For most people moving house is a stressful event endured just a few times, but not for Vanda James – who has moved more than 50 TIMES in 13 years.
The mum-of-three left her last settled home in 2001 in a bid to downsize and moved four times in two years before a brief stint in New Zealand.
But she soon returned because her family missed her and since then hasn’t stayed in a house for more than a year – and one property only last two DAYS.
Fussy Vanda has rejected property after property for being too smelly, too damp, or has fled unsuitable fellow tenants, mould and slugs.
Last week the serial mover relocated for the 55th time – but while she said she yearns for a bit of stability, she can’t promise she won’t move again.
Speaking from her new home in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, said: “I want to be somewhere I can stay for good but it’s so hard.
“It’s hard to find a place on your own, especially as I’m an older woman.
“If I was with a partner then this wouldn’t have happened.
“People say I can’t settle and that I’m fussy, but I do enjoy my way of life.”
Single Vanda had settled down in a six-bed Victorian ex-guest house in Great Yarmouth – which she owned for nine years – before she sold it for £80,000 to downsize in 2001.
She set-off for a brief stint in New Zealand in 2003 but returned after just a couple of weeks to a home in the seaside resort.
But she lasted just a month in the house because it was too dirty and full of beer bottles.
She then thought she had found a perfect place to stay elsewhere in the town with an ice cream man, but moved out after just a few weeks when she got sick of sharing a bed with his stock.
Live-in carer Vanda said: “I was sleeping among the Cornettos. It was uncomfy and I shouldn’t have lived there really.”
She then moved on to two other flats before finding herself in a former chip shop in Mendlesham, Suffolk, in April 2004, but only lasted five days there.
“It stunk of fat that was impregnated in the walls,” she said. “I stunk of fat and so did all of my things. I couldn’t bare it.”
Five homes and 17 months later, Vanda was forced out of another flat after just two days because her housemate made advances on her.
Months later she was then a live-in helper for four days in a house in Jersey in April 2006, but had to move out because the landlord’s son kept touching her bottom.
Six years and 25 moves down the line, she landed herself work as a carer for a blind man in Warrington, Cheshire, but that did not last either.
Vanda said: “His old housekeeper used to jump into bed with him, but I wouldn’t and he wanted her back.
“He got cross with me and it became difficult. Eventually he got her to return and I didn’t want to share a job.
“It was never going to work as I wasn’t going to get in bed with him.”
Vanda said the two worst places she lived were both homes in Suffolk which became infested with fleas, making her life “absolutely intolerable”.
She said: “The first flea infestation in 2007 was huge. Environmental Health got involved and I had to leave everything behind. They were in my car. I got bitten a lot.
“They even got into my work by travelling in my bag and jumping out.”
Vanda moved house again last Thursday for a new live-in caring job, but said she wishes she could settle down.
“I’m in Great Yarmouth again, where it all began in the first place,” she said.
“I want a little bit of luxury, I want to own a bath.”
