How to Prepare for Moving House
Moving house can be a daunting task at the best of times, but by preparing correctly you can take away most of the headaches and minimise the risk of any unnecessary disruption.
Decluttering Your Belongings
This should always be the first thing you do when planning to move house. Why pay to move things you don’t need, especially if you can get some money back by selling them or at least giving them away to a good home? Take an honest look through all your belongings, and ask yourself honestly whether it’s worth moving them. Moving house is the perfect opportunity to declutter, so make the most of it!
Create an inventory
The flipside of decluttering is organising what you do need to keep, and creating an inventory so you can keep track of your most valued items during the move. Go through all your belongings room by room, and make sure you note all the important things down.
Book a Removals Company
Once you’ve decluttered and got a basic inventory of your items, it’s time to contact a removals company. Check for reviews online and ask people for recommendations, and then decide who you want to help you. If you’re not sure which removals company to choose, contact a few to see which one gives you the most reassurance. If you’ve been struggling to produce your inventory, they might even be able to help!
Source packing materials
One of the most important aspects of preparing to move house is to prepare your belongings properly. If you have access to a good supply of cardboard boxes that’s great, but if not you may need to buy some. Check with your removals company to see if they sell them – they may even have them available on their website.
Decide on and label boxes with bedrooms
You may have a note of which boxes of belongings are from which rooms in your current house, but if you’re changing things around or moving to a house with more bedrooms, it’s worth labelling your items by which room they are going to, rather than from. Decide in advance how you are going to refer to each room of your new house, and ensure your boxes are labelled accordingly.
Arrange Utilities
With all the organisation required before you move house, don’t forget to contact all your utility suppliers and give them plenty of notice that you are moving. As well as ensure you get billed for water/gas/electricity correctly, make sure you get your phone line/internet re-connection date set in advance, so you’re not stuck offline for too long when you move.
Confirm everything with your removals company
Right at the end, everything should be in place and you’ll be ready to move. However, just to be safe, contact your removals company to let them know you’re ready, and ask any final questions you may have before the day comes.