House moving advice

[lnr]

Has anyone reading this moved house and used the removal firm to do the packing as well as the moving? I've never done this before, and I wonder is there anything I need to do before the packers arrive on Tuesday? And what will they leave out for us until the move itself on Wednesday?

Thanks.

Oh yes, and we won't have a car.

Comments

[aendr.livejournal.com]

I've had packers twice (once paid for by my work, once because we didn't have time).

* Put everything you want immediately on arrival or don't want to have to hunt for in order to go to bed separately. Both occasions, I packed an overnight bag and a tea/coffee/food box and took them myself. It's also worth making sure you have the tools for putting furniture back together with you. Make sure you have enough mugs out to make them lots of cuppas. Also, make sure you have some basic cleaning stuff and toilet roll and a hand towel. If you're paranoid about damage/breakages, a camera might be an idea too.
* Pack anything you'd be embarrassed about them packing.
* If you've got something really really precious and irreplaceable, pack it and take it yourself.
* They'll only leave out stuff you ask them to, and it needs to be kept separately and under your eagle eye otherwise it might accidentally go in a box. (I ended up with a coffee table made out of a box after they packed every single table including the camping table I'd put separately to use - had to rescue the camping chair out of one's guy's arms as he was about to put it on the van. I was moving Exeter to Cambs and taking myself, camp chair and table, airbed and sleeping bag by car.) They will be very reluctant to return to pick more stuff up on Wed morning - if they can load the van on Tuesday, and not return but go straight to the new place, they get more time off the next day. Their plans might not be the same as the plans you think you agreed with the person who came to assess how much stuff you have, be prepared to put your foot down.
* If you own your appliances, you need to disconnect them; this means defrosting any fridge/freezer.
* They usually won't transport nasty chemicals or gas cylinders, or frozen/chilled food. Household cleaning products are okay, stuff you'd leave in the shed aren't.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, do not forget to have sugar available. Removal men generally want sugar more than people who are moving house do. I had to go to the shops and buy some sugar when my mum moved, because she'd packed the damn sugar bowl and they wouldn't move the sofa until they had tea with 3 spoonfuls of sugar.

Would it be useful (I have never had packers but thought the idea might be either useful or informatively disproved by somebody who has) to buy a big pile of bright coloured stickers like the explosion-shaped ones you find in cash & carries, and stick them to the things you want to leave behind with LEAVING BEHIND written in black marker on them?

[lnr]

I *think*, with the exception of the cooker and the fridge, I can put everything we're leaving behind in the cupboard under the stairs, or the shed. Which should work quite well.

[aendr.livejournal.com]

Yes, sugar! and plenty of milk! plenty! (We had to go out for more.)

I labelled things with "leave this" written in big letters on sheets of A4 scrap paper (i.e. with stuff printed out on the other side*). Sometimes I wanted things to be in a different room but than they started, so I either moved them (if small) or labelled them (if big.) I also used colour coded sheets of paper in the second move - furniture with blue paper and living room label into room with blue paper marked living room on door. You can't be everywhere at once telling 4 different guys where to put stuff, especially when tea is desired. I wouldn't use sticky labels unless they were really big and obvious and not likely to leave residue or damage the item when removed.

* which got amusing when one guy looked at the stuff on the other side and looked scared - it was one of the more mathsy pages of my PhD thesis from when I was proof reading (which I usually did 2 sided except when the printer failed to cooperate).

[aendr.livejournal.com]

Oh, and without a car, just make sure the stuff you want immediately goes on the van last and comes off first and is put somewhere where stuff won't be piled in front of it.