Moving in a week, what have I forgotten?

[Piccalilli]

So - we are FINALLY moving in a week and I have:

arranged packers and movers
got parking suspension so removal van can park
notified council tax, water, gas, electric, tv licence, phone
got babysitter (mum!) for day of move
arranged post redirection
got back all spare sets of keys
booked cattery for cat
given cleaner notice

what have I forgotten? There must be something!

Havew you notified all utilities etc in the new house? Probalby easier simply to take over the seller's accounts for gas/water/electricity, and once your're settled shop around for the best deals.

Notify bank, pensions etc of change of address.

Contact Mail Preference Service (can be done over internet) and logged old and new addresses and tel nos.

Print off (or order from local print shop) a stack of forwarding labels to leave behind, together with a polite note to buyers asking them to forward any post.

Separate out and pack any jewelery, or other precious or nickable stuff that you will want to carry yourself.

Pack a crate of stuff that you don't want to risk doing without in case the lorry doesn't get to your new house that day, or that you don't want to have to rummage for. Eg kettle, tea, mugs, cleaning stuff, lightbulbs, toilet paper, plasters.

Get LO to pack their own o/night bag so that they have familiar stuff with them during the move and as soon as they arrive in the new place.

Anything really breakable/valuable take over to a friend’s/family house to pick up after the move rather than risk the boxes etc.
If the new people are from out of the area, it is nice to leave them a little info letter incl. details of bin day/recycling, local playgroup/GP number etc etc. I really appreciated my previous owners of this house doing it for me.
Are you taking anything out of your garden? Pot plants/cuttings etc?
If you have a garage, have you had a good sort through and a tip run?? We ended up throwing out half a garage full of stuff that we didn’t even realise we had and took much longer going through it than we ever imagined.

Defrost freezer and eat down the contents of cupboards. Anything you need to keep frozen , beg space in a friend's freezer for a couple of days while yours is emptied and resettled.

Any appliances, especially cookers , which need disconnecting/reconnecting by an authorised person.

My movers sorted the fridge and freezer for me. Wrapped all the freezer stuff in several layers of the paper that they used for wrapping breakables and put it all in one carton. IIRC they got most of the fridge stuff in there as well. They marked that box clearly and it was last in and first out of the lorry. Well-wrapped frozen stuff kept in the shade will stay frozen for 24h easily. The only stuff that was at all defrosted were the bags of herbs.

I did empty all the ice-cubes out and we ate all the icecream beforehand, though. Also ate as much as poss from the fridge beforehand.

Check how your packers will handle the beds. Ours dismantled the beds and bundled up the bedlinen (including quilts and pillows) for each one. They re-built the beds on arrival and left the bundles of bedlinen on the relevant beds. If yours aren't doing that then take bedlinen with you and make the beds as soon as they are re-built. That way you can just collapse into them at the end of the day. The last thing you want to do at midnight is start hunting for bedlinen!

Thanks everyone - had forgotten about defrosting the freezer, will do that at the weekend and clean the fridge although we're leaving them for the new owners.

Done the address labels thing, and the letter for the new people, utilities in new house, dh is in charge of packing the emergencies box as me and dd are moving in with parents for a week.

We've done a run to the tip and numerous trips to local charity shops...where does all this stuff come from?? Currently clearing the kitchen cupboards of anything half-used/nearly out of date.