Full packing - how lazy can I be?

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I've booked full service packing for my move. The house is chaos as I empty my attic full of various dead relatives' stuff, a set of business records and a couple of marriages' worth of leftover bric à brac.

Can I really just have the house a total tip full of random piles of curtains and plastic bags, and they will pack it all? Is it worth pre-packing, and if so how??

I think you should get rid of anything you don't want at the new house at least. No point dragging it from point a to point b when it needs to go to point z.

They will pack it all, just think about how you want it organised at the other end, so it goes into the right room. Label it maybe if you have things in one room to go to different rooms.

Just pack your private paperwork and take that with you in the car. Leave the rest up to the professionals. But I agree, the nore tat you get rid of now, the better.

They will pack everything. But you are going to need to sort it out and throw things out at some point. I always find that less painful pre move than in a new house which I want to enjoy

Bin as much rubbish as you can.
Pack a suitcase with enough stuff for a couple of nights.
Pack a box of essentials - kettle, cups, teabags, teaspoon, sugar, knife, fork, spoon, loo roll)
Pack anything you don't want to get lost (or seen by the packers) into a box for you to keep in the car (passports, house buying/selling paperwork/marriage certificate, jewelry etc)
Leave the rest to the packers.

Best way to do it! We paid for everything to be packed and would def do it again

In my experience they will literally pack everything, right down to waste bins full of rubbish. But for the sake of your sanity, get rid of any crap before you move or you will be living with rooms full of unpacked boxes for a decade.

One set of packers packed the bin with rubbish

Seriously sort a little be specific they were LOCUSTS 😂

As people say, they will pack everything. You need to have the essentials in your car before they arrive because they will pack your suitcase.

I agree with the people saying it’s easier to do the clear out beforehand. Doing it in the new house will leave it a tip for months because the things to get rid of won’t have a ‘place’ to be tidied to and you won’t want to make space for them because they are going so they will just sit on the floor until you do get around to doing something with them (or maybe that’s just me).

They will pack absolutely everything - and yes, I mean everything! That includes rubbish in your kitchen bin or food waste in the compost bin if you have one!

We have always used a full packing service and we generally packed valuables ourselves (jewellery, guitar, documents, passports, anything in the filing cabinet etc) and then left the rest to the packers.

When moving within the U.K. I have done my books myself as I wanted them to stay in rough order for the bookcases. We have about 1500 books in the house though and I just didn’t have the energy to re-sort them when unpacking. Couldn’t do that when doing international moves and had to just suck it up.

We’ve had some brilliant packers who have not had a single breakage - including getting complex lego models from
the U.K. to US in one piece - and we’ve had some not so good ones who have had several breakages including irreplaceable cake stands which were my Granny’s. (Definitely cried about that move)

In theory you sit back and let them get on with it. Move anything you don’t want them to pack onto the beds - they are always the last thing to be dismantled so it’s easy to just say not to touch anything on them. Alternatively, move things into your car. Put brightly coloured notes (post-its but stuck on with tape so they don’t fall off) on anything not going at all - things like washing machines, curtains, light shades etc. I also put labels on all the doors, for instance Bedroom 1, Living Room, Play Room etc. It means they will label the boxes with the names of what YOU call the room, not what they have decided to call it! (We once had a move where we had a load of boxes labelled “kids room” and we had no idea where the stuff in them came from - could have been any of the DC’s bedrooms, the playroom, or the family room!)

Personally, I watch some things being packed to make sure they are doing it well (I will always watch cake stands being done now) and then if I’m happy I leave them to it. I will speak up if I’m not happy about anything. No need to be rude, but you’re paying a lot of money for the service so you’re entitled to get what you’re paying for.

I provide cans of juice and wrapped biscuits/cereal bars and then just let them get on with it.

My parents did this. There were things they lost for months or longer because the packers threw random stuff in a box. For example there was one box that had my stuff at the top so they didn't unpack it because they assumed all of it was mine. They gave it to me and I eventually unpacked it to discover that most of the box contained some of their long lost possessions.

Gosh. How much is a service like this? Compared to just standard removals. Sounds fantastic!

THANK YOU ALL

It's pricy @CornishTiger - I'd say probably twice the price of a standard service or near it? But I don't give a damn. I'm lucky enough to have the money. Also I am not going to be able to take more than one day off work and my job is quite draining enough.

We paid about an extra £600 I think but worth every penny.

My packers packed my kitchen bin full of soggy teabags and biscuit packets, as well as the unwashed mugs and leftover milk from their early morning cuppa😅
They are, as PP said, bloody locusts, so make a bag of stuff you know you need to locate quickly, and any personal items AND PUT THEM IN YOUR CAR NOW 😉

Just did an instant quote online with one of the big firms down here. A few a couple of miles away for a 3 bed house £1700 plus £570 for packing.

Looks like if we ever finally get to move it’ll be typical man with vans :-(