Hit me with your top moving tips!

[FiveGensOfLove]

Moving house this week. Packers are coming one day, moving the next. We have two small kids.
What should we pack ourselves to take in the car? What do I need easy access to that I’ve forgotten about (apart from gin)?
How do I keep the kids occupied on both packing day and moving day?!
Please give me ALL of your hacks, tips and don’ts!

What will you need for first night in the house - pack it all into one box? So sheets for your and kids beds, basic amount of cutlery & crockery, special toys, towels for bath time etc. Nappies if using them, tooth brushes, pyjamas, loo roll, maybe even set of clothes for the next morning. Anything and everything to get you through that first night! And make sure you have breakfast with you (take away dinner on night one??) good luck!

Think of packing the kids up for an overnight at a hotel. So they need change of clothes, toiletries, books, toys, pillows.

Get all your important docs in one clear plastic popper file. In there put them in brown envelopes and mark them in sharpie-
Passports
Insurance stuff etc

Make sure you have all the keys for the property you’re leaving handy and ready to leave behind.

Have a Tesco deliver booked for the day you move in and have a takeaway for the night. Have a small cool box with enough stuff for the moving day and breakfast in new place.

Keep your kettle handy if you like hot drinks.

Chargers, keep a couple on you

Start now going through the messy drawer, the doc file, the places where you keep all your stuff and sort it now. So you can just leave the packers to it.

If they're not leaving curtains take sheets you can fix in the window frames and take toilet roll as some people are so tight.we moved into a house where they took light bulbs and toilet rolls.

Oooh the Tesco delivery is genius. These are great.
I’ll need wine glasses. Teabags. Mugs. Loo roll - thanks for that!
And thinking about it like a hotel stay is helpful.

Don't allow the movers access to anything very important. Passports, birth certificates, other important papers, jewelry, etc. You need to pack those yourself and keep them with you.

Kettle and biscuits

Think more Havens static caravan than hotel: you need to take your own towels & loo roll! It might not be as clean as you'd like either, so maybe a cleaning spray & cloths within easy reach?

Kettle & teaspoons. I forget these on a move years ago and the friends helping me still mention it (approx 12yrs later!!)

Packers will pack everything. A friend had shells and stones from a beach wrapped individually in bubble wrap. She unwrapped them in the new house and promptly chucked them in the back garden / bin. So have a sweep through each room and bag up anything you don't want in your new home. You can either get rid (not easy at the moment) or mark it up for the garage / storage space.

Put you quilt bedding etc in a big bag , do the same for the kids and put them in the boot of your car before the movers arrive, makes it much easier to make the bed as soon as the movers have put the bed up in the new house.
Put your documents into wallets and put them into a container with keys and anything else important line jewellery etc. If you can leave it with a family member for safe keeping for the night, if not keep it with you.
Get a box ( preferably a different colour to all of your others) and put in glasses, cups, tea coffee and milk, you'll need it at the new house.
If you're having packets and movers then it's really easy but they will pack everything in every draw including every wrapper and bit of tat you have. Then lovingly place it back at the other end.

I used disposable cups on moving day so I could give the team a brew without having to worry about washing cups. I also had a lot of small bottles of water as it was red hot on moving day, which were really appreciated by the team.

I also did a bacon butty run from the local cafe rather than needing bowls for cereal, again much appreciated by the removal team.

Label the rooms with a big sign on the door.
So that when movers ask "where do you want this box?", you can say Parents room, Mary's Room, John's room etc.
Work out roughly where you want furniture and draw a plan for each room, again stuck to the door. Then movers can put furniture in the right place immediately without checking back with you.
Lay a couple of sheets of newspaper on floor of each room for boxes to be stacked. Otherwise they will pile up boxes just where you want a wardrobe placed.

Highly recommend off loading the kids for the day! We did and was probably the least stressful day of the whole buying/selling process!

Reassemble and Make beds up first

Following as some great tips here.

Unfortunately our chain had just collapsed but hoping we will move in the next few months. We too have two little ones.

Good luck OP!