Please tell me your best packing and moving tips

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I am surrounded by chaos. Please tell me your best packing and moving tips. It feels never ending.

Do not unpack too quickly, especially in the kitchen. Don’t reproduce what you did in your current house. Is there a better system?

And pay for a deep clean before you move in.

Get some cash for removers tips
Get snacks for on the run
Collect things you need in the first evening and morning after and put them in a big 📦 box marked ‘NEXT 24hrs’ so your Stanley knife, scissors.inch tape, toilet bags, paper cups, hand towels, dish towels, kitchen roll, toilet roll, phone charger, power bank , screw driver. Possibly keep the 24 hr box in your car

Get large felt pads for your sofas and dining furniture and get the removal team to put them on all the furniture as you arrive. Means shifting furniture is a breeze.
Notionally ear mark a bits and pieces bag. A place for fallen off and lost bits that will need repatriation.

Get a book and write down the contents of each box with corresponding number marked on box. So if someone asks - where is the toaster - box 7.

Keep your passports in your handbag - just in case there's a problem with money transfers - branch other than your own will need to see them.

The last time we moved, we booked a premier inn for the first night - one of the best things we ever did. The money didn't come through from our sale until very late afternoon and the vans weren't unpacked until 8pm. (See above about passports - the person at the bottom of the chain hadn't signed something and their bank insisted on passports for id verification, and they were on the lorry.)

Give someone trusted a box of your most important items/ documents (passports, birth certs, spare car keys etc) to look after just before you move. Something always goes missing and you don’t want it to be those things!

I moved 3 times in 4 years and my top tips are declutter before you move! I had a skip, took things to charity and gave things away for free. I aimed to only have one moving truck. I paid for movers and they also made up the beds.

I then packed everything except the bare essentials. I packed suitcases with things to tide us over like towels, outfits, toiletries and bed linen and this went in the car with us. I packed all the important documents in my work bag and kept that in the car. I packed an essentials box with tea bags, washing up liquid, cat food, wine, silverwear, mugs and some plates and out that in my car.

The cats, the plants and those things came with me.

As soon as we were in I made the beds so we could just flop after the wine!

Do this, but also try to make sure all boxes weigh roughly the same. So do not fill a box with books, have half a dozen books+ a pillow or similar, boxes should be full but not heavy. Put kettle and tea making equipment in your car to keep it accessible and the removal team happy.

Keep vacuum cleaner and basic cleaning stuff in your car too so that you can go around and give old house quick clean once the removal people have packed up and gone - all those cobwebs behind wardrobes etc.
If packing yourself, don't make boxes too heavy, use cushions and curtains as padding in book boxes.
We bought approx 50 professional moving boxes and huge amount of packing paper for £10 on Gumtree.
Colour code boxes on all sides to match colour coded rooms in new house.
Start decluttering months before the move.
If packing yourselves, it will take A LOT longer than you anticipate.
Good luck OP!

We started packing as soon as we sold. Starting with decluttering, skipping and donating. Packing up the garage and places we know we won’t need. If you do it over time it doesn’t feel so overwhelming. We are mostly packed now bar things we use daily. Booked the removals for moving but we will dismantle and assemble furniture. Plan for the kids to sleep at grandparents the night before so we can clear their rooms and clean. Don’t over load boxes, if you pack books for example, half fill the box then add lighter items on top. It’s easy to make boxes heavy. Label boxes and make sure to let the men know what room is what. We have numbered the bedrooms. We will clean bathrooms night before and rooms a final hoover as they empty on move day. Probably wat tea out day before so we can pack the kitchen up completely. Make sure to have a box with milk, tea/coffee, kettle mugs and biscuits handy.

I’m in the middle of this at the minute 🤞 we will be completing next thursday

I decluttered when listing for the photos but as soon as we sold I decluttered again and was ruthless. Starting early means only dealing with small bits at a time so it’s not overwhelming and you can avoid a skip. Airing cupboard I only kept one set of sheets per bed and have washed dried snd back on the bed same day since, 2 towels each 1 to use one in the wash.Pack out of season clothes in suitcases or vacuum bags.

I’ve kept all important paperwork and documents in a box which will stay in my car with other important items like iPads, laptops, jewellry, router, extensions leads and a toolkit.Plus a box with kettle tea/coffee etc and a full box of cleaning supplies to drop at new house. Plus my hospital bag as I’ll be 35 weeks when we move.

I'll pick the keys up and drive to new house to unload and put up room signs which match box labels and let MIL in as she’ll clean the new house and I’ll go back to the old house to clean as stuff is moved. Dh will take all the bedding in his car which as others say will be freshly washed to save a job in the first few days. Dh will stay with the movers to supervise.

kids will be at school and are booked into afterschool club and the dog is going to my mums so we don’t worry about him being the way.

Ive got a list of on the day jobs such as meter readings etc well also eat out the night before and have a takeaway on our first night so no need to unpack. I’m also planning on making up a cool box with a load of sandwiches to keep everyone going through the day plus bottled water.

We are now down to bare essentials, travel medicine kit, only bare essential toiletries, enough clothes out for a week etc. This weekend we will give the gardens a final tidy and start dismantling beds.

Ive also deep cleaned as I’ve decluttered so the clean on the day should be minimal.

This works if you're overwhelmed and can't accomplish the packing.
I prefer to do it myself and label boxes myself.

Get packing service. Best thing ever. Totally worth the money

Pack an overnight bag for each person with clothes, toiletries etc for the first few nights in the new house. Take these with you in the car. Make sure everyone’s bedding is easy to find for the first night. Label boxes in a bit of detail, so specify what’s in them as well as the room, especially for things you are likely to need soon after moving in.

I remember feeling exactly like that before my last move. What helped me most was packing one room at a time instead of jumping between rooms. I also packed an "open first" box with things like chargers, toiletries, a change of clothes, coffee, and basic kitchen items so I wasn't digging through boxes on the first night.
Labeling each box with both the room and a few of the main items inside saved me a lot of time when unpacking. If you haven't used them already, colored tape or stickers for each room can also make things much easier.
It definitely feels endless while you're in the middle of it, but once you start seeing empty rooms, it comes together much faster than you expect. Good luck with the move!

Everything Sugarcube84 said. The only thing I’d add is put the car keys in your pocket.

We moved 4 homes in 10 years and some boxes (photos, classic books, baby memories) didn’t get opened from one time to the next.
I numbered mine from 40 to 1 and packed away the least important stuff first. Kept a notebook with a summary of the contents eg. 39 = XMas decorations.

We used household linen as packing materials, unused binbags at the bottom of the box and paper napkins between plates so it could all be used again. Clothes still on their hangers contained in a drawstring bin bag (Lidl do white ones) go straight into the wardrobe on arrival. Bubble pack is expensive! Plenty of GOOD packing tape, black marker, scissors and box cutter for each adult.
Tape the screws etc. SAFELY in a bag to the furniture they belong to.
Ask GP to take the kids overnight if possible.

We are currently packing our house to move (packing service was an extra £350 and we don't want to pay that)

We have decluttered ruthlessly, bags and bags taken to the charity shop and tip.

We did easy stuff first eg pictures and ornaments, things that don't require any thinking.

Then we did it room by room, top down starting with the loft. And we split each room into sections and just tried to get one section completely down so it didn't feel overwhelming rather than trying to do a whole room so for example we packed DVDs, and then when they were completely packed we did one shelf of books etc rather than attempt to pack the entire lounge.

Also don't underestimate little pockets of time, I did things like sort the cutlery drawer or the tea towel drawer while the kettle was boiling.

Even if you just do 15 mins/1 box a night, by the end of the week that's 7 boxes and almost 2 hours less of work nearer to moving day. I also did upstairs on a weekend daytime as can't do upstairs in evening when kids asleep so could focus on downstairs on the evenings

Having said all this though it's still chaos here 😂

Pay someone to do it?! Best money you’ll ever spend.

Stay in a Premier Inn for the first night so you're fresh to face the chaos of unpacking.