Moving House......

Aye, get off the computer and start packing..............NOW.

kettle, tea, coffe, cups , toilet roll, cleaning stuff, kitchen roll, biscuits all in one box.
Mobilephone and charger together.
Label ALL boxes to what is in them.
Cash in your pocket for a chippy lunch and a chinese dinner
A good nights sleep.
Take photos of the house you are leaving and ones of your new one. I love my before and after piccys .

Good luck xx

Make sure that you've informed all of the important people that you're moving out - utilities suppliers (make sure you give final readings), council tax etc. Also rememeber to set up postal redirection. It's amazing how many things you forget to change, and having a few months redirection really helps you to get on top of it.

Also, LABEL YOUR BOXES! Make sure you know what's in them, and keep 'important' things (kettle, toaster, plates, forks, mugs) in one box. There's nothing worse than having to unpack three or four boxes to find the one thing you need. If you're worried about people knowing what's in them, then just give them a number, and keep a list of what number corresponds to what contents. When I move, I also label boxes with two different colours - say blue for upstairs and orange for downstairs. If you want, you can go wild and have a colour for kitchens and bathrooms too. It sounds a bit over the top, but I find it really helps if removal men (or your mates!) can see where a box needs to go. It saves answering the question 'where do you want this love?' a billion times.

It's also helpful to have an 'essentials' box - teabags, first-aid kit, spare lightbulbs, a few tools, sellotape, a torch, LOO ROLL (v. important ), soap for the bathroom, things like that. They're the kind of things that you generally find you need but can't find when you need them. It's really handy to have them all in one place.

I've moved at least 35 times...never again.

Keep one box for clearing up the old place, move it last - include kettle and screwdrivers/essentials and move it first into the new place. Include loo roll, bin bags, gloves, dusty pan in this box.

Mix heavy stuff such as books with light stuff such as clothes to balance out the weight.

Label everything, but put which room it needs to go into in the new house. If you are using removal men, then put a label on the doors of the new place that matches the labels on the boxes.

when packing, do each room at a time, and make sure you have plenty of packing tape and boxes, take the boxes and tape [and newspapers for wrapping] into the room - don't attempt to carry stuff into a central room and then pack it - you'll waste hours.

Keep black bin bags for rubbish and use other colour bags [white] for stuff you want to move - and keep at least one black bin bag in every room as you go - chuck stuff out immediately or pack it - don't think too much about it.

Anything you don't want, freecycle this weekend and tell them you will leave it outside at specified times - and just let them pick it up. Even better if it is a job lot.Don't think you'll freecycle it when you get there - you'll end up storing it.

Keep a bottle of made up squash/water full for drinks - else you will have to keep stopping.

And definitely get take out on Monday evening - and the first thing to do when you have moved everything is make the bed up - most other stuff can usually wait.

Good luck.

xxx

Remember to get your mail forwarded.

Make sure you have functioning keys for the new place BEFORE you leave the old.