The waiting is almost over. You’ve found a buyer for your home and you’ve found a house you love. The surveys have been completed, the legal work is well underway and you’ve agreed a moving date. You just have to be out of your home by 1pm and you’re hoping those selling to you will keep their side of the agreement and will vacate their house on time too. There’s a month to pack and get organised. Some might view that as having lots of time but it’s important to plan your time carefully. Moving home can be as stressful as moving jobs or experiencing a relationship breakdown so follow these tips to reduce any anxiety.
1. Book a removal van with sufficient people to do the job for you. These can vary in price (and also in quality) so ask others for recommendations. The cheapest might not be the most efficient. Remember to check that your goods are insured in transit too.
2. Removal companies can pack everything for you but if you’re going to do it yourself, start early. Look for strong boxes in varying sizes. Ask at stores and supermarkets, ask colleagues in work especially those who might have moved house recently.
Put light articles in the bigger boxes and heavy items such as books in smaller boxes. Once you start to pack up the boxes, remember to label each box, preferably on more than one side. Don’t put the label on the top of the box as chances are that boxes will be placed on top of each other. Rather than just writing ‘books’, it might be useful to be more descriptive and write ‘Children’s books’ or ‘Books: Crime’ or ‘Books – College’ so you can prioritise which ones to unpack as well as place the boxes in the relevant rooms. Add (in a different colour marker) what room they should be left in so all the boxes for the office are left in that room, boxes containing kitchen parphenalia in the kitchen and so on.
Keep newspapers for a few weeks too as they can be used for wrapping up breakable items. Pad out those boxes with spare towels, blankets or pillows too – except for those you’ll need the first night in your new home of course.
3. As you start packing items like clothing, be ruthless. If you haven’t worn a particular garment in the last year, give it to a charity shop unless you really really want to keep the occasional item for sentimental reasons. Give yourself sufficient time to sort through everything as if you run out of time, you’ll end up packing it all and having to sort it at a later stage. Shred all paperwork such as the really old bank statements that you found at the back of the filing cabinet.
If there are items that could make you some money, give yourself sufficient time to sell them on eBay or Done Deal. If you run out of time, you’ll be forced to either bring them with you or give to charity shops.
4. When packing up clothes, gather clothes hangers of clothes together and either tie the clothes hangers together and slide the clothing into a large black bag, or place them in large suit bags. You can use your more casual clothes such as t-shirts and socks for wrapping up breakables too.
5. Empty, defrost and clean appliances such as the freezer and refrigerator in good time. If you are bringing appliances like the washing machine and dishwasher with you, disconnect them the day before.
6. Measure the rooms in your new home, particularly rooms of irregular shapes. You might think your huge L-shaped sofa will fit into the living room but it’s a narrower room than in your old home. You don’t want to find on moving day that it doesn’t fit and has to be left on the front lawn for the first three days until you find a buyer.
7. Remember to change your address with various businesses such as the bank, dentist and doctor, inform the utility companies and set up a re-delivery service with An Post for the first month.
8. Have a box of ‘essentials’ for your first evening in your new home. It should contain items like toiletries, paper plates, plastic cutlery, mugs, toilet rolls, light bulbs (I had a friend who moved into a new home to discover the previous occupants had removed every light bulb), medication, phone chargers, cleaning products, the kettle, teabags, coffee, biscuits, and the phone number for a local takeaway. Don’t forget the wine or beers especially if friends helped you move.
9. If you’re going to decorate your new home in the near future, see if you can visit with an interior designer and/or decorator before you move in so they can provide you with quotes and you can book them. If you would like quotes for building or decorating work, do input the information on our website to receive up to four quotes.
Best of luck with the move. It’s an exciting time so do enjoy it.
