What happens on moving day?

[wellsie]

DH and I have moved ourselves the last few times, however this time we have employed the services of a removal company. What I need to know is approx how long does it take for them to load up a lorry and unload it (we only have 2bed house).
The reason for my silly question is because we have a 7mth old son and I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to do it with him in tow.
Advice and storied most welcome.

We moved out of a 2 bed flat recently to a new house approx 2 hours drive away, with a nearly 2 year old and me 34 weeks pregannt.

Day before, 1 man arrived and spent 10-4 packing everything into boxes (kitchen, ornaments, clothes, contents of cupboards)
8am. 2 removal men arrived and started to pack lorry
8.15am. I had to go for a scan on the other side of London
11.30am I got back, they were nearly finished. Dh and dd had "supervised"
12:00 Lorry left, men stopped off at motorway services for their lunch break.
12.15 We left
2:30 we got to new house, MIL and DH's aunt and uncle were waiting to help
3:00 lorry arrived, men unpacked all boxes/furniture, put everything in the right rooms. We unpacked all boxes and put stuff away in cupboards
5:00 Men went
7:00 we all sat down to eat takeaway curry with nearly everything done.

It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd been expecting. you probably will be able to do it yourselves with a 7 month old, but you probably won't get around to unpacking all the boxes for a few days. If you can rope in any friends/family to help at the new place I would.

Also ask teh removal firm for their estimate of timeframe - ours were within 30 minutes at all stages and it's not a silly question to ask

We moved from Beds to Surrey almost 2 years ago, with four children the youngest was 18 months at the time. The removal men arrived about 7.30, packed everything up, fuelled by neverending cups of tea. It was all done by about 12, then they left, followed by us. We arrived at the other end pretty much at the same time, and a couple of hours later they were done, and on their way home witha case of beer as a thank you. We had fish and chips take away that night. The removal process itself was all quite stress free really.

You shouldn't need to do anything!
If you make sure you have all the essentials to hand - your handbag, keys and babies stuff, the men will do everything. Ours put up our beds and the cot in the new house, too, as part of the service.
I found that the biggest job for me on moving day was cleaning behind the removal men, and cleaning the house we were moving in to - which had NOT been cleaned. That's where the help of family/friends comes in.

I would recommend getting loads of biccies and cans of pop (in case you don't have time to make tea, you can still offer a drink to the men), about twice as many as you would think, IME fed and watered men are happy men!

If there is any way someone could look after your ds, I would go for that option - you can concentrate, make tea and keep an eye out for things that aren't going staying put. And making sure everything goes in the right place in the new house. Plus as Blu says, cleaning takes a lot of time - I was still hoovering while the removal men were revving up the van...

we moved from a smallish 3 bed house; I was at home with dd aged 10 mths, dh at work and going direct to new address. the removal firm didn't send enough men and were still packing at 7pm after I was supposed to drop the keys off to estate agents before 6pm; then they were so tired and pissed off they left out lots of little bits and pieces eg veg rack, garden tools etc and because I was off trying to sort out keys I didn't see this till the van was gone. So I spent 2 hours filling our little car with stuff while dd screamed then drove off in the darkness praying I wouldn't fall asleep. Not a good experience.
Moral of tale - start getting very very assertive by early afternoon if there still seems to be lots to do, and best to have some childcare. ideal would be a neighbour then you can have ds nearby but out of the way and he can have his bath/tea etc in usual routine.

Deepend's how long the chain involved is, and if everyone is moving on the same day. Transfers of monies happen several hours apart, so the nearer you are to the end of the chain the longer it will be before you get your keys. (Just make sure you know where the kettle, cups, coffee, tea and sugar is) everything else should be easy.

Good luck

What happens on moving day? The people who are moving into your house arrive before the removers have finished packing the house up & keep hassling to come in. Meanwhile the people moving out of your new house haven't even started packing up. The woman next door who has spent the last 12 years parking her car over your drive and blocking you in has the nerve to complain that the removal van is blocking HER drive so she can't get in (not out) & insists they move it. The removal men know her & tell her (& you) she's a miserable old tart. The bank has a problem with the money so you go off to sort it out, only to find when you come back that the movers have finished and are sitting outside the new house, and your old house has already been taken over. Your movers start a fight (fisticuffs) on the front lawn with their movers, while you sit there wondering what to do about it. Finally the day is almost over & all your stuff gets chucked into the garage still in boxes because there isn't time to sort it, while the people in your old house have had time to leisurely unpack & wash everything as they go. Their mother then has a big moan to your parents that the house is dirty (because they were so desperate to get in that they wouldn't let your FIL finish sweeping up) & that you've left "rubbish" in the conservatory- the stuff from the garden that your movers didn't have time to move because of the hassle both ends...

Oh sorry, that would be just us then

Sounds like the making of a new tv series to me..lol....I can see it now....Don't miss the new series on Wednesday evening's 9pm BBC new docu/soap 'Remenisent Ramblings of Removel men from the Midshires'

Or what happened to us - the 2 boxes marked "Important Stuff - Fragile" got thrown by one removal man down the stairs to be caught by the other removal man at the bottom. .
We moved from 2 bed & it all got loaded very fast (we'd packed it upourselves). We weren't needed to do anything really, other than point the boxes in the right direction at the other end & you don;t even need to do that if hey are all labelled ok.

PS: The worst thing was the box containing all the wine was right at the back of the garage under 5 other boxes !! Keep at least one bottle close to hand !!

only moving advice is

buy a crate of beer for removal men to be given at end of day, not beginning and
when you get to the new house, make up your beds first, because by the time you want to fall into them, you will cry at the thought of making them up.
pack little suitcase with loo rolls and said sheets, plus nappies and biscuits.