Got to move house next week with 4 kids on my own

[Sobaditsfunny]

Feeling very very overwhelmed. After our financial settlement we were ordered to sell the family home. Which we did and the sale has dragged on.
Now had a call to say the buyer is pulling out unless my solicitor can get a move on and have it completed by next Thursday. The chain is fragile and I don't want to lose the house we've purchased so I'll agree to the date. However, my parents have gone abroad until Mid November to the other side of the world to visit family and I have no idea how I'm going to move house, alone and with 4 kids.
Previously people had said they'd help but now I have a date none of my friends are available. It's a big house and we're downsizing massively and don't have much money. The children's dad has stopped all contact 5 weeks ago and hasn't seen the children since. I've used up all my work annual leave for this half term and I don't know what to do. I have all the empty boxes but I can't bring myself to fill them. It sounds pathetic but any spare minute I get I go to sleep.

Okay, thank you everyone. Someone's coming round tomorrow to look at the house and give a price. Another firm said its too much of a nightmare when it's a house chain as they charge per hour and most of the time they're sat around until Mid afternoon when the solicitors finally confirm the funds. That's a good point that you have to do it in one trip as you can't go backwards and forwards. In my head I was thinking I could do some trips but I see now that wouldn't work. So, do you pack up your house in the morning then sit and wait for funds to be cleared and then go and never return? What do you do with the keys? Do you go and collect them from the estate agent and will everyone get them at the same time? Sorry, if these questions seem stupid!

In terms of stuff to move; We have 2 big couches, bunk beds, cabin bed, double bed, fridge/freezer, extra freezer, washing machine/dryer, wardrobe, sideboard, 6 sets of drawers, 2 storage cabinets, TVs, stupid amount of toys, 5 people's worth of clothes and shoes, bedding, towels, lamps, decor, loft full of stuff-christmas decs/suitcases/books etc, large shed full of toys, bikes and gardening stuff. Office documents. Kitchenware and lots of random cupboard items.

Thanks again for everyone's advice, it's very helpful.

When I moved I emptied the house the day before and the movers stored the vans overnight. The next morning I dropped the keys to the estate agents and set off, had a phone call about 11am to say my sale had gone through and the funds had been released for my purchase, then a call about 45 minutes later to say my purchase was completed. It took about 15 minutes after that for the agents for my new house to get notice to release the keys. We were in the house about 12.30, but the movers said they were prepared to wait all day as they had sales not completed until 4 or 5pm…

Timings do depend on the length of the chain. I was in a very short one - just three involved.

It doesn't matter how much they cost. Do you have a credit card? Can your parents wire you money?

You need to hire a moving company. You need to do this ASAP.
Call a few.

You will not be able to lift furniture into and out of a van on your own.

If you haven't packed all plates, kitchen stuff, books, toys, lamps, craft stuff, spare bedding, tools, and everything else in your house that isn't nailed down, you need to start now.

Buy boxes. Buy tape. Get cracking.

Call fellow school parents and beg for help.

You don't have time to be precious about reaching out to people. Either school mums could look after your children or someone could come and pack like a crazy woman.

Where abouts in the north west if your close by I'll come and help after work x

Spend every day decluttering a room and organising into boxes. Have a bag for charity and a bag for the dump. See if there's a local service that can throw things out for you. Hire a cleaner that will take the stress out of a lot of things. Whatever you can plan ahead of time will take out a lot of stress for you on the day. It's better to get a removal company if you can afford it. They can do all the heavy lifting for you which can be difficult on your own.

What a kind person you are!

Have moved, with kiddos on my own. Not sure if rental truck places there, such as UHAUL (here in States) has, but our UHAUL has a place on their website where you can hire as many helpers as you need. Isn't awfully expensive either. In addition, here in the States you could go to a fire department or police dept and ask if you can hire a few of them (they like to make extra cash) to help you out? You will be fine, you have a lot going on, take care. You can do this.

I don't know if US licensing is different but unless you're mid 40s and passed your driving test by about 1998 you can only drive up to 3.5 tonnes so a long wheel base transit is about your limit.

Pre 98 passes can drive a lorry up to 7.5 tonnes which might move a 2 bed house at a push but most people would find that intimidating to drive anywhere tight...

If you have to make one trip you NEED either many vehicles or a big vehicle and your big vehicle will need to take everything that doesn't go in a car.

Van hire is a thing but you won't get anything big enough unless you have done extra tests. Which is far more of a limiting factor than people to move the stuff into the van. Once you're hiring a driver you might as well get pros in...

We moved from rental and needed a professional load for stuff that was too big for our (large for UK) estate cars or too heavy for us to carry, did all the boxes piecemeal when going over daily to decorate but actual furniture (sofas, tables, white goods) took up most of a small moving van (Luton type with square sides)

"Another firm said its too much of a nightmare when it's a house chain as they charge per hour and most of the time they're sat around until Mid afternoon when the solicitors finally confirm the funds."

That's a bonkers attitude for a removal firm to be honest! Most house sales and purchases are a chain of some sort and they're turning down the work?? Something tells me they're best avoided!

Have a look at BAR accredited removers - https://bar.co.uk/ - they're a professional body that many decent removers are registered with.

When I last moved, I was in a chain. I'd packed my own boxes.

The guys turned up at 8am and loaded all my boxes and furniture onto the lorry. They dismantled furniture like tables, beds, desks, etc. The whole 3 bed house was empty by 10am. There is then the dreaded wait for the phone call.

As long as you don't exchange and complete on the same day, you'll know it's definitely coming, it's just a matter of when. The removal company will quote you on this basis. Even if there was no other property in the chain, it could still take until mid-afternoon for solicitors to get the money moved. No reputable removal company will expect to be able to do two moves in a day for a team, so will quote according to how many days and how many people they need.

After the guys had packed up, they drove over to the new house and just hung around on the side of the road, waiting. Once I got the call, I collected the new keys and headed over and the guys unloaded. They then rebuilt all the furniture they'd dismantled and put it all where I wanted.

I was unloaded by about 5pm and then had the massive task of unpacking it all again!

My normal plan is to unpack a lot of the kitchen on the first day, so I can make food and drink without too much bother. Unfortunately the people that had our house before us were all style over substance and while everything looked nice at face value, they were dirty buggers behind the scenes, so my first night was spent with a pizza delivery and a lot of cleaning of inside cupboards!

Thanks everyone, I can visualise how it will all work now. I've had a couple of quotes that start with a basic of £900 then add for dismantling/longer day etc so they all seem to be around £1400-£1600 total.

Had a right nightmare today though. I popped Monday to show my 3 year old the property (from outside). We peered in through the front living room window and it was covered in bluebottles. Dead and alive, all over the floor and window.

I rang the estate agent. I then got an email today from my solicitor and as i read down the thread it stated there was a rodent problem with them entering through next doors attic. (This has been empty for almost a year-though it has now been sold). Apparently pest control had been twice and closed up holes in the loft/poisoned them. However, by the look of all those bluebottles I'm very worried it has not been resolved and I'm also annoyed that I havent been informed. It was only because they'd accidentally copied me into the whole thread that I found this out.

The thought of moving my 4 kids in on my own to a house with bluebottles and rodents is making me feel a little bit ill.

Ive asked to go and see it on Friday but I have no idea what I am looking for.

Anyone have experience of rodents??

On the plus the completion date has been delayed due to some document they are waiting to be actioned at land registry.

@elaboratecushion that's good to know. I will figure out what's needed to be unpacked first.