Top Tips For A Stress-Free Moving Day
We all know that moving house is one of the most stressful things that you can do.
Within just a few hours you have to take all of your worldly possessions out of the house and move them into your new home.
It needs military precision and organisation if there is any hope of things going smoothly!
Top tips for a stress-free moving day
We all know that moving house is one of the most stressful things that you can do.
After the marketing, viewings, offers, solicitors and surveys, the stress builds, culminating in a single, hectic day.
Within just a few hours you have to take all of your worldly possessions out of the house and move them into your new home.
It needs military precision and organisation if there is any hope of things going smoothly!
So, here are some top tips to make sure that your moving day goes without a hitch and you can enjoy your new home!
- Before you start packing, declutter. There is no point in taking things that you no longer want or need to your new house, only to clutter things up there too! Get ahead of this by using the time through conveyancing, when you won’t be having any more viewings to declutter.
- Pack up anything that you will not need before completion - If you accept and offer in May, you will likely be moving before Christmas so, Christmas decorations and winter clothing can be packed up. If you accept an offer in November then you are probably not going to need any summer clothing or garden toys, so you can get all of these packed up and ready.
- Start to eat up all of the food in the house - You do not want to just throw food away but, depending on how far you are moving, the food may not last the journey. Aim for an empty freezer and then only buy what you need in the final days. It is time to get creative in the kitchen. As your food store cupboard starts to go down you could end up eating some fairly strange combinations.
- Make a to-do list for the big day - you do not want to be getting packed up and ready only to realise at the last minute that you haven’t got that spare key back from your parents and you have not set up the mail redirection. Once everything is packed, you will need to read the meters, hand in the keys, turn down the heating thermostat, among many other things. So make a list - things that need to be done the month before, the week before and the day of moving.
- Make arrangements for your children or pets to be cared for on moving day - Unless your children are older and can help with the move they will take you away from getting this done. Ask for a relative to pick them up from school or arrange after school clubs to give you a few extra hours to get sorted out, if you can. Pets will only get under your feet and, if you have a cat, they might have gone out exploring just as you need to get moving. Either book them into kennels for the night or have them looked after by a family member until you are moved.
- Label your boxes by room - this will make the unpacking at the other end much easier and more controlled. If not, you will end up with a huge mountain of boxes and not have a clue where to start without unpacking every single one. If they are labelled you know that all of your clothes are in certain boxes and all cutlery in other boxes. Those boxes can be placed in the relevant rooms so that you can at least get in through the front door of your new home, and then unpack in a more organised way.
- Pack the majority of your kitchen up last - you will still need to eat and drink until the very last minute so either leave only the items that you need for the number of meals that you have left Or you could decide that you are going to only eat take away for the last few days.
- Pack a personal essentials bag for each person, and keep it with you - imagine you are going for a one night stay in a hotel. Pack clothes and toiletries etc, for a one night stay for each person. This way you will not end up at the new property with no clue where anyone’s toothbrush is! Keep these bags with you, do not put them in the removal van as they may end up stuck in traffic or have a breakdown and then all of your emergency things are with them too!
- Pack all chargers separately and keep these with you - It would be far from ideal if your phone battery died and the charger could be in any one of 40 boxes! Keep these with you too so that you can recharge if you need to throughout the day.
- Pack an essentials kitchen box (and keep this with you too) - The first thing that the majority of people do when they get the keys for their new property is clean it. The second thing that they do is make a cup of tea (I know, so British!) Pack an essentials box for the kitchen with a few cleaning items, tea bags, kettle and mugs (Champagne and glasses too if you like) for when you first arrive and you don’t know where anything is, at least you can have a cuppa!
- Finally, communication with your buyer and onward purchase - everyone needs to be on the same page, all solicitors need to be prepared for completion happening on that day, ideally exchanging in advance although this is not essential. Make sure that you have informed your buyer of your intended plan for the big day - ideally, you are hoping to be packed up and out of the property by lunchtime. This will give them confidence that you are going to have left by the time the completion goes through and they turn up with their removals. If you tell the sellers of the property that you have bought the same thing then they will hopefully be packed up by lunchtime too. This way no one is left with a removal van full of furniture, unable to unload because the new property isn’t empty yet. I have seen many sellers not start packing until the morning of completion and this causes so much stress for everyone involved!
As the saying goes, fail to prepare prepare to fail!
Communication and planning are all that is really needed to ensure that things go as smoothly as possible.
Then, once you are in, order a pizza, open the champagne and breathe!
Welcome to your new home!