Moving on Thur - top tips please!!

[PermanentlyExhaustedPigeonZZZ]

Moving on Thursday to a new build assuming it all goes to plan! First time doing it properly with a moving company and with the kids who are 9&12 and both autistic. They'll be at school during the day.

We've got packers coming on wed.
What do I need to know?

I've been told pack bags with essentials, kettle, snacks, mugs, to put bedding in the car so it's easy to find. Any other essentials? I'm getting the girls to pack bags with their bedtime essentials and uniform for the next day.

Something about labelling the rooms and having a floor plan? How does it work when we're splitting the contents of a room across different rooms in the new house?

Are there really huuundreds of boxes that will take ages to unpack?

What about curtain rails and curtains for the bedrooms?

Any help appreciated, I like to be organized but feeling out of my depth!

If you have a cool box or bag use that for your cold drinks and snacks. We had a couple of cold beers in there for the removal guys which went down well. Maybe have a couple of foldable chairs I the car too as it gives you somewhere to sit immediately.

Number the boxes and have a content list on a master excel

plan meals and hydration for first week
take it easy!

Re: labelling. Number the bedrooms in the new house e.g. Bedroom 1 , Bedroom 2 etc and make sure the movers know which is which. I made signs on A4 paper and blue-tacked them to the doors when we moved. Label the boxes with their destination.

If your movers are doing the packing can you physically separate the stuff currently in one room that you want splitting between two? Or pack any of that yourself?

Think about where you want the movers to put stuff - we asked them to put any boxes labelled 'kitchen' in the dining room so we had more space to unpack.

Keep back some utensils, plates, mugs etc as well as tea, coffee, cereal (whatever) in a separate box so you have things for the first few days.

Either number the boxes and keep a list of contents or write the contents on the outside of the box. I've tried both and the separate contents list is much easier to find stuff later.

My top tip is set up the bedrooms first

Movers are life savers (definitely get them a crate of beer) have everything labelled with what room that box/piece of furniture needs to be in, alongside a rough sketch of where items should go when in the room & they’ll do the rest.

See if they’ll pop some bits in the attic, our last movers did so they put our Christmas boxes, suitcases & camping gear up there (saved us a job) and made it feel a little less like there’s was random items around.

We planned meals for the first 3 days & popped everything we needed (food and utensils), in the car in a big shopping bag & cooler, so I knew what we eating but also had the utensils/pots I needed.

We’ve done it twice with kids & definitely have a ruck sack for each family member with a few days worth of clothes/toiletries/entertainment/chargers, we also did an essentials box with chargers/passports/documents that we took ourselves, and we took all the bedding we needed in the car so we could make the beds up as soon as the movers had them in the room.

We also planned whose jobs it was to unpack each room, so DH did the kids rooms/office/bathroom and I did the kitchen/livingroom/playroom.

Good luck, just accept it’s stressful, but it gets easier each day after the initial “moving day”

Oh and be prepared to be constantly asked by everyone in the house “where is [insert inanimate object]”

Leave enough space in the bedrooms to put up the beds! Put them up ASAP.
Pack essentials separately,, tea, spoons and cups. Research the nearest takeaway.
Chill, you don't need to unpack everything in a few hours..... good luck !

Well in the time it took to post the thread, it looks like it's all gone to shit. It's been a massively quick turnaround as we're part exchanging on a new build so no other parties. Was due to be exchanging and completing on same day but while our solicitor was on leave last week people dropped the ball. Still waiting for queries to come back from buyers, no-ones requested funds from the bank (supposed to be 5 working days). I could cry.

Next week I'm subbing for my boss who's on leave for the launch of one of the most high profile projects our team is responsible for so unlikely to be able to take more than a day off (had planned 3). Everyone's going to be dysregulated and cost us over £3k in moving costs 😭😭 waaaa!

Get the kids to pack a box of thier special stuff that they need.
Have a important box in it go all the bags if screws for beds, tables and other stuff that get taken apart. If you type it to beds they can come off and get list. Also put in leads and remotes for things. Done quite a few moves including international. Doing this was a game changer