what to do before the packers arrive?

[fatsatsuma]

I know this often comes up here, but I've got a week before the move and I'm suddenly panicking about preparing for the packers. I know they will just pack what they find. Apart from obvious stuff like packing things we're going to need on the first evening, keys, valuables, important documents, what else do I need to do? I'm on my own with 3 DC and I just don't know how to get ready.

When I used packers it was around £300
But that was several years ago

Oh if you can get cleaners in to clean your old house. We were lucky and it was part of the package with the removers but I am so glad we did. Ours was a very happy move however I couldn't stand being in our house once most of our stuff had gone as it felt so strange.

Thanks, like the idea of printing off the floorplan - easier than labelling rooms.

Thanks for your kind words Florin. It's that emotional stuff that is worrying me.

My tip is to wash and change bedding the day before. On the morning of the move, roll up each person's 'bedding bundle' of pillows, sheet and freshly changed covered duvet and a pair of pjs for each one. Stick in the boot of the car. It's so nice to be able to quickly and easily assemble each bed for a good night's sleep at the end of moving day.

That's a great tip!

Just to check that you don't leave anything valuable in the car overnight - and also backup computers before moving, even laptops.

Be prepared for some emotion - daft as it seems, perhaps ' thank you, house' as you leave? I wish you the very best.

I could never pay someone to pack my stuff nothing to do with the fact that im such a messy cow and they would tell me to do one, oh no no no I'd never find anything again ! Still, its a bloody good idea - what a service

I too am sorry for your loss and therefore my insensitive comments

satsuma good luck with your move. I'm sure all will go well, our packers were amazing. Buy lots of biscuits!

Lem it can be expensive but it's a wonderful service. Due to work pressures I couldn't take any time off for our move so we paid for a packing service. It was worth every single penny. They also did a better job than us - nothing was broken, nothing damaged.

They offered an unpacking service too although we didn't use it.

My tip would be to chuck away any rubbish you have lying around -eg if you have a bedside drawer with rubbish in it, it will arrive completely the same way in your new house! I opened a box with a pile of unwashed socks belonging to my DH! Gross! He just hadn't put them in the wash, so they got packed with the bedroom.

I too am sorry for your loss and hope the move goes well. We did a big, after twenty years move a couple of years ago and once our much loved home was emptied of all our possessions I didn't seem like our home any more.

I agree with the packers that anything on beds including the linens would be boxed and put on top of the beds at the new location. This meant everyone's bedding, jim jams, reading book, etc was on their bed ready to be sorted at the new house.

Label all keys before you go. Keep a cleaning bucket and hoover to hand. Cleaning and windolene wipes are a god send when you move and a roll of black sacks.

Take photos of meters so you have evidence of the final readings. Do that at new house too.

Do a big on-line shop to be delivered to the new house the day after moving day.

If you can afford it, book a hotel for the first night to give yourself time to get sorted. If the money goes through late it's a brilliant back up to have and if it's all going swimmingly you can cancel before 1pm.

I packed tea things. Movers were young men, they wanted water and cold drinks.

Change for meters if you have to park near agent and have a wait for keys to be released.

Wishing you a successful move and much happiness in you new home.

If you have a door marked with children's heights take a photo.

It sounds like you might be moving to a new property. Take loo rolls.

Thanks everyone , this is so helpful.

LEM don't worry - not insensitive. Horses for courses and all that

Packers are worth every penny. We moved a month ago and had a full packing service. It was so much less stressful than the previous time when we packed everything but the breakables.

Clearly mark anything you don't want packing. We had a big box we put things in for our buyers - instruction manuals, the food caddy from the kitchen and so on which was marked 'Staying. Do not move'.

The other thing is if you have professional packers, breakages are covers by their insurance.

The packers don't lose things , you do. If it was in random pile to left of plant in bedroom 1. You'll find it in a box with everything else from that spot in bedroom 1. If you can't find it in the new house it's because you don't know where it was in the old house and you haven't finished unpacking. They pack so fast and thoroughly they are not interested in moving anything that's not in front of them and the box they are on. £200 well spent. A lot of boxes have fresh air in a good bit of them as they are so good at keeping things separate. With drawers they packed the contents and the physical drawer in the same box sometimes, maybe 2 minutes to unpack the other end. Loved it.

We paid 200 quid on a 1.5k move, well worth it!

Hope it all goes well OP x