Carry on Beautiful!

So, you’ve made the big decision to move house? Excited? Or terrified?

Moving house can be a big stress, often put alongside bereavement and divorce. But it doesn’t have to be such a headache.I’m still in the process of moving, we have most of our things in the new house and we’re sleeping there but some of our stuff in still in the flat and we still need to clean it too. Anyway, your move doesn’t need to be at all stressful, not if you plan and plan and take advantage of these useful lifehacks…

Temporarily downsize to save up money

If you’re buying your first property and need to save up a deposit, it may pay to downsize temporarily. Either rent somewhere very cheaply or sweet-talk a family member or friend into staying with them whilst you save up. Don’t try squeezing all your belongings into that temporary property – look up storage units and put the furniture that you won’t need during that interim period there, some storage units can still be a bit pricey but it’ll be a lot cheaper than renting a big place!

When packing boxes takes pictures so that you know what’s inside each box

Take a picture on your phone of the contents of each box you pack, seal up the lid and mark it and then take another picture. That way, when you reach your new property, you won’t be faced with a daunting mountain of mystery crates and you can get the important stuff unpacked first. I wish i had done that since almost every box in my new house is half open so that i can see whats in there and where it needs to go!

Notify all the right people

If you’ve been at your previous address a while, you may have to notify a lot of people of your new location. Some of these important people include banks, insurance companies, loan providers, council tax, employers, schools, doctors and opticians. You can find a useful checklist here. I’m about to go through this checklist myself! Inevitably you’ll forget to tell your twice-removed uncle and aunt, who will forever send Christmas cards with cheques in to your old address even after correcting them. But don’t stress yourself over them right now – anyone likely to send disclosed financial information is your main focus.

This site is very useful for notifying people last minute, allowing you to notify over 1500 companies of your change of address.

Hire a skip

Moving home can also be the perfect time for decluttering. You’ll probably find a lot of junk around your house that isn’t worth moving to your new property, especially hidden away in the attic or buried at the back of a cupboard. Hiring a skip will save on the multiple trips to a dump.

Obviously you’re already an organisation freak you may not have much to chuck out, in which case a skip won’t be worth forking over money for, if you’re anything like me though it’d be a lot easier to that instead of lugging dusty cups and yellowing books to the local charity shop.

Hire cleaners to do the dirty work

For most people, cleaning their old property comes as an afterthought. Faced with your bare, empty old house – you then have the job of clearing every carpet stain and cobweb. Why not hire professionals to do it for you, so that you can focus on the transition to your new property.  

Again, if you’re a cleaning freak this may not be much of a chore, and if you’re like me and can’t afford to hire one because you just spent a truck full of money on a new set of copper pans, you can always hire a carpet cleaner and some family members (sorry mum!)!

Don’t overspend on delivery men

If you haven’t got too much to move, several trips in a van could work out cheaper than hiring a lorry. Alternatively, don’t go overboard and try and strap a grand piano to the top of your car. Shop around to find the best removals company for you! I found one on facebook after our original one stood us up and he was absolutely brilliant and so much cheaper than i expected so it’s definitely worth looking on sites like that and gumtree too. 

-Dana