These are the moving house tips my crew and I wish every customer had heard before we turned up. The big things, the house sale, the van, the date, people get right. It is the small jobs nobody thought about that turn a six hour move into a ten hour one. None of this is complicated, and most of it takes ten minutes, if you do it at the right time. Our house moving checklist covers the full timeline. This is the list of things that checklist cannot teach.
Moving house tips for the week before
Measure the awkward pieces. The sofa that came in through a patio door will not necessarily go up a narrow staircase in the new house. Measure the big items and the doorways at the other end if you can. It is much easier to plan a route, or to take the legs off, before the day than on it.
Find the parking. A removals lorry needs space close to the door at both ends. On busy streets in Luton or St Albans, that can mean asking neighbours to leave a gap or checking whether the council needs to suspend a bay. A long carry from the lorry to the door adds time to every single item.
Use things up. Freezer food, cleaning products and half empty tins are heavy, awkward and often not worth moving. Plan meals around what is in the freezer for the last fortnight.
Decide what is not coming. Sell, donate or give away what you do not want before the day, so you are not paying to move it. Ask your removals company exactly what they can and cannot take, and do not assume.
The night before
- Defrost and dry the freezer, and leave the door open with a towel underneath
- Pack a first night box: kettle, mugs, tea, phone chargers, toilet roll, bedding, a torch and any medication
- Keep documents, keys, jewellery and chargers with you, not in the lorry
- Take down curtain poles and anything screwed to a wall that is coming with you
- Check every cupboard, including the loft, the shed and above the boiler
On the day
Be there at the start. The first half hour is when the crew walks the house with you and agrees what goes, what stays and what needs care. If you are not there, that conversation happens by phone and things get missed.
Label rooms, not contents. "Back bedroom" on a box is more useful to a crew than "books". Put a matching label on each door at the new house and the unloading takes care of itself.
Keep children and pets out of the way. Not because they are a nuisance, but because a crew carrying a wardrobe down stairs cannot see small feet or a cat under the table.
At the new house
Get the beds built first, even before the kitchen. After a long day, a made bed is the difference between a good first night and a bad one. Check the meter readings, find the stopcock and the fuse board, and photograph the state of the house before you unpack, in case anything is left that should not have been. Our guide on who to notify when moving house covers the admin that follows.
Fragile and valuable things
Wrap anything fragile in more paper than feels necessary, and fill every gap in the box so nothing can move. A box that rattles is a box that will arrive with something broken. Plates travel better standing on their edge than lying flat. Mark fragile boxes on the top and on at least two sides, because a crew stacking a lorry sees the sides, not the lid.
Anything irreplaceable, such as family photographs, certificates or jewellery, is better travelling in your own car. That is not because the crew is careless. It is because you will want to know exactly where those things are when the day gets busy.
Where the money goes
The most expensive thing on moving day is time. A move quoted as a fixed price protects you from that. A move charged by the hour does not, and every unpacked cupboard or unplanned parking walk shows up on the bill. Read what a removal quote should include before you book, so you know which kind you are getting. If you are deciding between a small van and a full crew, our comparison of man and van against full removals sets out when each is the right call.
The last of my moving house tips is the simplest. Ask your removals company what they need from you, a week ahead. A good one will have a short list ready, and doing it will save you more than any discount.
Want this priced properly?
Send us the two postcodes and a rough idea of what is coming, and we will give you a fixed price in writing. No obligation, and no follow-up pestering if you decide to go elsewhere.