When to start packing?!?

[WoWsers16]

So when to start - and how?!
sold and offer accepted 28th April ish - mortgage all approved, paper work at the stage of enquiries. Surveys all done last week- so been told maybe end of June/mid July.
obviously don’t want to jinx anything but also want to be prepared! I’ve already sorted through the loft but think I should start somewhere in the house?
what have others done/what’s your plan? X

Start now!
Clear out all cupboards.
Go through the kitchen and get rid of unused stuff.
Books, old videos, cds etc
Shed
Garage
Clothes
Toys

Packing took me a lot longer than I thought and I wish I'd started on stuff I didn't use very often in the kitchen, that took the longest.

I bought boxes from kite packaging and started on my books first, they sell a variety of sizes. I also bought the tape and tape dispenser from them. Rather than write on the boxes, I numbered them, and kept an inventory.

Ikea do an oblong blue bag with zips that I used for bedding and clothes, some removal companies offer cardboard 'wardrobe' boxes.

I used different colour tape to show which room the boxes should go into - blue for the bedroom, red for the kitchen etc.

When you move in, print off the floor plan for the removal men so they know which colour box goes where.

I started as soon as I accepted the offer, starting with things like ornaments then moving onto books and rarely used kitchen items and ending with stuff you use every day. It's amazing how little you actually need regularly and if you pack systematically it is so much easier to unpack. I packed a 3 bed house and completely unpacked it the other end on my own in about 8 hours.

Start now. Go through all your possession and get rid/sell anything you don't need haven't used for years. De-clutter everywhere. Be brutal, you'll thank yourself later!

Start packing things you don't need access to for a while, like books and as you get closer to move date, pack more used things.

I found the kitchen the most difficult as there's so much that needed to be left till last minute. A couple days before, pack as much of the kitchen as you can, leaving just enough to eat and cook with. Then night before/morning of move, there's not too much left in there to pack.

Dismantle as much furniture as you can before the actual move day.

We started packing almost 12-months before we went on the market.
Sorting out the loft, garage, sheds etc was done well in advance of marketing the property.
By the time the photos were done and viewings carried out we had broken the back of it and boxes appeared in a few of the photos (if nothing else I think it showed we were sincere about moving).
Between marketing and completion was 6-months and we used that to pack away the everyday items (we had a LOT of stuff!).

Wow! Stunned by these replies.

I won’t even start to think about packing until exchange date, and then it will be all systems go.

until exchange, there is absolutely no guarantee of moving. I am not going to jinx it!

PS @WoWsers16 if all the paperwork and searches/surveys are complete, why on earth is it going to still take another 5-6 weeks?!

Another one who decluttered fairly early. From offer accepted on Jan (!!!) we have been to the tip twice, plus the charity shops. We got packs of boxes from Argos and bubble wrap from B&Q, which seem to be the best value for money.

Have packed books, winter things, pictures, art, objet and hobby stuff already. Fortunate to be in a large (rented) house so we can fill the corners of rooms with piles of boxes and still be able to function.

We exchanged last week and finally have the completion date (13/6), so that has concentrated our minds. However, there is the huge bank holiday weekend between then and now so we’ve blocked that out to finish packing at our leisure, with the pomp on mute. I cannot wait to have the kitchen empty apart from our plates, four bowls for the last few days etc ☺️

One thing I wish I’d done sooner was organise removals. I found it hard to focus without a firm date, and since we got one I’ve had one quote from a recommended firm that I think was far too much so now the quest begins for something we can swallow. More work 😶

My gosh I thought I was organised until the different colour tape idea.’!! That’s brilliant! Thank you x

Enquiries are just happening now - im
unsure of the timings , so you think it may happen sooner?!? That’s the only thing with moving house- it’s the variety of timings for everything and the not knowing x

Enquiries are just happening now - im
unsure of the timings , so you think it may happen sooner?!? That’s the only thing with moving house- it’s the variety of timings for everything and the not knowing x

I am another who did absolutely nothing till exchange. As I live in England too many times have friends been living in packed houses when it all goes wrong at the last minute. We had 2 weeks between exchange and completion and I did it then.

I last moved 20 years ago and it still gives me nightmares!

We started far too late, there were just the two of us and I can't believe how much stuff we had, it was so stressful.

We are looking to move again in a few years, I've already started the decluttering in anticipation. My aim is to totally clear the loft except for Christmas declarations and it'd be nice to see the garage floor

My advice is start yesterday!

I started decluttering 12 months ago for my own mental health. Discovered back in February that we are moving overseas this July. Stepped up the decluttering so we only keep what we really need and love (heading for minimalism).

I'm now at the stage where Ive pretty much sold and donated everything we want to (got over 700 euros for old lego from the 80s!!!) and am now ready to start packing. Boxes arrive next weekend so will start then (6 weeks before moving).

Will start with books, winter clothing and shoes, next size up clothes Ive been storing for DS2, and DVDs.

I could easily start later but I need to make a start on it for my own wellbeing. Plus I'm packing by myself as DH has already moved overseas, and I'm also working and looking after DC. So I'll never had a solid few days of being able to pack.

Best advice is declutter first and be ruthless.

I wish I'd photographed the ornaments I'd decluttered, I did waste some time looking for something.

Also started early. Wanted to take my time and not leave anything undone.
Decluttered so much stuff. This will be the first time we have used a removal company and so I had in my mind with all items 'do I want to pay someone to transport this'
Loft, then garage (where my DH had more rubbish stuff than in the rest of the house put together) then sideboards with little used stuff so that I could pull out and clean behind and so on
We started off saying we didn't want to live in a shell for months but enjoying the cleansing feeling of it we soon moved on to removing things off the walls and making good 😊.
Now doing kitchen cupboards and cleaning as I go. Hope to complete by the end of June or we will have nothing left!

Definitely agree. I definitely shan't be packing until we have exchanged, which I hope to be in the next week or two.

Decluttering is being done as even if the sale falls through (again) I will still benefit from having done it.

The lovely people we are buying off were packed and ready to move for our original date of 1st April. The poor family have been living out of boxes since then. If our second set of buyers try any more dirty tricks they will be living out of boxes for the whole summer.

Unfortunately our property buying process, combined with unscrupulous buyers willing to try and trick in the book means that nothing is guaranteed until you at least exchange.

I don't mean to sound negative, am just sharing learning from my experiences. Fingers crossed yours will all go smoothly though and that you are in your new home soon.

How much 'spare' time have you got? We had packing service for a previous move, and it took four men ten hours to pack everything, so we realised that we'd have struggled to find 40 hours to do it ourselves. Or it would have been four hours a week for ten weeks...

We moved last year (waiting to move again once we've bought as we're in a temporary rental) and started decluttering as soon as my job offer (work relocation) came through, so about two months before our house went on the market. Went systematically room by room trying to take several bags to the charity shop each week, plus some listings on Freecycle and Olio. We paid for packing service again and will do again this time but the decluttering has paid off!

If you can pay for a packing service!

Not a typical problem but one to be aware of. Our move 'journey' was made in 2 goes with a change of removal lorry for logistical reasons. Lots and lots of boxes (numbered as mentioned by pp) When we eventually got into our house it was several weeks before we realised we were several boxes missing. Too late to claim on the removers insurance but when they asked what was in the boxes we said 'books' without further detail. Needless to say we never saw them again but what I would ALWAYS do is write/stencil our name on every box.

Def agree with this. If you're already paying for removal men, it has only ever been a relatively small increase in cost for the packing service

Definitely this! Being able to live as normal until the day of the move was great.

If you know that all will be ok then I would start now or at least declutter / pack things you don't need. I had bad luck with houses in the past (not last min thankfully) but I was adamant something was going to go wrong again. I didn't tell a single person that we had even viewed and it got to 5 days before completion and dawned on me that I should do something! I text work and got some time off to do everything. It helped we had a week after completion in both houses. I ended up moving everything myself in my car about 5 trips a day and hired a van for the big furniture. Good luck

It's always good to have a reason to declutter (I always need a reason, as due to having ADHD, I just fail miserably otherwise) and an intended house move is perfect for that. This time round I even hired a lovely decluttering/organising lady to help keep me motivated too, and we have got rid of so much stuff! They are not cheap, but it makes a massive difference especially to the way my brain works (or doesn't, in this case, hah!) In my case at least, it's amazing how much you can clear out, or at least temporarily box as you know you won't be using it for a while, whilst still having a functional household.

However, like others have said, I never want to jinx it before exchange. We had sellers who seemed surprised they were supposed to be moving on the date everyone had agreed a month back With very little time left before that date, last week we had to get tradespeople in to take out the various smart home stuff we couldn't legally do ourselves (gas, electric etc) or we wouldn't have found anyone in time. The next day our buyers threatened to pull out because our seller was faffing so much but thankfully we finally exchanged on Friday. If we'd had everything packed up too and it had fallen through, it would have been a complete disaster!

We're paying for the packing service as we have done the previous two times - it's a drop in the ocean compared to all the other costs, and worth its weight in gold.

Its true that not knowing a date is tricky.

Here in France we sign a first document with the agreement to sell/buy in 3 months time. Then the buyers have 4 or 6 weeks (can't remember which) to confirm a mortgage. If anyone backs out (except if bank refuses mortgage) then they owe 10% of the sale price to the other party.

Ergo you know 3 months ahead the exact date of your move.

But I'll follow this thread cos Im getting useful tips already about labelling boxes with our name (moving overseas via boat)