Moving house made easier

A few practicalities leading up to the house move date

I can honestly say moving house last year was the most stressful thing I've ever been through. We had so many changes, postponements and uncertainty; it was absolutely awful. Sadly, despite going through it all, I'm not sure I can do very much to prevent similar stresses befalling on others, but what I'm aiming to do here is to give a few small tips to alleviate a small part of the burden. Assuming you've got a move date and are now facing the practicalities of physically moving your entire life and belongings to a new home, then you have some key things to think about.

1. Book a removal company
Do this as early as you can as they can get booked up very quickly. Remember that the prices are very variable between companies and depending on the day of the week/time of year so shop around, ask friends for recommendations and get different quotes. Also check what's included in the quotes, e.g. insurance cover and packing materials, and also when they will collect your belongings. For long journeys and/or large quantities they may well come several days in advance; is this suitable for you?

2. Pack
Start packing well in advance to allows you to sort through your belongings as you go and throw out, take to charity shops, or possibly sell at a car boot to earn a few pennies. The more you can get rid of in advance, the less you have to take and the less you have to unpack at the other end. We started packing about 2 months before we actually moved and piled boxes in the dining room as they were packed. Remember to label everything including what's in the box and which room you want it to go in when it is carried into the new house.

If you need to buy packing materials, most storage companies sell boxes, bubblewrap, etc.. but these are hugely expensive. Try and get hold of normal cardboard boxes and any useful packaging materials. Ask friends and family if they can keep hold of these for you to use.

Have one essentials box that you'll keep with you in the car which includes items such as a kettle with teabags and mugs, valuable/sentimental items e.g. jewellery, passports, mobile phone chargers, etc..

Pack everything the day before the removal people come as the last few bits that you decide to leave until the day itself take longer than you think. Be strict with yourself; sleep on matresses/airbeds with minimal bedding, leave only one change of clothes per person out, just the kettle and two mugs, etc.. Buy some porridge pots or similar in advance to give you a filling breakfast without the washing up.

3. Change your addresses
You can start this process in advance of your move. I found a really helpful site called www.iammoving.com who automatically send change of address notifications to many of the usual organisations and companies that you'd need to inform including councils, utility companies, mobile phone companies, using your move date as the effective date for the change. However you tell them, you'll need to contact lots of different people to move all your correspondence to the new house. This is my comprehensive list, which I've used for the past two house moves which you may like to use as a starting point for your own.

Change of Address **Set up a Post office redirect**

Financial
Mortgage provider
Bank
Credit cards
Work pensions (current and former employers')
Private pension provider
Child Trust Fund
HMRC
Home insurance (do this ready for exchange as you need to insure the new house from then!)
Car insurance
Life insurance
Share registrar (for any share certificates held)

Other
Veg box delivery
Contact lens delivery
DVLA
RAC/AA
TV Licence
Mobile phone company
Professional body/trades union
Alumni groups e.g. university, school, etc..
National Blood Service (if you give blood or are on the bone marrow doner register)
Charities to whom you give by DD or are registered
'Catalogue mail' and Store cards e.g. Boden, GLTC, Tesco, etc..

Deregistration and Registration
School
Other childcare providers
Optician
Library
Leisure centre (including for children's swimming lessons)/gym
Window cleaner
Milk delivery
Doctor
Dentist
Council Tax
Electricity
Gas
Water Board

4. Childcare
Even for the most organised people, the days leading up to the move date are likely to be hugely busy trying to pack everything, tie up loose ends, make phone calls, etc. so use any childcare help you have on offer. When the removal people arrive, I would strongly suggest that the children aren't around!

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Published: Jun 1, 2017

Author: Time Poor Mum

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