the adjacent window. Two very grumpy young ladies took our passports and our paperwork. They asked us some questions and Mr Puffles had to show them our marriage certificate (which I luckily had brought with us). Then, they took our photos and money (it costs €300 per person) and sent us back to wait. Luckily, they take credit cards because I didn't even think that it would cost anything to register.

After a bit, I was called to the back and a very nice, happy man took my finger prints electronically. We had a fun chat and he asked me to send in Mr Puffles. After a short wait, we were called to pick up our immigration cards which was like a small ID card. Done!

Setting a Bank Account

On the second day, we also tried to set up our bank account as well. Mr Puffles wanted to be prepared to fill out his new hire paperwork on the following Monday when he started work. We stopped into a bank and inquired. They tried to send us away with an appointment for the following week, but Mr Puffles was persistent and one of the girls was able to help us. In Ireland, they call basic checking accounts "current accounts" and they are not paired with a savings account as they usually are in the US. They also seem to be moving away from the laser cards they used previously and are giving people the same ATM/Visa debit style cards that we use in the US. At some stores though, they still use machines that only read the computer chip style cards and you have to specify if you are trying to use a credit card or "swipe" card.

When we tried to set up the account, we knew going in that we might have problems setting up an account since we need to prove our residency. We were hoping that a letter from Mr Puffles' employer would work but it didn't. You need a utility bill or official letter with your name and current address listed to set up an account. Since we were in a temporary flat, we didn't have any utility bills. We needed a bank account to not only set up Mr Puffles' direct deposit but also for the all the things that require direct debit here: all the utilities, our rent payment, etc.

Luckily, Mr Puffles was able to go to the PPS office to register for a number with his work visa paperwork. With the letter from the PPS office, he was able to go back to open an account in his name. Since I couldn't prove where I lived, we had to wait to open a joint account until I could secure a utility bill or register for my PPS number. I was only able to do so once we had signed a lease on our house and was able to take our lease letter to the PPS office and register. The whole process took several weeks and I am still waiting on my bank card.


Getting a PPS number

Luckily, this was fairly easy. I needed a PPS number to get a bank account. So, as soon as we got our letter from the leasing agency, I took it to the PPS office. Since we do almost everything with the kids (because who is going to watch them for me in this strange land?), we dragged all four kids again to the PPS office which is located north of the Jervis Shopping Center.

We entered into a small waiting area filled with lots of people and a feeling of dread came over me! Why?!? We waited in a short queue to get our number and then we took our forms and settled in for a long wait. But I had not been sitting for more than five minutes (I hadn't even gotten a chance to fill out all my paperwork), then I was called up to a window!

A very friendly man asked me some questions and took my paperwork. It happened to be a Friday again and I remarked that there seemed to be a lot of people waiting. He said it was always busy. Then after a few minutes, all of the children and Mr Puffles showed up behind me.

"That was brilliant! Bringing three kids!" I guess he didn't see the small one in the stroller.

"Really? I thought it was a terrible idea. I was kind of worried when I saw how many people are waiting."

"No! It was brilliant! You got put to the front of of the line! The rest of the people waiting out there have probably been here for two hours!"

What!?! That was crazy! I felt lucky and happy that my paperwork was all done in just a short time!

Enrolling in Dublin Primary Schools

When we were deciding to make the move to Dublin, one of our top concerns was making sure that the kids got a good education. Based on our research (google), Irish public schools seemed to be highly regarded. A friend who worked at a local Catholic College in the Seattle area told me that all of their Irish students were very well prepared and it gave me some peace of mind. I figured that if we moved into a very nice family area that the kids would be able to get into a very nice public school.

The Irish public schools are referred to as National Schools and you can search for schools in your area at SchoolDays.ie. I tried to look at schools through their directory while we were planning our move, but it really wasn't too helpful because we weren't sure exactly where we would be living. The schools are organized on the site based on area code (e.g. Dublin 1 or Dublin 2). But since we weren't sure where the areas were, we were only able to get an idea of what schools were like by looking at the individual school websites.

Every school lists an ethos which describes it's religious affiliation. It seems that Irish public schools have a religious affiliation whether it's Church of Ireland, Catholic, non-denominational, Jewish, etc. There are also Irish speaking schools called Gaelscoil. There are some other language-speaking schools for French or German too. You could also pay for private school or international school, but we were trying to avoid that cost. English-speaking public schools were one of the advantages of moving to Irish versus some of the other countries we were considering at the time (Czeck Republic and Germany).

When we finally arrived in Dublin, we took a look at a couple of houses and quickly narrowed down which area we wanted to live in based on ease of transportation, family-friendly amenities, and easy access to public transportation. Since we won't have a car in Ireland for now, we needed to be able to walk easily to get groceries, get to the bus or Luas (Dublin's light rail system), and to other family-friendly activities like swimming and parks. Once we made that decision, I quickly started making a list of schools to contact. I actually did this using Google Maps and searched for primary schools in the area where we were searching for housing. I then googled each school for their contact information and quickly found that some wouldn't work for us because they were all girl schools or too far to walk from the areas in which we wanted to live.

Then I started calling. I started out confident and then quickly became disheartened! Because almost every school I called did not have room for all three kids. Most of the schools had one or two spots but no spots for all three. Unlike the Seattle-area community in which we lived before, you can't just send your child to the nearest neighborhood school here. They keep strictly to their maximum class size numbers and because most of the schools are run by churches, they are not obligated to accommodate students simply because they are in the school's district or area. Several of the schools had special policies for parents who put their kids' names on waiting lists for junior infants (pre-K) years before they actually attend. Some of the schools also gave priority to children in their parish but sadly, even for those children, if there was no room...there simply was no room.

I was starting to get desperate. School was finished here the last week of June. We were still frantically trying to find a house to rent and space in a school and neither was working out as easily as we had hoped. We were two weeks into our Dublin adventure and had two weeks left on our short term flat. Suddenly, I received a call from a school secretary with whom I had spoken a couple days earlier! She called to tell me that they had room for all three children and that she would hold the spot if we were sure we would take it. At that point, I was sure! It was in the right area and it would take all three kids! She told me would send me the enrollment paperwork with instructions to send it back quickly to secure our spots.

The paperwork arrived within two days and we decided to visit the school to turn in our paperwork (because I still didn't know how to post anything yet) and because I decided that it would be a good idea to visit the school. We took the bus from near our flat and took the 20 minute ride to the school. It is always a bit nerve racking riding the bus because you have to request a stop and since I didn't know the area very well, it was hard to tell if we were getting close. But luckily, we got off on our stop and then walked the short walk to the school.

It is a small school and has an enormous field next to it. When we went in, we followed the signs in the tiny hallway to a small office. We asked a small boy where the front office was and he pointed to a small room with a desk and said that was the principal's office. We waited a few minutes and the principal arrived. She seemed on her way somewhere, but she stopped to talk to us and ask the children questions. I explained that we were there to drop off our paperwork and then the secretary arrived. The principal offered to watch the children while I went into the office to do their paperwork.

I had brought their passports as well as copies of their immunizations and  birth certificates with me since these are all required when registering your child in a US school. The secretary never asked me for any of it. I simply turned in the simple form she had previously mailed to me which simple asked for our address and contact information, doctor information, and our church information.

While I spoke with the secretary and tried to figure out uniforms, books, and fees, the principal came in to ask if it would be all right if she took the children on a tour of the school. When they came back, she remarked that the children were very well behaved and that they were surprised that the school was so small.   The staff for the school is literally just the principal and the secretary. Each grade in the school is one single class of 24 students! We learned that their is a parent association which I will join in the fall and that Miss Piggy will be let out of school one hour before the boys. Ugh. Will have to sort out that schedule in the fall. But it does give me some time with Lulu and to do things with all three in school.

A couple of weeks later, our booklists arrived from the secretary and we headed over to the book store to purchase books. We found several moms waiting in line to sell back books at the shop. It reminded me of college! But we were able to find most of the workbooks and items the children need and put the rest on order for pickup in a couple of weeks.

Some of the books that we purchased for school.

We had discovered a couple weeks earlier that school uniforms are on sale at the end of May/June and that you buy uniforms for the following school year at the beginning of the summer. The sales assistants advised me to buy now because there would be no sales later in the summer and that it would be difficult to find sizes during the school year. So, I purchased a pinafore and skirt for Miss Piggy, trousers for the boys, and button down shirts and polo shirts for all three at Marks and Spencers. Other department stores also carried schoolwear, but I happened to be in the Marks and Spencers and bought their items there. We will have to order their track suits, jumpers (sweaters) and school ties from a specialty company as their school emblem needs to be embroidered onto these items.

So, I think we are ready and mostly prepared for school in the fall! A couple of the kids in our neighborhood attend a Gaelscoil. I have asked them to give the kids some lessons in some basic Irish over the summer so that they won't be so behind. I've also discovered some online resources that might help. The Northern Ireland Public school curriculum website has some great online activities for learning basic Irish words as well as French, German, and Spanish. The Monkey also qualified for the gifted program in our Seattle school district before we left. So, we are hoping that the school also has special activities for highly capable students. On their website, they list activities for "more able" students and advanced math classes. So, we will explore that in the fall once school starts.