Top 10 hacks to simplify your house move

If you’re moving house this summer and are reluctantly starting to think about the ‘big pack up’, why not take a look at our tips to make sure your home move goes as smoothly as possible, and ease your mind!

1. Pack up your wardrobe

If, like us, you have enough clothes to dress your whole family for the foreseeable future, then the thought of packing it all into storage boxes will understandably fill you with dread. However, fear not! All you need to do is stock up on bin bags – then you can put these over your already hanging clothes to keep them together. And this way, they’ll be ready to hang in your new wardrobe as soon as you move in (double win!).

2. Take lots of photos

If you can, visit your new house before you move in and take lots of photos of both the interior and exterior of the property. This will help you to decide where you want to put your existing belongings before you move in to speed up the unpacking process. Plus, save these photos somewhere safe to help you when you move out (if you’re renting) to get back your deposit.

We would also recommend taking some pictures of your old house for the memories!

3. Stop yourself from getting locked out

We’ve all experienced that annoying moment when your front door swings shut behind you, leaving you on the outside, juggling a pile of cardboard boxes and debating whether or not this is too early to break into your own home. So, as you’ll be going in and out a lot whilst packing up your house, try tying a rubber band around the door handle to stop this. Or, alternatively, invest in a doorstop – our personal favourites are these brightly coloured animal ones!

4. Label your chargers and plug sockets

These days, most of us will have many charging cables for phones, laptops, tablets, speakers – the list goes on! Equally, when you’re unpacking kitchenware, desperate for the kettle for that cup of tea, you’re not going to want to start untangling wires! To avoid time consuming sifting, label them as you pack! You can use the tabs of loaves of bread, sticky tape, or if you’re feeling fancy, you could use colour!

5. Protect your bed

Moving house can be very tiring; all that you’ll want to do as soon as you’re in your new home could be to collapse into bed for a good night’s sleep. So, to prevent your mattress from getting damaged or dirty on the move, invest in some cheap fitted sheets and put them on both sides of the mattress before it’s loaded into the truck.

6. Get rid of nail holes

For many of us, adding a personal touch to a property can make the difference between living in a house and living in a home. However, when taking down photos and decorations from the walls you may spy a number of holes left in the walls. A quick and easy way to get rid of these is by scrubbing across the hole with a bar of soap until it’s filled!

7. DIY box handles

What could be worse than packing a cardboard box full of your kitchen crockery, and then dropping the box as soon as you go to move it because it’s so hard to hold?! Simple answer – make the box easier to carry! Cut handholds in two sides of the box, like these examples below.

8. Put string underneath tape

One of life’s eternal struggles is definitely trying to remove sticky tape that simply won’t budge when you’re unpacking. To avoid this, leave a tail of string hanging out from the tape, so that it can easily be ripped off when you come to unpack.

9. Get rid of clutter

Moving time is the perfect time to get rid of all the things in your home which you haven’t used since your last move! Whether this is clothes, furniture, food, or your child’s baby toys, if you de-clutter before you pack you’ll shave hours off your packing time. Plus, you will have more space in your new home. You could have a car boot sale to raise some extra cash, give your belongings to charity, get onto an auction site online or give them to friends (to blackmail them into helping you move!).

10. Be greedy!

It’s surprising how much space food and drink can take up when you’re packing. So, to eliminate this issue, consume everything in your cupboards (Oh, is that Chocolate Fudge Cake? Well… needs must!).

We hope that this list helps make the move as harmless as possible – happy moving!