Moving House Tips

It can feel like a massive journey, finding a new home to live your life in, but once you’ve found the right place, the house-moving process can accelerate with almost alarming rapidity. 

There is a multitude of things to consider, from changing your address on regularly billed services to physically moving your belongings. In this article, we look at how to get started with the process, with a quick checklist of things not to forget.

Declutter

This might bring to mind images of sorting through mounds of mess, but it essentially amounts to deciding what to take and what to leave behind. Decide which of the things you own will suit your new home – you might decide that you want new furniture, or find that you don’t need your gardening equipment if you’re moving into a place with little vegetation outside. 

Be somewhat ruthless; if you aren’t, you’ll just have boxes of useless stuff sitting unpacked in your new house. Decluttering is something you won’t regret!

Book required services will in advance

As soon as you have a moving date, book any services that you might need for the move. You might need a handyman to fix a few things so that you get your deposit back, or you might have decided you want the assistance of a house removals team. 

 Booking them in advance will mean you don’t have to panic at the last minute, and it might mean you get a better price. Most good tradespeople and removals companies also probably won’t have last minute availability, so you’ll have a lot more options to choose between if you book in advance.

Organise your utilities and Wi-Fi

At least a couple of weeks in advance, you’ll want to organise your utilities for the new place. It’s likely that they’ll all be connected already, but you’ll need to change them to your name, and decide if you want to change provider for any reason. You might also need to arrange for meter readings around when you move in so that they know what to charge you, and you don’t end up paying for the previous resident’s usage. 

 Wi-Fi might also take a little while to set up – on average, it takes 14 days in the UK. If you work from home, a reliable Wi-Fi connection could be an absolute necessity, so make sure you get it taken care of in good time to avoid any annoying delays.

Redirect your mail

Eventually, you should change your registered address with all the services that you receive mail from, but in the interim period, it’s likely that a lot of potentially important letters and packages could go to your old address. You can arrange for a redirection service with The Royal Mail, which starts at £33.99 and can be used for 3, 6 or 12 months.

Ask For Help!

At G W Twilley & Son Removals, we are a team of friendly movers and storage services specialists. Call us on 020 8888 5156 for further advice or request a video survey and consultation.

Moving house involves overcoming a seemingly endless stream of hurdles, but through careful planning, there are ways to make the move more manageable.
In this article, we give some tips on how to maximise the efficiency of the parts you can control, leaving you with more time and energy to deal with the things which inevitably don’t go to plan.

Make a packing plan

One of the best ways of maximising your packing efficiency is through the use of a packing plan. It’s a good idea to start packing several weeks in advance, but if you pack items you need to use daily in those first boxes, you’ll just end up wasting time the next day looking for them and unpacking.

Pack things that aren’t used much first, as well as things that you think might be tricky to take apart. Make sure that the process is spread evenly over a few weeks, and then you won’t be left with a mad rush at the end!

Use labels liberally

While it might be relatively easy to cram everything into boxes, ready for the move, you also want to consider how hard things will be when you’re unpacking.

Make sure that you label the boxes so you don’t have to guess what’s inside them; you can even use a colour coding system and organise items by room – whatever method you choose, be consistent with it, and you’ll make unpacking a whole lot easier.

Be ruthless when decluttering

Something which can take up an unnecessary amount of time when packing is decluttering. To make your life a lot easier, try being as honest with yourself as you can; if you haven’t used something in a year, get rid of it. If it’s actually valuable, then maybe sell it, but with most items, either donate them to charity, have a yard sale, or throw them away.

Spending ten minutes deciding whether you keep a ten-year-old shirt or not will drain your energy, and make the packing process take far longer than necessary.

Book any necessary services in advance

If you decide that you want the assistance of a service, such as a removals company, or a handyman to go over your old house before you move out, make sure they’re booked well in advance.
Chances are that good companies and individuals will have a long waiting list, so get in there early to save yourself time and energy calling around.

Don’t overpack boxes

While it may seem more efficient at first to use less boxes, in the end, overpacking boxes is likely to cause a lot of issues. First of all, it makes them difficult to move, whether you’re moving them yourself or a removals company is doing it for you. Second, if the boxes are seriously overpacked, they may break while they’re being carried or stacked.

Don’t underpack either, of course, but the chances are if you think the box is seriously heavy, you’ve put too much stuff in it.

Want our team to look after the removals process for you? We’d love to help. Get an estimate at your earliest convenience.

Ask For Help!

At G W Twilley & Son Removals, we are a team of friendly movers and storage services specialists. Call us on 020 8888 5156 for further advice or request a video survey and consultation.

Moving home can be one of the biggest hassles life can throw at you. Changing your whole living environment in and of itself can be challenging, then throw in the logistical challenge of having to pack up and move literally everything you own, and you’ve created a recipe for stress. 

Moving home doesn’t have to be all bad though, there are certainly ways you can take some of the stress off your own shoulders. 

Our latest guide looks at one decision many have had to make – whether or not to hire a removals company. To help you decide if it’s the right decision for you, or if you should do it by yourself, here are a few questions to ask yourself.

Can you hire a van?

If you’re comfortable hiring and driving a van, this may be an option. You’ll need to hire one which is fairly large to comfortably move furniture, so you’ll want to be ok with driving a long wheel base vehicle – it’s quite different to driving a car, and can add a fair bit of stress to the whole moving experience if you’re not used to parking or reversing them!

You can hire a man with a van, but at that stage it’s probably easier to hire a removals company, as they will be better equipped for the job.

Do you have strong and willing friends who can help?

Even if you can hire and drive a van, that vehicle will be pretty much useless if you don’t have a crew of strong people to help you move stuff.

Moving seemingly endless boxes and beds and sofas is not just tiresome but potentially dangerous – if you have prior back problems, it could aggravate them, and the last thing you want when moving home is to be bed ridden with a slipped disk.

Do you have expensive or delicate belongings?

Moving home yourself can also be dangerous in terms of potential damage to your belongings. While it may give you better peace of mind to pack and carry things yourself, removals companies literally do it for a living – we have access to the best and most effective protective materials, and are able to pack our vans and lorries so as to ensure no harm comes to anything you own.

No one wants to unpack a box of their best china only to discover they were smashed when Jeremy, your helpful but slightly clumsy friend, stubbed his toe and dropped them.

Could you be doing something better with your time?

This one is a little more general, but essentially, if you think you could spend the days it could take to pack and move your things doing something more productive, at work, with your family, or sorting something else out to do with the move, then hire a removals company.

It really will save a lot of time and hassle, and will free you up to do something else while the experts get on with moving your things. 

If you’re still in two minds about whether to hire a removals company, our team will be happy to talk you through the entire process in further detail. 

Head to our dedicated house removals page for specific information on a complete home move, or if you’d rather chat directly you can contact our friendly team today on 020 8888 5156.

Ask For Help!

At G W Twilley & Son Removals, we are a team of friendly movers and storage services specialists. Call us on 020 8888 5156 for further advice or request a video survey and consultation.

When you’re moving homes, you want a fast and stress-free move that keeps your belongings safe. But there’s another priority you should add to your list: making sure your health and safety are protected through the whole process.

It’s easy to underestimate the risks involved in a house move, so here’s a list of useful tips we’ve gathered after decades of experience helping Londoners move homes.

1. Pack within weight limits. We recommend to keep the maximum weight of each box to 20 kilos. This can help avoid back or neck injuries and reduces the risk of breaking fragile items if you accidentally drop a box.
2. Learn safe lifting techniques. Even if your moving boxes aren’t too heavy, lifting dozens of boxes in a few hours can easily cause injuries. Key points to remember are: Keep your back straight ** Squat, don’t bend over ** Lift items with both hands ** Walk slowly ** Always look straight ahead.
3. Make a list of possible hazards. This is what professional removals companies do during the initial survey. You should be aware of stairs, uneven floor surfaces, and doors with self-closing hinges.
4. Wear sturdy and non-slip footwear.
5. Know your limits. It may be easier to use a cart or a dolly to move things around.
6. Leave the stressful part to the pros. Some people may be stressed by the idea of packing and labelling, while others are ok with that but worry about loading and unloading boxes. Find out what’s the most stressful part of a move for you, and let our team handle that.

You’ll find more moving and packing tips at our Moving Tips blog. Trust the G W Twilley & Son team for your next home move. We guarantee that health and safe are the always the rule in all our procedures, and never the exception.

If you’d like to know more about our storage service post-lockdown, give us a call on 020 8888 5156 for further advice and we’ll be happy to explain how it can benefit you in detail.

Ask For Help!

At G W Twilley & Son Removals, we are a team of friendly movers and storage services specialists. Call us on 020 8888 5156 for further advice or request a video survey and consultation.

The past few months have been challenging for everyone. If you were planning a home removals you may have had to postpone the move, as all non-essential home moves were on hold. But good news are on the way, since the UK Housing Secretary recently announced that the housing market is re-opening in the UK.

London Home Removals Post-lockdown

London estate agents, home removals companies, and other professionals in this industry can now operate again, as long as they follow some safety guidelines. This means that home moves can now go ahead, unless you or someone in your household are self-isolating.

There are guidelines in place to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in home moves.

The government has published its official advice for removals and estate agent professionals.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you’re moving homes soon:

• Social distancing measures are still in place. While moving, stay 6 feet apart from anyone who isn’t part of your household.
• Use protective equipment (face mask and gloves).
• Keep to a minimum the number of people going in and out of the house.
• If you’re moving and at the same time have sold your old home, clean the property thoroughly before the new owners move in.
• Packing services are available, but homeowners are encouraged to do as much of their own packing as possible. You can find advice in the packing hacks section of our website.
• Keep internal doors open while movers are in your property to ensure good ventilation.
• Make sure hand-washing facilities are available to the removals team and dispose of any wipes or paper towels safely.
• When packing, clean the contents of each box before they start being handled by the removals team. Here’s some de-contamination advice.

Packing And Storage

If you pack your own belongings, you may want to put away boxes into storage until moving day. This will help keep your home decluttered and free of tripping hazards.

Storage is safer because it will help you avoid handling objects unless strictly necessary. You can view our storage services, or you can call us for more info.

If you are planning a home removals and need assistance packing and storing your belongings, we are here to help.

Important Information About Home Removals During COVID-19

At GW Twilley & Son Removals we’re doing our part to follow public health regulations in every home move. We have an updated FAQ section that will answer any questions you may have about the process of moving homes in post-lockdown. If you were in our email list you should have received them on 14th May, so check your inbox. Otherwise read our updated FAQs below.

Updated 14th of May 2020

FAQ’S FOR CLIENTS OF GW TWILLEY & SON REMOVALS MOVING HOME DURING THE CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) PANDEMIC

Q. What precautions are you taking during the Coronavirus pandemic?

A. Our office team are working from home.

Our surveyors are carrying out video surveys to quote and not visiting in person. Our removal crews are kept up to date with government guidelines and are adhering to best practice by:
• Keeping a distance of 2 meters from the next person whenever possible.
• Washing hands regularly for at least 20 seconds.
• Wearing gloves – they are less likely to touch their faces if they wear gloves.
• Disinfecting their cabs and common areas – each vehicle carries disinfectant spray.
• Catching coughs and sneezes in a tissue and dispose immediately.
• Not coming to work or immediately leaving work if they show any symptoms.
• Immediately reporting to management if any client or colleague shows symptoms.
• Implementing a buddy system to have the same people working together wherever 2 man lifts are required.
• Refusing refreshments offered by clients (although the offer is appreciated).
• Using face masks and hand sanitisers, as necessary.

Q. What do we need our clients to do?

A. Please help us by doing the following:
• Inform us immediately if you or anybody in your home or office develop symptoms of Coronavirus (Covid-19). Ensure that nobody with any symptoms, however mild, comes in to contact with our staff.
• Please keep a distance of at least 2 meters from our staff.
• Have as few people present during the move as possible. We can often complete a move without the client being present, ask us about this option.
• Ventilate your home very well on the day of the move. Heating should be off and windows and doors should be open (weather permitting).
• Kindly, do not offer our staff refreshments.
• Surfaces and possessions should be cleaned with household cleaning products prior to the arrival of our staff and again after we have delivered.

Ask For Help!

At G W Twilley & Son Removals, we are a team of friendly movers and storage services specialists. Call us on 020 8888 5156 for further advice or request a video survey and consultation.