You’ve gone through the stress of de-cluttering and staging your home for photography. Countless strangers have traipsed through your home and commented on your choice of décor. You’ve had time-wasters and those who don’t read the property description or look at floor-plans. And finally… you get the perfect buyer, they fall in love with your house and put in a serious offer – wahooo!!
Now the real ball-ache begins.
It seems that each time you move house, it just gets harder and harder. The older we get, the more stuff we collect. Every house you upgrade to has more rooms and inevitable therefore, more stuff. I’m getting ready to move for the 13th time (lucky for some!?) and with two kids in tow, I’m hoping not to have to move again for at least 10 years! Granted, some of those moves were during childhood, some during uni days and some after until I finally settled in Hertfordshire. Moving countries (from the UK to Cyprus and back) was certainly the biggest upheaval. But moving out and preparing my last home for rent was certainly the most stressful. But I have picked up quite a few moving house hacks along the way which I swear by.
Find free moving boxes
So far, I’ve never needed to buy moving boxes – they can be an unnecessary spend that I’d rather put towards moving companies to help with the heavy lifting or removal vans! Try freecycle and local facebook groups for anyone wanting to get rid of their moving boxes. Also head to your local supermarkets, DIY stores and any other large shop. They have to pay for getting rid of their packaging and will only be too happy to offload some boxes. If they don’t have any available while you’re there, then just ask what their delivery days are and if you could pop back then.
I always end up getting a total mix of different sized boxes which is perfect. I load the smaller ones up with heavier items that aren’t too heavy to carry.
Pack smart and colour coordinate
Black and white labels can be really tricky to read from afar – especially if you’re unloading a van fast and need to get the boxes in the right room. This is where my sharpie pens become invaluable! I simply label each box Kitchen 1, Kitchen 2 etc. and choose a colour for each room. I then write a list so that I know what’s in each box.
Make your Kitchen 1 box all the essentials that you need for the first day, such as a kettle and some mugs. Don’t forget to pop in the tea bags too! Wrap your glassware in tea towels and pop your napkins between plates. It saves on packing paper and bubble wrap!
Pack a case as if you’re heading away for a weekend
Put a few clothes, towels, washbag etc. into a suitcase as if you’re packing for a weekend away. It’ll save a load of stress trying to find everything in your mountain of (free) boxes later. Give yourself a few day’s worth as realistically – it may take you that long to get your flatpack wardrobe together so you can hang your clothes up!
Clothes and bedding hacks
These are two moving house hacks that I’ve tried and tested over the years and these save so much time! With your clothes – grab a bundle of hangers and stick elastic bands around the necks to keep them secure. Pop a bin liner over the top so that the necks of the hangers poke through. Keep doing this until your wardrobes are empty and then load up all your clothes across the back seat of your car. Remove your drawers and use cling film/shrink wrap and tightly wrap the whole drawer. Some say to just shrink wrap the whole chest of drawers… but that make it so so heavy to move so I like to remove the drawers first.
With your bedding, you just want to make them up as quickly as possible so you can just fall into bed after the long moving day! When you’re ready to pack up your bedding, simply unhook the fitted sheet from your mattress and fold it over your duvet corners. Then fold inwards to include your pillows and again until it’s small enough to squeeze into a bin liner. Then when it comes to making up the bed, just unfold and tuck the fitted sheet back under the mattress.
Hope these tips come in useful and if you have any of your own to share please do let me know via the comments below!
Natalia xo
Featured image credit: Nicolas Huk
Great hacks! Thanks for sharing this.