Here is a rule of thumb for an average dwelling; find out the number of boxes needed for your move.
HOW MANY BOXES DO YOU NEED? |
Type
of
Housing |
Average Number
of
Boxes Needed |
Studio
1 Bedroom Apartment
2 Bedroom Apartment
2 Bedroom House
3 Bedroom House
4 Bedroom House
Larger |
10 - 20
20 - 35
25 - 40
25 - 45
30 - 55
40 - 65
70 |
Each box should be capable of carrying about 40-50 lbs of weight and of the size approxiamately 18x15x12. Every box should be taped, top and bottom, with 2 - 2 1/2 inch gummed or masking tape. Normally one will require approximately one roll of tape for every 15 to 20 boxes.http://www.moveout.com
As Soon As a Date Is Set Confirm the date with the seller to make sure that there are no crossed wires.
- Start getting some quotes for moving companies if you are going to use one. Don't forget to find out what other services they offer, such as packing, packaging, cleaning, insurance and storage. You should try to book one as soon after you set a date as possible.
- Check the situation with your buildings and contents insurance provider and arrange transit insurance for the move if necessary. This can almost always be done through your removal company. Make sure you check any policies thoroughly for exclusions and ensure that a policy will be in place to cover the contents of your new home once you have moved in.
- Notify your landlord if you are moving out of rented accommodation.
- Let your employer know as early as possible. Some employers give generous amounts of unpaid leave when you are buying a house. Others may need the time just to allocate holidays.
- Arrange to visit schools in the new area if you have not already done so. Inform existing schools of the leaving date if appropriate.
- Have a good look around the entire contents of your house and make a long list of everything major. Write a list of everything that you intend to leave behind in the property and pass it on to your solicitor. It is important that this is accurate. For insurance purposes and to assist you in your packing inventory later on, make a list of all the major items you are taking with you. This should be quite detailed and include costs, dates and place of purchase.
- Find out about local car boot sales and charity shops - all the 'junk' you're not taking is probably worth something to someone. Maybe you could flog the lot at an online auction. I could buy the entire unwanted contents of someone's home and have my own house sale as if it was me that were moving. Or not.
- Check what your total buying costs are going to be and make sure that your bank account will cope with so many debits at the same time. If you are going to struggle until the proceeds of your own sale go through, consider speaking to the bank about a bridging loan to cover you for the difference.
Five Weeks Before M-day
Move Day is five weeks away. It is time to start switching on the action and counting down the time. There are quite a few things that it is worth sorting out well in advance of your move, to make sure you don't get caught out at the last minute:
- Reconfirm the moving date with a removal company or van hire company. If your removal service does not include carpet lifting and laying, then you need to contact a carpet fitter and make sure that they are available on the dates you need them to.
- Similarly if you have to make your own arrangements for other carry out services such as cleaning or furniture disassembling, make sure you allow plenty of time.
- Your accommodation for the time of the move if you are not anticipating being able to stay in your old or new home amidst the clutter.
- The parking arrangements at your new home. Do you require residents' permits or special permission from the council for the moving van to park outside your house? You should have got an idea of the situation before you booked the moving company, now is the time to finalise the details.
- Arrange for your new home to be professionally cleaned once the seller has moved out.
- Find a babysitter and a pet minder for the duration of the move.
Other Things To Do
Start collecting packing materials if your moving company is not providing them. You can get boxes from most supermarkets if you ask. It is better to have too many than too few - they get used up pretty quickly. The moving company should be able to provide you with as much of this as you want, but there may be a small charge. Remember to ask for some bubble wrap as well. Start accumulating newspapers to use as padding when packing and find some old blankets or some old sheets to protect the new carpets.
Try conning a friend or two into coming round to 'work out' on the day of the move. If you fix it in their diary, they may feel guilty enough not to pull out when they realise what you're trying to do.
Arrange to visit the person your buying from so you can measure up for curtains, hand over keys, get their forwarding address and make any other arrangements you may need to, such as agreeing to transfer the phone accounts.
Four Weeks Before M-day
By this time, you should be ready to start gearing up for your move. There are probably a lot of tasks ahead of you that are pretty daunting. Putting them off will only heap more pressure on you as Move day draws nearer, so try to get as many of the major tasks out of the way as early as possible.
The Loft
If your loft has been accumulating possessions ever since you moved into your current home, then it is probably not a bad place to start. Select a room in the house and get everything down. Unless you have a converted loft, this will be much easier than rooting around with a torch in all that fibreglass. Go through everything, disposing of anything you don't need or want. Anything that isn't an heirloom and has been up there for some time may well never get used again anyway. When you have finished, box everything up, label it and either leave it out or stow it away back in the loft.
Cellar or Basement
Do exactly the dame for the cellar as for the loft.
Shed and Garage
Choose a nice day if you can, and sort out all the stuff that is stored away in either of these two places. Why not have one side of the garage for 'keep' and one side for chuck. You will probably find that the chuck side quickly grows. You may then wish that you had done this ages ago. Keep screws and nails separate and start a box for useful bits and pieces. Keep all your garden tools together. Throw away anything that you do not need. You may need to do a tip run or visit a charity shop at this stage.
The Garden
Cut the lawns really short so that you can get away with not doing them again. Drain any fuel from garden equipment such as lawnmowers, clean your BBQ, and ensure all outdoor equipment is clean enough to transport. Make sure you know which plants you are taking from the garden and make sure you have proper tubs to transport them in. Ask at your local garden centre if you don't have any. Remember to keep hold of some canes to help your plants get through the move. Dismantle any children's garden play equipment such as swings or climbing frames and keep all the nuts and bolts together in a bank bag or jar.
The Home
Start going through the house room by room to get rid of anything you aren't taking. Be savagely ruthless unless you're moving to a much bigger place. This should include going through all the cupboards (including under the stairs), emptying them out, cleaning them and throwing away anything that is not going with you. Replace everything afterwards, but consider rearranging the contents to make it easier to pack them when the time comes.
Three Weeks Before M-day
This week, you can have a rest from all that physical exertion. It's not going to be an easy week though. Time to root out your bills, papers, documents and phone book so you can notify all those people you need to tell before you move. There is a full checklist of the people we feel you need to inform in the tell the world section, but these are the people who it can be worth giving advance notice to.
Bank and Building Society
Find details of the nearest branch to your new home or workplace and arrange to have your accounts transferred there. Make sure any direct debits or standing orders for your old home will be cancelled at the appropriate time.
Life, Pension, Private Healthcare
They all need to know to ensure your policies are not voided. This includes your pension provider, life assurance, buildings and contents (who you should already have told), private healthcare such as BUPA or permanent health insurance, your payment protection insurance provider, and any private clinics you use.
Post Office
There are various things you can sort out in a single visit to the post office.
- Inform the post office of your new postal address. You can arrange to have letters automatically redirected to your new home, which is usually a lot more reliable than relying on the new owner. Redirection costs £6 per surname per month, £13 for three months, £20 for six months and £30 to transfer all the mail for one surname for a year. An alternative is to have post held for you, but this is only of any use if you are moving locally.
- Tell the post office if you have a pension book. They will need to contact a post office near to your new home as well.
- If you hold premium bonds you will need to notify the Bonds and Stock office. This can also be done at the Post Office by filling in the appropriate form.
Car
- Notify the DVLC in Swansea. It is illegal to have a driving licence with an incorrect address. You will need a separate form for your licence and car registration documents. Both are available from the post office.
- Make sure your vehicle insurance covers you for your new address. Sometimes the premium you have to pay rises or falls when you move home.
- Don't forget your breakdown service company, such as the AA or Green Flag. If you break down en route, a really strict recovery officer may insist on taking your vehicle back to your old home, depending on what type of cover you have.
Utilities
Arrange for someone to come and take a final reading for gas, water and electricity. It is a statutory requirement to notify your local electricity office at least 48 hours before you move, but this is leaving it a little late if you want them to come and read the meter in time. Get the request in early and then confirm it nearer the day. Start thinking about which providers you want to use at the new address - you could save a lot by switching.
Electrical
- Contact your telephone company to arrange for reconnection and installation of your new phone line. You don't need to ask for your current phone to be disconnected. If you are moving locally, you may be able to retain your existing number. If you use a paid-for ISP, don't forget to tell them too.
- Notify the providers of all rental and hire purchase agreements. Find out which pieces of equipment can be taken with you and which must be re-rented when you get to your destination.
- Inform the provider of any cable or digital television service you receive. Find out if you will still have coverage in your new area.
government and Agencies
- Your doctor, optician, vet and dentist all need to know if you are moving. Make sure you have enough of any prescriptions you are taking to last until after the move. If you can, try to get a copy of your medical and dental records, these things can go astray. See if they can recommend appropriate practitioners in your new area.
- The Inland Revenue will want to know. They want to know everything.
- Notify old and new local authorities of your change of address. Arrange to pay or receive a rebate of any outstanding council tax and set up standing order mandates for your new home.
- Arrange to have your TV licence transferred with the licensing office in Bristol.
Other Services
- Notify any local services that you will be moving - your gardener, car washer, cleaner, window cleaner or babysitter will all appreciate being in the know as early as possible.
- Give advance warning to any magazines you subscribe to. It won't be long before the new occupant of your home stops forwarding them.
- Notify any professional advisers you have - accountants, financial adviser, solicitor etc.
And last but not least, don't ignore your friends and relatives. Send cards out with your new details and help ensure you won't become a hermit in your new home. If you quite fancy a bit of peace and quiet for a change, you can leave this until later.
Two Weeks Before M-day
Packing
It may seem a little early to some people, but it can be a good idea to start packing anything up to two weeks before you move. You should already have finished (or at least started) getting the cupboards, loft, garage and everywhere else in order, so your job should not be all that difficult. Sorting and packing at the same time would have been much more difficult.
Work out where you want your possessions positioned in the new home. This allows you to pack things together which will need to be in the same room when they are unpacked. Draw a plan of the new home and 'virtually' position your new furniture and possessions. Using colour coded labels can make it a lot easier for you or the moving people to put the right boxes in the right rooms saving you from lots of needless running around the house. Start packing any clothing you know you won't be wearing before the move and sneakily throw away your partners' odd socks. There is no better opportunity.
Read the separate section on packing for more ideas.
Kitchen
- Start running down the contents of your freezer. This is necessary if you need to defrost it - either to clean and leave or to take with you. It is possible to transport food frozen, but only if your journey time is short enough for it not to thaw.
- Go through all your kitchen cupboards and start to box up any equipment, food, crockery and cutlery you will not be needing before you go. Dispose of anything you don't want.
- Give the kitchen a thorough clean - try and get to all those nooks and crannies you don't normally bother with.
- Arrange for any gas appliances you are taking with you to be professionally disconnected.
- Find out from the manufacturer whether transit bolts are needed for your washing machine.
Documents and Valuables
- Go through all your paper documents and arrange for anything important or valuable to be kept elsewhere for the next three weeks. This could include your passport (as long as you are not moving abroad!), your birth certificate, share certificates, bankbooks, marriage certificate and anything else of value.
- Make a copy of each and take the copy with you on the move, or alternatively, why not scan them into your computer? Make a separate file of moving related documents.
- Make a copy of everything - keep one in a safe place and one with you throughout the move. Make a backup copy of any important data on your computer - PC's don't always travel very well and finding you have lost all your work from the past two years does not equal a good start to life in your new home.
- Go through all your jewellery and other trinkets. If you have anything of real sentimental or cash value, keep it with your other important documents and well away from the move.
Other
Arrange a contact number for yourself so that the moving people, your partner and anyone else can contact you on the day of the move. This could be your own or a borrowed mobile phone, or a friend who will be at home on the day and able to relay messages.
If you are using the self-hire van approach and moving everything into storage , now is probably about the right time to rent some space and start moving anything that is not needed and getting in the way.
One Week Before M-day
The start of this week is when you should get the majority of the packing completed. You should hire any further removal boxes that you are going to need, get your head down and get on with it. You should also arrange the exchange of keys and collect yours at the earliest opportunity.
Start collecting things for a bare essentials pack. This can contain anything you think you might need on the move day or a couple of days later. Read the 'Bare essentials checklist' for a full breakdown of what this should contain. Don't forget to pack one or two luxuries so you can appease your kids or spoil yourself when you get in. You could put all of this in the boot of your car, but if the car gets nicked then you'll be left without all the things that you urgently need once you've moved. We suggest you use a quiet corner of the bedroom.
Make a map and write some directions to your new house for friends, family and the moving company. You should send two copies to the removers (and carpet fitters if they are separate) as early as possible. Attach a floor plan and a guide to the colour code system you have used for packing, if you have used one. It should also have brief instructions for the removal people - what time to pick up, an approximate arrival time, any special packing or transit instructions (Don't flat pack the dog or throw the porcelain dolls around please). Check that your floor plan accounts for all the major items.
Get up to date with all your local service and utility accounts. Cancel the milk and newspapers and pay the balance, return any outstanding videos, library books or rental games and settle any outstanding bills with them. Pay or prepay any final utility bills that arrive and confirm that meters will be read and services connected in time for your arrival at your new home.
Finally, have a frozen food party where you cook everything that's left in your freezer. This will be most fun if it is a hot summer and the entire contents of your freezer can go on the barbecue. If it's winter, be hardcore and do it anyway.
Three days Before M-day
By now you probably feel like you are living in limbo - with boxes scattered around you and a limited selection of possessions that you can actually get to. If everything is going to plan, you probably feel a bit confused, as almost everything is packed, sorted and arranged, you've told everyone you need to and it doesn't feel like there is as much still to do as there should be. This is what it feels like to have everything under control. But don't get complacent because a lot can still go wrong.
- Finish off in the kitchen. Clean out the freezer if you are taking it empty. Defrost the fridge and freezer and give them a thorough clean. Make sure they are dry. Alternatively, if you are going to take your freezer full of food, turn it up to full power so it gets everything as frozen as possible over the next two days. Pack everything except your bare essentials. This is a great excuse to eat out or get take away for the next couple of days.
- Taking down fitted items such as bathroom wall cabinets, shelving, mirrors and pictures is actually quite time consuming, so you shouldn't leave it until the last minute. You will also have to pack what goes in or on these items, don't forget.
- If you are going to do it yourself, now is the time to dismantle any furniture that will not be moveable when assembled. Keep labelled bank bags of all the nuts and bolts for all items that will travel this way.
- Prepare any plants that are going with you. Give them a spray and a drop of nutrients if they take it, and use canes to give them support.
- Do any other odd jobs such as finding and labelling all your keys, or clearing your medicine cabinet of any unwanted medication, remedies and lotions.
- Sort out bed linen and clothes. This will go in your bare essentials bag, along with regularly used toiletries, underwear and a few choice CD's. Pack your suits into a suit bag and hang the bag up.
- Finish packing and label the boxes. Check that all boxes are correctly labelled. You should have finished 95% of this by the day prior to your move.
- Start cleaning the house.
On the Day
- Have a good and filling breakfast
- Turn off the fridge, disconnect any appliances that are staying behind. Ensure that the water, gas and electricity supplies are turned off and take a note of the final reading.
- Strip the beds and put the bedding into bin bags to be kept handy. If your children are going with you, let them use the bedding for comfort in the back of the car.
- Make sure that someone is available all day to answer the movers' questions.
- Give the driver and other members of the team a tour of your home to examine the goods that will be moved.
- Check the condition of the goods as they are loaded.
- Conduct a final tour of your home before the movers leave. Check to see that nothing has been over looked.
- If movers are to do unpacking at you home, make arrangements with the driver or your movers' agent.
- Understand your movers' codes, and read your bill of lading and inventory list thoroughly before you sign anything.
- Make sure your new address and phone number are correct on the bill of lading.
- Check to make sure that all doors and windows are locked and all switches off.
- Empty any rubbish bins and leave all your rubbish bags for collection.
- Leave your new address in the house so your real estate agent or the new owners of your home can forward your mail.
- Make a note of all utility meter readings to verify accuracy later.
- Have travelers' checks for quick, available funds.
- Leave all old keys that new occupant will need. Give to Realtor or new occupant.
- Give your itinerary to friends/relatives and use them as message headquarters.
At your new address:
- Verify that utilities and all other services ordered have been turned on.
- Ask Postman for any mail he may have been holding for your arrival.
- Get new driver's license.
- Register car within thirty days.
- Start newspaper subscriptions.
- Transfer AAA (or similar) memberships.
- Register children in school.
- Get to know your new hometown!
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