This 'have the house packed for you' thing

[Palomb]

How does it work exactly? Do they literally come in and empty all the cupboards etc or do you have to sort stuff out first?

[SirChenjin]

They literally pack everything for you. You can choose to pack certain things yourself (I packed my underwear and valuables!) but a team of them descend on the house and pack everything up. Think it cost around £400 when we moved 13 years ago and it's the best money we've ever spent.

[Notyetthere]

Yes in a nutshell. Absolutely everything. They even packed MILs bin with the binbag and rubbish
I advise that all you do is declutter. Declutter. Declutter. That way all the things that go to the new house are the ones you actually want. They will then pack the items from the cupboards for you. Don't bother with drawers, they will do it all for you.

[SqueegyBeckinheim]

Ours emptied the cupboards. I helped in the kitchen as I wanted to get rid of some stuff from there, the packers said that it was rare for the house owners to get involved with the packing at all. In all honestly I suspect I was in their way a bit and they probably prefer just being left to get on with it.

[cestlavielife]

yes they they literally come in and empty all the cupboards eg if you leave full bin they will simply pack the bin and the rubbish in it

they are not there to analyse or sort or judge they will simply pack everything that is not attached to the fabric of the building
so up to you if you want to sort first or not.

[Notyetthere]

Also if you plan to have certain things in a different room to the one in the old house, on moving day i would move it to that room so that it all goes in the right room at the other end.

[MrsEricBana]

I haven't done this but I think a friend said they actively encourage you not to assist as the breakage insurance only applies to things they have packed?

[TheWildRumpyPumpus]

They work SO quickly and sweep through the house packing everything. Definitely best to stay out of their way and let them get on with it.

[Palomb]

Sounds amazing! I got such a lot of crap though - books and toys and craft stuff. Would they do that? What about enptying cloths from built in wardrobe?

I wonder if they would do my greenhouse and the trampoline?

[steppemum]

yes, my parents had it done.
Open cupboard, pack it into box, label. next cupboard.

The wardrobe boxes were so cool, hangers out of wardrobe straight into box. was great when there was no where to unpack into at the other end (but then they ahd to pay more to keep the special boxes I think)

[GunShotResidue]

Check the insurance, we were covered for everything as long as they packed it, except jewelery which we had to take personally.

We've done it twice now and it's so much easier. But definitely declutter, the first time they careful wrapped and packed some plastic bottles I'd forgotten to throw in the recycling...

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

They even packed rubbish for us (old receipts etc, I'm slovenly). Wardrobe - they just transfer everything in there into wardrobe boxes. The other day I unpacked some little pebbles that had been packed everso carefully in brown paper 😄

[chicaguapa]

I've moved 3 times in the last 6 years. The first time I had the packing service but I've not used it since. I found that the time saved in packing was spent sorting out where everything went the other end. And I found it a bit stressful to have everything not packed up until the day before we were moving. In doing it ourselves we'd unpacked everything and dismantled the boxes almost the same day and at most the next day.

[SirChenjin]

Yep Palomb - they take everything. We had to apologise for the state of our garage and loft (well, I apologised on behalf of DH, that crap is not mine) but they took it all in their stride with a professional smile.

[GunShotResidue]

I wonder if they would do my greenhouse and the trampoline?

They did our shed and all the garden furniture. The only thing they couldn't take was tubs of paint.

[steppemum]

The packers for my parents didn't do the garden.

but my parents had a huge garden, and mum had been potting up cuttings etc to take with her (over 200 pots) plus greenhouse, large double garage etc.
I think they would have done it, but they would have charged more for it.
They got a man with a van to do the pots.
And a fish man with wheelie bins to move the koi fish in the pond
(and bought an inflatable swimming pool for the new garden for the temporary home for the fish)

[freshprincess]

My neighbours moved last week, they threw a couple of bags into the back of the car and then went to a pub for lunch while the packers did everything else. She said she had boxed up their clothes and DCs toys, but had left everything else as it was.
Seems so much easier than hiring a van and getting loads of mates round!

[steppemum]

Oh, they had emptied the attic over the previous 6 months.
good job as that would have been another whole removal van.

[OneEpisode]

I think sheds garages and loft spaces are usually excluded. We certainly had these excluded from both the packing and moving.
We were told to empty these ourselves - so we recycled, sold etc..
Stuff we wanted in the new garage we stored at family's and collected later.

[Palomb]

It would be incredible if they would do the garden. That's what I'm dreading the absolute most of all! I expect they would want me to dismantle the greenhouse?

[lavendersun]

We moved a month ago with packers, including garden shed, barns and all manner of things.

We have always moved with packers involved, we have got a lot of stuff.

It is never 100% perfect time but then it wouldn't be if I did it either.

They are coming to collect the boxes today, there is usually a refundable box deposit, only £100 or so but worth having back.

I think we only had two broken everyday kitchen glasses with 3200 cubic feet of stuff which was the biggest size lorry and a trailer the same size.

I have got five boxes of books left to unpack .

[OneEpisode]

Cross posts! I suppose it depends what you pay for!

[HereIAm20]

We did a clear out in the few months before moving including skip for the garage/loft etc, sold stuff and gave stuff to charity. Packers came in over 2 days (one completion day) as we had my Ds graduation on completion day so they packed it all up and we moved the next day. They kept the stuff overnight in the van.

I left some "labels" to go on boxes that were a bit more detailed than their labelling (eg. they just put kitchen) so I left stickers for saucepans, plates, tupperware etc and they stuck them on which helped with unpacking. You unpack yourself and in your own time.

[GrouchyKiwi]

It is brilliant. Our movers told us not to bother decluttering as it works better to do it as you empty the boxes as you have to find space for things so are more likely to toss stuff you don't need.

We had two people come to do our 3 bedroom flat and we had a load of stuff because of two small children. It was fabulous; I took the girls out for the morning, came back mid afternoon and they were nearly finished.

We just had to put the stuff we needed for the next day on our bed and they packed absolutely everything else and labelled each box.

We'll definitely use such a service next time we move. Money so well spent (was about £150 on top of the moving costs).

[Palomb]

How much does this amazing service cost?

[chemenger]

They go through the house like locusts. I have had to stop the taking hooks off the wall before. I would never consider packing myself. Yes to decluttering before they come in, one of the reasons they are so fast is that to don't waste time debating whether to take things or not.