Help with packing up house

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We're moving home on a month. We don't have LOADS of stuff but the idea of packing everything is still utterly daunting.

We have 2 small children and so logistically it's hard anyway, but any advice on how best to do it? Last time we moved it was just us and a couple of suitcases.

So where to get boxes, best boxes etc. Do we definitely need removal men? What to do with all the junk we'll have to chuck etc.

watching!!!! sorry I cant be any use, we are moving on Friday and haven't packed much yet!

I can advise that we have taken a lot to the tip and charity shops!

if you cant get to tip I think the council will do collections if you enquire!

we are using a man and a van (its someone I work with though so I can entirely trust him!)

phone round your local removal companies - most of them offer a full packing service if you are willing to pay for it but to be honest once you get started it's not usually as bad as you think it will be.

I can vouch for that sweetheart we don't have as much stuff as I thought we had!

Pay the removal company to pack for you. The least stressful way to move.

So do they literally pack everything, or do we have to sort drawers etc, apologies for the ignorance.

Not sure I'm keen on a removals man going through my kecks.

They pack everything but you could always do a suitcase for your undies and anything else you don’t want them to find.

Hmmm that does sound appealing. I'll look at the costs. In the absence of that do you just bulk buy boxes online? Any other necessities we might need?

Start with the bedrooms.

Bin or recycle anything you don’t need. Select a capsule wardrobe for each person. Pack the rest of the clothes with the hangers still on and label the box ie. James Room - Everyday Clothing 1, James Summer Clothing 2 etc
Pack any pictures/ornaments/toys kept in that room into more boxes and Label James Room Toys 1 etc
Finally as you are about to move pack everything else into boxes and number them. Pack a small case with the remainder for James as if you were going on a mini-break so toothpaste, clothes for a few days etc and put that in your car.
Repeat for all the bedrooms

Kitchen -
Pack all the utensils and stuff that you don’t use much. Label barely used kitchen 1
A week before decide on your food for the week or eat out/takeaway. Pack everything now while labelling. The day before you should be left with the bare essentials - kettle, milk etc. Pack it and put it in your car.
Repeat with all of the rooms and you are done.

@LegoPiecesEverywhere this is amazing!

We've read Marie kondo's book the life changing magic of tidying which has helped us so much in our quest to get rid of loads of crap. We're having removers pack for us. Like hell am I doing it whilst looking after 2 under 4s! The cost of packing isn't a great proportion of what removers charge.

Pretty good advice here. I would add put small valuables & vital documents in one bag or container into the boot of your car & keep there until you are in the new place.

The first thing to do is start sorting things out that you don't want to take. Sort out clothes and belongings you want to get rid of and charity shop the good stuff and tip anything that's of no use. It's a great time to declutter.

I always started by packing ornaments and things that are decorative but not used and then pack the stuff that you only use infrequently. Including pans and kitchen stuff you don't need on a day to day basis. Sort through paperwork, file and then box up.

Make sure you label all of the boxes on 2 opposite sides with what's in them and which room they are going into.

How far are you moving? If not far there are different ways of packing.

If moving locally then you don't need to pack all the clothes in your wardrobes, they can be transported on moving rails in the back of the van. If you aren't moving far and can get hold of them bread trays are great for moving everyday crockery as they are really sturdy and they stack.

My mums top tip was on moving day the bedding from each bed is turned into a bundle pillows and duvet folded on top of the sheet which is then knotted around them. When you get to the new house the first thing to reassemble is the beds and the bedding goes straight back on so that at least you can all get a good nights sleep.

Just to add to the great advice above if there's big furniture you don't want to take that's not reuseable like old mattresses etc your local council will collect them for a small fee.

Great tips.

I would add

Pretend you are going on a caravan holiday and pack a bag for everyone with a couple of days clothes/pjs/toiletries. Pack a kitchen box with tea, mugs, kettle, spoons, cloths, spray cleaner, loo roll, screwdriver, pliers etc.

If you have packers make sure you empty and clean bins the day before or they will pack up bin and rubbish

Assemble and make beds when you get to new hoise so that you can all go to bed when you are exhausted.

All great tips, thanks everyone! I'm going to look into packing costs today.

Contact local health centre to get in touch with the continence service, ask if you can collect the boxes from the pads from a central location, it saves them recycling costs and you get boxes all the same size and easily stacked, double walled and importantly clean and dry. Win win

Also ask in chemists for the same reasons - you might need to get several rolls of packing tape and a tape gun but thats less than a £10, max

get rolls of clear bags to put your clothes, bedding, towels and airing cupboard contents in. As pp suggested for clothes in wardrobe, move them like in the picture - viola

Also a pack of sticky labels, a thick black sharpie type marker and several multi colour luminous drawing pads. So kitchen could be neon green, so all boxes with a neon green attachement should be moved into kitchen, all with neon pink are for bedroom 1 - you get the jist

For your important stuff like documents etc, if you are putting in the van. Label them as something random, 3rd kitchen drawer down

Good luck

My lovely DIL's tip when moving was to get a large catering roll of cling film and wrap up every drawer with its contents. When you get to the other end everything is in place and clean ready to be unwrapped and put back in place. She also used it to wrap right around small chests of drawers to keep the drawers in place

I also strongly second the idea posted above about getting the bedding properly organised for each bed. When you get there, as soon as the beds are in place, put the bedding back on. You wont want to have to be doing that before anyone can go to bed. You will be tired out by then.

Final and most important trip is top make sure you know where the kettle, coffee/tea etc is at all times!!

I got boxes online from Argos and they were delivered to the house. I set them all up with labels in black marker and put a couple of boxes in each rooms.

I started packing everything I didn’t need weeks in advance eg kitchen stuff/ornaments etc. I found it all took a lot longer than I thought and I still had tons to do on moving day. Personal things I packed in my car.

Also do an open crate with stuff you will need on the day eg kettle, snacks, loo roll, basic cleaning products.

Get rid of as much as possible too. I thought I did but still had 18 black bags of rubbish on moving day that I had to dispose of!

First of all have a massive clear out. I did gumtree/FB selling pages/car boot sale/charity shop and then the local dump/recycling place for all the rest. Nothing we didn't need or want moved.
We have always used the packing service from the removal company, partly because it's easy, they literally put all your hanging clothes in cardboard wardrobes and rehang them in the new house, drawers of clothes go in boxes (still in the drawers). Just pack an overnight bag each with essentials and a change of clothes. Secondly and most importantly to me if they pack it's insured, so if they drop a box with all your kitchen stuff in or break or scratch something it gets replaced or repaired

I went one step further and colour coded boxes, basically raided the children's coloured paper stash.

So like above, for all occasional use kitchen items pack away, each box then got a square of green paper on it on each top left corner. I didn't cut the paper squares I used a ruler and ripped them into squares. Each square was then sharpied with a number and taped to the box with clear packing tape (buy a packing tape hand held dispenser)

In a book I kept in my handbag I wrote green box 1 - then listed where it had come from, ie drawers under the microwave. Always reference the old house location because hopefully you know where you would have looked for stuff.

All essential kitchen stuff was marked with yellow labels, each room had its own colour. It also meant that when we got to the new house I could blu tack the coloured sheet to the door of the room it was going in so the removal men could see exactly where it belonged.

Bedding wise, like above, strip the bed the morning of the move, tie it with the sheet or just bundle it and put this into your car. The first thing you make up at the new house are the beds.

Keep a separate box for tea/coffee/sugar/milk, mugs teaspoons etc for yourselves and the removal men.

As you are emptying stuff out of cupboards either pack it, bin it or in a pile for charity. If you can't decide, take it with you. We got boxes from the removal company beforehand.

Get the professionals in. They appear in the morning and by midday they've packed your whole house. Just separate out any valuables/sentimental items and take them with you, leave the rest to them.
If you've spare cash you can even get them to unpack in the new house!

It is so easy and relatively stress free, but of course it costs.

We had to pack up for our extension having paid for movers and a packing service when we moved in a year ago we didn't feel we could justify it again and stupidly we gave away our boxes. This time we bought packing crates. We paid less to buy then to rent and will be able to sell them afterwards for the same or maybe more than we paid. They keep everything clean and dry and stack easily. For us it works because most of our stuff is going to be stored for a while but if I was moving myself again I think I would consider it. The boxes which we bought from a rental place were not much more than boxes and seem very strong.

Watching as we're due to move soon with 3 under-5s!

I’m moving this month so can I ask if I pay for packing service do they pack everything? Even trays out of oven, pile of shite in corner of my bedroom? Do they take down curtains and unplumb washing machine? I’m disabled so can’t do it myself so just how much do they actually do? Tia
Good luck on your move Op

@ladybird69 they will pack everything, literally everything. I think they will do curtains, we're not taking kurs but one company did ask. However they won't unplumb any appliances. You can pay for them to dismantle and rebuild furniture as they don't all inc that