Please help me to move house!! What are your top tips???

[kidcreoleandthecoconuts]

So we have finally decided that we are moving back to the UK in the next few weeks. DP is in the process of getting a job, finding a house, finding DS a school etc and tomorrow DP is coming over to the UK for a week to sort things out.

So I am left with a house to pack up whilst looking after DS4, DD2 and being 25 weeks pregnant .

I can only pack things that we aren't going to need as we may not move for a month but DP is very spontaneous and if his employer asks him to start next week he will, so I need to be prepared to move at short notice too.

Tbh i don't know where to start. I haven't moved on this scale before and with all the associated crap that comes with having children.

So I need to declutter things and get rid of as much as possible.

.............pack things. How am I best doing this? Boxes? Bin liners etc?? We have loads of books and toys.

.............clean. The landlady is lovely and i want to leave the place sparkling.

Oh help!!!! I'm getting palpatations just thinking of the task ahead!

Sorry for the essay

DOn't use bin liners unless you clearly label what's inside...they will end up thrown away!

Put together a list for ebay/freecycle asap so you're not moving stuff you don't need

Buy good quality boxes/tape...you won't save money on cheap stuff as they'll break

Don't move all the books that you've read unless you want to keep them for sentimental reasons - they are heavy

Good luck!

How would the move happen - yourselves in a van or a removal firm? If the latter, then I wouldn't worry about packing. IME, the difference in cost between them packing and moving and you packing and them moving is so small as to make it absolutely definitively not worth it.

If you are packing and moving yourselves, start acquiring boxes. Our last-but-one move had 90% of our stuff packed in banana boxes - they are strong, and they stack well.

Don't be tempted to pack stuff, especially books, in huge boxes. Lots of small boxes of books are a lot easier to move than a few impossibly heavy large ones.

Use boxes rather than bags definitely but you can use oversized binliners for things like bedding and duvets.
Make a list of what's going in them for each room and label the boxes clearly as it makes packing into the transport so much easier and unpacking a whole lot less stressful
Make sure you label clearly any boxes which are heavy so that no-one injures their back trying to lift them and I agree with stealthsquiggle that books needs to be divided into multiple boxes, rather than stuffed into a few large boxes, to distribute the weight.
Clean at the end when everything is out of the house or at least to the side of the room and just make sure you have no dcs around so you can get it done without delays.
Start early and then when the time comes you will have had a head start which will do wonders for your sense of organisation and mental wellbeing!

We will be hiring a van and moving ourselves. DP will be getting his brother over to drive our car over, so that will be packed too.

Good point about putting books in smaller boxes. I will try to be ruthless and just keep textbooks and sentimental books. However DP has an array of factual reference books that are hard back and big but were expensive so we'll still have to pack those.

I have started using Pampers boxes to pack bits and pieces but I'll definitely have to stock up on more boxes.

If you can get clear bin-bag sized bags (usually sold as storage bags) they are ideal for duvets, soft toys and the like.

Another idea is to buy a stack of plastic crates from Tesco/Ikea rather than using cardboard.

We moved two years ago and still have some of these packed up in the cellar - great as they don't get damp if you have to store them in a house that needs renovating!