Any tips for packing?

[TheStorySoFar]

Hoping to move mid Sept. Have 4DC -inc a toddler & a 5mth old. Starting to panic slightly. We're finishing a new build so choosing lots of things at the moment too. DH project managing & working FT. All a bit mental. So; I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips for making packing any easier…. (laughing a little maniacally & wringing hands together here…).

[wowfudge]

Yes - declutter now and pay the removal firm for packing - worth every penny.

[westcountrywoman]

Get quotes from moving companies to do the packing. With our last move it was a couple of hundred quid. Sounds indulgent but when you look at the overall cost of moving, it adds very little to the already massive bills! Worth every penny. They came the day before the move so you can carry on as normal until the last full day and they take care of everything.

[CountingToThree]

a third vote for the packing service - absolutely brilliant.

Moved last week - they arrived Thursday morning, had packed the house up by 3pm which meant i had the evening to clean with the house empty. they came back on friday morning to do the garage and garden and we were all out by 10am with no stress at all.

Was about £250 for the packing service on top of removals - and that includes all the boxes which you can keep if you want (we now have super organised xmas decs in the loft rather a random assortment of bin liners & plastic bags)

[Lelivre]

Following. Our funds have run too low to get a packing service. I have a 1 yr old and a 3 yr old.

[Aberchips]

Can you get a grandparent/ relative/ friend to take the kids off your hands for a day (or overnight preferably) then see if you can enlist the help of a couple of friends and replicate what professional packers would do?

The removal men will move all the big stuff anyway, so if you spent a day at it full tilt it probably wouldn't be too traumatic.

[TheStorySoFar]

Thk you all. Would love to enlist a removal/packing service but no ££. It'll be us all the way! I am already packing up & decluttering so I guess I'm doing all I can. We've enrolled the eldest two in a Summer Sceme last wk in Aug, so that'll help. I guess I'm wondering whether anyone has used a particular system themselves really to make life easier when unpacking at the other end?

[dobedobedo]

We've moved house (and countries) twice in the last two years. And we did it ourselves, hiring a truck.

I don't know if this is the best way, but start at one end of one room and work your way around clockwise. Pack and Declutter everything at the same time. Label each box with a marker. Then move onto the next room and do the same.

Pack boxes into truck, clean house.

It sounds simple but it is hard work, however I found doing it methodically the same way in each room helped break down an enormous task into a simple, yet tiring one.

[ContentedSidewinder]

Right, I moved 4 years ago but my children were older, at 6 and 3 but I found it helped to label stuff by where it is now so I could lay my hands on it instantly.

I bought an A5 hardbacked notepad and raided the children's coloured paper stash. Each room had a colour (the kitchen had 2 colours) and I ripped with a ruler (scissors took too long) the paper into squares. The squares of paper, a chunky marker and the A5 book lived in a ziplock bag in my handbag then I wouldn't lose it.

I used clear packing tape to fix a coloured square to each side of the packing box and one on top, so 5 per box. I started in the kitchen with stuff I wouldn't need immediately like cake tins, party platters, plastic cups etc and so I called this A1 and gave it a green label. The things I would need immediately like plates/pans were given yellow labels.

As I loaded a few items into the box I listed them in the book. I made a strip of the coloured paper as a book mark so I could find each section/room instantly. I made sure I listed everything going into the box but at the top it would say "party stuff cupboard" so I mentally knew which cupboard it had come from.

We designated the dining room as a place to stack all the boxes. Our stuff went into storage for a few weeks and when we did move I just blu tacked a coloured square to the door of each room so the removal men didn't even have to ask me which room it went in.

It sounds like a lot of work but seriously was very simple. Good luck.

[TheStorySoFar]

Thk you Do & Contented. That's exactly the sort of thing I was after. X