More unusual moving house tips

[KatyMac]

Not the easy stuff like take a box with mugs kettle etc or make sure the children are being looked after somewhere else

But what things really make moving out/in easier?

There must be some serious knowledge here on MN

This is good. We had one box that was labelled "Kitchen - Fondue sets, Chocolate Fountain, Ice Cream maker and Pasta roller" and for some reason we didn't unpack it until we had been in the house 6 months.

When I moved here, I did all the 'normal' tips, but the very best thing I did was arrange dinner delivered to the door at 6pm for the first 4 nights.
It was great - I just didn't have to think!

I paid a handyman for the day. He assembled stuff, put light fittings up, unpacked stuff, and generally made life way easier

Don’t forget that you have an attic space until the evening before you move! (Luckily mine didn’t have a lot in it)

Take bulbs, cuttings or plants that you really like with you

I've moved so much and I've got two top tips! Pack a suitcase for each family member with outfits, toiletries, bed linen, towels, pyjamas etc and put them in the car now! I usually pack enough for a few days.

The next is the second your beds are put together make them! You can then just flop at the end of a long day!

Oh god I am dreading it!

I love organisation and it feels so free form! & chaotic!

Assume that even though you spend hours cleaning your house from to bottom, your vendors may well not have bloody bothered 🤬

if you can afford to, pay for packers, they were brilliant!

it will probably be later in the day than you expect. Prepare for a lot of hanging around waiting so keep snacks handy!!

Pack the vacuum in your car. Arrive at the new house before the removal lorry (or ask them to go on their break). Vacuum the empty rooms before large furniture items are unloaded.

Don’t try and have some complicated colour coding or numbers system for rooms, no one will remember it and will be asking you all the time. Use obvious labels like ‘front bedroom’, small back bedroom, big back bedroom etc. Label according where things are going to go rather than where they have come from.
Write the contents on the sides of the boxes so you can see what’s in them when they are stacked up.
Don’t be tempted to use the biggest boxes you can find. They can easily become too heavy to carry comfortably.

A packing service can be good, but I spent nearly an hour unwrapping about 100 small polished stones which were originally in a bowl together but had all been wrapped individually. 🙄

Oh damn I was going to number the rooms - its a bungalow with 5 bedrooms and a bit of a maze!

I have some boxes but I like a4 boxes for books or banana boxes they are good too

I doubt we can afford packers - we are moving 2 houses into 1 so we need to be as careful as possible with costs

DH is a bit disabled, but loves to clean so we will set him cleaning to minimise him picking things up!

Here are mine:

• Shrink wrap furniture like sofas etc. they say they wrap these things with blankets but I was so pleased I did my own wrapping as well
• If there are moving company boxes that you have to give back use these for kitchen items that you will unpack within a week or two and use your own boxes for stuff you will want boxed up for a while
• Obviously separate stuff you will want to unpack in the first week to stuff you can wait to unpack later
• Have 2 rucksacks; one for money, IDs, precious jewellery etc etc. that is with you the whole time and another filled with snacks, water, paper plates, cutlery, plastic cups, tissues, meds etc etc. for anything you might need on the moving day/ night without needing to unpack the whole kitchen
• Make up a box of cleaning supplies to use on the first couple of days you move in and have that come with you in your car so you have that ready just in case while the movers are shifting boxes everywhere
• Also put your vacuum cleaner in your car too so you have it ready in the new house and also it can be the last thing to leave your old house after giving it a quick vacuum before leaving
• Put anything you desperately don’t want broken in your car rather than the moving truck
• Make up a box/ bag with stuff for the first night - bedding, pyjamas, toiletries etc., any home comforts that will help on the first night like lamps, blankets, teddies etc.
• Write down important phone numbers such as solicitors, movers etc.
• If your movers do not have hanging boxes for clothes then box the items with the hangers still on it makes it so much easier
• Buy some dry cleaner bags for clothes that you really care about to protect them when moving
• Do not worry about cleaning anything or fixing anything on day 1 there’s plenty of time for that, just make up the beds

Another tip is to declutter before you move. My parents had packers. Years later we found magazines dated from before they moved. I think they thought they would declutter after they moved. It never happened.

If you put a label on each door then the room numbering could work.

My removers labelled all the boxes as where they had come from, so I had to spend a lot of time directing boxes full of say books that were labelled 'piano room' (one of two sitting rooms that had a piano in at the old house) to the back bedroom at the new house where I wanted to gather all my books before unpacking.

Definitely look on FB local for boxes. I am just about to list about 15 medium sized ones, plus loads of sheets of packing paper. You don't live near Sheffield do you?!

It is worth getting a packing tape dispenser gun, and get good quality tape. I had some cheap stuff which barely stuck on.

Another tip - if you are dismantling any furniture put all the screws and bits and pieces in a small sandwich bag and tape it securely to the furniture.

You don’t need to pack the contents of chests of drawers, just wrap the whole unit in clingfilm.
Declutter before you move. You think you’ll do it when you’re unpacking but you won’t. Look at the thing and ask yourself ‘would I care if this got lost in the move?’, if you don’t care then ‘lose’ it now.

A massive declutter before you move but to be fair that’s an obvious one. The week we were moving both DC became really unwell so it was a nightmare and things just didn’t get done in the way they should have so we would be better prepared if I was to move again. I actually still have trauma from that week. The day after we moved I remember wearing a bikini bottom as it was the only underwear I could find. Also be prepared for things to go wrong and remember it can up there with bereavement as one of life’s difficult events. It’s not like on tv where the house is perfect straight away so do approach it with a sense of humour.

@Silverbirchleaf @SparkyBlue I have been decluttering https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/5467371-presenting-a-house-for-sale-are-these-deal-breakers?latest=1 its been hell & I now have 26 boxes for car booting!

Chuck out as much stuff as possible before you move. Don't move stuff you don't want - get rid of it. Don't pay to put stuff in storage - if it's going in storage it's because you don't want want it. Use the money you would have paid for storage to buy any stuff you eventually decide you need! Moving is a great opportunity to get rid of stuff - you will not miss it in your new house and the last thing you want is rooms cluttered up with boxes that you never get round to opening because you don't really need what's inside them.

I had coloured sticker on everything (boxes/furniture etc). I put a sticker on each of the doors in the new house plus put a house map with the colours on as you walked through the door. The removal company loved it (and it meant everything went to the right room!)

If you are dismantling things, put the screws /hooks in a sandwich bag and strong sellotape them as close as possible to where they were from. It seems obvious when dismantling but not always a week later.

Write a list of helpful things to new owner. Someone did this for me years ago and I have done it since, I want it to become normal!
Like where is the cover for sewage tank/ water isolation valve is
If you have a window cleaner - number. What days bins go out. Utility suppliers. Any boiler service records/ warranty / manuals if you have them (no use to you now)/ take away menu. Any other quirks or handy info.

They also left prosecco, toilet paper and hand soap all was appreciated.

There are people who will come round and unpack for you. It will be expensive but worth it!

Yes to having the house that you're moving into properly cleaned first! One that I moved into had fleas in the carpet, which was fun to deal with on the first night...

Either have a box or case full of clothing and toiletries for the next few days.

Oh, and make sure any pets realise that they're not being left behind. My dog was horrified, and jumped in the car (amidst boxes and things) to pack herself. She didn't want to stay with my mother for the day...

You don’t need to pack the contents of chests of drawers, just wrap the whole unit in clingfilm.

Depends how heavy it makes the whole thing. You can wrap individual drawers

I did this when I left my (very quirky) house, plus all the spare keys I could find, all with labels on. They let me know it was very useful.

My sellers left me some rubbish including a rotting set of shelves and disintegrating cardboard boxes in the garage, and a dirty oven.

Also, reset the burglar alarm if you have one, and let the buyers know the number!

I wrote a house handover for my new buyers, which was helpful as it prompted me to think of some questions to check with the owner I was buying from.

Label everything in detail
Pack a make do kitchen box so that you can deep clean the cupboards before putting your stuff in, but you can still do kitchen things
Hire a removals firm DO NOT hire a van and do it yourself

Snacks and a big bottle of water. Hanger and dehydration are not a movers friend! Was super glad to have made a thermos of coffee for the day as well.