Moving House

Do you have a suitcase? Years ago i overheard a colleague who was always moving say pack as if you are going on holiday and it saves you a lot of stress in the first week! Also removal firms are very good at packing as they do it all the time. Wish you all the best.

I have moved twice in the last year and have some stuff in storage... I would like to know if there is a firm that would just pack for me so I can then hire a van to take stuff to my storage place. In other words I need packing but not removals. Can anyone advise me?

My family live about 250 miles away in Cornwall and I am thinking of making the move. I am 88 and fear it might be a bit too much. We moved several times when my husband was alive but its a different story on your own. I would not be able to stay with my son as my DinL does not like cats and these days the best way to move is to rent in the area first and spend time looking around. Pickfords are quite good with storage.

The logistics of it all seem a bit daunting at the moment. Would be nice to chew it over for a bit. Its a big decision to have to make alone but I know that only I can make it in the end. Have I left it too late, do you think?

Yes I have seen them do that in NZ. Including a large, wooden , 2 story detached house, about 100 yrs old....
I moved about 12 times in 13 years when married first time. Or was it 13 times in 12.
I agree about paying company to pack.
also
Throw away Before You Move
and
Don't feel you have to get everything unpacked and put away in one great big effort - you will get there eventually
In fact - try not to stress - it will all be sorted in a bit.

My daughter's friend moved from NY to London and the company arranged to pack up her flat. when she unpacked she found they had carefully wrapped up the contents of her waste paper basket. Fortunately she didn't cook so there was no kitchen bin.

In 1973 we went to New Zealand and moved to Brown's Bay. The landlord told us things might be noisy one night, as next door to us were moving house. How noisy can it be? we wondered.

Then an almighty crashing and banging started, and our window was blocked by the biggest truck we've ever seen. We looked out the door, and there was the entire house being moved off it's stumps and onto as special truck.

Obviously moving house meant something different in NZ!!!

As for the normal meaning of moving house - everyone who has to do it has my deep felt sympathy. Spend all you can afford to make it as easy on yourself as possible!!!

Quite understand! My friend had a floor polisher and we all borrowed it for the final clean.

We moved to NI in January, in the rain, to a lovely house which had cream fitted carpets throughout. I had three kids, two cats, there was an open fire and I spent two years shampooing those carpets...

Sorry folks, it's a touch of "When I was in Poona..."

I remember one quarter we had in Warminster where the flooring was black thermo-plastic tiles. I had blown a birthday cheque from my parents on an electric floor polisher and was so proud of the resulting gleaming floors that on march out I put "stepping stones" of newspaper down and asked the Families Officer to use them!

Nylon? my dad left the army in 1964. the army had never heard of nylon then as for fitted carpets.........

I will have to leave this conversation for the next week as I am going to Ireland tomorrow and will be away a week.

Do you remember the psychedelic nylon covers? Ugh! And excited when fitted carpets were introduced...

Ariadne, I can also remember much swapping of furniture and soft furnishings on each move. Every few years the army would publicise a new tranche of freshly designed matching furniture and soft furnishings. However stuff was only replaced as required so your quarter had last years choice of carpets, possibly green, with the previous choice of curtains(blue) and the still previous choice of upholstery (brown) and all floral. At one posting there was a neutral carpet that got swapped from quarter to quarter at each march out so that for at least a few months every one had a living room that was restful and moving towards tastefulness.

Then there were the additional household goods sent out in haste by the Quartermaster just before the end of the financial year because he hadnt spent all the budgetand if he didnt it would be cut the following year. I can still remember my mother's face when a heavy cardboard box arrived at our quarter and when opened was found to contain six tooth mugs - that seemed to be made of the pottery usually used then for glazed drainpipes. It was as thick as the drain pipe and the same muddy cover. They were put under the stairs and didnt surface again until we were marched out.

flickety just picked up this one again! When it was almost time to "march out" even the cooker was out of action, cleaned within an inch of its life! There are parts of a cooker I never knew existed. Two or three days of take aways (such as they were) were the norm. And often someone else would take the kids in for a day or two!

And sometimes (Northern Ireland in particular) one would arrive at the new quarter and exist for several days until the removal lorry arrived...

Its seems that you have the same situation with my friend. I think that transferring to a new house would be a great idea for his fast recovery. I know some firm that can help you with your transferring plan. I think that Juno Crates is the perfect firm to provide you with crates and boxes you need for your transferring plan. I hope that you would have a successful transfer to your new house.

Thanks again everyone - feel much better after all the tips and advice and we shall definitely use packers. Mr G was discharged this afternoon so I have him back home along with a bag full of medication and an appointment for his staples out with the Practice Nurse on 11 April. Just hope he doesn't have a relapse under my care!!

Certainly recommend getting removers to pack. We have used national firms and local and found all of theme good. One other thing we do is spend the first night either staying with relatives or in a B&. Moving day is long and hard work at any age and jjst as you are totally exhausted you are faced with a house full of boxes and packages, everything is chaos and you are trying to find food and sort out bedding. Just shutting the door, eating out, even if it is just fish & chips and then sleeping and breakfasting somewhere else means you return to new home and unpacking in the morning refreshed and ready for the day ahead.

As for army moves, I was an army brat, with experience of moving in and out of eight sets of quarters and innumerable hirings. When we were old enough (mid/late teens) we children would get our parents to take the caravan to a suitable site and then camp out there for a week while it happened. Parents could get house up to Quartermaster's standards without us making life even more difficult.

I've twice used removal firms and found them to be well worth the money. They take care of everything including insurance and parking permits. It is cheaper if you don't have them unpack at the new house - they just put the boxes in the appropriate rooms - this is what I did for my own moving. I also arranged my son's move to Switzerland and he too was amazed at the efficiency and no breakages.

I hope your husband is getting better.

Best wishes to you and Mr.Gaga - what a rotten time for him to need an operation. Most removal firms will supply wardrobe boxes, so they just put your clothes, on their hangers, into them and you don't have to fold everything.
My daughter used a local company when she emigrated to New Zealand and she was amazed at how well they packed everything - no breakages at all.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful replies - I was feeling very alone and worried when I posted but feel encouraged now to just get in the packers. We have sold our house to a friend's daughter without having to use an agent so the savings there might pay for that.

Mr Gaga might be allowed out tomorrow once his IV antibiotics course is finished but he is weak through the trauma and lack of food- still on "light diet"- so I need to concentrate on building up his strength again. My old Mum used to say "Strength goes in through the mouth" and I think that's possibly true.

It probably won't be until the end of May that the legal stuff for the move is all sorted so he may be a lot better by then as he is basically very fit for his age. Our DS and DD have both said they'll help as much as they can.One of them will need to crawl into the loft space and empty all the stuff out that Mr G has hoarded up there!!

We too are preparing to move, and all my experiences as a military wife, moving every two years or so, have returned to help me! (We used to "march out" of quarters, and everything had to be left immaculate. I have cleaned bits of an oven that I didn't know existed. I know there are a few GNs who will remember this!)

I have always let the removers do the lot; you are then covered for breakages and lost items for a start, and you don't have the hassle of doing it yourself, and in your case, gaga that's really important. And, as ga says, rope in all the help you can for general tidying up, yes and meal making. People like to be asked to help.

Hope it all goes well, and that Mr Gaga recovers well.

Gagagran, in addition to a removal firm, my advice would be to rope in all the friends and family you can. No doubt your husband will want to do more than he's fit for, so let others loose on the sorting and packing and you concentrate on looking after your husband and self.

I am dreading it, need to sell our second home in the Lakes. Since the arrival of GC we have only managed the odd nights there.

Many years ago, when I last moved house, we used Pickfords and they were superb!

Hope he soon recovers gagagran. There are lots of good removal firms who will do it all for you - they even remove the drawers with contents intact and wrap them, so you don't have to pack more than you need away. All you need to do is ensure you have tea-making things and your bedding for that lovely sleep when you've shut the door in your new home.

If I ever move again, and if I'm not in a box myself, I will have to have the packing done. Last time it took me weeks to get over it and I was only 60 then.

I have pm'd you gagagran.