Moving day but not paying for a cleaning service

first78

We are hoping to move house in a week or two (literally just need the completion date). Our removal firm offer a house cleaning package but we can't afford to pay...we have only paid for a removal service as so much of our bulky and heavy furniture will need carrying up a flight of stairs in the new house. So what I wanted to ask was how do I go about moving from A to B in one day, ensuring B will be ready for the kids when they come home from school and A will be clean and ready for the new occupant? It seems like a lot to achieve in one day and I'm starting to panic!!

RelievedSheff

Don't panic. You have people to move your furniture so as they clear one room go around and give it a quick clean, then move onto the next room and the next. It helps if you have given the rooms a good clean the day before so it is literally just a quick once over on moving day.

Ensuring House B is ready for when the kids come home from school will be more difficult as you won't know what time you will get the keys for the new house. Just make sure that beds are in the relevant rooms and you have somewhere comfy to chill out. The rest can be sorted out as and when.

MFWannabe

Don’t worry. Try to make sure that you’ve done most of the cleaning in current home so it’s a case of quick clean when all your stuffs been moved out; normally areas that are usually hidden by furniture. 
An empty house is really easy to clean 

WorkHealth

I would clean A beforehand so nothing much will need doing there on the day (kids and pets permitting!), maybe a quick hoover of where furniture was. 
Then B what we did with ours was a quick anti-bac wipe everywhere, though ours had already been cleaned. If its really manky then maybe clean one room and one bathroom and put kids in there then do rest later. We've had two really manky and one super-clean. It can help to have a box for things you need immediately seperate and things for kids for first day. In theory B should have been cleaned already, if its like that its very quick, if it looks like its not been cleaned for 10 years then you won't do it in a day and just get kids to wash hands before eating. 

davidmcn

Bear in mind there's no need to clean the old house to "picky letting agent" standards, and certainly no contractual requirement to do so. Reasonable buyers will understand you'll hardly have had a chance to do a proper clean, and if at all paranoid they'll start by cleaning stuff themselves anyway. 

Sandtree

I assume the “cleaning” you are referring to is your new home?

Is this a chain where you’ll be selling yours and buying the other simultaneously or are you currently in rented or something else? I am guessing the properties are fairly close to each other given the kids at school comment?

In an ideal world you’d clean the new house before moving everything in as an empty house is easier to do than one full of furniture and boxes. This is obviously easier to do if your not in a chain so can have a days overlap between the two properties or at least if there is a long drive between the two so you can get there early and get things done before your furniture arrives.

If not try and clean one or two rooms first (maybe one upstairs and one downstairs) and put the majority of stuff in those two rooms. You can then clean the other rooms after and redistribute your items.

bradders1983

This is why you always have an overlap of a couple of days with old house empty, if people dont try to factor this in during a house move then more fool them. This is easier if you are moving from rented to bought property, granted.

Martin_the_Unjust

bradders1983 said:

This is why you always have an overlap of a couple of days with old house empty, if people dont try to factor this in during a house move then more fool them. This is easier if you are moving from rented to bought property, granted.

If your rich enough to own two houses simultaneously then I suspect you won't be concerned about the cost of cleaning services.

Rambosmum

bradders1983 said:

This is why you always have an overlap of a couple of days with old house empty, if people dont try to factor this in during a house move then more fool them. This is easier if you are moving from rented to bought property, granted.

If you are buying and selling in one transaction, this is impossible! 

bradders1983

I did qualify my statement in the final line of my post, calm down!

The OP also doesnt actually state if they are living in rented property or not at the moment either

AnotherJoe

bradders1983 said:

This is why you always have an overlap of a couple of days with old house empty, if people dont try to factor this in during a house move then more fool them. This is easier if you are moving from rented to bought property, granted.

Please explain how you'd do it if you ARENT in rented, given you glibly imply you can.

You glossed over that less than minor detail.