Share your house moving tips with me

[LoveVintage]

We have sold our house with a really quick date of entry. We are moving in just under two weeks.

We have lived here for 15 years, during which time we seem to have managed to acquire two dcs, a dog and a house full of belongings.

We've started boxing stuff up where we can, taking stuff to charity shops and the skip. I am mildly panicked at the thought of moving.

Anyone got any good tips to help things go as smoothly as possible? And don't say wine cos I've got that covered already.

Watching with interest....

Make sure you have a box of essentials in the car, that way there's no panicking at the new house wondering what box everything is in.

We had: phone chargers, kettle, cups, teabags, biscuits, spare clothes,dog bowl & food and the number to the local Chinese take away.

Good luck in your new house!

If you have to take furniture apart, put all the fixings/screws etc in individual bags and write on the front which piece it's for!

Good luck!

We have no DCs or dog tbf, but are starting to pack on Monday. Planning on taking bed apart and moving onto sofa bed in living room, and using our bedroom as a packed box storage unit. That way we're not climbing over boxes every day in normal life. Not practical for you obv to move into living room, but do you have spare room you can do it with?
We're going to live out of suitcases for last week too, so less panic in last few days that not done.

I am moving next week and I have not started packin. I have hired a full packing service instead. I hopw they will pull it off. I am planning just to take off with my kids and return to an empty house (well more or less like that).

Add toilet roll to unicorn's list!
We have our first anniversary in our house on April 1. Things we did which really helped were to take apart anything that needs taking apart as soon as practically possible and when you put all those little screws in a bag stick the bag with tape securely to one of the bits, inside a drawer is best!

Thought of another one - buy some light bulbs... bayonet and screw cap.

My delightful vendor took them all with them. They did leave me dog hair in the cutlery drawer, which was nice.

Also add to unicorns list:

Kitchen towels
Hand wash
Toothbrushes and toothpaste
Shampoo and soap/gel
Bath towels
Bed linen
Pyjamas

Moving is exhausting. If you add everything you will need for next 24 hours in your essentials box, then you can unpack slowly.

Number and label all your boxes eg kitchen 1, kitchen 2 and write down a list. Makes it easy to check all your boxes have arrived.

Ohh I'm moving on Thursday and have also booked a full packing service. i'll let you know how it goes if you like?!

Just added loo roll to my list of things to put in the car, thanks greater!

Even though I'm not packing myself, we did get some boxes delivered so I could start boxing up the things that won't need unpacking at the other end for the foreseeable future so they can go straight on the spare room and be dealt with in a year few weeks.

I've also had a good sort out and got rid of loads of stuff that we don't really need anymore and made sure that everything is in the correct room so that when they pack it ends up in the right room at the other end.

Get the packing service if you can afford it - it will be much faster. Our guys packed up our 4 bed flat in under 6 hours. If you are having a full team of removal guys, get masses of biscuits - they'll eat the lot. Have a box in the kitchen with cups, tea, coffee, sugar etc that is not to be packed up.

Pack a suitcase as you would for hand luggage, in the event that the airline lost your luggage for three days.

We moved house recently with 3 kids it went pretty well. This is what worked for us:

*pack everything in boxes ready to go in to that room.

• use a removal service and get them to take big furniture apart and put back together.
• have a box of essentials in your car for cups of tea in new house!
• do an internet shop to arrive the evening you move in or next day, but remember to change your address for delivery!
• if you can, ask family/friends to have dc night before move and night of move - this gave us some breathing space and made the whole thing a lot less stressful.

We cleaned our old house from top to bottom and then moved in to a filthy new house . Wish we had employed a cleaner to help with the cleaning as I was pretty tired by then!

Thanks all. We have a self-service but are packing ourselves. Got boxes today so will start at weekend. Dcs are teenagers so intend to bribe them to help

We move on the Monday but the sale doesn't settle till the Wednesday so we have that time in between to scoop up anything not done.

Getting excited now, it's a nice time of year to move. Good luck to other posters who are moving soon too.

Get packers.

They come in the day before and do everything. Compared to the cost of moving this is a tiny price to pay and makes things so much easier.

When you reach the new place build/ make beds. Then when you've had enough you can just crawl in and kip!! Best advice I was given and have used every time since. Good luck.

My tip - if you are labelling boxes (eg with the room they belong to, or number if you're doing that, or even just with what's in it) make sure you label each side and top so as you can see the label no matter how it's stacked.

I would second getting a cleaning service in for new house so they can be doing that as soon as you get the keys.

If you can't get rid of the DCs for moving day (in the nicest possible sense), prioritise their beds / rooms so they can go to bed settled. We had their duvets / sheets / pillows / cuddly toys in the car ready to make up beds.

Good luck

Hire a big builders skip to arrive the day before removal van and keep it until day after. We did this and filled it full of stuff we didn't need. We should have had two. Seriously, its cheaper to put it in a skip than move it in a van.

After 15 years you will have a lot of stuff that is just clutter be absolutely rigorous.

Full packing service is the best money I ever spent!

2 boxes for the car.
One has brew kit microwave food for kids snacks

Second has clean bedding and pjs. Wash kit and kids bed routine things

Tie all screws and fixings in bags to relevant furniture.

Ban DH from setting up the media until beds up and kitchen unpacked
( he will spend ages buggering about with the TV, while you go everything else

At the old house make sure mop bucket brush Hoover cloths are at hand. Clean as the room is emptied

I am so impressed with the 'do online shop to new house for moving day' tip, that I've just sat and done an online shop for moving day!

I consider myself a seasoned veteran when it comes to moving houses and from all of this I've learned that you should:

• Pack everything mildly loose into boxes.
• Put everything into one room, that has easy entry and exit.
• Essentials and valuables should go into a car.
• Furniture should be taken apart before moving day (sleep a little rough for a day or 2).
• Don't get in the way of the professional's if you have any.

Add sissors screw drivers - aim for just beds and kitchen being unpacked.

Label ALL the boxes, don't just do the first 3 and think you will remember the rest -like we did- you will NOT remember where anything is ! Good luck.