Moving next week with 6 week old and toddler - tips please when paying someone to pack

[fruitstick]

Removal company are packing for us and I am barely managing to tidy and wash up daily let alone sort through things.

Give me your top tips for directing the packers and making it as stress free as possible?

Ask them to do it by the room where you will want to unpack and label it thoroughly - you may need to rearrange items now so they are at hand.

We didn't direct them at all - we went out for the morning and came back to a perfectly packed house. You don't need to tidy; they are going to pack it all! Just make sure that everything you want in the boxes for a particular room is in that room when they are packing, so everything will be easy to find when you want it.

Keep the stuff you are going to want right away when you move separate from the packed-for-you -- for example, kettle, baby stuff, a few plates.

well you technically dont need to direct them unless you arent moving like for like (so eg if you have a dining room and you want stuff to go into new house living room).

just make sure you/dh whoever has packed everything you need for first night yourselves and I would advise moving this yourself

They have packed and moved many more times than you. Leave them to it.

The great thing about having people to pack for you is that they really don't need a lot of supervising.

Get a box with essentials and mark it clearly, tea bags, kettle, washing up liquid, a couple of cloths, basic cleaning stuff.

I would put the DVD player in there too in case you need to distract your toddler when unpacking.

Would just add remember to put anything you intend to leave behind (i.e. instructions for the central heating/boiler/whatever) somewhere safe marked "Do Not Pack". Believe me from my own experience they are so good they pack absolutely everything and then you are left mooching through the boxes trying to find stuff you needed to leave......

Can you tell I'm talking from my own incompetence experience.

Oh, yes. Listen to Owls.

We accidentally "stole" the scooter belonging to the neighbour's DS when we moved to Switzerland.

They are incredibly efficient - you need to do nothing except realise that they will pack everything - we found an empty wine bottle neatly wrapped in paper and boxed 2 moves ago. This move they packed our entire house in 5 hours, and I just cleaned behind them whilst DS was at nursery - move before DH just sat in the garden

Put 3 days of clothes, nappies, some toys, books, phone charger and plates/cups/cutlery in the car before they start so that you have everything close at hand. Then you can at least get a takeaway without having to find anything to eat it with

If you have a travel cot, I'd put that and some bedding in too so that you can just put that up for your baby to sleep in when you arrive, rather than having to assemble their cot

Firstly get someone to have the children since you will be running around like a mad thing.

Put all child/baby essentials in a box in your car and take it with you. Particularly their bed stuff. Likewsie kettle etc and cleaning stuff both for cleaning empty house and cleaning new house when you arrive.

Take vital documents like passports etc to a friend's house in advance and have them babysat for you. Its a nightmare when you can't find them because they are still at the bottom of a random box.

know where the bar thingy is for the wshing machine etc to keep it together when its being moved.

Our removal men required washing machine etc to be disconnecetd and all electrical equipment to be unplugged.

Most won't undo flat pack so if you have any that won't come out of the room give yourself planty of time to do it in advance

Check garden carefully for hidden toys

I feel much better about the whole business - thank you.

Now where ARE the passports!