Packing tips

[TeaChocKitKat]

We had an offer accepted on a house yesterday. Thankfully we are chain free so wont have the extra pressure of being out of our place in a day and can stagger things by a few days.
Where on earth do you start with packing? Any top tips? Really worrying about the logistics and how much we have to do now!

Decluttering before everything else. No point in taking stuff with you if you don’t use/wear/ need it. Then start with the things you use less frequently, so won’t be needing daily. Boxes labelled with rooms they’re to go in. If you aren’t having a removal company, I don’t know whether you can get the wardrobe boxes they use, so you simply transfer clothes to them and back to the wardrobes in the new house.

We started packing MONTHS before.
Garage, shed, loft, garden etc were all stripped (unwanted items sold / given away / junked) and the remainder put into boxes with only the essentials left out (for garden maintenance etc).
In the house items were packed away in order of requirement (i.e. if it wasn't needed for a few months then it went away first and items that were needed more frequently left to later) and the boxes stored either in the garage or neatly in one of the rooms.
When it came to photos the boxes did not cause an issue, if they couldn' be moved out of the shot they were left in situ, if nothing else it showed we were getting ready to move out!

For packing we supplied all materials ourselves (double move so 80% of the boxes would remain untouched).
Bubble-wrap, tape & marker pens I bought in bulk off eBay. For boxes I bought a few dozen HD stackable plastic crates C/W lids for heavy items in the garage and HD cardboard boxes for everything else (companies who import products sell the boxes off for this very purpose rather than just junking them, they are superb value and really strong).
We also have a significant number of large pictures, mirrors etc and there were bubblewrapped and then slid into flattened cardboard boxes (as recommended by the removal firms), all were perfect when unpacked.

My top tip is if you can afford it, it doesn't add much to the overall cost and is far less stressful, pay the removal firm to pack.

If you have a goldfish, put the bowl in the freezer overnight before moving.

This will stop the water slopping about.

Copyright Viz comic

Declutter as much as possible - we had 3 months notice of moving last year so I did at least one cupboard or drawer unit per week and tried to take a bag of stuff out of the house every day (to charity shop, Freecycle/Olio, pile in garage destined for tip).

Look into getting packing service. We have for every move and it makes it a lot easier and doesn't cost that much compared to the actual move cost - for us it was about 10% of the cost.

It's only an extra £200 to have the removals company pack absolutely everything for you the day of/before your move.

We had the moving people come in last Friday to pack. They were fantastic. I'd decluttered as much as possible in the previous few months. Tha packers (3 of them) were all done in about 5 hours. It would have taken me days to do it myself.

We're moving 250 miles away. Today the lorry arrives at our new house ( which luckily isn't part of a chain so all the building and decorating is done) and will set up all the furniture and unpack whatever rooms I want them to do. some of the stuff may not end up in the correct place but it's much easier to move it around than unpack box after box of stuff and get overwhelmed by it. It's well worth the extra money and not that expensive.

Ha ha - now that is a top tip!

Thanks all. I'd always thought that getting the removals company to pack would cost a fortune but it sounds like its something we should consider.
DP suffers with quite bad anxiety so Im trying to do as much as I can to minimise the stress.
For those of you who got a company to pack for you, were they really careful with fragile items? DP is v worried about things getting broken in the move.

We've moved three times (and I've moved twice on my own before that) and have always thought the packers/removal men are better at handling and packing fragile stuff than we would be! We've had no breakages at all. They are very very experienced and will ball up wrapping paper around fragile items. They are also expert at judging what will fit in what box which helps keep things safe and have boxes sized so they fit well into the van so it's packed tight.

They do move FAST. It took four men ten hours to pack up our house but they did a lot of that in one day, leaving us with a 'basic set up' overnight before the move day. They then came and finished the packing that day, then loaded the vans. If we hadn't used them we'd have been falling over boxes for weeks doing it ourselves - and it would have take a lot longer than 40 hours!

They have specialist packing stuff too - so the wardrobe boxes have a hanging rail, so stuff comes straight out of wardrobe, hangs in box, straight out again at the other end. Ours had special padded bag things for pictures and a giant bag thing for mattresses. Most of ours have moved chest of drawers, filing cabinets etc as they are - so with clothes in drawers, then just slotted back in. The most recent move they didn't do this and emptied all the drawers into boxes which was a bit of a pain to sort out. Ours also took apart a bed and a large wardrobe to get them to fit, unplumbed and replumbed in at the destination the dishwasher and washing machine. It's all stuff that makes your life a bit easier.

Declutter as much as you can in advance and eat up as much food as possible - they'll wrap and pack any tins etc still in cupboards!

The only things we packed ourselves and put in the car were a couple of suitcases to cover us for a few nights whilst we unpacked, some toys/kid essentials and a box of financial documents, passports etc. Keep your keys with you otherwise they might get packed!

They will pack and label boxes as the house is that you're moving FROM so eg boxes will be labelled 'living room - ornaments', 'hallway - coats and shoes'. If the house you're moving to has a very different set up of bedrooms/living rooms it's worth having a think about what stuff you might want to group together so it gets packed together.

Good luck!

I tell you what not to do.

Don't tell your daughter that you're working hard at packing up your house but without actually doing anything. Don't tell your daughter it would be great for her to come over on the Saturday before you move on the Monday to "finish up a few bits" - but actually mean you want her to pack up your entire bastard house in two days on one of the hottest weekends of the year.

Don't do that or else your daughter may be sat plotting your death in many vengeful ways.

I can neither confirm nor deny I am the daughter in this scenario, having got the keys last Monday.

Disclaimer: this post may not be terribly helpful for you unless you're a lunatic like my DM.

Ps - congrats and good luck!

Anothe recommendation for a packing service, and don‘t be concerned about them packing fragile things-they do it for a living and will do it better than you can!

@SpidersAreShitheads oh dear - I think the house we just bought was like this. Vendor insisted on delaying completion by six weeks so he 'had time to pack'. Then didn't. There was still a skip on the drive on completion day. And we got the keys several hours late as he wasn't out. He ended up walking out and leaving a lot of stuff behind - had to go via solicitor and get money off vendor to pay for house clearance!

My Mum dropped hefty hints about me helping her pack and move last year and I refused to get involved and kept pointing her to the packing service! I have no idea where she thought I'd have the time to do it!

Our packing was £500 on top of the move (4 bed house, double garage, loft etc) and is always the best money you spend on a move.

Declutter - you don't want to pay to move stuff you don't want. Tip runs, charity shops and re-use recycle places are easiest, although worth listing stuff that will sell quickly and easily.

Get a huge roll of bin bags and start now!

Things are far less likely to get broken if the professionals do the packing than if you do it!

We have always paid for the removal company to pack.They do it all the time and are so quick.I think your items are not insured if you pack yourself.They have always been careful and provide all the packing boxes etc.Worth every penny.suggest get rid of stuff you don’t need only take what you really love and need.