Moving Home & Thinking Outside The Cardboard Box

We all know the image of a house getting ready for a big move: boxes piled up in the hallway and a sense of emptiness permeating the rest of the home. Moving home is a big deal, but it doesn’t mean that getting ready for the move has to be overwhelming and laden with stress. There are some ways you can make sure the process will be incredibly easy by taking on some these tips.

From remembering prices to finding a good takeaway, these ideas are a great break from the banality of labelling a box ‘fragile’.

Here’s a tip that will help create a mess in the best way. When you know you’re going to be moving, pick a day and have a purge. Boil the kettle, make a cup of tea and open every drawer and wardrobe you have. Start rifling through and picking clothes that you know you won’t wear, and haven’t in a long time.

You’ll start finding items hidden in the back and wondering whether you should give them a second chance. DON’T!

Throw them all in a pile, bag it up and take it to a charity shop. It’ll do more than it ever did hidden away.

If you've a bathroom cabinet that is always filled to the brim with cosmetics, then don't think a simply swoop of everything in to a box is the best way of packing up the bathroom.

It will be more than likely you have products sitting in there that are well past the use by date. If you didn't know, all cosmetics do have a use by date on them. Just lift one, look at the back and you'll see a symbol of a little tub that's open. The number inside (usually 12) is how long you can use the product for if its already been open.

There are items that should never be packed away for the move, or stashed away for the next tenant to be unlucky enough to find. If you're in two minds about what to do with any of the following, get rid of it.

-Towels

-Cleaning Products like dust-clothes and wipes

-Change (seriously check behind the sofa and give it a good hoover if you're not taking it with you)

-Cooking utensils (everything from a well worn wooden spoon to pots that have seen better days)

-Soap.

-Tupperware

This is one of those little things that is completed overlooked until the last second. Roughly a month before you move set a reminder in your phone and mark it ’BILLS’.

Find the latest bills for everything you use, whether it’s the internet or electricity or TV and contact the company in charge to let them know you’ll be moving. There are two trains of thought to this process. If for example, you look up internet deals available right now, you might be better simply cancelling with your provider instead of changing address.

It’s important though that your main utilities are paid up for and closed off for the day after your move. You’ll be cursing yourself if you forget to charge your phone on moving day.

The last thing you want to do is spend those last few days before the move is living out of boxes and searching through each one to find one specific object. About two weeks before a move, start packing the house up one unessential at a time.

Start with a room that you rarely use and pack up what you know you really won’t be using. We’re talking ornaments, books, sheets and furniture, as well as anything else you can think of as not having an immediate use.

When it comes to the day of the move, you’ll be doing a lot of lifting, shuffling and misplacing items. Unpacking and putting everything in its new place takes a long time (especially if you’ll be cleaning the new home once you move in).

The first night there shouldn’t involve having to think about what to do for dinner at all. Either take a walk around the block or pull out your phone and find out where the nearest takeaway deal. If you go there in person, mentioned you’ve just moved to the area and you might just end up with a few free extras if the owners think they’re looking at a new long-term customer.

If you're unsure about what a charity shop takes, the rule is that it will be almost anything. Certain places have their own special things they sell, which is why its a great idea to look up online before arriving with sack after sack that they won't take.

Of course clothes and shoes are a must, but don't do the stupid mistake of packing in socks and underwear. You'll only be met with raised eyebrows.

And if you're planning on getting rid of electrics like an old TV or games console, take it to a trade in store and see if you can make money off it (especially if you have a very old console with what are considered 'rare' games)