How do you do to move out and in in the same day?

Last time I moved I packed essentials - lunch, toilet roll, basic toiletries, clothes for the next day, cleaning materials, bin liners, old clothes for cleaning, drinks and snacks, bedsheets and duvet etc into the car. Basically everything I needed to manage that night and get up the next day without having to unpack any boxes, but still be able to clean the new place and dress myself. If you have kids make sure you have pyjamas, favourite toys, things to keep them busy, snacks, baby wipes etc in the car too. I just did my usual clean of the house the day before moving, and then a quick hoover and wipe round before. If you've already cleaned carpets and floors and packed all your stuff it should just be a matter of a quick hoover where furniture was or quick wipe of a shelf. The removal firm usually arrive about 8/8.30. Your stuff should already be in boxes, the few things that you need that morning should be in your bag/boxes in your car anyway because you're likely to need them quickly at the other end.


When you arrive if there's cleaning to be done start with what you need to use first - toilet and kitchen sink. Then I would do the kids bedrooms/living room so they have somewhere to play quietly while you get on with the rest of the house. I cleaned the toilet and bathroom first, then my bedroom because I knew after all the cleaning I would want to have a shower and go to bed!

Packing should start the day you decide you want to move, it won't be much to start with but as you go through stuff it will fall into one of three+ categories, the main ones -

I use this all the time.
I need to keep, but don't need it for now.
Why am I keeping this?

The last you have time to decide and it moves up a level or goes out.
leave it to that last week and it comes with you.

The middle one, you start to collect together and get into boxes for the stuff you don't think you will need inventory and marked up so if you do need something you can find.

The top level will contain stuff you think you use but don't as much or can do without for a while, get it packed.

get the that's the place we hide stuff worked over early,for houses that's often the loft.

Find all the packing for the fragile and funny shapes, original if you have it, TV, electronics etc, much better packed in what they came in.

BY exchange you should have a good idea of what you have and where your extra packing material will be coming from.

If using flatpack make sure you have enough tape and a decent dispenser.

Boxes are all about the right sizes and being able to stack
don't over pack(weight), things like books and linen get very heavy so smaller boxes.

Bin liners make good vacuum bags for short term

If you can afford to have the movers do the packing, do that. When I moved, they came the night before and did everything except for a bed, chair & TV and one box of kitchen essentials. Which meant I could use that evening to clean, and that getting out the following morning was quick and easy.

If that's not an option, start packing now, box up non-essentials. Label each box with the room it is due to go into, and consider putting a number on each box, and keeping a list as you go along of what (roughly) is in each box.

Also - be ruthless about throwing stuff out!

When moving day gets closer, make a list of essentials to *not* pack - this would include a bag with clothes for each person, your hoover and other cleaning materials, bedding, and enough crockery and cutlery to use.

Then start packing everything else. One room at a time probably works best, and have a carrier bag or small box in each room for stuff you can't pack - for clothes for instance, you can keep out enough or a couple of weeks, as you would if you were going on holiday, and pack the rest.

For the kitchen, keep meals simple and pack up most of your crockery etc. This also allows you to clean as you go.

On moving day, put the stuff you need accessible in your car, if you have one, so you have the box with the kettle, mugs and tea bags in, the hoover, a bag of clothes each etc in your possession. If this is not possible, then put big, brightly coloured post-its on those things saying 'DO NOT PACK'.

If you can enlist a friend or family member to look after your child during the move, do so.

Paying for storage could work but don't forget that you have to pack and move stuff into storage, so it probably own't save you much time, so unless you want things out of the way to let you do a really deep clean on the new house, it may be easier to spend the money on getting the movers to pack!

When I did it, the way it worked was that the movers charge for the boxes they use, but then I had up to 6 months to return them, and they refunded the cost of all the returned boxes. (If you emptied them all at once, they would come back to pick them up, but they'd only make one trip, so if you wanted to return them in waves, you had to drop them of yourself after the first time.)


I ended up keeping some of the boxes, mostly because I have a *lot* of books, and it takes ages to unpack them all, but I returned all the other boxes.

I think when they quote you, they take into account the fact that if they pack, they get boxes of uniform size to stack up, and that he boxes will be well packed and the right size for the weight of their contents, so it makes loading and unloading easier, so although they spend extra time doing the packing, they can then load up the van more efficiently

tealady wrote: »

I would add to that list loo paper,soap and a towel.
Also pack a complete change of clothers for every one (ready for the next day).
When you do move in make sure the beds are made asap, nothing worse than being ready for bed after a busy day and it isn't made.

Things like phone charger would be handy too.