Top 10 tips for surviving moving day

When you think of moving day, does your heart sing?  My guess is probably not.  It’s stressful, unbelievably hard work and you feel like you are going to be living with cardboard boxes for the rest of your life!

Worry not, at Fiona Penny Bespoke Home Finders we have some top tips for a successful move…

1. Hire a skip or preferably two.  There is no point in moving items that you don’t need or worse still paying a removal company to move unwanted belongings.  If you are using a packing service we recommend having a skip at both ends, one for the house you are moving out of and one for the house you are moving into.  This allows you to discard anything before you move and when you are unpacking you will, I promise you, fill up another skip. You won’t spend your weekends going to the dump and you will feel ready to start afresh in your new home minus the clutter.
    
2. Children on moving day…. unless they are big strapping lads who will genuinely help with shifting furniture, off-load them so you don’t have to worry about feeding them, having a bed assembled and made up for them or them escaping/wandering off.
    
3. Animals on moving day…see number two, the same applies!
    
4. If you can possibly afford it, hire a removals company and if you are moving from a large property we highly recommend paying for a packing service. Top tip…don’t pay for the unpacking service which some removal companies offer.  All they will do is take items out of a box and put them on the nearest available surface, if one is not available, that equals the floor or they will perpetually ask you where to put things when you don’t know/there is nowhere to put things yet.
    
5. On the topic of removal companies, the good guys are your favourite friends in the whole wide world on moving day. Don’t just go for the cheapest quote, do your research and only go with a company who has been personally recommended. We only recommend two removal companies who we have personally used and who consistently step up to the mark and provide a positive removals experience.
    
6. Pack those critical things that you are going to need that night in your own car so you know where they are and can access them without looking through a load of boxes.   We recommend you have your own bedding, cutlery, plates, mugs and glasses for however many of you will be there on the first night, any critical or confidential paperwork, loo roll, a tool box if you are reassembling furniture/beds yourself, tea, coffee, sugar, milk and the kettle, mobile phone charger, laptop, router and a bottle of wine/champagne to celebrate!
    
7. Make sure you have researched where the nearest local takeaway is, have their number and their menu and a charged mobile in case the landline doesn’t work or you can’t find the home phone!  You do not want to have to prepare a meal on your first night.
    
8. The very first thing you need to do or get the removal men to do on arrival at your new home is to assemble your bed and then make it up.  When you are exhausted at the end of the evening you would probably opt for sleeping on the floor rather than fighting with allen keys! Mention beforehand to your removal company if you have one, that you want this done as the number one priority.
    
9. Ask your removal company to plumb in your washing machine.  They don’t always like doing this but they can often be persuaded as they want your business, so agree it in advance.
    
10. If you have children, make sure the television is plugged in and works and if you possibly can get the wifi up and running before they step foot in their new home!