Full packing service

[grobagsforever]

If you used one can you describe your experience? how much pre sorting did you do? What did you pack yourself? Were you pleased with the service? We have one booked and our house is not very organised or tidy so I am a bit concerned as to how it will go!

My DH is forces and we move ALOT
We moved in March when I was 7 months pregnant so decided to use the packing service.
I wanted to pack all my personal things (underware etc etc) so they left a few boxes.
I was pretty worried about them packing my things because my house was full of junk..
They literally pack EVERYTHING, in the dogs treat cupboard there was an empty packet and they packed that haha
I highly recommend it, I'd just recommend having a massive sort out before hand, but then again it's probably easier to pack yourself if your going to do that, we ended up unpacking and doing the sort out instead
They offered to unpack as well but I thought that was pushing it !!
The thing I liked was they collapsed all the beds and put them back up at the other end !!

Used this when we moved house a few weeks after DC2 was born.

It was great. We did throw stuff away beforehand - just walked round house picking stuff up and getting rid of it.

On the day, DH and I and kids went out for a few hours in the morning while they got on and packed. As Newto says, they pack everything, incl half-open food containers (some of which spilled in transit), so would either tupperware stuff up or chuck beforehand. We used a cheapy service though (only about £100 for the additional packing service) so a more expensive one might not do that.

A few small things got broken, but we didn't claim on their insurance because they were trivial things.

Having the beds and cots put back together is brilliant. Though they didn't do it that well, our bed still creaks a bit and never did before.

Like "newto*, we ended up throwing stuff away while unpacking, and should have done it before.

I have done both ways:

Packing was great, excellent service if a but pricey, but they DO pack everything they find! And sometimes mix stuff so not to make boxes too heavy (teatowels with plates for ex.) i thought we had had a big clear out but obv not good enough as ended up finding stuff the other end and thinking what??

Also their labelling was a bit vague as in :kitchen or bedroom1 , v. little info. That didnt help with the unpacking!

My advice is, if you have time, do a bit of clear out first and while you do that organise stuff in the rooms you'll want to find them again. It'll make things easier at the other end!

We've had the full packing service a couple of times. Of all the moving expenses I really think this one is worth the money. They pack so quickly and efficiently. I haven't asked them to UNpack though as I like to choose what I put where.

My tip is to have a very big de-clutter before they come and put similar things together. Be aware that they will pack everything they find; a damp towel, a used pregnancy test stick (), odd bits of rubbish, scrap paper, etc.

Another tip is to keep one room off-limits, and in that room keep all the stuff you will need during moving day (kettle, clothes, cleaning stuff) so that they don't pack it. Or you could put all that stuff in the car out the way. The point is to keep it out of their way.

What'll happen is that a few packers will come together to work on your house and it will all happen so quickly that if you are not prepared you'll find they've boxed up the baby! I exaggerate, obviously.

It's definitely the way to go!
We always let them unpack as well, but in the last move they didn't unpack the kitchen "as the housewife likes to do that herself" no, she doesn't

Some out-of-date foodstuffs have travelled through 3 countries this way, it helps if you have a good sort out before they come and pack everything including the full bin!

Pickfords sent a packing droid - he was programmed to pack and that is what he did. Only some of our stuff was moving with us (rest going into storage for 3 months+), when we got our stuff back once the new house was finished, one of the boxes was filled with mouldy stuff which had once been the contents of our fridge Dh took his jumper off, which was then packed. He called me at work and said he was keeping moving lest he ended up in a box

We used a local private moving firm the next time and they were bloody brilliant - Dennis's in Swindon

Thanks so much for the replies, very helpful. Feel less stressed about it all now. Have one toddler and a DP with a bust wrist so not the best time to move.

We packed and then shipped a full nappy bin and a tray of chocolate brownies to Australia.

savoycabbage - that's hilarious! The nappies must have been rancid!

Bleurgh at the fridge contents and full nappy bin!

We used a packing service from The Moving Home Company (who also did the move). It was so, so worth it - everything beautifully wrapped, including wooden furniture so it didn't scratch in transit. Nothing at all broke or was scratched and it meant we felt able to leave lots of it in a garage for a while knowing it was nicely wrapped and protected.

Also we found out our contents insurance covered our possessions during moving as long as they were professionally packed. So this meant we didn't have to get the moving company's own insurance to cover breakages when moving.

We did do a bit of sorting beforehand to make sure that junk was chucked and that everything was in roughly the right room. Mainly to make life easier for ourselves at the other end. But we didn't have too much clutter (no DCs ) anyway.

The packers do pack everything they see so make sure you keep aside a bag of stuff you need for the day and mark it Do Not Pack!