how long to pack?

franklee

I took one month. That's sorting out, tipping stuff, taking to charity shops, cleaning, dismantling furniture. Cleaning house behind wardrobes etc. And I still ended up taking lots of junk. Even taping up the boxes takes a day! There were two of us. But then I was packing for the long term, many boxes to remain sealed for years so I was careful.

superfran_uk

picardygirl wrote: »

I would imagine the general time packing period is from exchange to completion, usually 2 weeks ..... anyone with any sense wouldnt start packing prior to exchange.

Obviously, lots of people have a much shorter exchange to completion timescale, and some exchange and complete on the same day so it wouldnt work waiting to exchange.

ps ..... i'm not slatting anyone who starts packing prior to exchange, i did, practically packed up the whole house 3 bed (2 adults and 2 kids) as we were exchanging every friday for an entire month to complete within a week after, til our buyer pulled out and the chain collapsed. Had to unpack .........

This is dreadful, I would have cried my eyes out. My boyfriend started packing a week before we exchanged but I didn't want to in case this happened! Fortunately it hasn't but if it had... I probably would have blamed him for making it happen!! :rotfl:

charliee_3

i think it depends how focused you are on it.. i am packing up our 3 bed house at the moment but it is taking ages as i just do a box here and there and i dont know what to pack now, or leave out.. i hate it.. but if it came to it and it was just shoving everything in boxes without sorting through it, i could probably do it in a day...as long as someone else was looking after my curious toddler who always wantsto 'help' by unpacking the box i;ve just packed...

skiTTish

We packed up our 3 bed semi in bits and bobs over a week but we didnt dismantle any furniture till the day of the move .Took us all day from early morning till gone dusk to move tho

This time we are only moving a few doors away ,so hopefully will be a lot faster

Pee

In my experience you start weeks ahead with good intentions but the bulk of it gets done in the 36 hours immediately prior to moving.

Clutterbusting slows down the process, but it's a good time to do it if you can. Plus sorting through the attic is something that can be done before exchange, maybe even with a view to a couple of car boot sales before you move?

picardygirl

superfran_uk wrote: »

This is dreadful, I would have cried my eyes out. My boyfriend started packing a week before we exchanged but I didn't want to in case this happened! Fortunately it hasn't but if it had... I probably would have blamed him for making it happen!! :rotfl:

It was dreadful and i did cry my eyes out !!!!

The day before xmas eve too ....... virtually packed up as our buyer was pushing for completion between xmas and new year, which is hard work, as not all solicitors are available and makes life even more stressful.

We just put all the boxes we didnt particularly need packed up in the loft, and put the house back on the market - eventually moved 6 months later ..... did i learn from it though, no, when we eventually moved i did start packing again before exchange, working with 2 kids and a husband i/we couldnt have done it all in a week ...... just the shed took a day .....

To the OP though, i dont know what your situation is, but, remember if you are buying/selling, you need to be clear from your property by lunchtime on the day of completion. I've heard some horror stories where the new owner gets to the property at lunchtime with the keys (ie monies have been transferred) to find the old owner still packing up their house ... not the best start.

mouche

It took us a month to pack our 2 bedroom flat and this is when the only furniture we owned was a wardrobe, a coffee table and a TV. Lots of books, papers, DVDs, clothes and kitchen stuff though. This was 2 of us fitting it in around work. We ended up with 4 large suitcases and 32 boxes. We decluttered at the beginning but by the end we'd run out of time and just threw stuff into boxes.

I dread to think how long (and how much stress!) packing our three bed would take now, considering we have much more furniture now.

johnson293

We have resisted starting packing before we have exchange of contracts (which will be this Friday, hopefully) , just incase anything goes wrong at the 11th hour.

We are hoping that we may be able to agree 14 days from exchange to completion, to allow us to measure up at new house, pack stuff up and arrange removals. Wouldn't want it any longer than that, but if its any sooner, then we might just have to try and do it quicker.

We have some unimportant stuff boxed away in the garage from when we 'decluttered' for our house viewings, but beyond that we'll have a 2 bed semi to pack, including some stuff int he loft, and then an shed in the rear garden to finish clearing (to the tip) as well.

mlz1413

If a day is the full 24 hours then yes you probably can move house in this time, but get the Prozac at the ready!

I moved from a 2 bed house to a 3 bed but decided it was the best time to dump lots of stuff that I didn't need / want and refused to move. I had a month so took all that time, but I think a weekend as in 6pm Friday to 6am Monday morning would be a minimum to move without getting really stressed.

A friend was going round the world 2 years back and sold his house, stored his car (yes really that was more important to him!) and then didn't start to pack or clear stuff out until exchange - 1 week before completion, he had get any sleep for the last 3 days.

spurs24

Hi

We are starting this weekend and we have 3 weeks till we move.

We have a 3 bedroom house with a very full garage and a loft.

We will start to get rid of all the stuff we dont want, take some to charity shops and the rest to the tip, will pack cd, dvd,s and sort clothes out that we know that we wont need.

Then in the last few days we will start to break down furniture and do the beds on the last night.

Have already made list of who to contact to tell we are moving, that is the part that takes a while im sure we will forget somone.

I think you would be hard pushed to do it in a day, i like to do it bit by bit and label all the boxes so they can just go in the relevent room.

We going away 2 weeks after we move so am just hoping we get all un packed before we go, thats why im only taking what we really do want, the rest we will get rid off.

Hope you get it all packed in time.