move house in one day or two days with 2 ds's?

[kelmarie33]

Hi everyone,
This is my first post so apologies if i get things wrong.

I just wanted to ask your opinions as me and my dh are disagreeing about this.

We are due to exchange contracts and complete the purchase of our new house hopefully in the next few weeks.

The person buying our house is a ftb and has said we can stay in our current house for a few days or week if we want/need to (we'll pay her obviously).

We have a 15 month and 36 month old boys and I'm thinking that if we complete on say at lunch time, we could do a couple of runs in our cars with things that we can manage, fill kitchen cupboards up, bathroom stuff, kids toys in their new bedrooms etc and then next morning, get the removal men to do the rest from first thing in the morning, we all leave the house on the second day.

Dh says we should just move everything as soon as we complete and be done with it.
I want to do what's best for the kids.

Any advice as to what you would do and experience would be fab.

If you had the choice to keep your house for a few days, would you?

Thank you for reading my waffling post.

Kel

Depending on how much stuff you have to move, the removal company will probably not be able to move everything in one day. For a family of four, they would usually arrive one day, pack up all dishes, clothes, small furniture etc, then come back the second day to finish off and take everything to the new house. You need to speak to them before you can even make decisions about how/when you move.

You also really need to get your dc out of the house while packing and moving is happening. The removal men won't confine themselves neatly to one room at a time, they will be packing in multiple rooms with bits of dismantled furniture everywhere and the front door permanently open to their truck.

Firstly, the buyer of your house will almost certainly be advised NOT to let you stay in the house after completion so don't rely on this as a solution. There are some massive legal implications to you not moving out upon completion so I would write that off completely. Secondly why don't you get the removal company in, in the week leading up to completion (or at least the day before) so that on the last day you've only got small stuff to be moved. Thirdly, relax it won't be anywhere near as bad as you think and soon you'll be in your lovely new home! Also yes yes to getting dc out of the way as much as you can. Good luck!

Your FTB won't be able to do this and is naive to think so (understandably). Completion means vacant possession means you have to be out, otherwise you don't get the money to buy the next place and so won't get the keys.

so you don't have this choice. Get the removers to shift it all in one day. If you can farm out the kids that would be good.

you could get the removers in the day before, empty the place, drop the keys off at the estate agent and stay overnight in a hotel - but that will cost you more.

No, just get out in one day. If possible leave the DC with someone for the day. That leaves you free to pack the very last minute things, clean once all packed and then unpack the other end. I think once the process gets going on the actual day you will just want it to be over. It just prolongs the "agony". And out removal company came in on the Thursday to collect all the garden/garage stuff and anything that was boxed up that we knew we wouldn't need. On the Friday it was very busy still but both our DC were at school which helped. Good luck

We moved when our boys were the same ages as yours.

We followed my parents' advice and paid the removal men to pack for us the day before completion. My DF was in the forces so they moved 11 times in the first 10 years of their marriage. They know something about moving house. Packers aren't emotionally attached to the stuff they are packing so are much more efficient about it than you are with your own stuff. That's without the added distraction of small children. I got out of the house to a soft play and friend's house with the boys for as much of that day as possible leaving DH to supervise the removal men.

Overnight they left us with beds, a few pots and pans, TV and a couple of chairs.

Day of completion. DS1 went to preschool. We finished up in the house and the removal men finished their stuff. Completed late morning. Collected DS from preschool. Drove to new house by which time DH and the removal men were there. Beds were up. Boys had their 'rooms' ready (sort of).

I found the limbo the night before completion when most of my life in that house has gone really unsettling. I would certainly advise trying to get the move completed as efficiently as possible, for your sake as well as the kids.

Good luck!

Pack stuff for you and the boys as if you're going on a self catering holiday for a few nights (clothes, toiletries. Favourite toys, tea bags & snacks). On moving day, leave the house early and stay out all day - leave your DH to supervise moving men. We were so happy in our flat, i couldnt bear the emotionsl upheaval if seeing it sll being dismantled. When you get to new house, first priority is beds. It's not that bad, don't drag it out for any longer than you need to.

Lots of excellent advice here. You don't say of you are moving locally or relocating but that will also affect the removal company's plan. Get a few complains in to give you a quote and go with the schedule that they recommend. They will have done this hundreds of times and you don't know better than them!

YY to packers if you can afford it, and to children out of house all day. Do you have family nearby where you could stay overnight?

Just get it over with as quickly as possible