When to start packing for move?

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Hi all,
Hoping to get some advice!
I know things are a little different at the moment with house buying and selling. We are in the process of selling our house and buying another. As far as we can see it there's the survey to be done on the property we are buying, and some paperwork from both parties to go back to solicitors.

My thought is that exchange may not be too far off?

I just wondered, how much notice do you usually get of an exchange date and are people finding to avoid the chance of someone in the chain having to self isolate, completion is happening very soon after?

We have lots to pack and also sell before we move but don't want to do too much too soon!

This is very different from our previous house purchases where we purchased new both times so advice would be appreciated. Thanks all!

I'd say it's never too early to start... even if you're just decluttering.

Average timescales is 12 weeks from offer to exchange I understand. This is being extended a lot currently due to delays with surveys, banks, even solicitors due to Covid.

Good luck!

Definitely never to early to start. Certainly the Decluttering.

And I would try to sell any furniture you are planning to if you don’t actually need it between now and your move.

We are moving in a few weeks and I’m trying to do something every day so it’s less of a massive job. Today’s job was setting up the post redirection and clearing out two drawers. Yesterday I sorted out shoes and boots. Also packed enough clean bedding and towels into a suitcase to be able to make up the beds straight away once we are in.

Start now. Get rid of any crap that won't be needed in new place. Be ruthless.
Pack anything that won't be needed now.

We just piled boxes in one room once packed. Or in a corner of a room.

I'd say get rid of what you're not planning to take with you, and start to box up things you won't be using (i.e. if you have summer clothes, or things to take that you know you won't need).

It's much better to do it gradually than wait longer and be in a rush - that can be incredibly stressful!

We started to clear things out when we listed. Then moved everything into storage by exchange. This allowed us to clean up and rent a small place before completion to allow us to chill prior to the move (small baby, DH was doing most of the work)

Start ASAP, source boxes and bubble wrap, de-clutter, sell what you don't use and think about selling furniture that won't fit/be useful in the next house.

Label your boxes with contents (you really won't remember what's in them!) and if you're stacking them then make sure only stackable stuff goes in! Like books at the bottom etc.

You can never be too prepared!

I recommend the boxes from www.kitepackaging.co.uk. I had hundreds of books to move and they were great, double walled and sized 18 x 12 x 12. I also bought the tape and dispenser, so handy.

If you want to sell any furniture I found the local facebook sales pages very responsive before covid - not sure about now. Sadly I moved during strict lockdown and ended up leaving my lovely furniture in the house for my horrid buyer.

I started packing stuff like china, ornaments, cooking and bake ware and just left the bare minimum once the house went up for sale. In fact anything I wouldn't need was packed into a box.

By the time I moved I only had a few things to pack and it was totally stress free.

I did sell/giveaway quite a lot of items and furniture as well.

Start selling any furniture ASAP. You don't want the stress of days to go and you still haven't sold said items. Anything that hasn't been used in the last six months pack up. Ruthlessly declutter as well. Good luck.

Also label all boxes clearly of which room the items inside are for.

I always find packing takes me so much longer than anticipated! As soon as I know that the move is on I pretty much start, it means you can do it in a much more orderly fashion (which is pretty vital when it comes to unpacking it all again!). If you've got lots of stuff you'd be surprised much you can pack pretty far in advance, certainly things like books, summer clothes, ornaments, the shed, loft, and a good half of your crockery and cutlery could probably be packed up now.

It is never too early! I've been ruthless and given away lots of stuff. I have packed and stored things and all the plants have temporarily moved. It has amazed me how much we have got! I've still got some more packing to do. If you can declutter and pack alot now it seems like it goes on forever but it's much more manageable when you do move. If you use packers they literally pack everything so it is wise to sort out beforehand. I'm in week 9 of a relatively simple sale and I'm hopeful it will complete in 12. I understand things are taking longer now.

Thank you all so much! Apologies for the late reply I didn't get a notification from
MN that I had received any responses!
Time to start getting ruthless

Go through your loft, shed and garage first. They are likely to be the places that contain the least used stuff.

'Luckily' our bedroom is in the loft (conversion) and we don't have a garage or a shed so we haven't accumulated much that we have forgotten about. But I'm forever buying home decor bits and pieces which are around the house... and clothes! So it'll be good to start boxing these up/selling!
X

Get packers in! (if that is allowed in COVID times)

We're having similar discussions in our house and unsure what to do. We're relocating to another country too so very stressful.

We had sale agreed on our current home but buyers pulled out after 4 weeks. We had started packing and the front room was full of boxes. Had to put house back on the market and move all the boxes to the attic. We've gone sale agreed again last week and unsure whether to pack more or wait a while in case this falls through and we need to put it back on the market!

CAn anyone advise where to sell good furniture for those who are not on Facebook?
I'm on ebay but IME it's hard to sell on th basis of buyers collecting on there. I've got a large Super King size bed which needs three men to move it - I wouldnt be able to help at all.
Also have a few cheap furniture items but now our large local charity shop that used to collect for free, is closed.

@CatAndHisKit have you considered shpock? It's free to sell on there, my only issue would be there are some time wasters on there but I have sold lots on there.

Have you thought of freecycle for the bits you want to give away? Lots of very desperate families at the moment? Also consider local furniture recycle centres, they will take reusable furniture and resell very cheap, often cheaper to those on low incomes or benefits. They'll also take white goods and will have them PAT tested.

I would start decluttering and selling now but not start putting stuff in boxes until exchange. If it all falls through then you’ll need to unpack it all again to put it back on the market (Or try and hide it all somewhere) and no one needs that kind of faff.

Ps. This obviously depends on how long you will have between exchange and completion? If it’s at least a week then yeah don’t pack properly until exchange.

Thanks @pinkgreenblue nothing has been said about time between exchange and completion. I know our sellers want a quick sale...

If nothing has been said then you’re probably still a way off. I’d push the estate agents for an estimate of a) when you’ll exchange and b) the time between exchange and completion. Then you’ll be able to plan a bit better.

We gave so much baby stuff away (Pram/ cot/ high chair/ bumbo etc) recently, in the end through local Facebook. Wanted to give it to women's aid /local charities etc but they don't accept baby stuff 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ Literally 1000's of £ stuff we gave away for free all great quality (only used for 1child) . The amount of cheeky feckers around is astonishing though- e.g. there's a missing (hanging) giraffe from the Lamaze baby mat?? Seriously- they must have looked online to find this out and left really rude messages online for everyone to see . You need to have patience selling/ giving lots of stuff away. Never again it's getting dumped/ skipped next time!