When to start packing?

[NapQueen]

We decluttered a lot when we listed our flat for sale. Finally we have a buyer in place (surveys done) and an offer accepted on our next place.

Ive been told its roughly eight weeks til complete/exchange in most simplae cases.

When did you start packing? Leave it all til exchange? Start now?

We wont have the budget for packers. Dh is convinced we can go down the "hire a van" route. But Id rather spend on a removals team. We wont be able to stretch to packing.included (nor would dh agree anyways).

Its a two bed flat with two small dcs worth of toys.

If you hire removers they won't give you your boxes until you've got a fixed date booked in. Therefore you won't get them until you've exchanged contracts.

If you can get some boxes earlier I would start packing some of the non essentials whenever you can. Take some of the stress off later.

Or at least go through each room with a mental plan of what's going to need packing, so you can do a further de-clutter for anything you don't want to move with.

I once moved with a 2 day gap between exchange and completion. Thankfully it was a 1 bed flat but it was seriously stressful packing it all up on my own in 36 hours (from when I got my boxes!)

I would wait until it’s a bit more certain. Just because I keep reading that 1/3 of sales are currently falling through.

I started packing as soon as the offer was accepted. I just did a box or 2 every week and when we exchanged we were ready to ship everything. It made the time between exchange and completion less stressful.

I'm in the same position as you OP. I've started doing a room at a time and doing a major declutter first and packing nonessentials. Got boxes from supermarkets and have held onto boxes from online shopping. Have listed plenty on eBay and went to a car boot sale with stuff and made a few quid!

So its not too presumptive to start now? I could do our books, kids playmobil lego etc.

You could always pack in to those plastic type crates and just use them as storage/toy boxes then they're just good to go whenever you're ready but usable in the meantime.

You will move eventually, whether it's this buyer or another and whether it's 6 weeks or 6 months, so if you've got stuff that you won't need, there's no harm in packing some stuff now.

Oh thats a good idea! The kids stuff is in all those IKEA trofast/kallax units. Itd be helpful to get a start on flat packing them all.