Packing up all of your worldly belongings before a big house move can be a daunting task at the very best of times. After all the stress of finding a new house to move into, a buyer for the house you’re currently in, communicating with solicitors and everything else that makes buying and selling property so difficult, the last thing we probably all want to do is spend days putting everything we own in boxes. However, it’s something that we all have to get on with at some point in our lives.
Whether you’re moving flat, flying the nest for the first time, moving within the UK, or moving to another part of the world, getting the packing stage right can save you a whole world of stress and anxiety. As moving home can be a very stressful process, this can make all of the difference. Here are some tips to help make the process of house moving a lot easier.
Before You Even Start
Before you even think about picking up the first item and putting it in a box, it’s important to plan and prepare. One of the very first things that you should do is decide which items you’re actually going to take with you to the new place. There’s nothing worse than spending hours and hours packing items that you’ll end up throwing away as soon as you get to your new property. Between a month and two weeks before your move, go through every room – right the way from the loft to the cupboard under the stairs – and separate things that you no longer need or want. You could take them all to a carboot sale, hand them over to a charity shop, give them to friends or take them to the tip as a last resort. Take measurements of your furniture and make sure that everything you’re keeping will fit in your new property and, if not, it might be worth getting rid of them early.
Once you’ve decided on what to keep and what is surplus, it’s a good idea is to go through your house from top to bottom and make a detailed inventory of what will be moved. This list should be organised by which room each item is in so, at the other end, you’ll know exactly what is going where. It should also keep a tally of volume and condition for each item, so that you know whether there has been any damage en route to your end destination.
Lastly, before you begin to pack everything up, it’s important to make sure that you have all of the materials you’re going to need in advance. Buy boxes in a variety of sizes for a number of different light and heavy items. Also, buying wardrobe boxes is a great idea to make sure that your clothes aren’t damaged on the way and they often come with a rail as part of the box. As well as the boxes, make sure you get plenty of packing tape, a marker pen and labels so you can keep track of what everything is and where it’s going. To protect your items from damage, it’s also a good idea to buy plenty of bubble wrap and keep as much old newspaper as possible to stuff in the empty space within the box and wrap up any delicate items of property.
Packing for Home Removals
When starting packing, it’s useful to begin with rooms that you use the least. The packing process will almost definitely take more than one day, so you don’t want to start with the kitchen and then be without some of the appliances you’ll need. A good place to start might be your loft, shed, cupboard under the stairs or home office; anywhere that you don’t use on a daily basis and places where you tend to store things that you don’t use all of the time. From there, go through to your living room, kitchen, bathrooms and bedroom at the very end.
When moving through each room, make sure that you label the boxes as you go and keep them in the room you’ve just packed up. This will smooth the process on the other side of the move and make deciding what to pack in the van first and last much easier. It’s a good idea to pack all of your toiletries together and in an easily accessible place. Make sure medicines and toiletries are packed separately and into waterproof zip plastic bags so that you avoid any leaks. For fragile items, break out the newspaper and bubble wrap and fill any empty space in the box with a protective layer to reduce movement during transit – especially if you’re moving abroad.
Finally, pack a box full of essentials and home comforts and load it onto the van at the very end. There’s nothing worse than getting to a new property with a long day ahead of you and having to dig through a mountain of boxes to find a kettle so that you can have a cup of tea. Having these sorts of items (and plenty of snacks) can make the whole unloading process much more bearable.
Research The Best Removal Firms
When looking into house removal companies, it’s imperative to do some research so that you understand exactly what you’re getting for your money. Some removal services can be on hand to help you with the packing of your home, some will look after all of it for you and some might be able to provide good quality packing materials. Depending on where you’re moving to, it’s important to make sure that the removal company you’re thinking of hiring during the move has the required fleet and man-power to get your property where it needs to be. Some companies will only move locally, however, some will be able to help you move all over the country, or even the world!
If you are moving abroad, having a company with years of experience in that field will make what can be a complicated process as unobtrusive as possible. If a company can help you with customs and paperwork as well, this can be a huge advantage.
Similarly, if you’ve got a large amount of high value items or family heirlooms that hold a lot of sentimental value, then it is a good idea to hire a company with a proven track record in specialist moving. These items take a particular degree of care and attention and often specialist equipment, so make sure that any company you hire for these types of moves are well equipped.
Contact Companies for Removal Quotes
With all of this in mind, make sure that you think about exactly what services you want from a removal company to ensure that the cost of moving house is as efficient as possible and is as stress free as possible. Once you have a detailed understanding of exactly what type of service you’ll need, then simply collect quotes and see which team provides the best service for the money. There’s no point going cheap if your items are going be damaged when you arrive, so do ensure that the cost is balanced by the quality of the removal company.
Who We Are
Arrowpak International is a removal company with nearly four decades of experience in the industry. We have helped literally thousands of customers move home throughout the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.
We are members of the British Association of Removers, which is the UK’s most prestigious association for companies in the removal trade. As such, we are bound by the body’s strict code of practice. This means that we have safeguards in place to make sure that all of our removals run smoothly.
Our removals team work internationally and can help with the associated paperwork to make sure that all of your items arrive on time. Whether you have small items, large items of furniture, or fragile pieces like instruments or works of art, no job is too big or too small. We specialise in moving sensitive items, like family heirlooms with lots of sentimental value, to make sure that they are not damaged during the removal process. We also provide military relocation services for service personnel leaving or returning from military service.
Please feel free to contact us for a quote and to find out more about all of our services. You can find us at Sherwood House, Norwood Road, Brandon, Suffolk, IP27 0PB, call us on 01842 812165 or email us at sales@arrowpak.co.uk.
