Five things to remember when moving house

Moving house is often one of the more stressful times of your life. After what can be a battle at getting your new home at the right price, you are then faced with having to get out of your current property by a specific day. Packing up your entire life can be daunting and overwhelming. However, there are so many useful sites and companies that can offer their assistance, so you needn’t worry.

Not only that, if you follow these guidelines then moving house should be a breeze. The process can be exciting and positive rather than negative and stressful. It’s important to plan your move appropriately to help ensure you start your new life in your new home in a good and positive frame of mind. 

As soon as the offer on your new home is accepted, start collecting newspapers. Don’t throw them away or recycle them as they will be needed to wrap up all your fragile items. Doing this means you avoid having to fork out on bubble wrap which can be costly. However, if you’re worried that you won’t be organised enough to remember to stock up on items like these, you can always order a moving kit. Moving kits come in all shapes and sizes and are priced according to the size of your house. These kits can be useful as they ensure you have smaller items that you may not think of, such as marker pens or ‘fragile’ stickers, to help clearly label your boxes.

Once you have a moving date make sure you order an adequate amount of removal boxes. You will be surprised at how quickly you fill these up, as more and more items creep out from the backs of wardrobes and in cupboards you’ve not opened for months. Packing up your boxes should be a methodical process. Be sure to group items into boxes by room and then write the room on the box. When you get to your new home, you want to avoid having to move boxes around just because they’ve been put in the wrong room. It may also seem obvious, but in the haste of moving, simple points such as labeling your boxes can slip. Clearly label all boxes with what room they belong to, indicate what way up the box should be handled and whether or not it’s heavy or fragile to avoid any accidents.

Large boxes are ideal for packing lots of lighter items; don’t fill the larger boxes with books as no one will be able to move them. Larger boxes are great for stuffing with pillows, cushions, duvets and other bulky but light items from the home. If moving on a wet day, wherever possible try and wrap these types of items up in plastic, so that if a box is left out in the rain by mistake the items inside don’t get ruined.

Another great tip for moving is to try and avoid getting too many helpers. Most friends or family members may offer their services when you’re moving house. However nice the gesture is, this can cause just as much stress as doing it yourself. Try and keep numbers down. This way you evade being asked every five minutes where to put different items and you prevent not knowing where things are when you start unpacking in your new home. Understandably you may need the odd helper to get things going, but don’t fill your home with people as you will end up getting in each other’s way or getting distracted and not doing any packing at all!

Finally, don’t rush it. Try and give yourself enough time to fully pack up your home and ensure that you protect everything that needs protecting, you don’t lose anything in transit and nothing gets damaged along the way. Don’t put it off, start early by sorting out the cupboards and drawers that you don’t use every day to get the packing rolling. Order your supplies of boxes and anything else you need early so you have no excuses or delays. There will be times where you don’t have much time to move out of your current home and you will need to put boxes into storage, and in those times it’s even more important to clearly use labels so as to avoid any losses. 

Moving home is a great way to start a new chapter in your life, whatever the circumstances are. If you follow the above guide you’ll avoid making moving a stressful time. You should start life in your new home on a happy note whilst leaving your previous home with good memories.