The moving process, boxes etc

ChilliBob

Irishpearce26 said:

ChilliBob said:

Some really good tips there, thanks. My concern with our son is he'll start to unpack stuff and mix boxes up! But we'll be able to deal with that.

I think next port of call is removal firms to understand their costs and offer.

We also have a sofa bed, upstairs (shudder) we want to get rid of prior to moving. I was thinking some charities might take it? I'm sure they did in my deceased Aunt's house a little while back. 

Moved with our 3.5 year old, talk to them and explain whats going on. they are smarter than we think. My son was great, he even packed his own box. Also invest in good tape, gorilla packing tape was great. Your child will not get into the box with this tape.

Thank you, my son's pretty clued up about it already I think. He wants the box room like his one now though and not the nice bigger one overlooking the garden we have earmarked for him! I'm hoping an appearance from a squirrel or something in the garden will seal the deal!

Our son is pretty good at finding stuff to get into stuff! You know what it's like, turn your back and their climbing somewhere! 

ChilliBob

Redwino222 said:

Amazon has great colour coded stickers for each room.  You don’t have to rely on the movers remembering the second bedroom on yellow - it says second bedroom on a big yellow sticker.  I will put a sticker on each door when we get there.

I have twenty boxed packed.  Sticker on each - plus a description of what’s in there.

Resisting the temptation to have a general stuff box, I am decluttering like mad.  I will have no belongings left but it’s amazing!  Donated five bin bags full of clothes that even if I became deathly ill and was therefore thin enough to wear them, they would be incredibly out of fashion🙁

Aye, for sure I'll be doing some colour coding and organising.. Resisting the temptation to itemise and use a spreadsheet! 

getmore4less

One thing to do even if you can't bare to throw stuff out is resist the temptations to put the not sure stuff in the same box as the must take/keep.

At the other end you don't want to be searching a box of stuff for one or two things

First box that gets emptied park somewhere for the stuff you have changed your mind on

GaleSF63

If you have a lot of books and are planning to pack over a period of time, leave the books till nearer the move because books in boxes seem to take up an awful lot more room. Unless you can use boxes that will fit back on the bookshelves. And a box of books doesn't have to be very big to become very heavy.

ChilliBob

getmore4less said:

One thing to do even if you can't bare to throw stuff out is resist the temptations to put the not sure stuff in the same box as the must take/keep.

At the other end you don't want to be searching a box of stuff for one or two things

First box that gets emptied park somewhere for the stuff you have changed your mind on

Cheers, that's a good point. I do need to get better though with throwing or giving stuff away! 

ChilliBob

GaleSF63 said:

If you have a lot of books and are planning to pack over a period of time, leave the books till nearer the move because books in boxes seem to take up an awful lot more room. Unless you can use boxes that will fit back on the bookshelves. And a box of books doesn't have to be very big to become very heavy.

Cheers good point. I'll leave then in the book case for now then, we do have a pretty large number. I'm just glad 90%  of my vinyl collection is at my folks out of harms way! 

Murphybear

md258 said:c

We (my wife) got our boxes from FB marketplace and did the packing our (my)self. A few things I'd advise:
- Start early. Winter coats, books, ski clothes etc can be packed now.
- Label each box with what room it is going to and briefly what is in it
- Mark any boxes that need to be unpacked quickly so that you're not rummaging around for them. Plates, cutlery, saucepan, wooden spoon, next days clothes etc. Then you know that you need to unpack those and can leave the rest until the next day
- get rid of everything you won't need in your new house (FB marketplace is good for this)
- think about your 3 1/2 year old. We had an 18 month old who was very disturbed by all the boxes appearing (and slept awfully for 2 nights before we moved). She spent the day with Grandma and her toys were unpacked when she arrived at our house so she could come straight in and play.
- on move day, my wife took a chair and sat in the front garden directing the furniture while I unpacked the "immediate" boxes. We had spoken about what went in each room prior to this.
- keep important stuff with you- photo albums, jewellery, bank statements, IT equipment
- keep cleaning stuff with you. It's amazing how much dirt there is behind a bed and you may want to clean it for the new owners (if you're nice) or do your new house before you start unpacking
- We put all the fragile boxes in 1 room and made it clear this was the case. It meant all the other boxes could be stacked however they wanted. Only mark the genuinely fragile boxes as such- too many and the removals will ignore it
- order a supermarket delivery for that evening or the next morning so you don't have to go to the shops

If you use a removal firm then check their insurance details carefully.  You may find that if they didn’t pack things like glass, china etc and something gets broken in the move they won’t pay out.  

For the last 2 moves we have searched out a local firm with good reviews and got them to do a part pack, all breakables and kitchen stuff.  Part pack didn’t cost much extra, the staff really knew what they were doing and did it quickly. 

Redmond3rd

I moved last year and we ended up getting a load of boxes from our local facebook group - best thing to get help is to join local communities and just ask for help.

lincroft1710

Redmond3rd said:

I moved last year and we ended up getting a load of boxes from our local facebook group - best thing to get help is to join local communities and just ask for help.

You have replied to a 2 year old thread

EssexHebridean

If using see-through plastic boxes for an assortment of items it helps to put an A4 sheet on the front or slipped down one side with a rough idea of which room they originated from, and roughly what's inside. This is particularly useful when you are packing some boxes a long way ahead of time to clear items out ahead of viewings on a house you are selling...go on, ask me how I know!   

I'll also echo the comment about banana boxes being superb for books, DVDs and that sort of thing. 
CDs can often be moved in the racks they live in, as long as the racks have a back and aren't too large. Masking tape stops them falling out of the front. 

Also when labelling boxes/rooms for the removal men, use a number /symbol system rather than descriptions. "Up arrow + 1", "Up arrow + 2" is quicker to quickly assess and deploy than "Bedroom 1" and "Bedroom 2". You can then just masking tape an A4 sheet with a clear, large number on it to the doorway of each room up and down and everything becomes clear at a glance.