It is said that moving house is one of life’s most stressful times. Here are some of our recommendations to help ease the pain.

1. Hire professionals:“Well of course you would say that” we hear you say. Some friends might offer to help by bringing a car load or 2, which is great. However you have 50 carloads of stuff (which ends up being 80 loads because you didn’t list it all out), and that couch just isn’t going to fit into your friends car even though they said “Ah no its fairly big when the seats are down” !! You will also feel obliged to not start too early so as to not inconvenience them too much, then there will be cups of tea and slices of cake (expensive ones – as you want to seem grateful), to relieve your guilt.

Next is the self-induced stress a familiar person can induce – when you are anxious and they are making quips like “oh my God – I didn’t think you were this messy or how do you have so much stuff?”. This can put the best relationships to the test. It can get even worse if it is a family member!!. 

Solution: Hire  a professional.

Emotions can get in your way too. You can easily get caught up with sentimentality – looking over old letters, photos, or baby clothes. A professional removal company will not want to sit down and reminisce with you. Its not that we don’t care (we do), it’s just we do want to get you moved home so we can go home! (In a nice way)

2. Get a reliable quote: Cheapest is not always the best. Make sure it is an all in quote and for most moves the company will want to see photos as a minimum and usually a house visit is desirable. It avoids you being mid move and you both getting annoyed over another room full of stuff that you forgot to mention and the removal company didn’t price for. One thing that is guaranteed either ways is that YOU have A LOT more stuff than you think you do.

Solution: Hire  a professional

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3. Spend a little extra: Some items may need to be specially packed or some furniture may need to be disassembled (and then re assembled). Maybe ask if your chosen removal company can offer the service of sorting your flat pack furniture and other odd jobs like that. Now is the time for that cup of tea and cake with your friend as a professional pulls THEIR hair out (the ones lucky enough to have hair) while trying to get an IKEA press to fit together again. Trust me it will be worth the extra few Euros.

4. Clearout: Charity shops need your old games, clothes and bric a brac – You don’t. To be honest the extra stuff you are paying someone to move to your new house even though you forgot you had it doesn’t make much sense. Read our article on Mari Kondo (the KONMARI method– it may help a lot)

5. The 10 most important things: You don’t want to be rummaging through 200 boxes looking for your most important things on your first night in your new home. The most important things on night 1 include:

• Medicine
• Toothbrush
• Clean underpants !!
• The kettle and tay bags
• Your glasses (facial ones and maybe a wine glass or 2)
• Remote control for the TV
• Bottle opener – for that celebratory champagne
• The kids if you have them (we don’t want a Home Alone repeat)!
• Milk and some nibbles.
• A few bowls, spoons and cereal or whatever for your breakfast the next day (its usually a late night so night 1 is take out night – lets be honest.)
• Oh and Toilet Paper. You will thank us.

6. Plan a place for everything before you unpack:Think about it and be honest do you have a storage place in your current home that contains items that just landed there on day 1 in that house and were never moved to a better location . It happens. Try to avoid it this time. Plan a little and take your time. Get the right place for everything as early as possible.

7. Accept there will be trouble: There will be fights (with your loved ones – not the movers) despite everyone’s best efforts. Try to keep everyone cooled down with plenty of food/water and rest throughout the day (or weekend usually). Also if everyone has a specific task that they can work away on with a clear plan from the leader of the house (there always is one!). The less interaction the less fighting. For smaller children, maybe this would be a good time for their favourite aunty to take them for a few days!.

8. Get organised and start labelling: Mark the boxes according to each room. There will be more boxes and packing paper than you could have ever imagined. Schedule in a trip to the local recycling plant or get the removals company to take the stuff away for a small fee. Try to be organised for your movers. The more organised you are for them, the easier it will be for them to give you a professional service. Get started weeks in advance if you can. It is a way bigger task than you expect. Start room by room. It is a hard job for a removal company to lug a large wardrobe down 3 flights of stairs into a van, transport it safely and then take it up 2 flights of stairs after a long days driving. Now add in that when they went to go lift it…you said…”oh sorry I meant to have that emptied for you” as you pull clothes and trinkets from it in a hurry. Its not ideal for anyone. Get organised NOW. What are you still reading this for?

9. Switch off, switch on: Get your new utilities turned On and your old ones turned off. Set the date and record all the meter readings etc. Again, get organised. There are some great switching website which can help.

10. Secure: Make sure you have keys for your new property kept safely and also your old property. It is easy to get locked out in either property on a move day – with so many trips in and out the door.

Now that its all done. Sit Back and relax and be glad you hired a professional moving company – because even though they were great that was still hard going. Just take solace in the fact you said No to that helpful friend and made the clever move of hiring a man and van company/removal company.