Moving House Old Style

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there

Whenever we move...being an army wife..thats quite often ... i always keep our "new" bedroom out of bounds... get your bed dropped in there a chest of drawers and a tv if you have one...whilst the rest of the stuff is being unloaded - get the bed together and made up(keep 1 lot of bedding in a bag/box with any other essentials - a towel, loo roll etc)..plonk your tv on the drawers...then close the door and keep everyone and everything else OUT.. you won't believe what a difference it makes, when at the end of the day when you have had enough..you have a comfy bed and a tidy room to collapse in;) ...close the door and you can "forget what is waiting for you"

Don't forget to take your gas/electricity readings at both properties.... i print off all the phone numbers, customer account numbers before moving and keep it in my handbag....then you can ring them through without having to dig for information...

Deffinitely lable boxes..and if you can just jot a quick note of what is in there... books, pics etc... then you can deal with the essentials first....
I would also keep remotes, screws from beds etc..a hammer and screwdriver etc in a bag that you can carry with you.... I packed most of our stuff this time - the army provide packers..but if i pack my own i know where stuff is - they had a bit of packing to do but they thought it would be funny to pack the remote from the tv in a kitchen box - which they burried in the spare room....:mad: .....the screws from the bed in a box from the shed:mad: ....

Can hubby get someone to help..they could go and load up, whilst you were at the new house making a start on the unpacking... even better if you can get a friend to help you too;) .. a bottle of wine should help things along:D

I think the best bit of advice..is to just accept that for a couple of week you are gonna be playing hunt the????..whatever you need most usually :rotfl:

Hope it all goes well for you..and hope you will be very happy in your new home:D

Skint_Catt

Thansk for the bedroom tip MrsMacawber! I'm moving Friday, but I think one OH has the bed constructed and made up I'll just go to bed with the TV and let him to it :rotfl: :rotfl:

I have a box which has tea, sugar, coffee, loo roll, washing up liquid and cleaning stuff in it which will be the first box in, then the kitchen stuff, then the bed.

OH and I are doing it ourselves - both moving from parents into our first house together so there will be many trips back and forth (80 mile round trip to OH's, 15 to mine) but we've got three full days.

We've already decided on a takeaway that night!

Good luck!

LJM

Get rid of anything now that you dont want or dont use,waste of time packing it if your going to get rid anyway.write on every box what is in it and what room its for,perhaps an idea to vaccum pack clothes bedding etc take up less room in van.when unloading put marked boxes in the right rooms so you only have to empty and put away.and def make sure you have your tea/coffee kettle and choccie biscuits.good luck

daisyroots_2

You cannot start packing too early. The ideal time to start is last week, really. Much of it will actually be discarding stuff you don't want to take: time consuming. From now on don't let a sturdy cardboard box escape your clutches, and keep newspapers for packing fragile items. Others have advised about labelling stuff:

a) what is in the box
b) which room it is to go in

Mrs Micawber is SO right: set up your bed immediately, and have a fresh set of bed linen where you can find it. Make up the bed first thing, because when the time comes for you to sink into it, you will be too tired.

Soon as you get into the property, read the meters, and write the readings in your diary, because if you put them on "a piece of paper" you will lose that paper.

Try to find out which day the dustman/recycling come, you'll be doing a lot of discarding as you unpack, and you don't want to miss him.

If you have a garden at the new place, plant some bulbs as soon as you can, now is the time. You have no idea what will come up in the garden for the next 12 months, but those tulips and daffs will cheer you up next Spring:j

lil_me

I got a stack of boxes off freecycle we're planning on moving the smaller stuff over before the big stuff and things like kitchen items I plan on unpacking straight away then bringing back the boxes to refil. :rotfl: in theory we are starting to pack 'last week' we don't sign the tenancy until Monday, only got it confirmed this week and I've started packing/sorting a fortnight ago :rotfl:

razra

Due to also being forces my top tips would be

1. label boxes on the sides not the top (if boxes get stacked you wont be able to read it without shifting the ones on top!) and pref do it on two opposite sides as you can gurantee the movers will put the writing to the wall

2. try and get all downstairs boxes in a dining room if you have one that way your living room will be free to sit and unwind with a cuppa, that makes a huge difference

3. As has been said keep your bedroom empty of boxes

4. Make sure you have loo roll handy you wont believe what the people leaving the house will take and its no fun trying to find loo roll

5.As has been said keep your bedding and tea/coffee handy so thats the first things you find.

6.If the new house doesnt have any curtains make sure you have a set to hand for the first night as its not much fun sitting in a goldfish bowl

7. If you are planning takeaway make sure you have cutlery to hand, sounds so obvious but I actually ordered curry then realised the cutlery was all packed:rotfl:

8. all your important docs (ie cheque books passports etc!) carry in the car/cab of the van and then put them in a new home as soon as you get there. Call me suspicious but I always tuck these things inside the loft hatch as soon as I arrive. If the doors are open and peeps are in and out you know your important docs are safe and not in a place easy to grab by an opportunist thief

on the packing of boxes side of things

make use of wasted space, ie pack things inside shoes, dont put cake tins etc in unless you can stack them inside each other or pack them with something.
Use clothes/towels/sheets as an alternative to bubble wrap


umm think thats all that springs to mind for now
Not sure whether any of that helps

Olliebeak

We moved last November - and we are avid book hoarders! Do NOT put lots of books in big boxes. Use smaller size boxes for books - they weigh a ton when there's lots of em together!

Please remember that your phone company (BT or cable, whatever) will want at least 1 months notice to turn off your line - if you do not give this they will charge you an extra months line rental. At the same time - don't forget to organise phone service for the new address - best to get it done for as soon as possible after arriving - it can be a bit of a pain to rely on mobile phones for all the calls that you will have to make.

Usually the gas/electric just ask you to read the meters on the final day (it helps to keep a note of your A/c nos. with the meter readings) - but it's a good idea to contact them to let them know that you will be moving. Make sure that you take new meter readings as soon as you arrive at the new property and that you know from previous occupiers which power company they are with. If you don't get that information from them, it can take ages to find out who to give the readings to. If you want to change suppliers, that can take 4 - 6 weeks to sort out.

Make sure that you tell the tv licence people that you have moved. I told them before I moved but still got a nasty visit from them AFTER moving. Luckily I had my bank statement handy to prove that I was making direct debit payments and the whole thing was sorted out.

When you are sorting out things like tv remotes DON'T forget the mobile phone rechargers and get them plugged in when you arrive at the new house!

Try googling 'moving house' there are websites out there.

This may be useful as well:

http://www.houseweb.co.uk/house/pros/moving/tell.html

good luck and just make sure that you start packing well in advance - I left it very late and jiggered myself!

kunekune

I've also moved house a lot, although we have had packers for a number of the moves. We've learned a lot from them. My tips include:

1. DOn't empty out the drawers- leave your clothes in them. If the chest is then too heavy, just take one or more out when lifting it.

2. If you can get big enough boxes, keep hanging items on their hangers, that saves ages.

3. Don't pack any bedding, towels until you've finished in the kitchen. Each kitchen box starts and finishes with a layer of thick towels and things like sheets and tea towels are great for wrapping, and they don't make the items dirty.

4. If there is one room where you can stack most of the boxes while you unpack, do it: we will probably leave everything in the garage and then take the things up the stairs as we go. That way, you can prioritise and still have somewhere comfortable for the evening.

5. Make sure you tape the rice, pasta, etc well ... Tape will also work on the lids of things like soy sauce.

6. If any boxes are still unopened 3 months later you can almost certainly bin them.

7. Try and make sure the children are somewhere else for as long as possible on 'the day'.

We are also moving again in 4 weeks, so I shall be joining you in the declutterin, box collecting, etc.

Skint_Catt

Olliebeak wrote: »

Make sure that you take new meter readings as soon as you arrive at the new property and that you know from previous occupiers which power company they are with. If you don't get that information from them, it can take ages to find out who to give the readings to. If you want to change suppliers, that can take 4 - 6 weeks to sort out.

I remebered to make a note to do meter readings, but didn't even think that we wouldn't know what company to give them to!

Thank you!!!!!

lil_me

Thanks for the book comment, just realised I have put all DS1s books into one box, well most of them, I just tried to move it I can't even slide it, will try to split them.

Unopened boxes 3 month later I will have to keep, we unpacked one after 3 years of living here, found DPs sunglasses he'd been hunting for etc (£200 worth) I think this is where the 'what's in there list' will come in handy.

Grandparents offered to help, after reading the comments I might see if there is a day they can have the boys. They can be 'too helpful' at times. Saves us worrying about them injuring themselves helping too.

We've had to start a new contract with BT and pay them £124.99 to connect at the new house but means that is on well before we move in.