Moving house- packing tips & advice

[starkers1]

We are moving house this week, its my first time moving a house full of stuff to another house. I have a 3 year old and am heavily pregnant.

I am slowly feeling Im loosing my grip on any sense of order or organisation and am silently freaking out- stuff/clothes I should have sorted through years ago will just be bunged into boxes and bought with us as I have no time (nor energy) no to sort through them now. Bags I filled with stuff (crap) i don't use and threw at the back of cupboards will also come with us.

if anyone has any useful tips to share with me on how best to tackle the unpacking at the other end/sorting/order in the new house bit by bit, I would be immensely grateful. Or even best way to organise the packing of boxes here too? Thankyou!

I should mention we are moving from a pretty small flat to a house- that also has attic, utility room and empty garage for storage which is calming me down somewhat?!

I'm also moving this week, I started sorting / packing 3 weeks ago!
I have a 5yo and 3yo and it's been tough, so I can't imagine how your going to do it being pregnant too.

My best advise for you is first thing tomorrow call round all the removal companies that offer a packing service and leave it to their capable hands which is exactly what I would have done if DH wasn't a tight fisted bugger

Are you using a removal firm? If so, can you see if they can send packers to help you? It'll cost a bit, but not as much as you think.

If you are just going to have to do it all, can someone take your little one out for the day?

Don't make any boxes very heavy - so mix books with other things. Label box with brief note of contents and room it needs to go in at the other end. Empty rooms don't always have an obvious purpose, so write the name of each room on a piece of A4 paper and stick it above the door in your new house so everyone is clear which room is which.

I'm packing up to move this week too I would try & sort out what you don't want, there's no point in taking it only to shove it into the spare room/attic of your new place. You could advertise stuff on FB selling groups, even if you gave it away at least it will be less to pack. I've done this as we're having to put stuff into storage as the seller of our new house can't be arsed hasn't completed the paperwork yet. Some charity shops will pick up donations too. Or take stuff to the tip.

The other thing I'm going to do is write on all the boxes exactly what is in them so we can just put them in the right room when we do move in eventually. Good luck with your move

I got some great moving labels from Amazon which came really quickly to show which box goes in which room. You just stick them on the side. They are by 'Audioprint Ltd'. If you have Amazon Prime they can come the next day. Your 3 year old might enjoy sticking them on!

Is it worth getting some different coloured masking tape and colour coding boxes. Stick red on those boxes/bags which you need straight away in the new house and a different colour on non urgent stuff which can be sorted at a later date. Pack suitcases for things you need immediately.

I decluttered a lot using those big banks in supermarket car parks for clothing/books/shoes etc. I think a charity like the British Heart Foundation picks up donations directly from your home too? I haven't used them but received a leaflet through the door.

One top tip - label (or write on) the boxes on the top and on all 4 sides. Just wrote for instance "Box 1 - Kitchen - Casserole dishes". That way, you can always see a label / whats in it whichever way it is stacked. We had planned on putting each box in the right room etc but then ran out of energy/time and they were stacked in one room for a while. Meant it was easy to retrieve a box when we needed the contents.

I had a master sheet which was a complete list of each box.

Have 2 or 3 boxes with "essentials" in - kettle/ coffee / tea / a pan / bit of cutlery / things for your 3 year old (pasta / cereal so he can eat even if you're not unpacked) and put them in the car (rather than the removal van). If you can, have the stuff for your DS' room (his bed, bedding, duvet, fluffy toys etc) last in the removal van so they'll be first off - we found that getting the DC room/s sorted first so they were settled was the best thing we did - once they were happy we could sort everything else in the evening when they were asleep.

I'm starting to stress now :( haven't got enough boxes & moving out on Monday . Moving in with MIL as God knows when we will exchange on our new house. I have arranged storage but not sure it's big enough arrrrrggghhhh!

Moved today, with packers and into storage. I wore a gilet with pockets, in which lived, glasses, phone, house and car keys. It stopped the panic of losing them, and worse, finding they were packed!

Important documents were put into my car boot.