Advise needed on best way to pack house for moving

[NeedSleepNow]

I'm hopefully moving house in 2-3 weeks if we exchange contracts this week. I've been sorting through everything in the house, have already cleared the loft, shed and garden and have started packing in the house but don't feel like I'm making much progress.

My friend has dismantled some of the furniture for me and I've got a skip so am chucking out anything that I don't need/is broken as I go.

Would you work room by room, start with easier things first? Harder items, or worst room first? I feel like I'm drowning in chaos and boxes!

Doesn’t matter where you start, but start now because it takes ages!

Firstly deactivate all social media time drains!

I did a lot of sorting and not much packing at first. This meant I was touching things 2/3 times. Time consuming.

Sort and pack as you go. One room at a time. Top down.

If you waiver on the do I keep this question it means you almost certainly don’t need it. Ditch.

Put sentimental stuff to one side as now isn’t actually a good time to make decisions.

Room by room is better so you can take the items to the room and then unpack. I don't think it matters whether it's "harder"
or "easier" items whatever that means.

I suppose by harder items I meant things that need carefully bubble wrapping compared to plastic kids toys that can just be thrown in a box!

Good idea, I'm trying to avoid Facebook and other social media at the moment.

I've got the kids helping to pack their rooms but they were making the boxes far too heavy so I need to repack some of those ones.

I’d work room by room because that’s how you’ll also want to unpack it.
Gt plenty of boxes, better to have one half full than so full that it’s really heavy.
Use things like tea towels, bedding to cushion stuff (but invest in some bubble wrap too).
it’s worth buying one of those tape guns for sealing boxes, it will save you a lot of time and energy.
Label boxes clearly, first with the intends room, secondly with a rough idea of contents.

And as said above, don’t delay, it takes longer than you think!

also - set a box aside with screwdrivers, scissors, corkscrew, sharp knife, plastic plates/cups, tea towel and some cleaning cloths, anything you might need for the first 24 hours in your new home.

I'd start with stuff you won't need instant access to either now or in the new home.

I'd label the boxes carefully! Try and clear one room so the boxes can go in there.

It sounds like you're already on a ruthless declutter mission, because my other top tip would be not to take anything with you that you don't need or want.

Start with pictures, wall mirrors, ornaments. Then books (but don’t fill whole boxes with books - too heavy to lift - pad out with spare bedding, towels, out of season clothes).

Now empty all cupboards and pack everything except things in daily use. Allocate plenty of time for the kitchen cupboards.

Then you can finish up with a room by room, anything that’s left.

I would say just choose a system ans stick to it 😅 and no matter how prepared and organised you are, prepare for chaos on the day and at the other end 😅🙈

Definitely put spare clothes/underwear/essentials in a suitcase in your car day before moving day and don't let anyone touch it!

If you can afford it, hire movers. We did for our house move in September and it was brilliant. They dismantled furniture, wrapped and packed everything, transported to our new house. Then brought the boxes into each corresponding room and rebuilt the furniture. We just had to unpack the boxes then. Money very well spent!

Out of interest, how much is a packing service? Appreciate it depends on size of house and amount of ‘stuff’ - but I haven’t a clue on cost!

Label everything with contents and room.
Put precious/ essential items and spare clothes in the car.

I agree that movers and a packing service is worth the money. Not cheap, but they’re insured, so if anything is damaged, it’s compensated for. That’s not necessarily the case if you do it.

Tea box, if you have a removal firm. They function on tea.

Hire professional movers and get their packing service. They will do in a day what will take you weeks of hard work. It isn’t expensive relative to the savings of time and stress.

And before you move get rid of things you don’t need or you’ll be making endless tip runs once you’ve moved.

I bought a tape gun yesterday and it had definitely sped up the time to make up and seal the boxes.

Unfortunately I'm not moving into the new house straight away. Everything is going into storage for 2 months before I move into my new place and I'll be staying with family for a while, taking just the essential clothes with me.

I would go room by room and only leave out absolute essentials. And get rid of a lot!

We packed and moved ourselves, literally in dh’s van and work trailer, with help from a friend for lifting big stuff. 5 bedroom house and 2 hour move. I’d say the packing took 6 weeks but I did it at a fairly relaxed pace. You need to be ruthless about what you get rid of though.

I'm in Ireland, it was €800 all in. This included VAT, packing, disassembling and reassembling furniture and insurance. It also factored in the distance of transporting everything which was 22km. We moved from an two bed ground floor apartment to a four bedroom house. Worth every penny!

I haven't even asked how much the packing service is, I'm so short of money with the move that I've just assummed it will be too expensive. Maybe I should find out, sounds a lot easier and far less stressful

The packing service wasn't that much last time as a proportion of the moving service in general. And our guys had their own storage so it was much easier. They just packed up, took most of our stuff to their own storage and brought it to the new house 7 weeks later.

It really wasn’t that much when you take into account the time it will take to do everything yourself. We moved everything into storage too. They can arrange that as well - so they pack up your house, take it to their storage, and bring it back when you want it. Shop around, get lots of quotes and you may be able to negotiate (particularly on the storage costs)

I will always say, professional packers are worth their weight in gold. I would scrimp/save/work overtime to try and make this a viable option!

I chucked what I didn't want to take and got the removals team to pack up everything and move it whilst I went on holiday. One of my best decisions.

If you can afford packers, do it. The only thing you’ll need to worry about is what to keep. They packed a whole 3 bed house in 1 day. Ps they drink a lot of tea…

I packed everything non essential, going room by room. So something like this:

loft/shed (sent these things ahead straight away as could store them)
spare room
kids room (leave out clothes for few weeks and minimum toys)
our bedroom (leave out some clothes, toiletries etc)
sitting room
bathroom (only leave out bare essentials)
kitchen (leave very minimum essentials like kettle)

i piled boxes in the shed, spare room and then the biggest bedroom.

once the movers packed the main part of the house we moved pets, plants and last minute stuff in our cars. Did a few tip runs with stuff to throw away. Slept on blow up mattress
in the empty rooms.

I'v moved 30 times as an adult and what I do is:

Put boxes in each room, have an open one in every room and as soon as it is full, put another one in.

Mix heavy suff with clothes to lighten the load, and write the name of the room on each box.

I wrap up delicate things in towels, tea towels, etc.

Use up as much frozen and fridge food as you can, and on the morning of the move, strip all beds and empty all fridges and freezers, and fill them with the stripped bedding to soak up any remaining water or ice. These can go straight into the wash at the next place.

So some every day. Pack all clothes you won't use leaving just the ones you will need between then and moving.

Empty whole cupboards out, and decide to ditch, freecycle or pack. No dithering.

Buy a few large green gardening bags which will house all the 'last 2 days and first 2 days of moving' stuff, so clothes, toiletries, shoes etc and have one of those in each room to shove things in as you clear each room.

As you pack each box, if movers are moving you, stack each box in the corner of the room and put the next boxes on top. But if you are moving yourselves, move all boxes to the easiest area to load from on the day. Usually the room closest to the front or back doors. Move as you go so you don't end up exhausting yourself the day before you move.

Kitchen equipment, use clean, clothes, tea towels, bedding etc to wrap up crockery and any breakables in. Keep kettle, cups and tea/coffe and milk and take with you. Plus some snacks, you will need them as you go.

Keep back a bucket, mop, hoover, spray and plenty of cloths to clean as you leave, and take those in the car with you - you will need them the other end to clean [especially] the kitchen and bathroom as you get there.

I make up 10 boxes at a time and disribute them, get those packed and then make up the next 10. If you pack one box per day per room, it can keep you focused and on track.

When we moved, the packing service was only about £150 extra on top of the move. It was so worth it. They were extremely quick.