Moving house soon.

[Miscbrah]

I stole several hefty removal crates from a commercial company way back. Having TOUGH boxes is a real bonus as you can brute force them around a bit more and they stack nicely (godsend.) Buy, beg, borrow or steal some tonk old crates of some sort.

 

Then pretty much as Grumbledook says, and mark every box clearly.

 

Congrats on the house! Still renting at the moment but one day...

[GrumbleDook]

If it is a new build then here are a few handy tricks to save your sanity.

 

Door handle will get bumped and banged. If they are handles then some foam insulation over them with micropore / masking tape. It will save taking chunks out of your hands / arms as you carry stuff through and save on scratches to furniture. If they are door knobs then old tennis balls cover them well.

 

Note the difficult was to move things around or door frames which will be tight squeezes. Packing boxes broken down and stuck on walls / corners / door frames can limit damage when you bash them with that heavy wardrobe that is the source of the song Right Said Fred. Again, micropore of masking tape to stick the cardboard to walls / door frames / etc will mean that you won't pull paint off when you come to tidy up.

 

Furniture polish on new lino makes this slide easier. Better still if you have an old piece of lino that the object can sit on. Handy for moving that fridge and washing machine.

 

Save your vegetable spread tubs ... handy for all those screws you have to take off things when taking things apart to move. Don't forget to tape them closed though as you don't want to lose anything.

 

Lifehacker also has a bunch of moving tips IIRC.

[sippo]

If it's a new build I would get those blue shoe protector thingys as well. Save traipsing mud through the house possibly.

[Andrew_C]

Get some plastic crates of a totally unique colour. Use these for the kettle etc, and for the things you CANNOT pack prior to the last morning; phone chargers, move-relevant paperwork, keys, drugs, laptop, whatever. These will then be easy to spot at the new place.

 

Don't fill large boxes with books or records*. About 1/3 full, topped up with something light like a duvet.

Having boxes the same shape as each other helps in the van pack.

Lots of newspapers to pack glassware. Pictures are a bggr to pack. The only thing we broke last time was picture glass.

Don't put all the weight at the front of the van; makes steering heavy.

Start filling the van with large stuff, tables etc. Then pack boxes around them. Then another large thing or two, more boxes on and around.

 

Take breaks! Take care...

 

 

 

*Told my brother about the books, didn't warn him about records... Nearly killed us carrying those boxes down 4 flights!

Edited January 6, 2015 by Andrew_C

[elsiegee40]

Also consider vacuum storage bags for compacting clothes, towels, bedlinen, pillows, duvets, etc

 

As if by magic, the volume is drastically reduced. Everything stays clean and dry regardless. I couldn't get my kids' stuff to university in a single car load without them!

[rad]

Check to see if your school offers a "moving day" mine did and I had no idea. Extra day off = bonus

 

All that has been said is great advice. If it is a new build, I'd take a small lamp with me to test the sockets, worst thing you want to do is move in and then find the snags.

[newpersn]

Check to see if your school offers a "moving day" mine did and I had no idea. Extra day off = bonus

 

All that has been said is great advice. If it is a new build, I'd take a small lamp with me to test the sockets, worst thing you want to do is move in and then find the snags.

 

They do. But i also got 4 days holiday to use..

[newpersn]

Bit of an update

 

Our hand over date been changed to the end of the month. (28th I think off the top of my head)

 

And our tenancy on the current place ends after the weekend. We can't really afford to pay 2 lots of rent. It's bad enough we got to pay more when we get the keys to our new house.

 

Once we get the keys on the Thursday. We are going to measure up the rooms and get the carpet on the Friday morning. (Get the van on the Friday aswell)

 

Think it will be a mad weekend. :/

[DSapseid]

Have a look at local man & van type removals rather than big removal companies. I moved into my first owned house the week before xmas with the girlfriend and i had a man and a van (well technically 2 men) and they charged £50 per hour. Luckily we got the keys 3 days before the van came so i did 5 car loads of stuff before the van came. I ended up only having to pay for 2 hours as i had everything ready to go (dishwasher/washing machine unplumbed).

 

However previously i have always moved myself and my family, i had to move my dad last summer and he hired a long/high luton type van and i did all the packing in the van and got my dad and brother to lift everything into the van. Its definitely easier having one or two people stack the stuff in the van and they ask for things of a various size/shape to fill every space whilst packing. I managed to get a 4 bed house into 2 trips by doing exactly this. If you stack sofas one on top of each other but upside down then fill the space in between with the cushions or spare bedding or bags of clothes etc. Make every space count so you don't have to do an extra trip.

 

Get as many people as you can to help but only get people that are going to be useful!! I got 2 teachers from work that im friends with that i have helped move in the past to help and they are both late 20s and strong so lifting sofas was a breeze, before ive had people who would struggle to lift a dining chair who have been more in the way than anything, relegate them to making drinks/food!

 

As people have said make sure you set the beds up as a priority so you can keep unpacking late into the night then just fall straight into bed without having to build it when your already knackered and its gone midnight!

[penfold]

Get people to help who you can rely on. We had my sisters ex-partner offer to use a work truck for the day and we had packed knowing it was going to take a few trips and most of the day to shift stuff. Halfway through the second filling he announced that he had to go back to work with the truck as he didn't want to be away too long. I wasn't impressed to say the least. We ended up taking the stuff which had to go into a truck and the rest was done via repeated car trips.

 

You want people who when they offer to help will be a help, not either get in the way or drop out before the said they would.

[newpersn]

Dated changed about a week ago, Now get the keys on the 3rd and moving in on the 5th,

 

Booked 5 days off. (4 days Holiday and 1 moving day)

Van booked for few days

Found out about sky broadband. We have to pay extra as there no sky equipment in the area. But there will be no charge to leave sky talk and BB due to that.

 

Cant do much else as the address isnt fully registered yet.

[newpersn]

We now have keys. Busy few days now