Yikes - we've finally exchanged! Now what do I do??

[nondomesticgoddess]

After 4 months of wrangling, we've finally exchanged. As I was so convinced this day would never come, I've not wanted to tempt fate by preparing too much to move and as a result feel completely unprepared.

We are due to move on Wednesday (ie in 6 days). The removals guys are booked and they are packing for us.

On my to do list I have the following -

clean house
phone BT, gas and elecs, Sky
arrange post redirection
order appliances for new house

What else?? Please help me think of things I might have forgotten!

BTW, we are moving les than a mile away so same schools, doctors etc.

Small box of urgents, including mugs, kettle etc, charity stuff, dump.

Well, assuming you have/are selling the place you're in - have you still got the instructions for the appliances you're leaving behind? Instructions for boiler/heating system etc? If not, it might be nice to quickly type up a short instruction manual for appliances without instructions.

Royal Mail's redirection service can be very variable IME, I moved once and everything got redirected perfectly, so the next time I moved I set up the redirection and didn't worry... until I didn't receive any redirected post After several complaints over 6 months the redirection never happened, so you might want to sit down and make a list of everyone who has your address so you can spend a morning phoning them all in one go - just in case (for a start - bank, credit card, HMRC).

Don't forget all the utilities - gas, water, electric, telly licence (always forget the telly licence, me!)

Depending on what the seller is like of the place you're moving to - bear in mind you may have to do some cleaning when you get there! Might be worth having some cleaning products and rubber gloves handy?

Perhaps have one box to pack yourself with kettle, tea, coffee, sugar, milk, mugs and spoons, biscuits etc - so you have that at least straightaway! Anything for the DC - favourite toy/book? They might find the upheaval a bit stressful (age dependent obviously!).

Hmm, that's all I can think of at the moment. Good luck and congratulations! :)

TV licence - hadn't thought of that! Thank you!

Keep it coming - I am very grateful!

Have you already got your buildings insurance in place for the property? If not, do so NOW. If the house burns down/gets swept away/caught up in a twister etc between now and completion, you still have to complete - or at least, that's what our solicitor told us last year.
If you got on the Post Office redirection website, they have a very useful checklist of things to think about.
Also, what is the access like where you live & where you're moving to? Do you need to speak to the council to get parking bays suspended?

Buildings insurance done. Parking all easy. Will go and look at the PO website...

Start packing NOW. We complete next Thurs and had 5 weeks between exchange and C day. It takes much longer than you think it will to fill those boxes and sort through everything. Have you contacted DVLA and your car insurance? Is council tax sorted? Good luck with the move!

And your driving licence? They fine you otherwise.

Have you registered at iammoving.com? Goes through all the co's/orgs you might need to know

You still need to officially tell gp, schools, library etc. Any service contracts (like BG) to transfer ? Take pictures of the meter readings. You may be due a refund/owe on CT (as it is paid over 10 months)

driving license, car insurance, mobile phone bills, water, gas, electric, council tax, bank, credit card, employers, tax office, life insurance policies, pensions, storecards, loyalty cards (ie Tesco (learnt that the hard way forgot to do my nectar card and people who moved into our house spent all the points!) gym/club memberships, elecotral roll!

pickofthepops - have you used iammoving? Looks very helpful - is there a snag??