To ask for your "moving house" top tops?

[WestrayWife]

Moving house in the New Year - big move in terms of quantity of "stuff" (4 bed house, been here for 14 years, 2 primary age kids) but only a local move a few streets away.

AIBU to ask for your top tips for moving house?!

We'll be moving as part of a chain and I genuinely don't know how I'm going to have time (or, more likely, the movers are going to have time) to pack up an entire house in one morning and allow for enough time to clean up and get out before the new family arrives at (I assume) lunchtime?!

What do you recommend I do in advance to help make the situation easier for all involved? We'll try to declutter as much as we can between now and then, but are there any things I won't have thought of which would help?

Maybe also worth mentioning I'm in Scotland so Scots Law applies.

You'll be surprised at just how disgusting it is once you move the furniture, however smart you keep your house with it in place.

You either need to do it yourself or pay for a cleaner.

It's really rude to leave a house uncleaned for new arrivals.

But surely you only had to do that because it hadn't been cleaned

Put your TV remote in your car - otherwise it will end up in one of the living room boxes and will take days to find.

If you do pack any boxes yourself, label them on both the top and the side. Means you can see what's in them even when they're stacked.

As PP has said, write more detailed labels. 'Cutlery, blue plates' as opposed to 'kitchen stuff'.

Have the things you will need for the first 24 hours packed separately and keep it handy. Things like your kettle, mugs, teabags, pyjamas.

Get a few pocket sized box openers off Amazon and kept them on you. Really handy.

As soon as you get into the new place, sort the beds first! You will thank yourself come midnight!

Pay a removal firm to pack - worth every single penny

put your stuff in storage for a day or two to give you time to clean both houses and don’t try to move in and out on same day

We always pack a Night One box - kettle, stuff for tea/coffee, clean sheets, towels, pj’s, toiletries so if everything goes pear shaped we can shower, have a cuppa and make the bed even if everything else has gone to hell. Also look up takeaway/delivery places in your new neighbourhood in advance so you can get dinner sorted quickly. We learned to do all of the above from bitter experience 😆

If your packing yourself give each room a number in the 100s, so kitchen is 100, livingroom is 200.

When you pack label each box with a number so for the kitchen first one is 100, second one 101. Keep a note of what’s each box, so 101 pans, 102 random electrical appliances. Then before the removers bring every thing in stick the the numbers of the doors so 100, 200.

I’ve moved house far too many times but always pack myself. My big tip is to tape a list of the box contents into the lid so you don’t waste time unpacking all the boxes labelled kitchen to find the plates . It also gives you the option of binning ‘stuff’!! X
always start packing the loft, garden shed and garage as soon as you can. Theres more there than you think. And don’t leave the kitchen until the night before - clearing out the cupboards and cleaning the cooker takes forever!

Get packers - it's worth every penny.
Think about your new house.
I think kitchen is trickiest - so many boxes!!! I counted up kitchen cupboards, how many shelves etc and really thought about where my stuff would go. I had a plan so as each random kitchen box was opened I knew where it was going.
I've moved having decluttered and moved having not. Decluttering is hard and painful. Wonderful afterwards but moving is stressful and I'd question if you're not downsizing whether now is the right time.
Getting a working home set up for the kids asap is most important.
Don't pack their bedding - ikea bag it and have it in your boot with overnight bags.
Don't underestimate how much room hoovers, mops etc take up.
Do buy 15 packets of biscuits for the removal men. They will be pleased and they will eat them. The guys moving the buyers stuff into my old home had been begrudgingly given 1 Cup of tea and no biscuits. They were very happy to scoff my chocolate selection. (They turned up early I wasn't late!)
Have plans of new house layout marking lounge, dining room, bed 1 etc and place on front door and top of stairs and big Bed1, bed2 signs next to each doorway. (not on door as it will be open)
Buy 2 of those carry trays with a handle for your cleaning stuff and for the making cups of tea & biscuit stuff.
Buy hazard tape for anything not to pack (eg the Carry trays)

Not moving day tips but before you exchange go and have a proper look at the house. Check all the radiators work, check the boiler, check all taps work, look for leaks or signs of damp, check the windows close tight - a few of the things I WISH we'd checked before we moved.

Get the packing service.
They will though "pack" a full waste paper basket. There are a few things they won't take (normally cleaning products), so you'll have to take them yourself.
Pricing is fluid, so an expensive firm can be reasonable if they don't have much on.
They will dismantle and reassemble things like beds.

Make sure you know where the stop cock is.

Get the kids rooms sorted first. And if possible get some kind of childcare or a play date.

And good luck🍀

Probably already been said, but you will never spend better money than to pay the removal firm to pack the house too. Never regretted that money for my last 2 'big' moves.

We’ve moved house a lot and I’m fed up with things getting Brocken by removal guys who then completely deny everything.
My dh collects antique glasses ! So it’s too risky

We pack everything ourselves and store in a storage unit by hiring a self drive van and doing it at our own pace.

Apart from the piano we move everything ourselves
On the day of the move all that’s left is our mattresses, bedding, some chairs, and the coffee pot.
All that’s left to do then is read the meters and move to our new place.

We spend a week ( or a few weekends ) ferrying everything back to our new place. It’s easier now as we have three sons in their early twenties to lift the heavy stuff but when they were small we did it ourselves with the help of a few friends ( that we helped too )

The last time we moved ( a few years ago ) removal guys wanted £2500 just to move us with us wrapping and packing.
A waste of money ( a storage unit and van hire is much cheaper )
Too stressful doing it all in a day
Stuff gets Brocken

Ps
This also gives you plenty time to clean your old house
and
If you want to clean your new one you can as the furniture isn’t being moved in the moment you open the front door ( whether they’ve cleaned or not as we always clean before we move our stuff into place )

You might want to get new toilet seats as well. I always buy new ones, just can’t stand the idea of using someone else’s and I’m not into hovering at home no matter how much bleach we use I just can’t stand the idea of someone else’s toilet seat.

This is batshit. Move some precious stuff yourself but seriously ... i'm leaving the shifting of large stuff to the guys that do it all day. They work really hard. I'd rather get straight in a day or so than a few weeks of hassle and back wrecking lifting.

Declutter.

Declutter.

Then declutter.

Be very brutal - if you do not need it, do not pack it.

Pack an overnight bag for everyone - PJs, clean undies, tooth brushes, hair brushes, tampons, phones, chargers, book, or whatever you would take if you went away for a night or two, so everyone has got what they need easily to hand.

Make sure you know what box the kettle, teabags, mugs, biscuits, cereal and pizza takeaway menu is in.

If you are only moving a few streets, is it possible that the place you are going to might have an empty garage a day or so beforehand? We had cleared our garage and gave the buyers a key and let them use it a few days before completion. It was made clear it was at their risk, not ours.

Have a clear plan of where stuff is going in the new house and write this room clearly on the box so it gets to the right room and also list the contents of the box.

Declutter.

It’s not batshit
This is what we do
We’ve had furniture damaged by removal guys. On one occasion two legs from my sons bed ( an antique ) were Brocken and the removal guys tried to convince us that they were Brocken before. They lied, my son hadn’t been sleeping with his head at a lower level than his feet ! They didn’t wrap a bible box ( dated 1708 ) and just put it in the back of their van and it arrived with a huge gash on the lid. Clearly a new gash and again shrugged it off. I could go on and on. These aren’t the same company either but all had good reviews which these days I don’t trust.
The only thing we get moved by others is the piano as the mechanism has to be protected properly.

Plus
Being able to open the door and move in a relaxed manner makes the whole process far less stressful.
As does cleaning the house you’re leaving as the furniture is all gone already. It’s so much easier and quicker
I know most people use a removal firm but as we have moved a lot this is our experience and subsequent method we have found works best for us and our processions.

I’d echo everyone else and say pay for a packing and unpacking service. Was so nice to have all our furniture in the right rooms, all had to do was make up the beds the first night.

It may not apply to you but if the removal company need to park on street please check re the notice period you have to give the local council for a parking bay. We had to book two weeks in advance if I remember correctly.

We actually used storage but we're very strict with ourselves and only allowed four weeks. Two before and two after living date. It meant that on the day I'd the move we acted very quickly and then had two weeks to decant things into the stored house. Worked for us.

Absolutely get the removal firm to do a full pack if you can. The only thing I packed myself was a box of (ahem) personal items. I actually took the kids out for the morning to a toddler group and a cafe and came back when it was all done. It was 15 years ago but I think it only cost an extra £300.

Also - if your removal company will store stuff overnight then consider moving out the day before you exchange and spending the night in a hotel. We did this the last time we moved and it was a total game changer. It was the idea of the folks in the house we were buying & we actually ended up using the same removal firm as them to make it super easy.

All we had to do on the morning of the exchange was give the house we were moving out of a quick clean. Totally stress free!

Pay for a professional oven clean.

Don’t forget to get insurance for when your stuff is in the van. Babs have been known to go missing.

Oooh me! I've moved 3 times in 4 years! I also moved from a 3 bed house to a 2 bed apartment!

I decluttered alot! So much so that whilst it was 2 big vans from one house to the other it was only 1 from the house to the apartment. I gave stuff away on Facebook, took it to the charity shop, hired a skip for rubbish. I had a massive clear out so I had 6 vases and really only need 3, so that's half. 12 wine glasses but only kept 4 and so on.

I packed myself getting most of it done before the moving day. Then it was just the last minute bits. I packed a case with bed linen, pyjamas, toiletries, towels and a couple days clothing. I packed all important papers in my work bag. I packed an essentials box with tea, coffee, wine, silverware, mugs, cat food and kettle. These 3 things went with me in my car.

My movers moved the entire house in an hour onto the van. My movers took my table and the beds apart and put them back together.

I didn't complete this house straight away so I was able to go back and give it a refresh. But the house I had before exchanged the same day so I just gave it a quick top up clean on the day after spending weeks deep cleaning areas.

We moved, I made the beds ready for the night and had a takeaway.

How exciting for you!

I prefer to pack and store as much as I can in advance, labelling boxes by room type, etc. Ideally, start with the loft as generally that's where the mementos, etc get stored and if they're 'keepers' then box gets labelled 'Loft', etc. The movers will appreciate it if the loft and outside aren't included (price reduction). Then maybe store most of the garden stuff next, given the time of year.

You can move a lot of boxed stuff in your average or smaller car. Some moving companies also have storage facilities for just this.

Start a month in advance and keep a box or two at hand for the give, donate and throw stuff. Trying to ensure you actually give, donate, etc - otherwise that's another box labelled 'stuff'.

Paying for 'packers' sounds ideal, but not everyone can afford that - it would be more than once that I've hired a van and raked up some help.

Get the removals firm to pack for you, but be aware they will pack absolutely everything*. If you want it to go in the car with you make sure it's somewhere they know not to pack ( we put overnight bags and valuables on the bed and essential kitchen stuff in the dishwasher). In my experience as well as being so much easier if they pack they'll take responsibility for anything damaged as they can’t claim it wasn't packed properly.
*They usually won't take small valuables like jewellery but may not look too closely when packing.