hit me with your house moving must haves

RelievedSheff

 My advice would be to have a massive declutter before you move.

Then pack everything into clearly labelled boxes with the box contents and what room it needs to go in.

On moving day don't expect the house to be perfect. It won't be, there will be things that need doing here, there and everywhere. Make a list of these things for the developers to repair as you go around the house.

Concentrate on getting a bedroom sorted and comfy and your living space so that you have somewhere comfy to sleep and somewhere comfy to chill out and enjoy your new home.

Skiddaw1

I second the comment about emergency alcohol. Also, either earmark the local takeaways and shops (if any) or make sure you know where tea/breakfast ingredients are. As ours was a 300+ mile move we didn't get our furniture until the Monday (we moved on a Friday) so we made sure we had everything we needed to camp out for a few days (inflatable mattress, bedding, etc). If you have pets, keep their essentials somewhere easily to hand (and have a designated room for them to chill in when you land at the new house).

Most of all..... enjoy it. Knowing you're on the way at last is a wonderful moment.

[Deleted User]

slimzoe said:

Hi all, our new build will finally be ready and we will complete on 28th January, (exchanged in May) we are moving from rented so no chain at all. 

I am starting to think about what we need to do, book, sort, redirect etc and also thinking of moving weekend. 

we have a moving company booked but we are packing, the plan is to keep our rented for a 2 week cross over so, Friday we will hire a small van and move the stuff they cant (and my other halves precious tech) over the weekend and then the removals will do all the furniture on the Monday. 

Never bought a new build, I was in my last house for almost 20 years and then we've been in rented for 2 years so all new to me. 

I have started a survival list thanks to a thread yesterday but looking to the wealth of knowledge that is this forum - what are your top tips? do's, don'ts things you wish somebody had told you?? 

If it's a new build then check it out before it gets filled up with your stuff. There are always snags.

TripleH

Rigolith is right, take photos so you can show things that were damaged / marked before you moved in and not by the moving in of furniture. It's taken us 6 weeks to free up the downstairs hall so we have space.

We had a bag of essentials packed for the cats and always make the bed first of all. This reassures our eldest one that this is her new home.

bolwin1

Declutter - we spent months decluttering, giving stuff away etc. and I've still got a couple of boxes unopened from our move last  January.  
If you have a cat or dog, put them in a cattery / kennel for the first couple of days whilst you are unpacking. 
Pay for a packing service - not cheap, but worth every penny. 
Don't pack your phone chargers & forget which box they went in :-)

Brie

Book any pets into a spa hotel for a few days before and after - last thing you need is a excited dog or cat peeing on the new rugs.  

Move the furniture first and then the small bits - where are you planning on putting them if there's no bookshelves etc???

Not just the tea and toilet essentials to be packed - if there's furniture to be assembled ensure the tool box is in the car.  Pack some clothes like you're going on holiday, wash bag, knickers etc.  dismantle some of the awkward stuff - bbq etc.  make sure you have a torch so you can check the meters on both places.  have  a note book so you can keep a record of who you talked to when and about what (names, dates, times)

yes - and declutter, declutter, declutter.  and do a few runs to the dump to make some space for yourself.  4 years after our (complicated) move we still haven't found the space for everything and, yes there are boxes not yet unpacked.  (no good reason for this actually - there's plenty of space but not so plenty energy for dealing with it again and again.  we're sure to have sorted everything by the next time we move....hopefully not for 20 - 30 years)

Brie

OH and have a "do not move" box.  Our removals guys packed the boiler remote and we couldn't find it for 3 days during a exceedingly cold week - poor chap that bought our old place nearly froze!

googler

kazwookie said:

Make a list of all you need to tell you are moving, ie council, banks, gas/ elect, loyalty cards, BT, vets, doctors, pensions, any clubs you belong to, and professional bodies you belong to / etc etc

I made a checklist in this forum a few years ago ... back in a minute;

googler

Who to (possibly) tell that you're moving or have moved;

Accountant
Banks (High Street and Online)
Book or Music Club Subscriptions
Broadband Supplier
Building Society
Burglar Alarm Servicing or Monitoring
Car Insurer, Car Clubs (AA, RAC etc)
Catalogues/Freebies
Charities - for catalogues, as well as registered donor/member
Church/Religious Organisations
Cleaners, Ironing Service, etc.
Clubs – Rotary, Community, Sports, WWF, RSPB, etc.
Council (both old & new) - Council Tax Department
Council – cancel any Parking Permits
Credit Card(s) Provider
Dentist
Doctor
DWP (formerly known as DSS)
DVLA
Electricity, Gas & other Utility Suppliers
e-mail provider(s)
Employer(s)
Family & Friends
Gardener
Hire Purchase/Loan Companies
Hospital, if you attend regularly
Household Insurance Supplier – Building and Contents
Home Phone/Landline Supplier
Inland Revenue, or HMRC
Internet Service Provider (ISP)
Investments (Funds, etc.) - Administrator/Registrar
Library
Life Assurance Supplier
Loan or Credit Companies
Magazine Subscriptions
Medical insurance (BUPA or similar)
Memberships - maybe included in Clubs above
Milkman – cancel deliveries
Mobile Phone Supplier
Neighbours
Newsagent – cancel paper deliveries
NS&I - Premium Bonds
Online Retailers (Amazon, eBay, Paypal, etc)
Optician, Hairdresser, other Beauty/Health professionals
Pawnbroker - if you plan to later re-purchase what you've pawned
Pension Providers
Royal Mail – set up your re-direction service for 3/6/12 mths
Satellite or Cable TV Supplier
Servicing Contractors (Boiler, CH, other appliances)
Schools & Nurseries, Childminders, Babysitters
Shareholdings - Registrars (direct and online)
Stores or Chains with discount or club cards
Survey/Market Research websites
TV Licencing Office
Vet, Kennels, Cattery, Microchip Registrations
Window Cleaner

Just thought of;

Supermarket / Cash & Carry memberships, card or discount schemes

Sandtree

The only advantage to packing yourself is that you can mark where they are to go to rather than where they are coming from... make sure you use that.

Declutter, no point paying people to move stuff you'll then be getting rid of.

Have a box/suitcase etc of what you need for the first 24-48 hours and put that in your own vehicle before the removal men hide it in the mass of boxes

If you are buying any new appliances etc get them delivered before you move your stuff so they arent fighting round boxes etc (probably less of an issue with a large house) and so the fridge/freezer is cold to receive any food being transferred.

Have cash to tip the delivery people reasonably well... you may be paying a lot of the removals but little of it goes to the guys and they will normally "forget" to mention there were more boxes than you quoted for etc if there is cash in their pocket 

Having moved into a new builds before... accept there may be a long time for broadband to be installed etc (our last house it took 4 months or so) so get it moving as quickly as you can and consider if you need a 4g router or such as an interim solution.