Moving House: packing tips? Please help!!

[b1uebells]

We are downsizing and I need to start packing as the majority of it will be done by me so don't want a mad rush the week before we move!

I have about 2/3 weeks to pack ( not exchanged yet) and I have no idea where to start ( packing boxes not coming till mid week) as we have SO much crap stuff and are going to have to condense it all to fit in new house.

Any tips on packing in general? I've never had to 'move' like this with family before as DH and I were both living at home when we chose current house and bought things for the house rather than moving things. So effectively I've never properly moved house before and am panicking about it all!

Plan is to label boxes with room I want them to go into in new house.

Any advice welcome please!

Start clearing out now, go through all cupboards and get a big black bag for the charity shop. Once you have done that--

Take all pictures, mirrors down, bubble wrap and stack some place safe.

Put a box, newspaper and a roll of tape in each room. Start wrapping and packing in all non essential items, lable and tape up.

The kitchen, I am sure you have many duplicates of plates and bowls and so on, clear your kitchen down to the essential items.

Use all your pillows and cushions to pad boxes. Save all newspapers to wrap breakables in. Roll things up so they have maximum protection. Bubblewrap is not as good as paper with glassware.

Buy double the amount of boxes and tape you think you need. Invest in a tape dispenser. It takes on average 20 minutes to pack one box (no seriously it does).

Box schedule (so not just rooms but first off boxes should be marked clearly). On the moving day get a load of bin bags and pack all bedding for each bed and label them - you will want your bedding there ready to go when you get there.

Also buy some ziplock bag so you can secure the bed fittings to the bed using strong tape.

Pack the kettle, tea etc last.

Buy biscuits - you need them for the removal men or yourself. If you are paying professional removers they will usually supply the boxes for free.

THROW STUFF AWAY!!

when you pack a box don't make it too heavy. Double tape the bottom of boxes for strength and write on the box what it contains and the room it belongs in.

use bedding, towels, tea towels as packing too.

keep one box for last minute bits containing kettle and stuff to make drinks, keys, money, detol spray, bin bags, selotape, marker pen.

go through freezer now and start eating stuff up.

you can probably pack much of your toiletries.

go through the attic now and get rid.

What Supa said x100. Start getting rid right now! In your box with kettle, gaffa tape, etc. make sure you include hand wash, some tea towels, kitchen roll, loo roll and bleach spray and microcloth/E cloth. Put in a carton of UHT milk as well. If you have a camp stove, put it in there, too.

I want to give lots of the DCs old books and toys to charity, have found a fab charity in a nearby town that will take them... just haven't got anything to put them in.

DD1 has a massive collection of beanie babies. She wants to keep them ALL as she is a 'collector'. She currently has them in a hammock in her room. There won't be space in new house for the hammock. Any idea where we can store them?

if you can get a skip - you are much more likely to get rid of stuff if you can do it straight away - if you put ot in the take to the dump pile, as well as the trauma of going tpo the dump I usually end up thinking i need to keep half the stuff!

I bought lots of bubble wrap, clear plastic bin liner size bags for clothes and a tape gun in addition to the boxes.
The tape gun has been used alot and is so much easier than doing it by hand IYSWIM.

Don't panic yet, you don't have to sort everything out.
I found that I spent so much time sorting and binning etc. when I should've actually just packed a couple of boxes labelled misc tat to take to new house and do later.

Oh, and never ever start lookng through photo albums however tempting!!

We have boxes!! Rung removal firm this morning and they said I could collect some today. They are all flat so task 1 is trying to put them together!

Might be going a bit too far, but I numbered all my boxes and made a list noting what was in each numbered box, and what room it was destined for in the new place. Yes, it is a terribly anal thing to do, but when I was flopped out refusing to unpack, it was easy-peasy to find the kettle!

Oh, and another vote for ruthless binning. I have the Box of Shame which I have lugged to each new place, full of paper and bits and bobs. All of it useless!

Those chinese laundry bags that you get from markets and pound shops are fab for packing clothes and bedding.Also good for kithchen stuff like pans that don't easily fit in a box.