Moving house tips please?

[hotchocolate86]

It’s likely I will be moving house in the next month or two. Can I ask for your top tips to make it as easy and painless as possible?

[April2020mom]

I made a public appeal for cardboard boxes. We moved six months ago. I packed as much as I could possibly into large boxes supplied by our church and the moving company. I also made sure to check insurance in case.
My partner helped me. We also had to tell the doctors and therapists of our new address. Anything that I didn’t want or need was given to friends, family members or neighbors or sold online.
Keep a eye on the property market. Phone numbers or email addresses are good to have. Prepare yourself well. Things like medication and chargers were packed in my handbag. I also labelled the boxes using numbers. We moved on a weekend.
Can the children assist you or not? My stepdaughter helped me by clearing her room and labelling boxes. She is five years old. We sold things we didn’t want like a old fashioned grandfather clock and my reading lamp.

[81Byerley]

My absolute best tip is tidy and sort out your drawers. When the van arrives, take the drawers out, put the chest on the van. Put the drawers back in, reverse the process at the other end.

[kateandme]

ask around youll be surprised how many people have or know someone who can help with a van or bigger carss
number each new room in the house.bedroom 1 bedroom 2.and then pack boxes with the numbers on it.then you know where its going
have a move in box. kettle,a few plates.knife fork spoon cereals bread.then order in the first night or two.
pack a suitcase as if your going on holiday.easy access to clothes.toiletries etc close to hand.
pack a cleaning box.sprays.wipes.bleach.scrubbers rubber gloves.again easy move in access.
get the beds set up first
have you checked things are moved across like wifi or sky plan.it can take weeks to forward the plan and address
do you have dc.get them to help.unpack their own rooms.

[WhereDoesThisToiletGo]

You want your helpers to move any item once and only once.
So decide in advance where you want large pieces of furniture to go, and draw a plan of each room and blutac it to the door.
Then when you're busy sorting stuff in the kitchen, they don't need to call you to ask where you want it.
Equally important, identify a space in each room where no furniture will be sited, and put a couple of sheets of newspaper down. Then tell movers to put boxes on the paper.
I discovered that one the hard way-- I had to move the wardrobe to the right position on my own after I'd unpacked all the boxes that were in the way

[Jackshouse]

Give each room a number eg kitchen 1, living room 2. When you arrive stick the numbers in the doors.

Number the boxes, so the first kitchen box is 101, second 102, third 103 etc. Keep a notebook with a list of what is in each box eg 101 - plates, 102 - pan, 103 - bakeware.

[Pinkbells]

Do a major de-clutter, if you have time then think about where in the new house each item will go so you don't have a ton of surplus stuff that doesn't fit in the new house. Pack up your absolutely favourite breakables in a squillion tonnes of bubble wrap then hand the rest over to a removal company. Totally worth the cost, as it's stressful enough already and you can concentrate on cleaning, unless you can stump up for a deep clean with an agency as well. Take a couple of favourite plants at least from the garden. Then pack as though you are going on holiday self catering for a week. Keep one room completely clear in the new house so that you can shut the doors on the mess when you need to relax.

[checkoutmyusername]

Pack the kettle, mugs and tea bags in a separate box and keep it with you.

Also when putting stuff into a van remember the first things in come out last. So pack your bedding etc last so it's out first. Then you can make up your bed etc while others are unpacking the rest and have everything ready to collapse when you're done (and drunk your cup of tea)!

[Angelicwings]

Lots of great advice here but definitely second the one where you pack a suitcase with pyjamas, towels, essentials (toothbrushes etc) and also a set of clothes each for the next day. You don't want to be rootling around in lots of different places for all these items. Have them together so you can all get dressed and ready to go. Also good to have kettle/cups/tea/coffee at hand if (like me) you can't function without a brew

Also make sure you know exactly where the all the pillows and bedding are. Moving house can go on and on when suddenly you realise it really is bedtime and you will be tired and ready for bed - no use if the bedding is packed "somewhere" or, in a box buried behind a lot of other boxes somewhere awkward to reach

[Fluffyears]

Keep enough cutlery and dishes. DH had to eat his breakfast yoghurt with a knife. De-clutter and bin as much as you can, be ruthless. Take drawers out and wrap them in clingfiln then you can just put them back in unit the next day. Have a box that is just essentials for first few days, bedding, crockery, cutlery, kettle, pans etc so you can get everything easily. Packs case with a few days toiletries, medication and toiletries.

[Returning2thesceneofthecrime]

I moved a week ago. It was my most disorganized move ever. Moved countless times. Major difference was that this time my DH was involved.

My top tips are to do what I used to do with more successful moves.

• tidy before packing - a place for everything and everything in its place
  
• pack yourself (the packers/movers we hired were shit despite being recommended. I think my friend got the A team and we got the B team.
  
• hire movers or a man with a van. You direct operations but don’t do the moving labour
  
• pack early
  
• pack a picnic basket of supplies for moving day
  
• don’t bother trying to move frozen food. Either eat it or throw it or give it away, it is not worth the hassle. Even if you are on,y moving five minutes down the road.
  
• put cling film over cutlery trays etc to hold things in place.
  
• empty the contents of a drawer into a plastic bag, then put it in a box or suitcase
  
• books go in the smallest available box. Ignore the idiots that say they can handle it.
  
• label the boxes. Your system, not the movers. You need to have the destination room AND the contents on there
  
• pack paintings and ornaments and decorative items first. Unpack them last. Not having things cluttering up the space makes it easier to both pack and unpack
  
• use bin bags when possible. Buy a colour that you don’t normally use for rubbish so you don’t get confused and make sure everyone in the house is aware
  
• use uniform size boxes. This is important! So much easier to move and stack if the boxes are all the same size. Yes, you may end up using a few more boxes but I swear it makes life easier!

[BreakfastAtSquiffanys]

Make up the beds as soon as they are in the bedrooms.
Nothing worse than starting to wrestle with sheets and duvets at midnight when you're knackered

[NewName54321]

Put toilet paper, soap, lightbulbs, a torch, phone chargers and the TV remote control in the box of essential items already mentioned. Also pack a suitcase for the first night, with clothes, toiletries and medications. Keep these, and anything else you will need on the day, in your car.

Pack books in supermarket bag-for-life bags.
Make up the beds first. When you are fit for nothing else, you can at least have a rest. Everything else will wait until tomorrow.

[Returning2thesceneofthecrime]

Ikea bags are your friends.

DH always complains that we forget them and need to buy new ones at Ikea. I have told him to stop complaining and we will need more for our next move.

[CorporeSarnie]

Pack a room at a time, label up boxes with destination room, I only bothered a little with contents where I didn't think obvious. Movers will supply wardrobe boxes which mean clothes come straight out again, amazing things.
If you have overlap and are not taking old fridge freezer you can leave that overnight and come back to get the contents, this was great for us this time.
If you're using moved, they are always busiest on a Friday as so many completions. We got 10% discount for moving on a Thurs. Others offered NHS discounts, so with asking if any discount might be available. We self packed this time and it was ok, took a day for a big three bed house.
We did send some stuff to storage beforehand which allowed us to get uncluttered photos and encouraged a declutter. This was picked up as soon as we were able to get the new keys and have a clean round.

[catcreptin]

Start packing non essential items as soon as house goes up for sale, get rid of anything you don't use and probably won't in the new property, I used a local freecycle website and offloaded masses of stuff.

As soon as you enter the new house, make up the bed or beds as a priority, the last thing you want after a stressful day and feeling absolutely knackered is to then have to make up your bed when you just want to pass out on it. It was the single best thing I did when I moved four years ago.

[Twistedinknots]

Wine boxes are the perfect size for books, are neatly stackable and keep the weight down.

[SweetLathyrus]

If you have books, use sturdy shopping bags rather than boxes - if you know the smaller Sainsburys orange ones with the elephant on the side and something like "I'm small but strong". They are easier to lift and move than boxes of books, any thing larger is too heavy if you are doing it yourself.

[Adversecamber22]

HVe a sort out and throw and charity shop anything you don’t need no need moving stuff you need to get rid of.

[hotchocolate86]

I have loads of books so I will put all my shopping bags into use for them I think or small boxes. Might need to stock up on the shopping bags I think.

[hotchocolate86]

I will be tackling my daughters room today with her to see if we can thin her things out a bit and start boxing up a few bits she rarely uses.

[rosesarered9]

Have your post redirected

[MissClareRemembers]

Pack your essentials and vital docs (medicines, passports, insurance, driving licence, estate agents docs, solicitor docs etc etc) in a box.

Make a cleaning kit. Include bin bags, toilet roll, cleaning spray, cloths and bleach, batteries and light bulbs.

Label both of these boxes with a sign saying PLEASE DO NOT PACK THIS BOX!!!

[IwantedtobeEmmaPeel]

I have done my own packing for several moves and the only breakage I have ever had was the one time I used the removal men to pack - never again. You need plenty of paper (newspaper is free) to wrap all breakables and plenty of padding on the bottom of boxes and between the breakables to cushion them in the event of rough handling.

Make sure the day before your move that you have packed everything not needed for that night and the following morning because the more organised you are the quicker the removal men can get you moved. Put the kettle, mugs, milk, tea, coffee, sugar and biscuits in one box, together with packed lunch/snacks to keep you going throughout the day and put that box in your car so it is the first thing you unpack. I second the marking the boxes by room so you can direct the removal men to put the boxes in the right rooms - saves you a job.

When you are in your new home, the first thing to do is always put up & make up the beds, especially the kids' beds. When you are ready to drop later that evening & can do no more, the last thing you will feel like doing is sorting your beds, so do that job first.

Make sure you sort redirection of post. Good luck Op.

[echidna1]

• removal company to pack your stuff for you - if you can afford it. It was worth every penny.
  
• a cleaning company to come & clean your place as soon as the 1st room is cleared-again, worth every penny.
  
• a cleaning company to clean your new place once the sellers have moved out. Nothing worse than having to clean someone else's filth!!

[IdblowJonSnow]

If you've got some precious, fragile things that can be stored elsewhere, I'd do that. It took a lot of stress out of the main move for me as i was worried about certain things being broken. Have a big clear out now and be ruthless so you're not moving crap. We had packers and they left clothes in drawers which saved some needless packing/unpacking!