Moving House Tips

Sofa_Sogood

Becles wrote:

Leave all instruction manuals for things you are not taking from your old house in a prominent place, along with window/shed/spare keys. Also write them a letter of useful information such as the day the binmen come and the milkmans phone number. The previous owners did that when I moved into my first house, and I thought it was a really nice welcoming gesture.

Excellent idea.

The owner that lived here before us even left instructions for the garden plants.

As we weren't that green-fingered, they were useful too

Ticklemouse

Are you getting a professional removals company in? Most of my house moves have been done ourselves, hiring a van, but when we moved last time, we were moving over 200 miles, so everything needed to be done in one hit and I had a 3yo and a 10 week old. We had lots of heavy stuff - boxes and boxes of books for one thing!! We had a recommended company and it was the best £1100 spent!

I agree with starting packing early and I stuck a note to the top of each box with a list of contents. However, you'll be surprised at the amount of stuff you "have to leave till the end" My lasting memory of house moves is the fact that you always seem to be shoving things into carrier bags at the last minute

Oh, and if, like me, you stay behind to clean the house, do remember things like not to pour water down the sink if you've just disconnected the dish washer :doh: Trying to mop 2 L of water off the floor, with a screaming baby in one hand and the new people's removal company trying to unpack around you is not conducive to a calm experience

Tip: If your dishwasher and/or washer join into the u-bend under the sink, when you remove the pipes, put a kiddies balloon over the open pipe - prevents water going down the sink pouring back over your kitchen floor

BWZN93

I always find that (as there is about 10 boxes for each room) as well as labelling boxes for each room, number each box in order of opening, so you can quickly see which is the priority box for each room - there is no point in opening a box of ornaments before the box of curtains and TV remotes!!

Start pre-packing well in advance so you have time to protect things properly and saves you rushing around when there are other things to do two days before a move - start washing and packing things you dont often use now, and then keep packing until essentails are left. Do all the laundry too - wash the curtains, nets, spare blankets, towels etc so when you move in you know everything has been spring cleaned.

Freecycle/sell things you dont want to take - and make sure everyone has an overnight bag for when you move into the new place, there is nothing worse than needing a shower, searching for clean clothes and towels and then getting distracted by unpacking....

Oh, and an essentials box is a must too - mine had tea making kit, rubber gloves and multi-purpose cleaner, a small saucepan and a pack of supernoodles for a quick snack!

Jo xx

Counting_Pennies_2

It is expensive, but if you can stretch to it, get a packing service with your removal firm, we did and they were brilliant.

Also, whether you have a removal firm, of friends helping you. Do a plan of each room with where the furniture will be placed (even pictures if there are hooks on the wall)

It saves you having to move furniture twice. That way when they are off loaded from the van they get placed in their home straight away.

Vickicb

put the hoover in the car too, so you can go round with it if necessary before furniture comes in.

get a local friend to bring dinner round for you!

if you've got the kids with you, set up the playstation first...

BlondeHeadOn

IF you have a lot of books (like we do) it really helps if you have a separate packing box for each shelf of a bookcase. I just labelled them things like: "Living room, big bookcase, second shelf down" and then when we moved in I just had to put the bookcase in the right place, and move the books back from the boxes to the relevant shelf. This saved so much time and fuss - we had all the books back in place almost before the rest of the furniture, and could get rid of all the packing boxes so we were not falling over them all the time. Books take up a lot of room and are heavy, so it's good to sort them out quickly!

Best of luck with your move!

JoanneC_2

This thread is great.

My tip is "Intravenous Fluid Boxes" - these are boxes which are designed to carry 10 bags of IV fluids (drip bags) so they are VERY sturdy AND have handles. Each ward goes through at least a couple of boxes a day so your average local hospital usually have hundreds each week to get rid of. Most people know someone (or someone who knows someone) who works in a hospital. If not, then just head fro the loading bay of your nearest hospital, there are usually a couple of porters knocking about so just ask them.

honeypop

Thanks for all these tips, this is just what I need, was just going to ask for handy moving day tips and as if by magic there was this thread already here! Completing/moving in Thursday fingers crossed.

JoanneC_2

bump! bump!

wigglygiggly

Just bumping this as there are great tips here and a few of us will be moving soon!