It doesn’t matter where you’re moving home, or whether it’s your first or your tenth move, moving is stressful!
Mountains of cardboard, discovering all that useless tat in the attic that you still can’t bring yourself to chuck away, the process of moving can seem to drag on and on.

But don’t worry! Here at Search Mortgage Solutions, one of the UK’s leading mortgage brokers, we’ve put together this guide to talk you through the process and have you settled into your new home in no time.

DIY Or Hire A Pro?

The first decision you face is whether to hire out a truck and move all your stuff yourself, or hire movers in to do the job for you.
This is dependent on a couple of factors, and while it may work out cheaper to do it yourself, it’s not guaranteed to be easier!
If your current home is fairly small, and you’ve got a buff squad of friends and family to help out, doing it yourself may be the best option.
The obvious advantage is that it works out quite a bit cheaper as you won’t have to pay a mover, (although you may have to pay insurance, petrol etc.) and allows you to do things at your own pace.
Companies such as Enterprise or Sixt offer large removal vans for hire, and we’d advise going for one slightly bigger than you think you need just o be on the safe side and cut down on unnecessary trips.
Make sure you’re comfortable driving a big removals truck though. The last thing you want is all your living room furniture scattered across the M6!
If you don’t have the time or the manpower to move yourself, or if you’ve got lots of stuff, why not hire some professional help?
While it may be a little more expensive, using movers is not only a lot easier on you, you also know you’re getting a professional service.
Moving companies know what they’re doing, and will go to extra measure to make sure that they don’t cause any damage to the home while they’re doing their thing.
You can compare the prices of different removal companies over on reallymoving.com and make sure that they’re a member of the British Association of Removers at bar.co.uk.

What You’ll Need

• Boxes! Lots of boxes. Sure, if you’ve got some cardboard boxes lying around the house feel free to use these, but make sure that they’re going to be strong enough, and that they’re not torn or damp at all.
• As for how many you need, it’s totally dependent on how much stuff you have, but once again we recommend going for maybe a couple more than you need, as its best to play it safe, and there is sure to be more stuff than you expected.
• Eventually you’re probably going to need to buy some new boxes, so make sure you get plenty of different sizes such as these from Argos.
• For fragile things such as wine glasses you can also pick up specialist carrying boxes such as these.
• You can even get a full cardboard wardrobe, complete with a rail to hang clothes up!
• You’ll also be getting through reams of brown packing tape, so one of these cool dispensers can make things a lot easier.
• Newspaper and bubble wrap are also useful for protecting any valuables.
• If you’re moving yourself, your friends and family will be eternally grateful if you invest in a couple of trolleys to ease the load.

Other Tips

• Make sure to get your post redirected to your new address so that important stuff like bills don’t keep getting sent to your old address.
• If possible, get into the new property and properly clean it out before you even start the moving process. It’ll make everything go a lot easier, trust us.
• Fully label each box with the room that it’s going to go into, and attach any screws or bolts for furniture in a little plastic bag.
• Pack some lightbulbs. If the previous owners have taken the old ones you might suddenly find yourself lugging furniture in the dark!