I Like To Move It, Move It!

The last few weeks have been super stressful (it’ll share all as soon as I can get over the trauma) but we’ve finally got the keys to our new apartment!

And best of all, we’re moving in! Right now!

Yep seriously, the movers are here as you’re reading this! Once again, all of our possessions are being packed up and transported to a new home.

This time it feels different, though! Moving across Europe to another country was definitely daunting and everything happened so fast that I felt like I almost couldn’t keep up.

This time I’m way more excited about what lies ahead. Yes, it’s still a huge step but it doesn’t feel like we’re stepping into the complete unknown and more importantly, we’re moving into our dream home.

Our current city centre apartment has been perfectly fine and ticked all of the boxes. It was available, new and easy to move into but it was only ever meant to be a temporary solution so I guess it never really felt like home which for me then also meant that I never quite felt like I’d arrived.

This time we can start unpacking straight away and don’t have to live in a completely empty apartment for over a week until our things arrive! This time I won’t have to sleep on a squeaky airbed for way too many nights (yep, that wasn’t exactly the highlight of my life) and this time I might even be daring enough to throw the boxes away when we’ve finished unpacking (although that may be a bit too radical for me!).

We’re so excited to be moving into our new apartment but on the other hand, I feel totally drained, too. There’s no denying that the last months have been extremely tough on both Jan and me.

Everything is new, we miss our friends, we miss our house and we even miss DIYing! Ever since we made the decision to move at the end of June last year our lives have been a bit up in the air. Even now, almost 6 months later, I still feel slightly nauseous when I think back to the days when we made the decision that living in the UK was no longer right for us. (You can read more about our reasons for moving here.)

But enough of the doom and gloom! We’re now moving into the most amazing apartment which is way beyond my wildest dreams. We’re living in a fantastic & diverse city and we have loads of new adventures to look forward to.

We learned a lot from our last move and will definitely be doing a few things differently this time around!

Here are our top 10 moving tips

(so that you can avoid the mistakes we made!)

#1 Number Everything

We labelled and numbered every single item that we took with us. When numbering your boxes don’t just number the top of the box – write the number on the side of it, too. I can’t stress how important numbering the side is!

We had a super long itinerary with every box and item on it but when everything is delivered the removal guys stack the boxes on trolleys and wheel them around. Great for them as they can move a lot of boxes in one go – bad for you if you’ve only numbered the top as it’s likely that it’s hidden under another box and this means that it’s pretty much impossible to stay on top of the list ticking and keeping track of which boxes have been delivered and which ones may still be missing.

#2 Add Your Name to Everything

We did and a box still got lost. (If anyone anywhere in the world finds a box with all of my personal and completely irreplaceable memorabilia in it I’d love to have it back!)

Looking back I’d now go further and would print full address labels with both the new addresses and general contact details on it. That way, if something does get lost you may have more chance of it getting it back if it does get found.

#3 Have a list (and if you have time make a note of contents)

Send it to your removal company and add prices to your more valuable items. I know it sounds like a huge amount of work (it is!) but if you read the fine print of your contract you’ll probably find that your removal company will limit the amount you can claim if something is damaged or lost (in our case it was £40 per item). So basically if you have a lamp that cost you £300 and it gets damaged beyond repair they will only give you £40. In any case, you probably won’t be refunded the full amount because of wear and tear but at least you’ll get more appropriate compensation.

#4 Pay for packing (or at least don’t discount it)

We did all of our packing ourselves and absolutely nothing that we packed arrived broken or damaged. This takes a huge amount of time though and we really underestimated how long it would take!

This was our biggest mistake. I started packing weeks before the move but then stopped half way through as I didn’t want to pack up things we were still using. It took such a long time to wrap and pack everything and although I thought I had plenty of time to spare, things did get really hectic towards the end and we were up till 4 in the morning the last night because there was still so much to do.

Don’t underestimate the time it takes to take furniture to pieces and the inevitable trips to the tip either!

The main reason to pay for packing is that everything that the movers pack will be insured if something in a box does get damaged. We thought that paying for packing would be really expensive but it wasn’t. The quote for packing in the UK was £150 not bad when you think that the move cost £4000! Here in Germany, the quote for packing was 185€ so very roughly the same amount. Money that’s well spent in our opinion and it’s something we opted to pay for this time around.

#5 No one cares

I know that this sounds bad and yes, it’s probably a total generalisation, but at the end of the day, you’re probably the only person that really cares about your stuff.

Pack like your life stuff depends on it.

• Pack so that nothing in the boxes can move.
• Wrap Bottle tops with cling film to keep them sealed.
• Movers will ignore any “warning glass” signs.
• Movers will throw the boxes around.
• Movers will stack the boxes how they want to save space and ignore “this way up” labels.

#6 Export wrapping

This is probably something you’d only consider for an international move or a move that’s a further distance but export wrapping can be a good idea if you have items that you are precious about. If you’ve not heard of export wrapping, it’s basically when the movers pack everything in super thick bubble wrap so that it’s really well protected. We paid an additional fee to have our Eames Lounge Chair and footstool as well as our turquoise Chesterfield sofa packed which was money well spent.

#7 (Ideally) You need two people when things are being unloaded

It’s likely that there will be more than one removal person carrying your boxes around which makes it impossible to tick things off your list no matter how well prepared you are. It’s really stressful on your own so make sure you have someone you trust there to help you. You’ve probably paid a lot for your removal so take your time and don’t be rushed. Tick those boxes and know what’s been delivered. If something is missing you have to find out now otherwise, there’s no comeback!

#8 Keep your toolbox close & have a box that contains all screws and fixings

Know exactly where your tool box is at all times and keep all screws and fixings in one box and don’t let it out of your sight (or, if possible, tape them directly to the item.

There’s nothing worse than wanting to put up shelves when you don’t know in which of the 50 boxes the screws are or wanting to put up your bed after long, long day when you can’t find the screwdriver!

#9 Draw a plan & label your rooms

We drew the layout of the apartment where we marked the positions of where we wanted each piece of larger furniture to be positioned so that the removal people knew exactly where we wanted things to go. We’ll still be able to move things around but at least the heavier items are roughly where they have to be.

Another great tip (we can’t take credit for this one – thanks, Lucy!) is to label the rooms and have corresponding box numbers. Numbering things is especially good as it’s completely clear which room is which rather than just saying “dining room” or “bedroom 2” as probably only you know which room is which to start with! Numbering the rooms is such an easy thing to do yet so effective when coordinating things.

#10 Try Not To Stress (Too Much)

I know that this is much easier said than done (for me at least). Our last move was super stressful and left me feeling rather drained. Needless to say, I wasn’t looking forward to doing it again so soon! Just remember that living in chaos is only temporary and that you’re moving for a reason! The actual move will probably only last around a day and then you can start to settle in your new home!

If you’re just moving from one house to the next and everything is just being uploaded and directly unloaded a couple of streets away you probably won’t have to be quite as meticulous when packing everything and I’m sure it will also much much easier and less stressful!

Do you have any other tips for ensuring a stress-free move (if there even is such a thing)?

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