Tips for moving house

How long before moving house should you start packing?

Start packing 6 to 8 weeks before moving day if you can. Begin with the things you don't use day to day, out of season clothes, spare bedding, books, decorations, and leave the kitchen and bathroom essentials until the final few days.

It's worth comparing removal quotes early too. Booking a removal company weeks ahead usually gets you better availability and pricing than trying to sort it last minute, especially if you're moving on a weekend or at month end when demand is highest.

Pack a first night box separately from everything else. Toiletries, a change of clothes, phone chargers, medication, and the kettle. You'll thank yourself when you're too tired to dig through 40 boxes at 9pm.

What to do first when you move into a new home

Before you unpack a single box, take meter readings for gas, electricity and water. You'll need these for your final bills at the old place and your opening bills at the new one.

Then locate the essentials, the stopcock, the fuse box, and the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Test the alarms and check they're within date. If you're not certain who had keys to the property before you, it's worth changing the locks, particularly on a previously rented or long owned home.

Once the safety basics are covered, unpack in order of how soon you'll need things. Bedroom first so you've got somewhere to sleep, kitchen second so you can eat, everything else after.

The hardest rooms to pack (and how to make them easier)

The kitchen and the loft are consistently the two rooms people find hardest, for opposite reasons. The kitchen has awkward, fragile, and frequently used items right up until moving day. The loft has stuff nobody's touched in years and no obvious system for sorting it.

For the kitchen, pack everything except a small last few days box of essentials as early as you reasonably can, and wrap plates vertically like records rather than stacking them flat. It spreads the weight and cuts breakages.

For the loft, treat it as a sorting job before it's a packing job. Three piles, keep, donate, bin. If you haven't touched it in over a year and it's not seasonal or sentimental, it's probably safe to let go.

If packing genuinely isn't something you have time for, it's worth reading our complete guide to packing services in the UK to see what a professional pack actually costs versus doing it yourself.

Moving house in hot weather

The UK has seen some genuinely extreme heat recently, including a Met Office Red Extreme Heat warning in late June, its most severe heat alert. If your move lands during a heatwave, a few adjustments make a real difference.

Schedule the heavy lifting for early morning if you can. Vans heat up fast and moving boxes at midday in 30°C plus heat is exhausting and, for older movers or anyone with a health condition, genuinely risky. The NHS guidance on staying safe in hot weather is worth a look if you're moving with young children, elderly relatives, or pets in tow.

Keep electronics, candles, and anything that can melt or warp out of a hot van rather than left sitting in the back for hours. Keep water in the cab with the driver, not buried in the load. And if you're using a removal company, don't be afraid to ask whether their crew take regular breaks in extreme heat. A good firm will already have a policy for it.

What not to forget when moving house

A short list of the things people most commonly forget.

• Final meter readings at your old address
• Redirecting your post through Royal Mail's redirection service
• Updating your address with your bank, DVLA, GP, and electoral roll
• Checking your removal quote covers exactly what you think it does, including insurance for higher value items
• Confirming whether you'll need storage if there's a gap between moving out and moving in.

Ready to move? Compare removal quotes from trusted local companies and get your move sorted without the stress.