Moving House Tips and Checklist
Over the years, I’ve picked up some good tips and tricks to make things easier and less stressful when moving house. There are lots of great guides online that offer practical advice but none that can answer the random questions that popped into my head about how to best pack or transport certain objects. Consider this your new guide to packing and moving! First up a few key rules to follow…
Start as early as possible
The overarching rule to moving house - you can never start packing too early! Of course, it is tough to disrupt your home and turn familiarity upside down (especially if you aren’t yet excited at the prospect of moving) but this will ease you into the process slowly and make things feel less daunting. But where do you start?
Order a moving house pack
When using a removal company, it’s likely that they will visit your home and estimate how many boxes you will need, but if like us you are moving out with the help of others and renting a removal van, how do you work out the number of boxes needed? There are a wide range of house moving packs available online to suit the size of your house, for example, we bought a StorePAK 100% recyclable kit suitable for 1-2 bedroom homes, it came with 15 boxes of varying size, bubble wrap, tape, and a marker pen. To reduce waste, be sure to use paper bubble wrap and keep hold of boxes you receive as part of a delivery to reuse during the move.
It’s time to declutter
There is nothing better than everything having a place, so to the enable this in your new home put the hard work in now and start to declutter. Work out what there is space for in your new home and what can be let go. Of course, it’s not the most fun task but it will be so worth it once it’s done.
Nowadays, many hoard because of not wanting items to go into landfill but this doesn’t have to be the case. Look up what can be recycled at your local recycling centre and remember there are many apps that you can sell your unwanted items on such as eBay, Freecycle, Next Door, and Facebook Marketplace. In one afternoon, we gave away several photo frames, and sold a laptop stand, two terracotta pots, a chair and a cocktail shaker set using Facebook Marketplace. Though it’s not ideal having to constantly answer the door and coordinate timings, we gave our no longer used items new homes and made £150 in the process, so it certainly pays off.
Let the packing commence
Packing room by room is the norm but this wasn’t pragmatic for us, so we opted to pack up all decorative objects first such as photo frames, vases, candles and books. It’s hard to pack away the items that give your home atmosphere first, but you’ll only love them more when the time comes to unpack!
Once this is don, you can then pack a little more traditionally, so begin with the areas you use the least first such as the spare bedroom or airing cupboard. The best tips I’ve picked up along the way are:
Use towels and bedding for extra protection around anything fragile such as vases, glasses or even your TV
Add a hairband or elastic band around 10-15 coat hangers to make clothing easier and buy a clothes rail to load them onto
If space in the removal van is limited, use vacuum bags for cushions, pillows, and duvets
On moving day, place plants into bin bags and tie them up around the trunk with tap so prevent soil getting everywhere in transit
Try to eat most of things in your freezer prior to moving, if not have some cool bags handy and stuff them out with ice packs
For chest of drawers, remove each drawer and cover with a bin bag to save on unnecessary packing
Put any screws and bolts from bits of furniture in freezer bags. Stick the bag to the relevant bit of furniture with masking tape
ON MOVING DAY
The night before the big day, pack a suitcase with everything you would need for a long weekend, it’ll no doubt be an exhausting day so having a phone charger, toothbrush, cleanser, and fresh pair of clothes to hand will be a huge relief.
Be sure to create a document folder, with all of your important items in such as your passports, birth certificates and house contracts in. Speaking of logistics, make sure to use WhatThreeWords as a unique way to signpost the entrance you want your movers to use for a smoother day, especially if your new home is in the middle of nowhere!
Finally, it’s thirsty work moving and eventually celebrating your new home! Put the kettle, tea making things, some snacks, and a bottle of champagne with glasses into a box and in a location that is easily accessible like in the boot of your car.
Let me know if you have any other tips below!