How to move house: Stress free

As per my last post, I recently moved house. I was much more relaxed than all the other times I have ever moved, so here is what I did to have a stress-free move.

1 Month Notice

I took advantage of my 1 months notice and I organised moving my furniture to utilise all this time. If you don’t rush, you’re less likely to forget things and make consequential mistakes. My plan was:

1. Clean the new place first
2. Clean the old place next
3. Move the large, heavy and bulky furniture with a paid service (hire van, moving van etc)
4. Move the remaining items (kitchen utilities, clothes and miscellaneous small stuff) and final clean
5. Do minor finish tasks at the end (painting, grass cutting, meter readings etc.)

You don’t have to follow this exact plan, but it spanned over two weeks (3 weekends), and helped me do things in an order that made sense to me. It also allowed me to enough time to book people in advanced to help.

The more the merrier

No matter how much I love doing life on my own, having more hands to help the move was a good decision. I did request the support of people I could trust (all friends who have moved recently or are preparing to move, so they understood what to do). Whilst I was busy covering holes in my walls, one person was taking down my curtain rails, someone was loading the cars, and someone else was cleaning my kitchen.

Also, its ideal if they have cars of their own. We had 3 cars between us and we managed to move everything, in 1 trip for each car. Within about 3 hours, all my items were moved. I know for sure with the amount of stuff I had, if I had done it myself, would have needed a few days off work, to get it all done.

Sort out your bills as soon as possible

The bills in question are gas and/or electric, council tax, water and Wi-Fi. As soon as the contract is signed, that place is yours, so get those accounts set up with your utility companies. Choose the date you set those direct debits wisely. Once they are set-up, you can start cancelling the ones at your old place, for the end of the 1 months notice. Don’t forget to budget any exit fees, and your closing account balances.

Setting up gas/electric can take up to a month, so ensure you are covered in the time being, and you might have two or three separate bills to pay in 1 pay check. Also, Wi-Fi takes up to 2 weeks to set up, even when your next place already has a port. Either download some movies on your Netflix, or take advantage of your DVD collection and that unused DVD player.

Keep your ex-lettings agent in the know

Yes, my agents weren’t too helpful, but I kept them in the loop, to minimise anything backfiring, because surely it would be left to me to handle it. Effective communication whether it’s emails or calls, will ensure everyone is on the same page.

I kept contacting my agent, because I knew they wouldn’t be the people I gave my keys to, and without sorting that out, I would be delaying my chances of getting my full deposit back.

Check that contract one last time

Even though I was leaving the nightmare property, the contract still haunted me from all my earlier mistakes. I read the contract a couple more times to make sure I wouldn’t lose my deposit over minor slip ups. Cutting the grass and getting the windows cleaned one last time. Making sure to leave the rubbish bin out, so then it could be emptied before my inspection. I did a whole lot of DIY on the holes left by my Wi-Fi port and my curtain rails too. Anything I could so they couldn’t penalise me, because I was already paying nearly £1800 to leave that nightmare house. I didn’t want another cent going towards it anymore.

Make yourself aware of your new place

Before you are left alone in your new place, you should be able to answer the following:

• Do I know where to turn off the water supply in an emergency?
• Do I know where my meters are (gas, electric and water)?
• Do I know where the electrical mains are?
• Do I know how to use my shower?
• Do I know how my property heats the water?
• Do I know how to turn on my heating in the winter?
• Do I know how to switch on my stove/oven?

When I viewed my new place, they didn’t answer any of these questions. I had to request an extra viewing before signing my contract to get some of these answered. I have never lived in a flat before where I needed to know how to answer these questions. With the nightmare place it took me 3 days to figure out how to turn on my stove, and that was because someone showed me. It took me 3 days in my new place to realise I didn’t have hot water. The shower is electric, so isn’t connected to the tank.

Obviously google can answer most of these questions, but hopefully, these questions are a starting point. For sure, I already know what I’m going doing on my next move 😉

Moral of my Story:

• Use your 1 month notice- Take advantage of that extra time, there is no need to rush, but don’t make it a chaotic end. Moving is stressful and very tolling on the mind and body
• Use your network- Even if you only have 1 person that can help you, that extra pair of hands will make the job faster and easier for you. Don’t do it alone.
• Get those bills sorted– The stress of moving, can be minimised with preparedness. The last thing you need is to move into a place where you have no gas/electric or water (I did that, and you honestly feel like giving up at that point)
• Communicate with your ex-agent- Staying informed between the two of you, will make the transition smoother, and you can get your deposit back earlier and sort out any disputes ASAP.
• Make sure you have fulfilled your contractual obligation– It sucks, I know; but if you have to hoover the carpet, then you have to do it. It’s that or losing the deposit. The £200 ‘cleaning fee’ is way worse than hoovering the floors one more time.
• Make sure you’re aware of the basics in your new property– they are essential to make your settling down period, smoother. Get those questions answered.