How to organise my long distance move?

[Andreaoid]

I would love everyone's ideas on how to organise my move. And potentially recommendations for national movers that are really good and well priced.

Situation: I am widowed, in my 30s, childless, with one large dog (30kg) who is nervous and not keen on strangers. No family around me as my family lives abroad and my late husband's brother lives 3 hours away, opposite direction of my move. I'm in a process of selling my current house and buying another. Moving from East Midlands to West Sussex - 4.5h away by a car on a good day.

So, what would be your best recommendation on organising myself? Should I get my dog boarded for a week, move without him and then go back up to collect him? Or should I keep him in one safe room away from movers, then lock up after and follow the movers? What about dropping the keys off at the EAs? If I do a little tidy-up, drop the keys off, and then follow down with my dog, I will have to stop midway for a comfort break for my dog. The movers might arrive way earlier than me? And then I need to be in Sussex in time to collect my keys from the other EA.

I'm so confused how to make it seamless and less stressful. I haven't started looking at movers yet (still in the searches stage) but I want to have a loose plan in place asap.

This is my first chain move. Help!!

If your dog is used to boarding somewhere, do that.
If he isn't and he is nervous of people, you may have to shut him into a room on the day.

When I did a "big" move, my neighbour had my dogs for the day. Once the removal men had departed and I had cleaned, I grabbed the dogs and headed to the new house.
Could something like that be an option?

With that distance you'll need a 2 day move. We moved 150 miles and had to do this. Day 1 movers arrived and packed house (3hours). I took ddog out for a walk and generally kept out of the way. Dropped keys at estate agents and drove to new area. Stayed overnight and met movers at new house on day 2. Youll need to factor that into your plans!

If you can, pack the house on Monday and have the movers store stuff in their van overnight. Final tidy of the house and handover keys on Tuesday. Then drive up and get new keys. Movers deliver stuff on Wednesday. Stay 2 nights in an Airbnb or hotel as needed.

If your dog has boarded before and seemed okay, go there.

If he hasn’t boarded before then find somewhere near your new home as you may need them again in the future and it’ll be easier for you both then.

Disclaimer - I am not a dog owner, I might be talking bollocks.

Is your new home easy to move into? Or is it needing things doing? Think about what rooms you want things put into, are there any rooms you want left empty because they need decorating immediately, need the chimney swept immediately etc? While all your stuff is already boxed up and being moved by people, take advantage of that.

The new house is livable but a reno project in the future. For now, I will be focusing on making it watertight and livable. A two day move is a good idea. I haven't thought of it. Packing and cleaning one day, then driving down for a night in a b&b or something. Moving in next day. All with the dog with me.

Any odea of costs for this 2 day move? @Ilikewinter

I do have friends but all of them work during the week and I prefer to move on working days.

We had our movers store our stuff (actually for 3 weeks and then take it back to the same place after building work) The storage costs were negligible compared to the personnel costs for packers and driving. Maybe a few hundred extra. It's probably actually cheaper because otherwise you'd need to pay the movers overtime because they won't be home until the early hours.

We used Britannia because we needed nationwide movers ( think from the west to east coast!), from memory it was around £1300. We self packed apart from bulky stuff, they bought sofa, mattress, tv covers etc. I was honestly dreading it, but it went really smoothly.

Annoying removal costs will have jumped in last year because of the cost of diesel. Also be aware the driver of removal vehicle will have a tachometer so will need to factor breaks.
I moved a longer distance in the last 12 months and got 5 quotes. They were eye watering. I’d imagine you will be upwards of £3k as a minimum

We've done several long distance moves and they cost between 2.5k and 4.5k, although we do have a lot of large furniture, books and other heavy/fragile stuff plus plants in huge pots. Our last move (2024) was from Carmarthenshire to West Sussex with the least amount of stuff and it was just shy of 3k. All were done over at least three days (we did the packing), with our stuff being moved out ahead of completion (2+ days to load) then a further day to travel to new house and unload.

When we had our dogs we put them in kennels for a week then returned to collect them once we were 'settled' (although that's debatable as the houses have all been projects!)

Good luck with your move!

We moved 200 miles last year. Our removals costs including packing and 3 weeks storage were £4500.

Maybe not if they have to use a day's annual leave to do so! I would happily help a friend move, but at the weekend only!

We moved from Manchester to Skye with a dog, about a 10 hour drive. We did it over two days. Day one we emptied the old house and the movers set off North. We stayed behind for a couple of hours to do final tidy up etc then we set off. We stayed overnight in a hotel about two thirds of the way there then did the rest of the drive the next morning. Arrived about 10 minutes before the movers did.

We just shut the dog in one room at a time, wasn't a problem really.

I reckon you could do a 4.5 hour move in one day if you organise it well, though it might be less stressful to do it over two. Good luck.

Remember to factor in tips for removal team. Cheaper to avoid last week of month as that is peak time and cheaper still to move Mon-Weds.
Go with a company that has a big fleet of vehicles so they can get right size Be kind to yourself as the reality of leaving a house and moving elsewhere might be emotionally difficult. Good to be independent but take all
help offered.

i highly recommend Witham Brothers - they are Sussex based but go all over. We always use them and have just moved and they are still absolutely brilliant!

Make sure you label every box and piece of furniture (frog tape so it doesn’t leave it sticky) and then they’ll put them in the correct rooms.
I stuck big signs on each door so they knew which rooms were which easily.

I regularly do that journey (Boston area to Billingshurst area) with my very energetic working line Border Collie dogs so may I suggest the big Sainsbury's right on the A1 at Biggleswade as a good place to break the journey. The petrol station has loos and snacks plus a good sized parking area behind it, and I then go to SG18 9LA, about a mile away, park on one of the dirt lay-by's along the road and take any of the many public footpaths that open off that road, most of which are clearly marked.

Hope that is of use to you and good luck with your move.

Serious question: why do I need to tip them? I don't keep cash so it wouldn't even cross my mind to tip. Plus I'm European so it's not in my nature to tip. Do I have to? I moved three time prior to this (with my husband) but never tipped.

My dog is good in the car, plus we've done the journey and many others of its length. But good tip on where to stretch our legs!! Thank you

I didn't tip my removals men. I wasn't even aware that people did that!

No you don’t have to tip. It might just be local to me but I have always done so.

From my experience I would

1. Self pack, over several weeks
2. Get rid of stuff you really don't need, or not worth the cost of moving, i.e. large furniture.
3. Buy used 80 Litre plastic stackable crates Link (£18 each)
4. Buy Large Cardboard boxes for light items (clothes etc) (Stack-ablity saves you money)
5. Buy a back of re-useable cable ties, (useful for keeping things together, that aren't in crates.
6. Print box labels (kitchen, living room, bathroom, toys, clothes, etc)
7. Pack as much as you can into the crates.
8. Buy some more crates!
9. Clear the loft
10. Get several quotes with on site visits, to do a 2 day move (ideally at least 14 before you need to move), having most things packed should make the quoting more predicable and possibly cheaper. (they love a crate)
11. Mid-week is usually cheaper.
12. Collect, and deliver next day.
13. Tip £10 a head if you can, keep tea, coffee biscuits available
14. Spend weeks unpacking, and sell the crates from step 3 on flea bay, £18

Re the the dog, but I would probably keep him, go for a walk etc, unless you can find a friend to look after him for a few hours.

In my experience it took longer to pack than I expected, so best to panic early than leave it to the last couple of days. A two day move may be more expensive but probably needed due to distance, and much less stress.

Good luck with the move!

I did tip last time because my husband was ill and the guys were great going above and beyond because they could see how stressed out I was.