Using packers to move flat this week

[Penguinpinata]

We are moving flat on Friday, and are having the removals people round on Thursday to pack everything up for us as we also have a tiny newborn to juggle. (Oh god, our timing...) Does anyone have any top tips on how best to prepare/work with them? Do we need to separate out things like the baby’s crib and steriliser that we’d like them to wait to pack till the Friday morning?

Any tips on moving with a newborn also appreciated!

They come in like a swarm of locusts and pack everything in sight - they'd pack a dirty nappy if it was hanging about! You won't be able to run around as they're doing it to say 'not that please'.
Put everything you don't want them to pack in one space and make sure they ALL know not to pack it.
Also pack yourself a suitcase and box of essentials and put that in the car - then at least on the other side you'll have your kettle, nappies and change of clothes without having to dig through boxes. It might be best of you and baby kept out of the way and let your husband deal with them - if you're stressed the baby will be too.

Also separate out any fresh/frozen food so you know where it is at the other end. We finally found the fruit bowl, complete with fruit, 2 weeks later.

Gather any very important paperwork and valuables and keep them with you. Passports, valuable jewelry, etc.

on the fruit note, we packed everything we would need the first two weeks. but in our case the packers were there to do the kitchen and books (oh so many many books)

@Midlifephoenix

They come in like a swarm of locusts and pack everything in sight - they'd pack a dirty nappy if it was hanging about! You won't be able to run around as they're doing it to say 'not that please'. Put everything you don't want them to pack in one space and make sure they ALL know not to pack it. Also pack yourself a suitcase and box of essentials and put that in the car - then at least on the other side you'll have your kettle, nappies and change of clothes without having to dig through boxes. It might be best of you and baby kept out of the way and let your husband deal with them - if you're stressed the baby will be too.

This is not an exaggeration, we once did have to unwrap a dirty nappy from a box that the packers had done. I think they just go in to robot mode. Although they never pack the kettle or tea bags.

Make an area of items that you don’t want packed and put a sign or large note there.

Totally agree with the advice of pps. I've ended up with things I don't want but which would have been of use at the previous house. On tea, they seem to be happy with their own drinks these days...even pre-covid.

I read a good tip on another thread - put everything you don’t want them to pack in your car or in the bath!

Yeah they will pack absolutely everything they can get their hands on.

We had empty jam jars that had been in a pile for recycling carefully wrapped in bubble wrap, a completely full bin packed neatly in a box, and a half-used packet of bread packed away that we didn’t find for a couple of weeks after the move!

They go really fast and are in robot mode.

Anything that you don’t want packed, I’d move into your bathroom, shut the door, and put a big sign on saying “do not pack!” Maybe with a no-entry road sign as well as they don’t all speak English well.

Key thing while moving with a baby (we moved with a 3 day old, timing issues) was to set up absolutely all the baby stuff as soon as you get to the new place. Set up in the baby’s room with the crib, bottles etc, a chair and drinks for you, and then ignore everything else.

Are you the mum? If so then Really really don’t try to help pack or lift anything, your body is still healing and you can do a lot of damage by lifting heavy things too soon.

Congratulations on your baby and good luck with the move!

Agree with what others have said -

• Make a list of last in, first out items (kettle, mugs, teabags, baby stuff, steriliser bags etc.). Rather than worrying about packing these, just chuck them in your car if you have one. Laundry baskets or open boxes are handy for this.
• Get the packers to use wardrobe boxes. That way clothes hang directly into it and then can be hung back up
• Are they unpacking for you as well? If so, great. If not, make sure they mark what is going into boxes (or atleast which room they go in) so they can put them in the right rooms for you to unpack at leisure.
• Plug the fridge in when you get to the other end and have an Ocado / Tesco.com etc. shop booked for when you get to the other end
• Go to the Royal Mail website and forward your mail.

Good luck! Moving is vile, but packers are a godsend!! Never moving without them again!

This is all so helpful, thank you! We don’t have a car, so I might follow the tip to put what we don’t want packed in the bath or in the bathroom if we can move the other stuff in there out the way. And our cats are now booked into a cattery.

I realise this is a stupid question (please blame sleep deprivation and the 11 day old baby currently asleep on me) but I presume they pack the food in our fridge and our bed on the morning of our actual move, and the day before they’re packing up all the furniture, dry goods, etc?

I’m hopefully going to go and sit - very socially distanced - with the baby at a friends for the actual move and leave my husband to it, so I can then just arrive with me & the baby when all the boxes have been delivered to the new flat.

We were told to put everything we didn't want packed on our bed on the day before moving and with us or in the car on the day of moving.

Don't forget to separate your:

• food you need (we ended up not being able to get into the kitchen whilst they were packing and just ordered pizza). I'd also reccomend ensuring all plates and cutleries are washed etc and just use plastic for the two days. We had to take our frozen stuff over ourselves in a freezer bag and we arranged a food order for that evening to the new house. You also need to consider if there will be a fridge/freezer in the new house - if not drop off to a nearby family member
• kettle (yes they did pack ours)
• toothbrush, hair brush, shampoo and deodrant
• any meds
• any baby stuff you need quick access to inc toys
• enough clothes for like 4 days in a suitcase as it'll take a while to unpack everything and means you don't have to rush (we took our wardrobes with us but they weren't nailed to the wall when we moved in so had to get our handyman to come and sort that a few days later so couldn't unpack the clothes for a few days)

We packed as if we were going away for a weekend and our all those bags in our car. Then the packers came in and did everything else. Including a cat litter tray with poo and litter in it that I'd left by the wheelie bin outside.

Yep - ours packed pedal bin complete with rubbish in it.

Put EVERYTHING you need from the time they will arrive to the time you start unpacking on your new house, aside. Use a Wheely suitcase or whatever, so that you can transport it. How will you get to your new house?

Same advice as above. We just put all our valuables along with kettle, cups, milk, packet of biscuits in the car before they arrived.
I say to this day the packers were the best thing I've ever spent money on. Not only did they pack everything, they disassembled all furniture and rebuilt it at the other end.
It reduced the stress by about 1,000 percent (which was good because we exchanged and completed on the same day in the middle of a pandemic so there was more than enough stress without that!).