AIBU to ask for your house move tips

Day box - kettle, tea, coffee, other drinks, cups, glasses. Plates, eating utensils, breakfast utensils and cereal. Loo roll, hand soap, change of clothes, wash bags

Also carry TV remotes, chargers and cables with you. As need to charge phone up

having the keys to your new place IS a dream!

Book a cleaner- let them do a deep clean of the new place. Saves you time and stress, and you can concentrate on your "old" home.

Bring beddings , toiletries, essentials (loo roll , hand soap, hand towels etc) and make sure light bulbs are working
all already there when you arrive and you don't have to find in the new boxes

Pack separately, and stick in the car:
your valuable, essentials you needed until last minute (like a kettle, your toothbrush. pyjama...)

How much downsizing are you doing?
Make a decision about furniture first-and quickly. Keep or get rid if it doesn't fit?
Downsizing tend to mean less room but worst, smaller rooms, you need to be practical
The removal company will need to know exactly what you are moving to give you the correct price (if you have a grand piano and you are getting rid of it , it makes a massive difference. That's an example)

Then get boxes and bubble wrap, and get started, be RUTHLESS. No need to move clutter.

Label, label everything, put number and name of the room on all boxes, ON ALL SIDES, and keep a pad with the full details

It really doesn't need to be stressful, it's just tiring.

The problem with someone else packing, is they pack everything, you don't know where everything is, and they pack all your clutter so you end up with too many boxes, paying too much and having to get rid of crap at the other end.

No need to do that

Use all the food in your freezer.
Meal plan so no food in the fridge

Declutter room by room. Once a room is done, do not move anything else into it

Make your first job in the new house, or someone’s first job, to get beds put together and the bedding in place. Also it makes it easier if you just stuff the bedding into black bags and sleep on last nights sheets rather than trying to find clean stuff. The last thing you need is to be getting beds sorted when you are exhausted at the end of the day.

@Catza Boxes which sat in the garage for the last 10 years untouched go into a skip. Without opening them.

I ❤this tip!

The single biggest thing to help would be to pay for the removal firm to pack your belongings. I cannot emphasise enough how much stress this removes.
Whether you do this or not, there are some important steps:

1. Declutter. No point taking those DVDs you'll never watch again
2. Organise and label boxes by room - relevant to your new house. So...kitchen etc will be obvious but if you are moving from a 3 to a 2 bed this will affect what goes where. Make sure the removers/yourself clearly label the boxes - room and general contents. Marker pens at the ready.
3. Identify a 'first day kit' - a change of clothes, night things, medicines etc and of course the kettle/tea/coffee/biscuits etc. You will want to put this in the car not on the removal van.
4. You've got 5 weeks. That should be ample time. Start with the areas you use least - the loft, the spare room and try and do a room a session, then these can be left undisturbed till you move.
5. On moving day, ideally have one person by the front door directing the removal men and another doing arranging/unpacking in the house.
6. Use the overlap between houses to clean both and make a list of what you will transfer in those days. Also use the time to decide placement of furniture so that you get the removers to put it in the right place.
7. And, BREATH!

This is a familiar territory. I would say, don't worry about the removal firm and focus on decluttering first.
My favourite way is to give myself a limit from the start. For example - 10 medium boxes to fit all my shoes and clothes. No negotiations.
Boxes which sat in the garage for the last 10 years untouched go into a skip. Without opening them.
Books which I am not sure I will read again get replaced with a digital copy and recycled.
All the towels, bedding is calculated based on the number of bedrooms and people + 1 for emergencies (i.e. 2 sets fo bedding for each bedroom, 2 sets of towels for each person in the household. +1). Bin the rest.

Pack all the summer clothes and shoes first as you are not going to need them in the next 5 weeks.

We hired a storage unit £100/month and moved in a load of stuff that we don’t need immediately - summer/formal clothes, crafts, books, sports kit, shed stuff, lawnmower - so that when it comes to moving day, it’s a lot easier to empty and clean your house. Declutter and declutter again.