Moving Day | Ten Tips To Make Moving House Less Stressful


It happened. I survived. I didn't have the baby and I have only just got the internet back (allowing me to post this). That probably summarises my moving experience! I'm finally sharing with you how it went and 10 tips to help make your house move less stressful.

A moving lorry with boxes


A few days after getting the keys to our new house I had a bit of a meltdown: What are we doing? There is so much to do! The house needs so much work! It's too far from the station! It isn't big enough! We can't afford it! etc. I had a cry and complained to a few people. I felt totally overwhelmed. We had completed and received the keys after a really long wait, but we weren't due to move in for another week.

On Sunday I spent the day at the new house with my Dad and partner watching them put together IKEA furniture, I doubt it was the most exciting day for anyone. I tried hard to keep quiet and not to  make unhelpful suggestions about how they were doing it all wrong, being 8 months pregnant there wasn't a lot I could do myself. Funnily enough all items were assembled fine without my intervention. If you are buying IKEA furniture then hiring a man and a van like Transport Executive can offer more flexibility than the IKEA delivery service.

Next came the day of the Big Move. As my partner is a contractor he went off to work (so he would be paid) but not before I gave him a long list of last minute tasks and cried at him that I couldn't cope.

The removers came over at 8.30 am and started to pack my life into boxes. As a control freak I found this stressful, but I physically couldn't do all the packing myself without ending up broken and quite possibly in labour. They stunk of smoke and their first request of "Can we have a cuppa?" didn't fill me with confidence either. I pointed them in the direction of the tea making facilities and then continued to worry as they used my favourite mugs.

My partner's parents (the Outlaws) came over so I had help and I used the opportunity to leave one of them overseeing the removal men while I hid in the calm of the new house and waited for our bed delivery. The distance didn't mean I stopped worrying about what I had left behind, but my stress levels reduced and I avoided any further meltdowns.

Eventually the moving lorry arrived at the new house and they quickly piled the contents up in various rooms based on the scribbled tags written on the boxes. I cringed each time they knocked into a wall or put a box down too hard and was glad to see them drive away. I let out a silent prayer that everything would be there and intact.

In previous house moves the first room to be unpacked has always been the kitchen. I guess that's due to the combination of the cupboards being available and my life revolving around food. This time it was the second room I focused on and my priority was M's room.

It's important that my daughter likes the new house. Initial visits were a success after she saw the fireplaces and excitedly told me that Santa would be able to visit because we had a chimney, but I wanted to ensure her new room was welcoming. We rearranged the furniture a few times and then piled up her many toys ready for her to come back from nursery. It all went ok, except the box with half her clothes in (including her underwear) was nowhere to be seen.

I quickly discovered that I wouldn't want to employ any of the removal men as a secretary due to their unique filing system. I spent the weekend opening all the boxes to identify what exactly was where even though we had no storage to unpack most of them. Logically I would expect someone to fill a box from one location eg a cupboard, then when that was full move onto another box. This wasn't how our belongings were packed, for example the Christmas decorations which I had carefully collected together ended up in 4 different boxes, each with additional non-Christmas items from other cupboards.

Unhelpfully the boxes were poorly labelled as well, and the notes I had left on the door of each room in the old house were largely ignored (my organisation had peaked with messages about where the contents should be moved to). Boxes were either marked with: kitchen, lounge, bed 1 or bed 3. As all the high priority items should have been in bedroom 1 eg our clothes and newborn baby bits, and the low priority (can be bunged in the attic) stuff in bedroom 2 this wasn't helpful.

One of the last boxes I opened, at the bottom of the pile in the spare room, contained bread and very ripe bananas. Stinky.
Very ripe bananas

So after surviving the move here are my top 10 tips for moving house to help make your move less stressful than mine:


  • Don't do it when you are pregnant. There seems to be something about creating new life which makes people want to call up estate agents and I know a huge number of people who have ended up moving very pregnant or with a newborn. Why do we like to make life difficult for ourselves? 
  • Have a clear out starting as soon as possible after you decide to move. This means that you will have less to pack, but unless you are the most ruthless of sorters you will still end up moving with items you don't need and won't use again. 
  • Get packers. I asked people for advice and the overwhelming recommendation from everyone was to get someone to pack for you. It's easier, it's faster and it doesn't cost much if you are also hiring them to move the boxes and furniture. Even with my not entirely positive experience I would recommend anyone with more than a room to move gets someone else to pack for them. 
  • Get movers. I have moved in the past using just my car, with a hired van, with a man and a van and with a removal company. The easiest by far was the removal company and although the most expensive it was fastest and with least damage. 
  • Take an overnight/ weekend bag and keep it with you. This takes away the pressure to unpack straight away. The one box of my daughter's which I couldn't find for a few days had her underwear in, fortunately I packed a handful of spare knickers for her in my overnight bag. 
  • Take your valuables. Depending on the insurance cover of the company and your contents insurance you can replace anything which is damaged or lost, but there are some items where the value can't be measured in £££ and they can't be replaced. Moving these yourself gives you peace of mind and make sure all your valuables are protected.
  • Hide. Watching someone else with all your worldly goods can be stressful, walking away and not watching helped me get through the morning. 
  • Have a packed lunch. The food will be boxed up and you might be waiting around for long periods, having a packed lunch will mean you have the energy to keep going. It also saves you needing to leave to explore the new area at an inconvenient time.
  • Get help. You can't do everything on your own so whether the help is paid for, willingly offered or received after blackmail it is strongly recommended. 
  • Don't expect too much. Moving into a new place can be overwhelming: things will go wrong, you will see problems in the new house you weren't aware of, but ultimately everything will work out ok. Just give it time.
Pinnable image of title text and the moving van filled with my possessions

1 comment

  1. Thanks so much for sharing this with me! Very helpful and much appreciated x

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