Help with professional packers

[10YellowTulips]

Moving day is Friday and packers are coming Thursday. I am feeling distinctly panicked about it - I’m nowhere near ready and haven’t de-cluttered as much as I wanted. The place is in a complete state.
A couple of questions
a) will the packers care if the nooks and crannies are my house are not clean - would I be better off spending the last day cleaning rather than de-cluttering? Or have they literally seen it all?
b) can I ask for specific things not to be packed until the next day - we still have to live in the old house for a night after the packers have gone so can I ask them to leave out kitchen stuff, personal items, the telly, the beds obviously etc?
c) should I look after my valuables (jewellery etc) myself? What would be the most practical way to do that?
Any other tips for packers and movers would be much appreciated!

With the stuff to leave out - my friend recently had professional packers and they went through the house like a pack of locusts! They were so quick she had to be really specific about what was to be left unpacked.

She put everything she wanted to keep out in a box in the boot of her car and had a box on the kitchen table (really well labeled).

@10YellowTulips

Moving day is Friday and packers are coming Thursday. I am feeling distinctly panicked about it - I’m nowhere near ready and haven’t de-cluttered as much as I wanted. The place is in a complete state. A couple of questions a) will the packers care if the nooks and crannies are my house are not clean - would I be better off spending the last day cleaning rather than de-cluttering? Or have they literally seen it all? b) can I ask for specific things not to be packed until the next day - we still have to live in the old house for a night after the packers have gone so can I ask them to leave out kitchen stuff, personal items, the telly, the beds obviously etc? c) should I look after my valuables (jewellery etc) myself? What would be the most practical way to do that? Any other tips for packers and movers would be much appreciated!

So
A) they have seen it all. Declutter rather than clean. Clean once the packing is done. They will pack everything. If there a tissue on the side, it'll get packed.
B) yes but it complicates things. I packed my necessities in one box and told them not to touch it. Or place everything in one area for them to ignore, for example my clothes, bathroom bag, duvet, all went on the bed which they knew wasn't to be touched.
C) yes pack your own valuables, we did. Just in suitcases inside things like shoes etc.

Forgot to say - the packers left her to pack her undies, jewellery and bathroom cabinet (she had big “NOT THIS” labels on those drawers / cabinets (but they were fitted furniture so staying in the house).

They will literally pack everything though, even the kitchen bin complete with rubbish if you’re really unlucky!

Make a stash of things they don't need to pack and stick a note on it. Everyone has stuff they need to keep out so they will be used to that.

And don't bother cleaning til they have emptied the house.

I packed my most precious jewelry, my phone and laptop in my own bag along with my wash bag.

Last time we moved the Packers did everything except the essentials the day before and came back in the morning for the beds and leftover bits.

when i was still with my ex husband , he was good friends with someone who ran their own removal service , he recruited us for this huge house that they had asked for us to pack the stuff .
honestly there was stuff everywhere , it verged on hoarding . and there as dust , loads of it .but we didnt give a shit . we just wanted to pack as carefully and quickly as possible . put aside everything or tell them what you dont want packed . and double check as its going along they have . and yes id do your valubles yourself for your peace of mind . they should have plenty of bubble wrap for china and so on ,i know we did at the house we packed . dont worry about what the house is like , they dont care ,and i should think yes they probably have seen it all ! . so focus on decluttering so your not taking stuff you dont need to the new house rather than cleaning hope this helps

Echoing what PPs have said. My mum sold my childhood home last year and I helped her with moving. The packers were insanely efficient. We cleaned each room as they emptied them. We kept out beds/kitchen box with 2 plates/glasses/mugs/kettle etc plus overnight bag/bedding/valuables. What is there they will pack and they won't notice cleanliness or lack thereof. More important to declutter so you're not wasting time unpacking/sorting stuff you don't even want/need. They literally packed up a 5 bed house in about 5 hours. It took me 6 weeks to pack my house when I moved. Never packing myself again!

Yeah, last time we had professional packers in I nipped out for half an hour.

The poor man had packed up all my underwear in tissue paper . I assumed they would just carry out the drawers without packing them.

So I’d pack all valuable papers and private/personal items into suitcases before they get to you.

It’s money well spent though.

Thanks everyone - that’s really helpful. Decluttering it is then! Fortunately I have the weekend to clean so I can keep decluttering while they pack other rooms. I do need to nip out to take my daughter to summer camp - so goodness knows what will happen while I’m out!

My packers wrapped clingfilm over the removable drawers. Saved a lot of time just removing the film at the other end and slotting the drawers back in complete with contents.

Sort out any garden stuff too. Otherwise they'll bring every last plant pot even with slugs

They have seen it all before.
Do keep offering refreshments, it's hard work.

Weve had packers six times. We fine tuned it over the years ..
Designate a no pack zone. Bathrooms are good for this, or cupboards (clear out the cupboard first obviously). Put cleaning stuff, overnight stuff, valuables etc in there. Also tool box and any furniture screws as they get disassembled.
Pack any 'private' stuff beforehand
Definitely leave books and fragile stuff for them, they are the experts

Bless you - they don’t care if your house is messy. Have a good clean after they have left, not before

We usually ask for some boxes to be dropped off a couple of days before. Then I pack our own personal items like lingerie. Any clothes or toiletries and valuables should be packed in suitcases and stored elsewhere (car boot if safe or with a neighbour).

We always have packers. They work very quickly. Make sure your bins are empty and anything that needs to stay at the property (eg instructions for appliances) are stored somewhere off limits. In our last place, we designated one of the bathrooms as "off limits" and put everything we needed for that night in there and the packers avoided the room (big signed on door).

We're moving out on Monday! I'm currently in purge mode of going through every cupboard and drawer 🙈

Don't bother cleaning. They won't care.

Take any valuables (passport, jewellery etc) to friends/family if practical

Do not bother cleaning - I made this mistake. When furniture gets moved loads of dust will come out so its a waste of your time

If you want things to be packed together, place them together (in piles/in the correct room)

Make a box/suitcase for your stuff that you need on moving day - if possible get it out of the way (eg your car). My movers packed the jeans I wanted to wear on moving day :)

Put everything you need for that evening / moving day in a box.

Then let them get in with it.

They won’t pack the beds.

But they won’t be stopping to think, or have time for you to say yes, no, maybe over what to pack. Bin will bet packed with rubbish in it, fruit bowl with apples, etc.

And don’t rely on notes. At least one of our removal : pack team couldn’t read fluently.

We had packers for our recent move. I thought I had decluttered and cleaned a LOT.
When they had finished and left, the house was FILTHY. Not one of them turned a hair at the thick dust behind/under furniture, or the eight zillion sweet wrappers behind the sofa, or the frankly horrifying cobwebs on the walls (i hoovered the walls; like you would Hoover a floor). I apologised for the mess repeatedly and they kept telling me it was a nice clean house!

They absolutely raced the packing - and I found a few boxes of utter shit (my fault, not theirs), but they were easy to dispose of.

I also kept saying we had too much stuff, and again, they said it was a normal amount for our 3 bed house.

Cannot recommend having packers enough. It was the best bit of moving!

This thread really makes me want to get packers when I move! How much do they charge compared to non packing movers?

@MoiraNotRuby

This thread really makes me want to get packers when I move! How much do they charge compared to non packing movers?

I think we paid £450 for packing a 3 bed semi, we used focus removals, they were brilliant. They really are very fast and very good, everything was well wrapped and packed in boxes, i just picked jewellery, personal documents and a change of clothes in a suitcase and put that in the car. All boxes were labelled for each room and at the other end they asked us which room for each piece of furniture which they then reassembled where needed

I paid £400 on top for a 2 bed flat in London. I had a LOT of stuff though (50 boxes)

I put big stickers on the stuff that wasn't to be packed. I packed a suitcase for me and DH with stuff we didn't want packed and put it in the car - so important papers, valuables (I don't have much!) etc.

We had a couple of photos that are really important to us so I packed them up myself.

@MoiraNotRuby

This thread really makes me want to get packers when I move! How much do they charge compared to non packing movers?

It is worth every penny. It depends on how much stuff you have, how many hours they think it will take. They move like lightening and had a room wrapped, packed and boxed in the time it would have taken me to make the boxes up. They pack everything in their path! They do require lots and lots of tea, biscuits, cold drinks etc

I cleared out the hall cupboard (just left the contents on the spare room floor since that room was empty except for the fitted wardrobes after decluttering) and put the things that were staying in the cupboard with a big sign on the closed door saying ‘do not pack’. I also put valuables / overnight gear in my car.

Don’t depend on being able to tell them not to pack certain things. I had a fairly small two bedroom flat where I’d given away / thrown out several major pieces of furniture (spare room bed, desk, sofas) and they still brought 6 people and raced through. They did two people to a room so Teams A and B would have been packing things I wanted out while I was talking to Team C in another room.

I agree with the poster who says not to bother cleaning until afterwards - I don’t know where the dust came from but it was dreadful! Do remember to either keep out the hoover / cleaning products or arrange to borrow from a friend or neighbour.

Follow up question, do moving people unassemble and reassemble furniture? I am specifically dreading moving my pax wardrobe with sliding mirror doors, it had to be built in the bedroom. To think I could just pay someone would be awesome.

@MoiraNotRuby ours gave us a quote specfically for that - which was so eyewatering we just sold the wardrobes to the buyer.

A friend who has just moved got a 'fix my flat pack' man off facebook - he took them apart - movers moved them - he put them back together. Much cheaper.

They certainly partially disassembled the bed and reassembled it (wooden bed - they took the legs and headboard off, they didn’t remove the slats or disassemble the base). Anything more complicated, I assumed they would charge extra.