Am moving house on the 1st October (yes, I know, I've done this to death this weekend!) but need to move in a smooth, organised fashion-tips please!

[Pawslikepaddington]

I need to be sorted and unpacked and living a normal life by the 6th October, so this must be uber-organised (which is entirely against my nature!)

Help!

Make sure you label the boxes that you pack last, it's very easy not to, then they get sucked into the box vortex and you can't find your tampons when you need them.

Label boxes on both sides because when they are stacked four high you don't want to have to lift them all off to find out what is in the box at the bottom! I usually number them and write some detail on an accompanying list because you don't want to open a box marked "China dishes" to find that it is the used-once-a-year serving dishes and now you can't fit them all back in to stick it in the garage. Much easier if you can look up box 21 and realise that you don't need to unpack that immediately in order to function normally.

Pack the essentials in dedicated boxes and mark them with a coloured pen according to what they are. For example I marked the boxes with books with a pink B so I knew they could be opened later, while I put the crockery I needed in a box marked essential crockery written on all side with black marker so I knew where it was. I also used stickers on boxes so I could identify my essential paperwork (such as bank statements and other stuff you need when you move).

Pack essentials in box or 2, tea coffee, kettle plates etc and a suitcase of clothes.

Then unpack methodically and make sure every box is labelled with what is in it and which room it is to go in.

When we moved we paid for the Packing service,which was Fantastic !! No stress or worry.They were so organised and quick,nothing got broken and only another £200 on top.Worth every penny.

I had different colours of A4 paper - a different colour for each room and wrote the room on the colour too, then stuck it to the top of the box after it had been sealed up. For example, DS's room was blue, DD's orange, kitchen was green etc. i also wrote the explicit contents on each box i.e. not just kitchen, but pans, good crockery, non essential kitchen items etc. The removal men were in raptures (I thoguht it would be normal! but then I am like Monica from Friends) and said it was dead easy. I also had a colour for the garage, which was all the stuff I didn't need to unpack for ages e.g. spare duvets, general junk, old baby stuff etc, the removal men put this straight in the garage so it didn't clutter up the house and I just had what we needed.

My fab tip is to have a couple of 'essential' boxes for each room, esp. kitchen, bathroom and bedroom areas, they don't take long to unpack and make the place look lived in in no time! Needless to say mark them essential and designate each room in marker pen.

Good luck!

make sure you have everything prepacked that you will need fairly immediately including:

kettle, teabags, mugs, cutlery etc
towels and toiletries
pillows, duvets and clean sheets
also perhaps something to keep you sane... bedside lamp and nice cushion, book... for when you are knackered...

Throw stuff out NOW!

We kept stuff we really didn't need, put it in storage when we were selling, and then dp went last weekend, 6 months after we moved (having paid £60 a month for the storage) and took it all to the dump. So 360 quid for storing a load of rubbish for 6 months. Splendid.

If you haven't already and still can, book the removal people to do your packing. It cost us an extra £200, but was worth every single penny, especially with 2 toddlers 'helping'. I took them to the beach for the day, came home and it was all done.

Also, do an online shop, and book it to arrive at the new address once you get there. That way you don't need to worry too much about forgetting things or not being able to find stuff. Make sure you include something you can sling in the oven like pizzas for the first night (or two).

how do removal people pack in an untidy house? or in a room that is full of general crap stuff that they wouldn't neccesarily know who it belonged to/where it belonged?
do you have to do a mas tidy/throwout first? in which case wouldn't it be just as easy to pack yourself?

Well ours just packed all the crap . I opened boxes to find all manner of rubbish. So yes, it would be advisable to throw out first. And if your house is anything like ours, there was still mounds and mounds of stuff, so no, it wouldn't be just as easy to do it yourself.