How to Make Moving Home Easier

Organise the move early

When you’re moving house, you need to avoid making last minute arrangements. Unless you have to pack up your house and leave in a hurry, you probably have anywhere between 4 - 8 weeks to make sure you organise everything for your moving day. You can refer to our ultimate moving home checklist to make sure you accomplish all your tasks.

Donate unwanted items

One of the biggest realisations many people have as they begin to declutter and simplify their homes is that they have more unwanted stuff than they had realised. There’s no point moving boxes from your old home to your new home if they are simply going to be sitting unused for months. Save yourself time and energy by getting rid of these items.

Start packing in advance

Make sure you remain organised when you begin packing up your house by ensuring that you get all the packing material needed in advance; this includes boxes of various sizes, tape, sticker labels, coloured markers and bubble-wrap. Also, it's a good idea to work out where to start packing such as the rooms you use least.

For more detail, read our guide on how to pack for moving house.

Arrange professional movers

Unless you are blessed with a very nice friend who has an empty van, you will probably need to arrange for a professional to help you move house. People often underestimate the number of items they have in their house, and the experts cannot only help you lift the heavy furniture, but give advice and get things moved more efficiently and effectively. If you wish, you can request your movers to assist you with everything from packing to re-assembling.

Pick the right van

If you're moving a short distance, you may be able to get away with using a small van and making more than one trip. However, it’s easier for everyone if you can manage your move in as few trips as possible. Bearing this in mind, it will be helpful to make sure you have the right size van to fit all your belongings safely.

Removals professionals will know how large a van to use, or if they even need multiple vans; but if you’re thinking of going it alone, you can use our removal van size calculator to find out what van you’ll need.

Pack an “essentials” bag

Make sure you have an overnight bag with all your personal essentials. Even if you're just moving next door, you should have a bag with all the items that you will need to be ready to function the next day (or the next few weeks if you don’t manage to unpack all those boxes).

A fresh change of clothes, essential toiletries, phone chargers and snacks (and even toilet roll!) are useful to have in a rucksack or clear plastic box so that you can easily access them when your new home is filled with moving boxes!

Notify contacts of your new address

Make a list of utilities and companies at both your existing and new home that need to be notified of your moving date - getting an appointment for your Internet installation can often take weeks if not months! We have a comprehensive checklist of who to notify when moving home - from the council to the post office for forwarding your mail.

Keep your movers in the loop

You should inform your movers if you have overweight items e.g. a piano, or a pool table, and if there are any restrictions such as no lift or parking. They will assess if they need additional movers, extra equipment or tools to disassemble items. It helps if your mover is aware of all the minor details so they can move everything efficiently on the day.

Keep the kids entertained

We know that moving with children amplifies the stress of moving house. At AnyVan, we want to find ways to help make the process less hassle, and for this purpose, we have created instructions on how to transform a cardboard box into a car, plane or boat!

Treat your movers

Whether hired movers or friends and family, be sure to have some snack and drinks readily available for everyone. On a hot summer day, your crew will appreciate a cold drink more than you can imagine! Just as they would a warm drink on a cold winters day, if you have the means to!