Tips - Preparing for a house move

[whattimeisteaready]

Has anyone got any good house moving tips please
Due to move in about 6 weeks (which may not go ahead on time I know) but looking around how much stuff we have I’m not certain of the best place to start
All I’ve done so far is sold all of the furniture that we definitely don’t want to take and I’ve ordered boxes and wrap

Only 9 hours? Slacker.

@itsbiganditsorange oh hell I’m shattered, just said to DH We will do a few days then have a day off
We’re not hoarders, quite the opposite but my god 15 years in a house it definitely adds up and I can’t believe how much stuff we still have to get through
Will start on the address lists in a bit
Feels spooky with empty walls and rooms

@itsbiganditsorange as it goes in my rest break to honour your name I ate half a chocolate orange with my cuppa
Needed sugar to keep going

Good luck! We are moving at the end of the week < supposedly..it’s HA and they have said we will have a days notice >

I’m half packed but it’s hard to pack around 4 kids and homeschooling etc I had a plan to do more today but did nothing ... always tomorrow

Remember to arrange your mail redirection - it takes a few weeks for them to put it in place!

Would you mind telling me, OP, where did you sell your furniture? I'll be moving soon and have a few items that are too good/expensive to skip (large sofa, king size bed etc) - I've put one iten on ebay but collection only as I can't deliver, so far no luck
Also not sure of charities collect furniture now, for pieces I don't mind giving away.

label boxes on top and one side so you can see what's in them in a stack

I label all four sides, because the side with the label always ends up not visible.

Those giant plasticky zipped laundry bags (the blue or pink check things) are very cheap, and brilliant for transporting textiles, and awkward things like shoeboxes.

If you're going to pack your own breakable stuff, it's worthwhile to buy some packing paper (it's like newspaper paper without the printing).

Put the stuff you're going to need immediately in your car before the movers come - movers scoop up everything.

@CatAndHisKit I just put it all on Ebay about 4 weeks ago when sale/purchase started progressing properly to be honest, it was a little gutting as they do take a fair bit in fees and I just allowed offers. Apart from one item I pretty much got what I wanted for everything
Most of it is 10 years old and won’t go in the new place so it had to go and its paid for a couple of new beds dining table etc.

Does anyone know the best way to pack delicate and expensive drinking glasses, am at a loss here as what I’ve tried so far is no good?

I'm a single parent working full time with no childcare because of the pandemic. Little and often on the packing seemed the best way for us to manage. Both the house we're moving out of and the one we're going to have restricted access, so no big lorry and packers for us. I took a storage unit as soon as I had the offer accepted and have been doing lots of runs taking stuff there. That only works of course if you're moving in the same area. A lot of storage places have 6 week cheap offers.

It's amazing how with at least half our stuff in storage the house is still an absolute tip.

The biggest problem now is getting rid of things we don't want. We've been using Gumtree and have donated younger age reading books to school.

Does anyone know the best way to pack delicate and expensive drinking glasses, am at a loss here as what I’ve tried so far is no good

I use the packing paper I mention above, and put the wrapped glasses in a box. You need to scrunch the paper up quite a bit. Or an alternative is bubble-wrap - or a mix of paper and bubble-wrap.

I'm a great fan of proper archive boxes (those cardboard boxes that are just the right size for A4 files). They're great for packing fragile items.

Thanks @Time40 did you get the packing paper from Amazon/Ebay?

Some great ideas here.

We labelled the packing boxes 'bedroom #1', 'living room' etc. At the new house I put a label on each door, 'bedroom #1' etc, so that the movers knew where to place them.

We also had one of us in charge at the old house and one at the new, to direct operations so to speak.

I second the overnight bags and bedding being kept separate, a mattress on the floor on the first night if you don't have time to sort out the beds.

Have a box of groceries to tide you over for the first day or so.

If you need to remove fittings and fixtures at the old house, do it now and make good. Light fittings you are taking will need to be replaced with a standard light fitting. Fill holes and make good where picture hooks have been.

did you get the packing paper from Amazon/Ebay

Yes.

[quote whattimeisteaready]@itsbiganditsorange as it goes in my rest break to honour your name I ate half a chocolate orange with my cuppa
Needed sugar to keep going[/quote]
Excellent work. Have the other half today

Also dont forget to keep important documents in one file, passports (ha), wills etc. Keep them with you in the car along with ..

Toilet bag
Change of clothes for everyone
Toilet paper/basic cleaning stuff
Tea/coffee/sugar/milk cups some food basics
Towels just to see you through
Bedding/pillows etc. As soon as you get your beds up, make then straight away, you will be thankful for that later on.
Bag with chargers for phone/laptop etc

I always do this myself (moved too many times)

You could try Facebook marketplace! I find things sell super fast when I list them there. And there’s also gumtree

OP thank you - did you offer delivery on ebay or collection only? And wre your prices really low?
I've no idea how to price, it's used furniture but was expensive / good quality new, good condition, and they are large items, so I wouldn't want to sell these for under 100 pounds, but do people just not bother unless a real bargain?

Maricoco if I'm not an FB user, can I just register for Market place temporarily, or do you need to be a user? and possibly with a lot of history there for people to trust you?

@CatAndHisKit I offered collection only on everything, only had one has if I could deliver to which I said no and she then collected.

Prices were definitely not low, I sold all for £120-£350, beds, tables, chairs, shelving unit etc. only one thing less (a light) that cost me £90 and I got £40 for it. It’s all 8-10 years old so I was pretty surprised but people on eBay love buying furniture for some reason! I worked out I got an average of 63% of cost of items so was pretty happy with that as they wouldn’t go into new place as totally different kind of house.

I was worried about COVID guidelines so I put local collection only and then put the item in front of house on a dust sheet as soon as they arrived in their vehicle and just had them all ping me the collection barcode and then stood back and it worked amazingly. I prepped them and asked them to pay using PayPal and to bring the collected code to scan so there was no co tact at all.

@CatAndHisKit a few ppl emailed to say would I take less and I negotiated on one but said no to rest and they went after about 4 weeks.
I know eBay quite well and spent a lot of time researching sold prices etc. though so its definitely worth doing that first.

@SillyoldHectorsaysKiki taking your list on board, but what’s a toilet bag?

Three things that made life much easier...1. Get a tape gun. Saves so much time. 2. Big rolls of packing film (like opaque cling film) are brilliant for wrapping drawers so you can pop them straight back, and things like artwork/ big, oddly shaped things. 3. You can buy big zip laundry type bags on eBay very cheap, perfect for coats, spare bedding, towels etc.

Toilet bag, let's see,

Any medication/headache tablets/plasters/savlon
Soap/shower gel/washcloth
Toothbrush/paste
Deodorant
Body cream/hand cream egg

Just so you have all you need to hand for each person to have a wash and not forgetting which box this kind of stuff is in, it's just in one toilet bag handy, you have enough to do without unpacking on your first night looking for soap!

@SillyoldHectorsaysKiki perfect thanks, I think ours will be a big box though as I like to have my toiletries with me and I’m not planning on unpacking anything at all apart from food coffee and seating when we get there until I’ve slept

Pack a case with bedding, pjs, clean clothes for a few days, toiletries and the day before moving, put it in your car/ with family so you can grab it and have essentials and don't have to root for stuff after a busy day moving. Also, for extra comfort, throw in a bottle of wine 😂