Using a packing service

[Aria20]

Previously I have packed myself and found it fine but I keep reading on here pay extra for the packing service.... so what exactly do they do and how does it work? Do they literally pack everything? Do they wrap plates/glasses, photos etc. Do they pack clothes and kids toys?

Do you not find it harder unpacking the other end as you don't know where they packed stuff?

Last time I labelled boxes with which room they were for etc and I knew what was where and I had it all unpacked by the next evening...It would be nice not to have the hassle of packing stuff but I guess I'm anxious about letting someone else do it and not knowing what's where!!

I think the speed comes from the fact that when you pack you end up faffing about when you find certain things you haven't seen for a while, and you agonise about how to protect stuff and where to pack it. The packers have no personal connection to anything and can race through the room at lightning speed.

@Anticyclone yes totally agree with this as I'd already sorted through some stuff in the loft which is sentimental eg wedding and baby photos and was distracted looking at it for ages! I think we'll prob go ahead and book the packing service and in the meantime I will declutter further as much as possible over the Easter holidays! Thanks for all the replies

Bit late to this - but just to say - get packers...in the context of our move it wasn't that much money.

They did it well and dispassionately. And marked everything, and cleared all the shit in the shed and the garden and packed it all.

Because of a bereavement we hadn't decluttered anywhere near enough.

I packed up a suitcase of stuff I didn't particurarly want packing and also some sentimental stuff that looked like nothing but meant a lot because of the bereavement and I wanted to know was safe.

They take all your clothes out of the wardrobe on hangers and put it in a hanging wardrobe.

They put the beds back together.

They also for an extra £20 and a bacon bap picked up some stuff we'd had stored in ILs garage.

I’ve never moved and not had packing as part of the removal service. They label all the boxes for you. Last time I paid for unpacking as well.

@Anticyclone

I think the speed comes from the fact that when you pack you end up faffing about when you find certain things you haven't seen for a while, and you agonise about how to protect stuff and where to pack it. The packers have no personal connection to anything and can race through the room at lightning speed.

yes this. Even if we had the time to do it which we didn't it would have taken us ten times longer to do it than it would the packers.

I think it really brought it home to me with the previous move - it took 4 men 10 hours to pack up our house. There is no way we'd have been able to find 40 hours to do it without taking loads of annual leave and having to live with boxes around for ages. It was a small house stuffed full of stuff so it meant we only had to manoeuvre round the boxes for one night.

Our most recent move the company didn't want any of the boxes or packing material back so I put it on Freecycle and Olio every time another batch was unpacked. The boxes and a lot of the wrapping paper went to three other house moves and the rest of the wrapping to a kids' art project.

Definitely worth it. But be aware they will pack absolutely everything that’s not nailed down, so declutter and organise as much as you can first so that they’re not packing random stuff.

We’ve had a few moves for DH work and the packing service has been provided each time. Definitely some of them have more common sense than others. We’ve had a bin and contents packed for an overseas move (thankfully was nothing too gross) as well as random shed stuff - bits of wood and wire etc, but overall they’ve always been amazing and clearly labeled the boxes.

Absolutely remove anything you don’t want packed from your house, or put it all in a specific room (like the bathroom) and put a big sign on the door not to pack anything in there!