Tips please on moving house!!

[Nicos]

To make the unpacking less tedious, I hide treats in random boxes: bottles of wine, or choccies

So- that'd be one box every couple of days then???

As I know where everything is in the house ( lived there for 20 years) I like the idea of labelling 'kitchen drawers', 'top 3 left hand cupboards in utility room'- that sort of thing.
There's no time for e-baying, and I think I've chucked out most stuff I'm prepared to lose ( not a lot)...a car boot sale might be in order though if I leave borderline stuff in storage!!

I like the idea of using bedding and pillows etc as 'padding' Hilary!

[janeyo]

I always make a pack for the new owners and one really useful thing to do is to label all the keys! Otherwise you get a boxful of keys and have no idea where they fit!

I also tell them where the nearest supermarket, garage, toddler group if they have little ones, post office and opening times...

I also leave all the household manuals togeter in a kitchen drawer so it's easy to work out how to programme the oven / boiler etc...

And don't forget to tell them anythign quirky about the house - eg, we had a door that would only lock a certain way so told the new owners.

[Two_Sheds]

And don't forget to tell them anythign quirky about the house -

like:
- the new shiny oven doesn't really work properly at all, but it looks nice
- we lied when we said the boiler had been serviced by a real plumber
- that fresh paint on the ceiling is actually covering up a damp patch


(actually your home-pack ideas were really good )

[scarey55]

After we had moved and I re-packed boxes to go into storage I laid everything out before re-packing and took a photograph of it then labeled the box and the photo ie box number 1 and photo called box number 1, that way, you know what's in the box before you have to open it and search through.
It is surprising what you forget you have once it has been re-packed and put away in the barn! I don't know if you can do it with everything you own but it might be good for boxes of small things.

[Glutton4...]

No advice from me Nicos. We moved just over a year ago, and are hoping to move again this year if the housing market picks up (Pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaassssssseeee!).

You've got loads of advice from everyone above, so make the most of it and have as stress-free a move as you can



OK, I'll be truthful - my advice was to get rid of the bladdy lot on eBay and Freecycle, until I read your post LOL!

[Hilary B]

My Aunt moved house incredibly often (I remember at least 4 different addresses she got moved to in the roughly 10 years from my earliest memory until her husband retired when I was about 14, and she had been moving that often throughout her married life), and I got the tip about packing china in pillowcases and tea towels (and all the rest) from her.
She had got so used to packing up that she could have all the breakables in boxes in 2 days, and have the vital items (kettle, teapot and cups) unpacked and in use within an hour of arrival at the new house. The employers paid for the van and driver, and the rest was up to them.....

[miffy]

When we moved here we set up our bedrooms first so we had somewhere to collapse into on the night and were really glad we did.
Also our sons bedroom was set up straight away so he could have his own space to retreat to whilst we sorted out the rest of the house.
We did have a box with tea, coffee, etc in which was excellent and on the night of the move ordered in takeaway so we didn't have to cook.

[Nicos]

I like the ideas of takeaways!!

I'd not really thought about stuff which doesn't go into boxes- like the flat screen TV and mirrors...how on earth do you protect those? surely bubblewrap isn't going to be enough???
Unpacking isn't really the problem- it's the packing up and transporting the stuff ourselves!
I'm off to collect some smaller boxes from the corner shop- I can see what peeps say about big heavy boxes being difficult to carry!
Got loads of newspapers saved for us too!

..starting to panic a bit now

[RedThorn]

Everytime we moved, we ebayed loads! Good to have a clearout. Where possible try use loads of smaller boxes, easier to carry and stack. Spreadsheet is easier, however even better is to be efficient and unpack every load within a week. I moved and unpacked an entire house in a week and a weekend while still going to work during the day and did the bulk move on the weekend. OH couldn't help at the time as DD was a baby. This way, the remembering which box is completely moot. Also forces you to be more radical in what you move. Also you feel better with not having loads of boxes about

PS - We moved a week before Christmas and I was determined not to have a tip with loads of boxes about for Christmas day. Glad I pushed on as it was a fantastic Christmas

[Nicos]

Gee- that's impressive!!

Smaller boxes it is then.

I certainly need to record the boxes carefully, cos some of the things have to stay in storage in the UK for a few months....

...just wish I could get on with packing now- it's really quite frustrating!!!!

[RedThorn]

Doesn't mean that the OH didn't come along and re-arrange all the kitchen cupboards though

[Nicos]

Doesn't mean that the OH didn't come along and re-arrange all the kitchen cupboards though

Good on her!!!

[vicky]

Our removal men packed the big mirrors etc in between matresses (on their sides, not flat).
Also they said to pack the plates on their sides - if you pack them stacked on each other they are more likely to fall through the bottom of the box!

[janeyo]

MY OH is fanatical about keeping boxes from things like flat screen tvs in the loft just so they can be moved about easily when I decide we have to move again.. smart man lol

[Nicos]

MY OH is fanatical about keeping boxes from things like flat screen tvs in the loft just so they can be moved about easily when I decide we have to move again.. smart man lol

Any chance of borrowing them then???