Moving house support

[SilverSixpence]

Anyone else moving house at the moment? I'm finding it rather overwhelming, I'm 17w pregnant and don't want to move! We are moving area to go back to the house we own (renting currently) to save money and so DS can go to a good primary school. I have made lots of friends here and I know it will be hard to meet up once we move (though not impossible - about half an hour commute away).

DH is being fantastic, he's got the week off and is doing all the work really. He's just asked me to sort out my own clothes and craft bits. There's just so much clutter to sort through, both here and in the house we're moving too. On top of that we'll be living with MIL and DH's grandfather who already live there which will be a huge adjustment. MIL is doing a huge spring clean for us and is getting rid of some of her furniture so we can have our things in the house which is great.

So i'm trying not to be too miserable, as it is for the best financially and for DS! Would be great to support each other with the practical side of things if anyone else is moving at the moment too.

Another bag of charity stuff today and most the wardrobe packed, yes!

Annoyingly I did wake up DS early from his nap though trying to carry a large empty box upstairs and accidentally scraping it past his door grrrrr. So annoying as it's the only free time I have to pack during the day!!

Moving v soon here too - hope it goes well for everyone. Have just started packing. Stupid qu but what's the strongest way to build up cardboard boxes?!? Tape along the seam or fold each flap over each other (so box stays together itself) then tape?

Thanks B2T

So far I'd annoy your DP too! Will tape the seams going forward & see if they hold!

Good luck with your move.

Fold the flaps in and tape here. I'd be surprised if they don't collapse just taping the seam to be honest...

I am SO bored of packing, what a way to spend the bank holiday weekend

Off to the tip soon with another load of rubbish and recycling, we've had our last bin collection before the move so don't want to leave stuff in the bins for the new people, so are having to tip everything.

URGH.

Can I join in? We are doing a major extension to our house and have to move into a rented flat for six months. Three weeks to go. Have done eight trips to the dump (the man at the gate recognises me ), about ten charity shop trips and filled a skip and there's STILL loads of stuff to pack.

Doing books at the moment and bracing myself to make some decisions about the kitchen. The one in the flat is half the size of the one we have, so I need to decide on things we can live without. BUT our new kitchen will be bigger, so it's all going to have to be packed, not binned. I feel like my whole life is in categories (chuck, pack to use, pack to store ...)

Oh, and there's a problem with our foundations, so we may end up paying rent while our builders stand around doing nothing ...

We now have a date of 5th Sept so I have another weekend to pack!

My removals man said to tape along the seam but make sure that the tapes come at least half way up the sides and when you tape the top closed you overlap the tapes at the sides and don't leave a gap. He also recommended totally filling the box - even if you pad with towels and cushions as it's easier when they stack them if the tops don't sag in!

We are done...just need to mop kitchen floor tomorrow...
Archive boxes are fab - strong, lids - so no tape needed - easy to check contents. I have also bought out the entire stock of plastic boxes (with lids) £2 a pop from our local shop, and a couple on wheels for really heavy stuff - hate to think how much we have spent on packing materials....
Removal guys arrive at 8.00 tomorrow....

Had no idea this thread was still going will update later as I'm on my phone now

Back2Two we are having a two storey side extension and refurbing the whole house while we are at it. It's our "grand plan" which has been about 15 years in the planning/saving and our families had totally given up hope that we'd ever do it LOL! By the time we are finished, the DCs will have a room each, there will be a bathroom upstairs and we'll have space to eat in the kitchen. So nothing terribly exotic but a lot better than we have at the moment.

Lovely BIL came over to help dismantle all our furniture today ready for the move including the dining table, but we don't actually go until Thurs. So 19 month old DS is going to have to eat standing at the coffee table for the next few days I think, opps!!!

Just want to move now, everything is pretty much done, we're knackered. Just got to wait until Thurs now!!

back2two you are so right it is like that awful bit in childbirth when you want to say 'ahh I've changed my mind now!' but can't!!!

well, we're moving this morning! Removals coming at 8.30, they are packing as well so DS is off to a friend's house until lunchtime, at which point we should have house empty and cleaned. Driving 250 miles to parents for the night, then meeting the removals firm at our new rented house tomorrow morning.

Will update once we've moved in with any 'wish we'd done' tips (subject to connectivity - I'll be running my life and business on a mobile broadband dongle until the phone line is up and running!)

Feeling very strange and a bit sad (bloody love this house -having to move because DH has a new job). tis exciting too though

Just about to get up do meter readings and pack car ahead of removal men...I feel sick. I want assurance this is the right thing to do!!
I'll miss my house too...
Good luck with the movers today and this week - will check in later if I can!

Good Luck with your moves Ted and Black. Hope all goes well for you both

On the M1, testing out my dongle (it works!).

Packing didn't go quite to plan - removal firm arrived 8 am, we made some quip about 'we've done half the packing for you!' (as we had packed clothes etc yesterday) and they said 'we're not here to pack'. Turns out there had been a monumental cock-up, totally their fault - DH and I both recall the conversation where the estimator looked at our crockery and told us how long it would take his men to pack it. After lots of raised voices and the removals man threatening to take his men off the job and leave us, the upshot was that me and DH had to quickly and haphazardly pack up all kitchen, living room, toys and garage this morning while the removal guys loaded the furniture. So not a good start to our relocation!

So handy tip no. 1 - make sure you confirm and reconfirm that you are having packing, if you've booked it (our firm even tried to claim the 'packing' on the handwritten quote I produced meant 'packing into the lorry'...).

Oh no tedglenn what a load of stress, that is the last thing you needed!! Glad you got packed and out of there in the end though. Not sure how you managed to pack everything in a few hours though, has taken us weeks!!!

Prob not relevant to you considering the cock up but quick question to everyone else - should we tip the movers? If so how much??

Yeah I thought about £10 each if they do a good job. My dad thought £25 which I thought was a bit steep...

A steam mop sounds great! Especially to get rid of smelly dog.

Final day before the big move here, so many small jobs to do but I think we're in good shape... Feel really sad we are leaving!!

I'm going to be working full time until we move in two weeks' time. We have been packing and moving as we go along so have sent an entire bookshelf worth of books, 2 boxes of kitchen bits and bobs and have barely made a dent in it! Also doing some work on the house we're moving to, pulled up the carpet and underlay in our bedroom last weekend and will be sanding and polishing the floor this weekend. I painted DS's room and a horrid wood veneer cupboard in his bedroom which houses the boiler.

THere is so much stuff to sell, an entire bag full of clothes some with labels on still . I'm pregnant so if it doesn't fit and i'm not likely to wear it again I would rather just get rid of it at the moment. I also have insane amounts of knitting/sewing paraphernalia to sort out/get rid of.

well, we're in! The move itself went fine, only issue being the rental house was filthy - we'd been told it would have a 'professional clean' before we moved in, but it hadn't. So we had to spend about 2 hours scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom (the rest of the house was actually ok). Spoke to letting agent and they agreed that we no longer have to 'professionally' clean windows, carpets and house, before we leave, so it's all fine, but it's just about managing expectations - having cleaned my last house to within an inch of its life on Tuesday, I was looking forward to moving into a spotless house so was gutted when we had to start cleaning someone else's grime (which is always worse than your own?).

It all feels very strange and discombobulating. We're very reluctant movers - adored our last 'forever home' house (did a massive renovation and extension project and it was perfect in every way) and had a fantastic lifestyle and great friends. But DH was unexpectedly offered his dream job, so here we are, 250 miles away, having swapped our Designer's Guild fabric heavy interlined curtains for a pair of flimsy flower power curtains, last hung in a caravan in 1986. Sigh.

We were meant to exchange today but the ruddy bank are messing around and can't seem to get their act together or know their a*se from their elbow. Hopefully it can happen Monday as we are due to complete and move on Wed!!

tedglenn hope it gets better and the job is worth it! You're very brave to move!

we had 10 groups of students traipsing through our house yesterday as it's being rented out when we leave ( belongs to MIL). Need to get hold of some boxes so we can start putting things away, anyone know of a decent cheap source?