Moving homes is something that nobody looks forward to. Cleaning your house before you leave it, contacting utility companies, hiring a removals company way in advance, not to leave out probably the most trivial of them all, and packing up all your possessions. So for those who haven’t experienced moving home before? Or maybe you had a bad experience last time? This article will provide you with handy tips which will make the process go smoothly.
Before we give the 8 tips, a list of things that you’ll need in order to complete the move is below. These items are very significant for a move to go efficiently.
When going to a supermarket to acquire boxes, don’t except to be able to just walk in and receive all the boxes you need on the first trip. Some of these supermarkets don’t receive deliveries everyday – so make sure you leave an appropriate amount of time to get the boxes, because you might be advised to pop in another day. What you’ll need is:
- Small boxes
- Medium boxes
- Large boxes
- Wardrobe boxes
- Heavy duty boxes
Whilst you are in the supermarket to collect the boxes, make sure you additionally pick up:
- Tape
- Marker pens
- Labels
- Stretch wrap
- Bubble wrap
- Old newspapers
You’ll find a lot of removal companies in the UK; we would highly recommend that you gain the services of one of these companies to help you move house. A removal company takes away the stress and time consuming task of transporting and lifting all of your possessions, leaving you to deal with other tasks.
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Do it early
How long it will take to pack up all your items will depend mostly on their number. So, if you have a large sized house- we would suggest giving yourself two months to pack, if you do a box a day. If you are moving from a smaller home, one month should be sufficient.
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Use newspaper to fill the gaps
Whilst moving, the boxes filled with your possessions, there’s always a chance that the road is bumpy whilst being re-located, so it’s always a good idea to give breakables an extra layer of protection whilst in the boxes- you can do this by using newspapers, this is also a cheap solution.
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Label your boxes
With your marker, label every box which you will be relocating to your new premises. Although our tip for you would be to make sure you write on the side of the box and not the top. This is because in most cases the boxes will be stacked upwards. It’s also a good idea to use a different colour of pen for each room. If you have kids ask them to help with this part, as it will help them cope with the move.
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De-clutter in advance
Get yourself to a car boot sale, or start listing items on eBay as far in advance as possible, this is not only a great way limit the amount of things you’ll have to move from one property to the other, but it’s a great way to make some spare cash to help you with the finances of the move.
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Try not to make singular boxes too heavy
We’d suggest not packing a single box over 30 pounds as you could gain a back injury whilst lifting the heavy box. Apart from the possibility of gaining an injury; the chances of the box being able to withstand the weight is not high. Following this tip it’s self will make the lifting go more efficiently and more manageable for small groups of people. You should never put your health on the line to cut time.
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Heavier boxes to the bottom
You might be looking at this tip and thinking “Well, that’s just common sense”, but it’s very important to mention. By putting the lighter boxes on top of the heavier ones you’ll be ensuring that no valuables will be crushed in the van during the move. An example of what should go into the van first and remain at the bottom is boxes of books and heavy furniture parts.
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Start with your least used rooms
This is one of the common mistakes that people will make before moving into a new place. There’s no use packing up your kitchen 2 months in advance when you’ll need to keep unpacking items which will be of daily use. You are best to start with rooms and items which you don’t use daily, for example the cupboard where you keep all your Christmas decorations should be the first to be packed up, because its seasonal and you know you won’t be using it until a certain time in the year.
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One room at a time
This tip is often neglected by future house movers, often first time movers will get over-enthusiastic and begin to pack multiple rooms at a time. We would suggest completing one before moving onto the other. This helps stay organised leading up to the move.