To believe that we can unpack from a move in under a week, and ask for your best tips to be able do so?

[OptimisticReindeer]

We'll be staying in a local holiday let for the week of the move, and I really want to take advantage and get as much done as we can at the house.

Much preferable than to be living amongst the boxes, and we can dedicate a fair amount of time to it each day.

We have movers and opted for the packing service, so hoping that the boxes will be better organised than if we had done opted DIY. We've never had packers, or movers before so have no idea what to expect.

Is it manageable for a four-bed? How long did it take on your last move? Any tips also very welcome.

You need to empty the boxes and rearrange the furniture? It’s not just going to fall into place!

Very doable, I have moved 10+ times from work. The bulk of unpacking can be done in a couple of days.

My priorities are kitchen first. Not only because you want to be able to prepare food, but it frees up a LOT of boxes. Bathroom next, to make sure you can shower. Then bedrooms, make beds. Living areas last.

Ah that makes sense.

I don’t think I could pack the house in a week as that’s where I would be doing all the sorting and arranging, and I wouldn’t like packers to do it at all for this reason.

Putting things in places is one of my favourite things to do though, so I love unpacking, deciding where something should do, deciding what to put with it, how to arrange a cupboard etc, so I can steam through unpacking in no time as I love doing it, and get antsy knowing there’s things in boxes that need a home!

I’ve been in my new house for about 6 weeks and am nowhere near unpacking everything, but I need to decorate and get new carpets everywhere.

I think some people on here must be talking about moving smaller houses, a family member moved a few months ago and even with decluttering beforehand and paying for a packing a moving service the actual removal company did not manage to unload everything the first day!! It was left in a lorry overnight.
So no boxes weren't all unpacked same day because they weren't in the house to unpack!
Also when you move house surely the windows are never all exactly the same size so you can rarely just reuse all the same curtains, you often need to put up new curtain track or poles eg if the previous owners had poles but all your curtains are the style that need a track?
I can only assume people talking about unpacking it all in an afternoon are talking about moving from a smaller property and are aren't counting all the finishing touches.

Of course you can. We’ve done it in 2-3 days two times but we stayed in the house we moved to. Why would you not stay there? much easier and far more motivating to get it done and yes we have children. Day 1 setting up their rooms was a priority.

It's always taken me months to unpack but when we did our last move DH went through every box in a couple of days I find this kind of speed baffling. That said we've been here 18 months and certain stuff he never uses is still arranged in a way I wouldn't have put it and I haven't got round to sorting it properly.

I think maybe like people are saying the key is to not have too much stuff to begin with. Definitely a weakness of mine

Your teens can pack and unpack, appreciate it will be chaotic for pets but it really shouldn’t take long. We got keys at 5pm and slept there that night with our then 4/7 year olds. Next day my husband did the kitchen and I did the kids rooms with them. We left any decorative stuff packed as we were getting the floors replaced so had packed carefully so that stuff was separate and could go straight into the garage.

anything still packed up in the loft should honestly go straight in the tip. If you haven’t needed it in years, you never will.

I know, those pesky elves haven’t done it for me. I just can’t work out where it should go, chuck in Christmas into the mix.

You don’t give stuff its final spot until you’ve lived in it, you give it provisional spots and move things as you improve the functionality over time.

I don’t consider that part of unpacking so yes, we are talking about different things. I meant that we got rid of all the boxes within a week and all the rooms were functional. It took a lot longer to replace all the light fittings and curtains and carpets and whatnot so it was constant change for a while. But that’s not really part of moving for me

Yes - I forgot to say to take the box of essentials with you! Otherwise, it would be the last box to be unpacked or put in a random room where you won’t find it.

It would surely be much easier if you were living there. Pre kids we did it in a day including scrubbing the large kitchen. Surely you will need the teenagers there so they can sort their own stuff.

Start with throwing out those unpacked boxes ;) it took me 3 days last time, but I was 37 weeks pregnant. There were a few boxes left over which contained curtains that i was too pregnant to hang and a box of knick-knack type things without a clear home which ended up being unpacked into the bin.

my advice would be to declutter! Be ruthless and get rid of a lot of things and make sure everything remaining has a place. When I tidy I initially just put like by like items together, then once you see how much space they take up you can delegate where to store.

Exactly this - unpacking is to have the rooms functional and everything out of the boxes.

You’re never going to get everything unpacked and in the “perfect” place immediately. It takes time to settle into a house - but you want to aim for the house to be useable.

As you have a bit of time and are staying in another place, I'd start by spending the first day or two doing a really deep clean. I'd then tackle it room by room. I think you can take your time as you've given yourself a window, and then get things how'd you'd like them, with a day or two at the end to relax and get comfortable.

Moved into a 3 bed and was completely unpacked the same day except for 3 boxes which were still in the garage two years later. Also did the packing and move myself with a couple of people to help lift things. Only worked as everything was packed early and labelled with the room it was needed in. Furniture moved with contents where possible, clothes left on hangers, that sort of thing. So yes, easily done. Have moved house three times and never had significant unpacking left by the end of move in day.

I hope the new house doesn't need a fresh painting as its so worth doing before you move in and empty.

We numbered each room in the house and corresponded with the boxes.

I made a lists of roughly what was in each numbered box, before taping.

We were unpacked in 2 days.
Our movers placed the boxes in its correctly numbered room.
The house was freshly painted and spotless.
We also had a box of emergency stuff, kettle, coffee etc.chargers

We had everything out of our flat and into a 3 bed house inside a day.
Had the packing service from the removals company so everything was logically packed and put into the correct rooms. Four adults doing the unpacking. Cat went to the cattery for a couple of days.

This depends entirely on how big your homes are, much stuff you own and how organised your current home is.
Your moves will pack literally everything and label by room - if your belongings are in the ‘wrong’ room when packed, you’ll be starting at a big, disorganised disadvantage.
declutter ruthlessly, and try to ensure everything is in the right place in your current home. A week is probably not unreasonable if you’re able to dedicate your time to it fully, and obviously notwithstanding any works that need completing

Lol. Those loft boxes can go in the skip! Problem solved

Well ,if it's been in boxes over month.... Get rid of them!

I unpacked all boxes within the 3 child free days I had available. Also the moving company came to collect their boxes around day 5. However things like hanging up photos, pictures, mirror etc took longer.

I have difficulty finishing tasks so I knew if I didn't unpack straight away it would not happen.

(I needed to buy more hangers as I had more hanging wardrobe space which was annoying when I was midway through my clothes unpacking just in case that's relevant for you)

We rent so it’s also been a case of cleaning the old rental, the new rental.
I did do a decent declutter (or so I thought), but it’s stuff like baking tins, house plant food, first aid kit, that sort of stuff.