Realistically, how long does it take to pack up a house for moving?

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Moving from a 2 bed to a 3 bed.

Just thinking it might be better to declutter first and pack quite last minute so I’m not stepping over boxes for the next few weeks.

Moving day is 23rd December 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤣🤣🤣

So shall I pack on the 21/22 December?

Me, dh, 2 boys 17 and 14

How do I organise this?
Heeeeeeeelp.

Make up all the boxes, allocate a room each and pack, pack, pack. Hire a skip if you think there is a lot of stuff to get rid of.

I think if you really focus on decluttering, the packing can be done quite quickly. Your boys are old enough to declutter own stuff and help you too. Be ruthless!
When I moved last year we had three piles - selling, charity shop/clothes container and rubbish. I also packed up things that I knew I didn't need (Xmas tree, decorations etc) early and just had a tower of boxes in the corner of the lounge - was relatively easy to ignore.

Professional Packers would do that in less than a day so if you're focused it should be possible. However don't attempt to sort at same time- literally open cupboard, pack contents, seal box. Invest in a tape gun to speed up process. Ensure you have enough boxes etc to pack everything.

Great advice

Thank you.

I made the mistake of packing too early, and then rummaging through boxes to find things. Then most of the boxes had random bits puts back in so unpacking was a nightmare.

Just declutter, ruthlessly.

Label your boxes. Sharpies are your friend.

Start to decluttering now if you can, take things to the dump or charity. If you have a garage/loft/shed look at packing that now too and non essential items. Hire a skip that's what we did when we last moved. Then you could get the packing done over a couple of days starting with a room at a time and all helping! Good luck op!

Declutter first definitely, if you have loads of stuff you need to get rid of. When unpacking in a new house (something I've done 5 times in the past 5 years) it's infuriating to take stuff out of packing that then need to go in the bin or tip or whatever as you've just paid an enormous amount for movers to shift that crap from A to B!! Happens every time though.

go through the loft/shed garage and be totally ruthless.
go through cupboards, and do the sell, charity, rubbish, keep thing

make sure you have enough boxes ready (and tapes)

Some will depend on your availability, ie, if you are properly at home for the few days before you move and not involved in Christmas prep, then you can go into a room, start at one side and pack it all.
I have one box for each room of things we might need at the last minute, the rest is just packed.

and totally agree wrt sharpies, don't just write room or 'books' but be specific:
lounge shelves, books, dictionaries and reference.

I have also made the mistake of packing too early and then tripping over boxes for 4 or 5 months because of delays in the chain. Wait until you have exchanged if you can!

oh, and don't wrap china/glass in newspaper, then you will have to wash it when you unwrap!
get bubble wrap or plain paper/tissue paper
any tiny items that need wrapping - put a piece of bright coloured tape on the outside so you know that little bit of bubble wrap is important and there is something in it!

Decluttering isn't quick - you have to decide on every single thing and usually decide on other people's things as they either don't want to get rid or aren't sure they should or are unsure whether it might come in handy in the future (no it won't) - how many things do you have in your house -1,000/ 2,000/ 10,000???

Dont pack on the 21st! Get packing now, you'll be so stressed and realise just how much there is to do.

Start with the rooms you use the least, declutter then pack up whilst you go.
Don't forget about going through the loft and garage if you have one. Each of those took me a whole weekend.
I started packing about 6 weeks before the move and we still ran out time on the day of the move

I packed a box or 2 a night for a month at the same time as the declutter, I'd already had a major clear out before the house went on the market too.
I just kept the bare minimum out so we had 1 pan 1 frying pan 1 dish 1 set of plated mug and cutlery.
I only did this as I was a single parent to 2 under 4 and had no help.
The last week was like camping, by the day before we were all sleeping on just 1 matress on the floor with 1 set of bedding and clothes to hand.
I did this twice in 8 months and it does work best for me.
Pack everything as I made the mistake of "a few last bits" once and it was about 10 car loads.

I'd get packing now! We moved not long ago and decided to do a deep declutter early but not pack until a week before. The declutter seemed to take ages and result in stuff everywhere (things taken out of loft/cupboards etc to sort through) so with one week to go we had nothing actually packed just a slowly diminishing pile of crapstuff to sort. Actually packing ended up being rushed in the last couple of days and I keep finding things that should have been thrown out but were packed in a frenzy! If I do it again I will pack a room at a time starting as soon as I know we're going- other than things we actually use every day.

We’re meant to be moving by December 20th (but haven’t exchanged yet 🙄). Moving from a 2bed with baby and preschooler. We’re getting packing service with removals (if they’re not already all booked ) and they’ve all said they’ll just come on the morning if the move and pack and load straight into van!! Quotes were around £600 so no brainier for me. And I’m not decluttering, going to do it at the other end when unpacking so I don’t have to get stuff out then put back away but by bit before we move.

I'd start with all of the stuff you don't use very much. Sheds, garages, cubby holes and lofts. It can stay in this places, but boxed.

Then declutter. Especially clothes, books, dvds, boardgames, they're generally heavy and take up a lot of space.

You could pare the kitchen down, but I think that's risky.

Label, label, label.

First move was from a one bedroom flat. Complicated, but suddenly exchanged and completed on the Friday. We couldn't move out at 24 hours notice, so buyer agreed to us moving out on Tues. Took most of three days to pack.

Second move we had a completion date of one week from good sied two bed house. DH had no time offon approach and had degree course commitments on top of work. Felt like it took that long to pack, DH had afternoon off before completion to pack, to find I'd done most of it and had a massive amount of stuff to take to the tip - we'd previously declutted before sale.

took me two fairly solid weeks, with no kid stuff and what I thought was a fairly clutter-free three bed.

I hope you've exchanged! I'm surprised that any solicitor is at work on Dec 23rd.