Moving house/packing tips

[Homerun]

Have yet to start packing as still in the process of drawing up contracts but really want to get ahead of the game.
4 kids, loads of stuff and we both work - I don't know where to start and would love some strategies to make the whole process less stressful. I estimate moving date to be about 6 weeks.

Thanks (have also posted in property)

Pay the removal company to do it. At least get them to quote. Money amazingly well spent.

What Purple said. It was £200 extra when we moved to have the removers pack too. It took one bloke less than a day. Best money we have ever spent.

It's easy to look for economies when moving house because you are paying out so much elsewhere but honestly, it is so worth it if you can possibly stretch to it. Get quotes at least.

Oh, and when we relocated with work, we had no option. One of the T&Cs we signed was that we would get packers in, because it meant there was so much less disruption to our work.

Declutter, then declutter and then go back and declutter a bit more. There is no point in moving carefully packing stuff you don't need.

We're relocating and the packers are just taking the final boxes outside. I agree with the decluttering - spent every evening for weeks sorting, recycling, disposing - and then packers are a complete must. We moved into this house with a 12mo doing all the packing ourselved, and now with 3 dc I can't even begin to imagine how we would have done it ourselves.

I had never even considered packers, but I am now! I thought they would be prohibitively expensive but actually I'd pay £300 happily to not do it myself...
I am going to get quotes. Now.
Thanks

Make a box with necessaries in it: kettle, tea bags, etc. and keep it your car.

Never label a box DVDs/CDs. Something will get nicked.

Label boxes as per room, e.g. Bedroom 1, and then put such a label on the bedroom door.

I second removals firm, but be warned they will pack & move EVERYTHING so pre move decluttering is a must, or 3 months after you move you'll find stuff you REALLY meant to chuck. Be ruthless!

Ask for hanging/ wardrobe boxes too, they just lift hanging stuff straight out of the wardrobe into the box + out again other end, no packing.

Get the older kids to sort own stuff & pack, also give them a box for charity donations to help the declutter.

Ooh yes 100% get packers to do it for you. Also for the actual moving day make sure you make the beds up in your new house first thing and have an overnight bag packed with all the overnight essentials. Good luck!

You could begin the packing with items that you know you will not need between now and the move (e.g. most books, some toys etc etc).

Get the packers in at the end for the rest (the day before the move, probably) and they will bring boxes, paper for wrapping and hanging garment carriers (cardboard wardrobes with hanging rails - just remember to ask for them). You do not need to empty chests of drawers - they will remove the drawers, move the furniture and put the drawers back in the van.

Label boxes for each room and label the room doors. Label furniture too - you can stick those labels on any time before the move and you won't have items put in the wrong place. Once the removers begin to empty the van it can go very quickly and you won't have time to tell them where each piece of furniture should go.

Hope it goes well!

Wash and changing bedding a few days before moving so when you pack bedding you can leave pillow cases and duvet cover on to save time. It will also smell familiar to settle the kids.

Packers' default is bedroom 1 stuff in old house goes to bedroom 1 in new etc. So if you want to move stuff around, consider doing it in your old house, so then everything goes into its correct place in the new house. Of course you can ask them to put things in different rooms, but they can't consult you on every box.

seriously declutter. and then do it again and again until you run out of time. i have moved house a lot and every time i thought i decluttered as much as i could. now im SERIOUSLY decluttering and I'm finding things that have moved house with me several times and not ever been used! i now look back and regret how many times i have tidied/packed/moved /cleaned those items and resent the time I've spent on it!

We are moving soon.

We've been renovating a house for almost a year and I cannot put off actually moving in any longer.

I have promised myself that nothing is transferring that isn't vital and beautiful. Nothing tatty or pointless is going.

Posted too soon .

Basically I am going round our current house with an eagle eye. Separating into yes and no. The yes pile will be small and I will pay packers to pack and move.

The no pile will be passed on/ junked in due course.