Is there a moving house/moving day tips thread?

[DazzlePaintedBattlePants]

In the spirit of the Great Mumsnet Kitchen Tips/Mistakes to Avoid thread, is there a moving house top tips thread anywhere?

We might actually be moving in the next fortnight and beginning to panic tbh😂 We have a full packing service but how does moving a freezer work? Do I need to unpack it and switch it off? What about plants?

What else do you wish you had known before moving?

Plants I would put in the boot of the car if they are small enough, along with other vulnerable things.
Freezer I can’t remember- the removals company will tell you if you ask but will probably get more replies soon on MN

Freezer we ate up the contents before the move and then switched off 24 hours before so it had defrosted. Fridges and freezers need to stand for some time after moving before switching on - check the instruction manual?

Plants - big containers and the cold frame were included in move quote and went in the van. Small ones probably easiest in your own car. We lost a small houseplant which went into a box with other stuff and then wasn't found again!

We packed suitcases for us and DD with enough clothes and toiletries for five days, to allow time for move and unpacking. Suitcases went in the car with us. Also, our laptops went in the car so we could access internet from cafes etc - PC and stuff like monitors were boxed up and went on the van. And we kept a box of ID and financial documents with us in the car.

Try and use up as many of the contents of the fridge and freezer as possible.
Arrange for pets to go into kennels/cattery if your move is local. If not empty one room totally first then set them up with food and a litter tray.
Empty and declutter the lofts/sheds/garage.
Box up out of season bedding/books/rarely used kitchen equipment.
On moving day put the vacuum cleaner in the car with you. Get to the new house before the removal men. Have a quick dash round with it before the furniture arrives (it's quick to hoover empty rooms and it means you'll get to do parts that will later be covered by heavy stuff).

Keep a box with mugs, kettle, tea , coffee.

The removal men work in very hard bursts with mugs of tea in between.

Then take box with you in the car, ready for action the other end.

Full packing service is great but they will pack everything. Bin complete with rubbish, etc.

With a sharpie label all the boxes as to what room you want them in in the new house.

They will probably transport the contents of your wardrobe in a temporary cardboard wardrobe. And reassemble your beds the other end. I wouldn’t pack 5 days of clothes, but would pack, or know which box contained, bedding for first night.

The removal van may well be waiting for you outside new house and be keen to get in as fast as possible so you may or may not be able to do cleaning.

Have childcare / farm kids out. You really can’t have small kids running about while people heft furniture and boxes at speed.

Once van is loaded you will need to wait for completion before picking up keys to new house. This can be a while. Drive to new house and pick up sandwiches for lunch or wait in a cafe, perhaps.

good luck, happy new home!

We were busy on moving in day directing the removal men. I couldn’t label every mattress, bedframe and chest etc so spent the day spotting, and saying “Third floor bedroom please! Second floor front bedroom please!” as they ran in lugging the big stuff.

I second eating down the fridge and freezer and defrosting for 24 hours.

Be prepared for the new house to be dirty. Running around with the vacuum is one thing if it is just moving debris in an otherwise clean house but not every vendor will have time/inclination or a clue. Our new place mustn’t have been cleaned since they accepted our offer, and some parts since they moved in a decade ago. We were fortunate we got the keys on Friday and moved on the Monday as the new place was filthy and we paid for an emergency deep clean over the weekend. It was Extremely Stressful. I’m no clean freak but it was disgusting ☹️

Hire packers. If you take one bit of advice, make it this one.

Think very carefully about things you want access to either shortly before leaving or soon on arrival, and pack those separately yourself in clearly marked boxes that you point out the the packers. It's usually a kitchen supplies box!

Make sure that boxes containing bed linen are very clearly marked so you can find them quickly.

Can't help with the freezer - I sold my last one with the house! But I wouldn't try to move with frozen food, and really you need to let the coolant settle before turning it on after moving it. So run it down as low as you can, then switch it off a couple of days before the move.

On fridge/freezers, most today are frost free and do not need to be defrosted before being moved. That applied in days gone by. However, once the fridge/freezer has been moved it needs to be upright for 6hrs before you turn it back on.

Washing machine, make sure you put in the restraining bolts to protect the drum while it’s being moved. Or your washing machine will break.

Pack & move your valuables and delicates yourself. I’ve had full packing service before and things do get broken or go missing. You should have insurance as well, but some things are irreplaceable.

Agree with securing keys a few days before move in day so you can arrange a professional clean in the new home.

Talk to your broadband company, often you can take your router with you and just plug it in in new house and WiFi will be up and running straight away. We arranged that with virgin so it was seamless.

Take meter readings as you leave old house and enter new house…take photos of them if you can. You may need this proof if any dispute arises such as people coming into your house not setting up utilities or people leaving your new home not paying their final bill.

Agree with securing keys a few days before move in day so you can arrange a professional clean in the new home.

That’s not possible if you are selling and buying simultaneously though. Only if you are moving from a rental and keep the tenancy beyond completion or your new tenancy.

Yep loads. I just did a 'moving day tips' search and about five different threads came up!

At your new place, do the beds before anything else - as in, get them built and put linen on them. That way, you can go to bed as soon as you get tired of unpacking.

True it’s possible if moving to/from a rental. But it is also possible if you get a bridging loan or if your income and assets qualify for both mortgages- so you can buy the new home and prepare it before you complete the sale of the old home. Gives you a window where you own both homes for a week or two.

Even if you can’t get a bridging loan, you don’t have to sell on the same day you buy and do the move door to door all on that same day as well.

Movers can pack you out and put things in short term storage while you stay in a hotel. Sell old house/Buy new house on same day, but then stay in hotel for a few days/week until the new house is ready. Then movers bring your stuff on the date you set.

Label the doors in your new house. It’s pointless saying to the removals men “office please!” If they don’t know which room that is. One man’s office another’s third bedroom etc!

Thanks for this thread!

I was thinking of printing and labelling new house floor plan for movers. Is that helpful?

If you dismantle any furniture, place the screws and bits in a plastic bag and tape them to one of the dismantled parts.

Bitter experience....

Helpful thread. I'll return to this in a couple of weeks when we (hopefully!) move

Placemarking! Hopefully moving in the next few weeks. Any tips for moving with cats would be fab. Ours is an outdoor cat and don’t think he will appreciate being kept inside/ a cattery at all!

@Milknosugar123 the best thing is either a cattery for a day or two, or keep them
confined to one room with everything they need, until you can be sure everyone has gone and some peace has been restored. Then keep him in for a few days and then out into the garden with supervision, then finally as per whatever you normally do. It isn’t advised to let a cat out straight away. They are likely to wander off and get lost as new home doesn’t have old home scent iyswim.
The litter tray sub is a good place to ask - such as using feliway plug ins etc.

Declutter asap- be ruthless.

Use smaller boxes and label everything clearly. It makes it all more manageable and your removal people will be grateful.

Pay for the best removal setup you can and/or rope in friends and family if they're going to be practical and useful. Send kids to stay a night or two with someone if possible.

Get all your laundry up to date and change your bedding a couple of days beforehand. On the day, place your pillows on top of your made bed and roll everything together so that the underside of your bottom sheet is on the outside. Set your beds up first and simply unroll bedding into place. That way when you've had enough you can go straight to bed.

Pack a weekend case for each of you with everything you need for at least a couple of days including toiletries and towels. Take it with you in the car and leave it there so it doesn't get lost amongst the boxes- fetch it in once you've made the bed.

Bundle hanging items together by taping the hooks and covering with a bin bag- poke a hole through the base with the hooks and cover it like it's dry cleaning. Leave clothing in drawers, just tape a pillowcase or similar over them so the stuff doesn't fall out.

Big blue IKEA bags are great for moving pots and pans and general stuff.

Put a box together with bathroom cleaning stuff and loo roll in a plastic bag, do the same sort of thing for the kitchen.

Create an essentials box which travels in the car with you. It should contain the kettle, cups, stuff to make drinks, crisps/healthier snacks and easy fruit- apples, grapes, bananas etc (you will get sick of eating crap which will make you feel worse when you're tired).
Then add in binbags, chargers, screwdrivers, a hammer, sticky tape, hand cream and a bottle of whatever makes you happy.

Our removers asked us to identify a location in the house that they weren't to touch - where we put things we wanted to move ourselves eg bedding/overnight bag/some particularly fragile and precious items. I highly recommend setting this up for yourself and then telling them x is off limits - we found the bath worked well for us!

Tesco meal deals with lots of choice for removal guts and you. They appreciate it and don't have long breaks to eat.

The biggest things for out last move;

Label the boxes packed with the intended new location and label the doors in the new place with these, I.e. DC1 bedroom on the box DC1 on the door of new place

Take a box of essentials with you ( bin bags/ tea bags/ kettle/ 1st aid kit/ shower stuff/ fresh night wear including slippers or socks/ toothbrushes and shower stuff)) also take your valuables and important bits, (passports/ documents/ electronics etc), take the toolbox with you too- don't pack it.

Because prepared for a ruthless clean and not.much unpacking when you initially arrive- I've found it surprising what states are.left behind.

We started decluttering and packing early and slowly. Sold everything we decided not to take. A decent tape dispenser and room label set. We used moving boxes from someone else. (We moved ourselves with man and van).

Started with the not used regularly items, loft/ shed/ garage and moved though the house .

Left a welcome letter with 'how things work', meter readings, utility company we were with and local amenities, takeaway recommendations, bin dates, nearest bus stop and train station. We didn't get one at our new house and were left guessing how to switch the ancient boiler on, which switch was the immersion heater etc. I also left chocolates and a bottle of bubbly with all the manuals / guarantees.

Moving in, we slept on mattresses on the floor. Have bedding and toiletries available.

We put our cat in the empty shed with all her things for the morning, then took her to the new house and put her in the en suite, as I knew that was a room no one would be going in and out of. Then we kept her in an empty room for a few days to calm down, going to visit her often, and slowly let her explore the rest of the house. It was winter though, fortunately, so the doors and windows were all closed so she couldn’t bolt for it. Left her about 4-5 weeks before we let her out, once we had a new cat flap installed.

We were lucky that our movers took about a third of our stuff two days before actual move day and kept it in a van at their yard, which was a huge help as it gave us more space to pack the last stuff

don’t. I’ve useless crap from one house to another - throw out as much as possible!

I have never heard of anyone buying and selling being able to get the keys in advance - and a drinking loan is an expensive way to take the pressure off.

I labelled everyone single thing - bought a big roll is preprinted labels from Amazon. They were colour coded so it was easy to see what went where.

I didn’t get the keys until 4pm and moved out of my house and handed it he keys at noon. So plan for that time.

also do you have pets? I planned for my cat to be at relatives for a couple of days.