Packers are coming tips please!

[CucumberandLemonade]

We r moving this weekend and have Removals to help pack for us. Any helpful tips much appreciated.

Stressing!

Remember to unload the dishwasher!
I discovered the dishwasher full of clean dishes just as the men were loading the very last boxes. I wasn't allowed to pack it as they wouldn't be insured for it, so chap wasn't best pleased at having to go out to the van and get another 2 boxes and paper etc out again and start packing again.

@ineedaholidaynow

If you pack things like valuables yourself I assume they won't be covered under their insurance. When DM used packers she pointed out the things that were most valuable so they got treated with extra care. The packers she used were very good and used much more packing material than we probably would have. They are so quick too.

Remember to throw out any rubbish otherwise that will come with you. Label anything that needs to stay.

We had three different locations that the removal people had to drop things off, DM's new flat, my house and storage, and they managed to get everything in the right place.

As others have said remember to either label things you will need to keep with you or put in the car, otherwise it will be in the van before you know it. We had to borrow the neighbour's hoover to give DM's old flat the once over, as DM's got packed when our backs were turned!

I think if you have good household insurance then 'valuables' might be covered whilst moving under that. It depends on what insurance cover you take out with the removal firm too. But we had 'new for old' but it isn't as you might expect as it takes 'wear and tear' into account. But we didn't find this out until we tried to claim on it for the articles the removal company damaged.

Anyway valuables might be sentimental items not just items of high value. I was only giving the OP a viewpoint to consider. I'm glad we took our valuables separately. Although the Gaggia espresso machine suffered no lasting harm from being thrown and transported upside down in a box, other items weren't so 'lucky'.

If you take valuables/sentimental items separately that would be different than you packing them and then putting them in the van, I would have thought.

Thank u all for the fantastic tips and advice! Feeling much more reassured for this Friday x

Good luck for Friday, try and stay calm and it will all get done.

Happy New House as well!

Refreshments! I got the impression it was a bit of a no-no not to provide ongoing refreshments and snacks throughout the day! I went out and left our packers to get on with the job, but I left the kettle, tea, coffee, sugar, milk (in the fridge), biscuits and other snacks out. And then the washing up bowl, teaspoons, mugs and washing up liquid. All these bits were placed on top of the oven (that was staying) with a "help yourself / do not pack!" label.

Also, be very specific with labels if you're leaving any furniture items, white goods, etc. Also, empty your bins or they'll pack the rubbish. Empty any fresh flowers in vases if you happen to have any (I ended up unpacking a completely soaked box in our new house, and within it, a vase of soggy flowers. Amazingly the flowers stayed fresh for another week or so!)

Label your rooms. So a sign on the door in your current house saying 'Ben's room' and a matching sign on Ben's new room. Then all boxes also get marked Ben's room and end up in the right place. You can also use colours - so blue room/blue sticker on the doors - and have a load of coloured sticky dots to label the boxes with.

They will pack everything so fast! But they do not sort so try and declutter before they pack!

Pack a box of essentials like the kettle, tea cups etc and I always pack a first night bag with clean bed linen and pyjamas with some toiletries. These and the cats come with me. It means that once you've moved, you can make your beds, have a takeaway and a shower and the day is done!

We've recently moved and had packers. There are still some things we can't find! They used random soft furnishings to pad out the tops of boxes so if there's something important that is material, make sure you keep it to one side! Clarify with them what they do with contents of drawers. They told us to leave things in drawers but we're aware they tipped some drawers into other drawers, which if you have lots of small things you need separated, is really annoying, eg small toys like Lego and knex. 😕 They were indispensable though, I just don't think we could have got by in moving without taking a lot more time off work.