Another moving question, better to do in one go or what I can?

dekaspace1

A few reasons for this,

If I just move the furniture it will be easy and I can have things meant to be in boxes/bags stored in the 2nd bedroom (which either will be empty by then as moving to 1 bedroom or big enough to dump loads of stuff.

Then I can just hoover up the rooms and then all I will need to box/bag is some electronic items such as dvd player, games consoles, speakers, things in kitchen drawers, utensils, food and a few bags/boxes of blu rays/games/dvds.

Friend has a car but its quite small and is willing to help me move stuff, its only a mile away.

My thinking is hiring a van for a few hours and just putting the bags/boxes of stuff left in the flat into the van drive it up, unpack it as even factoring in the drive from the van hire place, old place, new place and back shouldn't be more than 2 hours maybe even 90 minutes it would also be less hassle IMO.

But is this a good idea?

Brie

Moving always takes longer than you think it will.  Plan on that.  

But if everything is boxed and the furniture disassembled as much as possible then I'd be moving that first, assembling and then moving the rest.  Then get rid of the van and go and unpack everything.  EVERYTHING. 

We had room to store stuff when we moved so things didn't get unpacked and dealt with immediately.  Over 4 years later we're still unpacking bits and have lots to get rid of that will never ever be wanted.  2nd bedroom will become your dumping ground.

dekaspace1

Thats why I planned it in that way,

I have factored in 2 hours for the furniture moving with 15 minutes drive time (can be done in 5 with no traffic) though I am aware it may take 20 at most moving as much as I can into the hall for the morning of moving.

I am moving

2 desks

white goods

3x tvs

foldable dinner table

2 sofas

1 medium and 1 small glass table

1 bed

2x vacumn cleaners.

1 large tv unit

Large chest of drawers

2 armchairs

2 computers

about 8 large plastic storage boxes.

I have factored in 2 hours for that inc travel, packing and unpacking.

After that I will have,

Box of games consoles

Food

utensils

clothes

Speakers

Box or 2 of dvds/games/blu rays

Maybe 1 or 2 boxes of bits and bobs.

And if space permits at new place a light dresser.

Taken in a van I hire myself.

Wail

How big is the van going to be? Two sofas, two armchairs and a bed are quite substantial volume?

How good is the parking at both properties?

Dependent on where the van hire is, I would be looking at a good 4 hours. 

dekaspace1

Van hire is local, its those huge vans, 2 men to move it (and I can help) parking literally at each door and only going 1 mile.

When I moved here and that was with 2 bedroom of stuff and going from 1st floor to ground floor it took 2 journeys and about 2 and a half hours, the distance is only half a mile more but less furniture.

TheJP

Are you selling as well or coming from rented accommodation? If you are selling you need to be packed up and ready to go once you complete, multiple trips is a no no.

dekaspace1

Social housing to social housing.

deannagone

If you have hired a van, I would just get everything into the van, having a 'friend with car' could go wrong.., its just another element that could go wrong at a time when you will be distracted/stressed.  Also it will force you to make absolutely sure everything is packed up so you just have to clean after everything's gone.  Put everything you are taking in the second bedroom you don't use now so you can see what is still to be done easily in the rest of the place.  If you value the sofas/mattress, wrap them in case they get dragged along the ground, you can leave clothing in drawers but tape doors and drawers shut.  Save a lot of cleaning/repairs later.

Obviously have a box of drink/cleaning things clearly labelled and where you can easily lay your hands on it.

The easiest move I have had so far is one when I had time to pack everything/disassemble everything except my bed and all boxes / stuff to go were in one place.  The worst one was when I used a cheaper company, the van wasn't big enough, the moving people didn't have a clue.  Social housing move like yours and I only had a few days to prepare due to the way it was handled by the council (the other people didn't want to move so I didn't know until two days before it would actually happen and when although of course I did start packing in advance).  Nightmare, everything that could go wrong did go wrong including my now ex disappearing for hours. The fact that it was five mins drive from one property to another didn't help with a 3 bed house full of furniture to move.

Get it as organised as you can.  Eliminate things that can go wrong as much as you can.., but something might still go wrong lolol.  And lol, cheap isn't a good idea.  The people who came with the van didn't have a clue, piled so much in the hallway you couldn't actually get in to move it all.  

I hope you will be happy in the new property.

dekaspace1

Thanks for advice, an update I am no longer hiring a van as the cheapest I found was £75 which defeats the purpose.

Friend is very willing to help, he gets lonely and likes to keep active so drove to mine today (he only lives a few minutes walk from old place) and we took some things to new place, and he surprised me when he said he wanted to do more but as I felt guilty I just did 1 more load, each load only took about 20 minutes including drive each way and I bought him a take away as thanks and is still willing to help more.

I did get some packing boxes free online, I reckon after I throw out things I don't want I can get my things into a few large boxes and the clothes in large bin bags.

I currently have 1 box packed, I reckon I will fill 1 more at least (not including kitchen stuff but I can move that after I get furniture out) for the main cupboard

I still have to empty the old coal cupboard in the close, that is mostly a ladder, 2 vacumns and about 8 plastic storage containers, a few games console boxes (Will leave them and take in friends car as they are basically no weight) and about 1-2 boxes of electronics

(And in living room all the cables for the tv, computer, speakers)

I have upped my estimate of time to up to 3 hours due to this.

deannagone

As 'advice' is being ignored, there doesn't seem to be much point in repeating the same thing lol.

TripleH

We used a van for the big, bulky items of furniture and boxes.

Due to issues with parking at the old house we managed only 2 trips before we had to call it quits on using the van.

We moved the rest by car.

What would have fitted in 1 van took several trips by car (not money saving re fuel) and there always seems more than there is. We had a month overlap moving rented to owned due to when completion fell.