Guide to Moving

Be Prepared

Make sure you have all the materials you need, to pack away your entire belongings. Have plenty of boxes of various sizes, bubble wrap, old newspaper, scissors, thick pens, sticky tape, bin bags, and some more boxes.

Time

Start early to give yourself plenty of time. Packing will inevitably take longer than you think. There might hold ups somewhere, and its the final bit of packing up every last item that takes a surprising amount of time. You naturally start with the easiest bits and it seems to be going quickly, until you get down to the more time consuming parts.

What order?

It is best to work downwards when packing. Start at the top, packing one room at a time. Completing a whole room will be rewarding, spur you on, but having half packed boxes all over the house will just wear you down.

Depending on where you are in the exchange of contracts / completion process, you may also want to start boxing up items that are not regularly used first – just in case things get delayed.

Breakables

Ensure that all boxes that contain fragile items are clearly labelled. It is best to have a universal sticker that goes the top of all fragile boxes, this way it is quick and easy for anyone to see.

Cables

The number of these that you have will surprise you, but the tangle they can get in will most certainly frustrate you! Make sure all cables are neatly coiled up with a zip tie or elastic band.

Important Box

Use a box or safe for all important documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, bank account details, tax forms etc. Dont put anything non important in it – think, if you can buy it in a shop, it doesnt need to go in there. It is often best to have 1 person responsible for this box so there is less chance of it getting misplaced.

Furnishing

You should also think about how your current furniture will work in your new property; will you be short on furniture, or possibly overloaded if you are downsizing. If you need to but more furniture – remember to factor this in to your budget. Having just spent a significant amount of money moving house, don’t leave yourself short at your new place. If you are downsizing, then it would likely be sensible to sell/donate unwanted furniture before you move. A single mattress, can often be one of the hardest things to transport. If the mattress is quite old anyway, then it may be better to simply throw away the mattress, and to buy a new one for you new house.