Moving House

[BellMcEnd]

We're (hopefully) moving in 6 weeks to a house we plan to be in for the next 20+ years after all the stress I've told DH we won't be moving again unless it's into a retirement bungalow. The house is a 3 bedroom semi that hasn't seen a paint brush since about 1995 nor had a decent clean since about then . The vendor has agreed to having it professionally deep cleaned by an estate agent recommended company before we move in. Please can you share your house moving hints and tips that will hopefully make this all as stress free as possible? Ha ha

ha ha even. Ironic strike out fail!

Bumping, also moving soon and tips would be greatly appreciated.

Are you packing yourselves or having a removal company do it?

Hi November do you have a moving date? We're planning on getting a full disassembling, packing and reassembling service from a removal company. We've got 3 small children and we're (hopefully) moving into a house that needs loads of work. We figured that we're going to have enough stress without adding to it! How about you? Are you moving far from where you are now?

Solicitors are hopefully sorting exchange and completion dates this week, so it will likely be 2-3weeks until the move.

We are moving from a big 2 bed into a small 4 bed, that needs complete re-decoration. Not too far away, about 40 minutes drive.

We are just going with the removal service, but starting to regret that now. I'm 6 months pregnant and have started packing things up, not enjoying it too much.

Are you able to do any of the work to your new place before moving in, or just going for it? Hopefully the professional cleaners will do a good job of that for you guys.

Thinking of doing a box of essentials to pop in our car, on the list for that so far

Kettle
Tea/coffee and maybe powdered milk?
Cups
Bin bags
Toilet roll
A few tea towels
Snacks

Hmm haven't got too far with that yet.

Think we will have our bed set up first, so we can just crash if we need a break from unpacking.

We moved into this house was I was 34 weeks pregnant. It was actually ok as everyone felt sorry for me and I didn't really do that much! That said, I did do most of the packing before the actual day itself. The house we're buying is being surveyed next week - I'm slightly anxious about it as it really is in a pretty bad way but the size and the location are perfect. If it had been nicely looked after it would have been £££ over budget so I'm really grateful to the vendors for not being into interior design! It's only 3 miles from where we are now so we're not changing jobs, schools etc which is good.

I've been reading loads of threads in property about moving house, some have been really helpful.

Are you going to decorate straight away? I'm taking a decorator / builder / can do anything man (he did all the work on our current house and is brill I might fancy him slightly ) over to the (potential) new house next week to start working on some quotes. EVERY room, except the kitchen, needs pretty much gutting . It's going to be a nightmare but, like I said, great size and great location. Short term pain, long term gain is by new mantra. And Valium .

Pack suitcases as if for holidays with clothes toiletries, teddies etc so on arrival night you have everything you need. Thereby reducing stress when you can't find anything. Make sure you have your box as indicated by pp, with corkscrew, wine, breakfast cereal, snacks. Do not let them pack it!!!!!!

Label every box with the new room, label the rooms in the new house you would be amazed at some removal people ;-), others are lovely but never assume any of them think the same as you. Will you have space for boxes that you can't open straight away? Books toys winter clothes etc that you don't need right now?

Organise a food delivery for the day after you arrive so you can feed the children properly and quickly (think now about quick, quick meals). They will be alternatively hyper and hysterical. You don't need them getting worse because they haven't been fed. Also if the weather looks good any chance of some toys in the garden to keep them from underfoot? We also had a celebration cake which ds (then 2.5) loved. His childminder brought it round so that he knew all would be well in his new home.

Don't think you have to do everything at once, you don't, be gentle on yourself, moving is stressful. Good luck.

Isthis they are all fantastic suggestions! Thanks hugely. The on line delivery idea is particularly good. I've got a notebook with all plans for the move - which is hopefully in 6 weeks so your tips are definitely going in

Isthis they are all fantastic suggestions! Thanks hugely. The on line delivery idea is particularly good. I've got a notebook with all plans for the move - which is hopefully in 6 weeks so your tips are definitely going in

I have just moved. To save time change bedding a few days before move. Then when you move leave the new cleanish duvet cover and pillow cases on to make making the beds much quicker.

Take your washing machine. I hate the one left at the house we have bought

I'm hopefully moving too. We've moved only once before this is the first time to a house we are actual buying. Very excited but nervous as I'm pregnant too!

Ensure your removal company have a suitable vehicle for your move. Ours arrived with a small van, 3 loads later, 11pm in the evening we were in.

Ours was a tip and we stayed 10 days in serviced apartments to get it liveable. I was all for moving in straight away, thank god we didn't.

We had to hire a skip as the previous owners left loads of manky old furniture. Deep clean, rip up filthy carpets,fresh coat of paint.

The sanitary appliances were beyond cleaning so we ended up getting cheap replacements from a builders merchant.

I packed a suitcase each of clothes we would need for a few weeks. Keep all cabling for TVS, telephones, sky boxes to hand.
Tool box handy
All important paperwork handy, passports,solicitors stuff etc
Be prepared to spend hours on the phone to utility company's
Set up mail re direction
Inform banks,drs,schools, best mates of your change of address.
Have your new post code tattooed on your hand
Have a list of plumbers/locksmiths/sparkys to hand.
Good luck

Brilliant everyone, thank you so much! The house we're buying is properly filthy so we're currently negotiating with the vendor's estate agent to have it professionally deep cleaned. We've got 3 small children, one is only just walking so there's no way I'm happy to move in before it's been fumigated! I feel sorry for the vendor though - his wife left him and he's clearly hit the bottle and the fags . The house needs a ton of work but will be lovely after we spend a bloody fortune sorting it out.

Multiple how preg will you be when you move? I was 34 weeks when we moved into our current house. It all went fine. DS made his appearance about 6 hours after we unpacked the final box . I had a really quick and easy labour as I hadn't stopped scrubbing and washing carpets as the previous owners had left is a filthy pit to deal with

Can you afford to stay in a travel lodge or with friends or family the first night?

Great minds think alike, Mostly . We have a Premier Inn not far from us so we're planning on staying in it the night before the move and the night of the move. There are 5 of us so too many to stay for any length of time with my parents who are local and DH's family are a bit far. The aim is that we stay in this new house for the next 20+ years so we don't mind spending a bit more already feel like we're haemorrhaging money to reduce the stress of moving a bit. We hopefully plan on not doing it again for a looooong time!

Bell - Hopefully we'll move near the end of August when I think I'll be around 15 weeks (no clue of my dates yet!) But where I live they say if you have a good notar and a good seller it usually takes a month on average. So fingers crossed!

When we moved the first time, one of our twins was still in NICU so I had to stay behind and be transferred with him to another city in our new country and missed the whole month and a bit there so this time I'm looking forward to having that "home" feeling. :)