House packing tips

[FedupofTurkey]

Help me, need to move and overwhelmed by packing! What's the best way to do it?

[rumbelina]

Just marking my place for all these top tips. I keep opening cupboards and thinking 'aaargh we've got so much crap stuff'

[JonesH]

I had the same issue in the past I called on this company, as not only do they offer a removals service, but a packaging service too! Which gave me peace of mind...and a little more stress free!Hope your move is going well!

[FedupofTurkey]

So I've started packing, yeh! Nearly done one room! I tend to give up everytime my wheelie bin gets full!

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

Gosh, I have been wondering this too - I am petrified to start. We have acquired 20 large boxes from work so far, but not started to pack yet...I suppose we have a lot of stuff that could be packed already, ie winter duvets, toys in cupboards, stuff in the attic - but where to start...

[happynappies]

We moved last October, and I was nervous of using a packing service because I'd have to find everything again on the other side!! We moved three weeks after I'd had a baby, so spent the last stages of pregnancy furiously packing.

We started with the loft - brought everything down, packed into boxes or took stuff to tip/charity/recycling... Then worked through the house starting with the stuff you don't really 'need' like books, CDs etc, and lots of clothes, children's toys...

I had a small notebook in which I kept a record of each box I packed. I.e. the number of the box (write on the top and the side, because if the boxes end up stacked in your garage on top of each other for the next 12 months, you can't see the numbers on the top of the boxes and have to keep re-arrangingthe stacks) and a summary of the contents. I didn't itemise each thing, but if something important was going into the box that I knew I'd need to find, I wrote that in the book, otherwise just a general summary (bedding from nursery, child x's toys etc). I found the book invaluable for locating items - we're still unpacking, we had 209 boxes (just checked the book!).

Do you have any camping friends who could lend you a portable fridge for the move? We unplugged our fridge/freezer the day before the move, but were able to keep e.g. milk, butter etc to hand in the camping fridge, and plugged it in when we got to the new house.

I aimed to pack around 5 boxes a day - more than that was a bonus. Obviously this entails sorting, throwing stuff out etc, so not just a case of putting stuff straight into the box.

If you have a shed/garage/outbuilding etc, tackle this early on - you probably won't need much of the stuff, and you can forget how much there is - you'll feel loads better once that is all sorted.

Many removal companies won't carry e.g. paints/chemicals etc so we took a few plastic lidded crates of those around to a local friend who kept them in their garage for us.

Children can manage with surprisingly few toys, so pack them!! We found they took lots of boxes because one large item e.g. Fisher Price garage, playmobil school house etc took up much of a box.

Invest in one of those tape dispenser things e.g. from Staples. They only cost a few quid, but really do make the packing process quicker. And some sharpie markers to write on the tape.

We reached a point about a month before the move where we thought the house was looking quite sparse, and felt we were really making progress, but the last lot of stuff was the hardest to sort/pack/do without... I have nightmares about those last few weeks, particularly as the moving date had moved twice, and we had a newborn, plus three other children under the age of 5!! It can be done though. Good luck!

[Runoutofideas]

Yes they do pack EVERYTHING - you have to do the de-cluttering first. My mum used a packing service when she moved house and was delighted to unwrap an ashtray still full of cigarette ends, but very carefully wrapped!

[Jan49]

I've never used a packing service. It all seems a bit too personal somehow. But one of my family has moved frequently and always uses it. She says they pack everything. They pack very fast so they won't stop and check if you want things or not. If you choose to use them, maybe it's best to try to sort out and declutter so it's organised first. I think a lot of companies offer the option of just paying them to pack your breakables such as kitchen stuff which takes longer to pack as it needs wrapping.

I had a quotation of £250 from Pickfords for packing a 3 bed 2 reception house. Apart from that, the actual move quotation was £4000 to move from house to local storage and then from storage 200 miles to our next home once we'd found one. The company I actually used charged half as much but I didn't bother to ask for a packing quotation.

[CuddyMum]

I'm not going for a packing service and agree with what Avril said above. I don't want to take any unwanted rubbish with me. My quote is £740 for 6 bed house to 5 bed, 10 minutes away and they are dismantling two double beds and putting them back together.

[AvrilPoisson]

Btw- this is a pretty good page for ideas there are lots of people's tips at the bottom too.

[AvrilPoisson]

If you have a packing service... do they pack everything i.e. broken stuff, the jiffy bags you've been holding on to for ebay, your recycling bin etc?

[AvrilPoisson]

Our previous move (no packing service) was £350, but it was very straight-forward, 2-bed to a 2-bed, same city etc.

[Runoutofideas]

Sorry - missed that bit - I think it was about £900 altogether - £700 for the move and £200 for packing. They do vary hugely though so worth getting a few quotes.

[maggiethecat]

i've done it both ways - used the packing service and done it myself. Definitely prefer diy as although quite tiring you end up knowing where to find stuff. It made unpacking much easier than when I used their service.

[FedupofTurkey]

Run - and how much extra was the move?

[Runoutofideas]

We paid less than £200 for packing of a very full 3 bed house. it was worth every penny and I would highly recommend it. They come in the day before and whizz through your house, packing everything carefully. Nothing was broken and everything was easily located afterwards.

[FedupofTurkey]

I know it will differ in area and size of move but what is the average removal price including packing and not including packing?

[specialsubject]

we'd had our TV less than a year and kept the box knowing we were planning to move. The reaction from the movers was 'excellent, a proper TV box'.

so if you have a flatscreen might be worth a chat to local shops to see if anyone has a box and the packing.

as someone else said, removers are not responsible for breakages of items they didn't pack. That said, we packed, they moved and nothing broke.

[Jan49]

TVs: We've got a big old TV and we just unplug it from the aerial, then sellotape the wire and plug to somewhere round the back so it's not dangling down when they lift it. If it's on a removable stand then unscrew it from the stand. Any smaller items like DVD players and remote controls I put in a box. If you've got one fixed to a wall you probably need to take it down yourself unless they've agreed to do that kind of thing.

Any item that's too big for a box they treat like furniture and they'll wrap it in the van to protect it.

[FedupofTurkey]

What do you do with TV's?

[recall]

I do it by emptying a cupboard/wardrobe at a time.

I completely pack it, and label the box. Eventually you will end up with rooms full of empty furniture, and packed boxes.

Also, start NOW, the sooner you start the better.

[Jan49]

I moved house this year and last year. I put clean towels and clean bedding in large laundry bags instead of boxes so they were really easy to find. I also used the same for dirty washing (obviously you need to label the bags!) I used them for clothing too but you can leave clothing in drawers as long as the drawers are being moved with you.

I wish I'd had lots of teatowels for the move as I washed all the kitchen stuff when unpacking and they quickly ended up too wet to use.

I kept a list on a clipboard of boxes packed. I numbered each box and wrote which room and contents in one word such as Books, but on the written list I sometimes wrote more detail, which was really helpful when unpacking and looking for things. I wish I'd written the number on more than 1 side of the box as sometimes it was hard to find the right box when they were all piled up.

We had a lot of boxes and moved into a smaller house than I'd hoped for (renting). I allocated one large bedroom and told them to pile most of the boxes in there and fill the room completely if they needed to, and I slept in the smallest bedroom originally, planning to change once we'd unpacked enough - oops, haven't managed that yet!

I also paid the removal company to dispose of a few pieces of furniture which weren't fit to donate and that really helped when moving in. But it might be cheaper to pay the council or a waste company before you move. My removers charged £80 +VAT for about 6 large items.

[TulipsfromAmsterdam]

My little tip is to buy a ream of packing paper, cost me about £10 from local removal firm. It was so much easier for wrapping plates, glasses etc than newspaper and dishes arrive without newsprint all over. They also sell bubble wrap cheaply and in larger rolls than local shops.

[TulipsfromAmsterdam]

My little tip is to buy a ream of packing paper, cost me about £10 from local removal firm. It was so much easier for wrapping plates, glasses etc than newspaper and dishes arrive without newsprint all over. They also sell bubble wrap cheaply and in larger rolls than local shops.