Packing your house is a labyrinth of bullshit

[Pleaselettheholidayend]

I'm right in the middle.

I know it will end but it's awful hahahaha.

Just found a bag with a single shoe with a hole in the sole??????????

I won't cry.

😂! I'm right there with you, OP.

I keep thinking I've finished then more *rap springs up from nowhere. I found a container full of Kinder egg toys in a cupboard. I don't have any children 🤐. I'll be making my 8th 'final' trip to the tip this week...

Get a skip! I got one when I moved because I was trying to be ruthless. It got filled seemingly in seconds!

Me too! No-one's even mentioned exchange dates yet, but I'm trying to get ahead so at least some of the decluttering is done before things get really serious. But you have no idea how much crap you have until you start actually opening up all those cupboards...

True.
It took me four hours yesterday just to sort the wardrobes (and not even pack them into boxes, just look through everyone's clothes and get rid/donate unwanted stuff) a pre-packing sort out if you will. The thought of doing the rest of those house is making me question my life choices!

Me too, moving this Friday. Spent all weekend at it, the house looks like a bomb has exploded. Starting to feel a bit panicky that we won’t have it finished in time. Just hoping that I feel better after another solid day of packing tomorrow. I’m finding packing the breakables so time consuming.

A previous house purchase fell through, and one of the reasons the seller gave was that “she just couldn’t face packing up the house”.

We have set aside the Easter holidays to go through the loft…

@newbeliever pay for packers! Of course that doesn't mean you don't have to sort stuff but frankly I'll never do the packing again. They pack everything though - half eaten sandwich left out on the counter? They'll wrap it and bung it in a box....

I feel your pain OP.

We moved just over a year ago. Firstly got a skip which we filled easily. Lots more tip runs, giving stuff away/selling and then finally, packing what we had left.

We just couldn't face it so we paid for a packing service. It wasn't cheap but I'd pay for it again in a heartbeat. Well worth it.

The last move I did was a short notice self move. I had small children, years of much accumulated clutter, and was going from a large home to a much smaller one.
It very nearly broke me.

I feel your pain. I decluttered twice in the run up, then surrendered and let the removals guys finish it.

Unpacking is worse. A lot of my stuff went to storage (long story) and I had just got it out and was unpacking / sorting again, when the room it was in flooded. Insurance Company had it all reboxed and off to storage. I got it all back last summer and it's been sitting in the garage whilst I fail to summon the courage to deal with it.

Get a skip to have a big declutter then add a packing service to the removals - it doesn’t add much to the cost and it’s so worth it.

We moved 4 times in 12 years. It actually was useful in terms of ruthlessly keeping on top of the clutter. Now we are in our hopefully final home and it is much bigger than the previous ones, and I can see it filling up 😭

I told DH that once a year we are having a ‘pretend we’re selling the house’ week where we ruthlessly declutter and primp it as if the estate agent were coming round for photos

Omg I'm decluttering pre-move and it's hellish. I feel ya.

I hear you.

Less than two weeks to go for us and it feels impossible.

We are moving tomorrow so we are pretty packed but I STILL KEEP FINDING STUFF!

A skip is a really good shout and I will beer in mind if we ever move again (not likely at this stage)

Good luck anyone else packing/decluttering - just gotta get through it...

@Pleaselettheholidayend are you cleaning yourself or did you get the cleaners in?

The sheer amount of shite I have allowed to accumulate over the years is astonishing. And this is after embarking on a programme of minimalism, loosely following a one-in-two-out approach. I need to be much stricter, as we are planning on moving in a few months and although we'll be paying for packers, the idea of paying for my clutter to move with me is mad!

We moved last year, from a 6 bed large house we had lived in for 20 years and raised my babies in, to a 4 bed bungalow, not just throwing out the rubbish, but having to choose what to keep and what to let go. Still brought to much which us, didn’t have room for all my lovely book shelves, or the wonderful church pew we had in the hallway, and my lovely aga had to be left behind.

very happy here, and slowly making it home, but I’ve told the children I’m never doing it again, this is it, the next time my stuff is sorted it’s their job 😂

Its cost about £400 to add packing service to a 4 bed house. Worth every single penny.

@Surelythistime no, all us sadly. Got a lot of stuff to do at the new place so need to watch how much we spend.

Yep I'd second this - it was worth every penny. I did the declutter and chuck as I was unpacking and finding new places for everything when we moved.

I'm still using the packing paper they put in to protect valuables now as kindling for the open fire - one year on cos they used mountains of the stuff.

I can empathise, it’s a very big job.

We moved during lockdown OP, lost count of how many tip runs DH did, he knew all the staff so well by the time we moved! We were downsizing, and had lived in our 5 bed house for 18 years, we still had a travel cot and stair gates in one of the bedrooms, our two where 19 & 17 at the time! 😂

DS1 helped me to pack up, we got into a good routine of making up boxes, wrapping and packing. The trick is not to look at things, just pack them, mark the boxes well, the room and what’s inside. Also not being scared to throw items away, that you don’t use, need or love. We got rid of so much stuff.

We must have had twenty boxes for the kitchen, and needed to find the one with the cutlery in the next morning, so pleased I had written a brief description on the boxes.

If you are organised, moving day is much easier. Our removal vans arrived at 8am, said they thought if would take till the afternoon to load, they we done just after 11, they said we had made it easy for them. As they cleared each room I dusted, cleaned, vacuumed etc.

You will get there OP, good luck for your move and enjoy your new home.

Its crazy....I'm not moving but I do like a declutter. Even in rooms that looks reasonably empty and clear, I find myself removing bin bags of stuff.

Last time was such a disaster that I won't put my house on the market again until the decluttering is all done.

We moved last year and thankfully I'd done a ruthless declutter and deep clean before it went in the market, but the actual packing still seemed endless.

We cleaned (me and dd) as soon as the van left and it was amazing how quickly we got it done in an empty house, it wasn't professionally clean I'm sure but it was clean enough.