House Removals and Moving House Tips

Send My Bag brings you some helpful moving house tips, especially regarding house removals, as well as a moving house checklist to make sure you don't miss anything out when moving home.

Moving home can be a headache at the best of times, but especially if you are moving cross country, say from London to Edinburgh, or Southampton to Newcastle. The distance between these locations are vast, thus getting your possessions from A to B can be a logistical nightmare. You will need to consider what the best option is for you in terms of house removals.

You could hire a house removals company, but the cost can be high, and you need to entrust your precious belongings to complete strangers. Or you could hire a van and drive it across the country yourself. You have to ask yourself, however, whether you will be able to fit everything in one van, or whether you will have to endure several cross-country trips. Can you afford the cost of hiring a van for several days?

Of course, you can have a clear-out to reduce the amount of stuff you have to bring with you, but it can be difficult to get rid of things that have formed part of your day-to-day life. If you are travelling with a partner and/ or kids, you will probably have several arguments over what should and shouldn’t be thrown away or sold. Moreover, if you get rid of essentials, you will only have to spend the first few weeks in your new home buying them again.

A sensible option for house removals is to instead ship as many of your belongings as possible with Send My Bag. Send My Bag offers brilliant UK domestic rates. You can send up to 30 kg for only £16 within the UK.

While it is not advised to pack fragile items, there is still loads that can be shipped when moving home – what about all your clothes, books, CDs and DVDs? Knowing that so many of your possessions are taken care of, you can focus your attention on many of the other things that need to be sorted before you move house.

A Few Things to Remember When Using Send my Bag for House Removals:

1. Pack carefully to protect items against damage. Maximise on space but don’t overfill your container. Use a second box or bag rather than risk the container breaking open during transit. Seal the container well and strengthen it on the outside using tape, for example. Label your container well, inside and out.
2. Launder and dry your clothes before packing to avoid damp musty clothes.
3. Don’t pack away things you will need while travelling.
4. Use clothes as padding for things like books and DVDs.
5. Don’t pack liquids that can leak over your other items – it won’t cost much to buy a new bottle of shampoo once you arrive at your new destination.

Other Things to Consider When Moving Home:

1. When moving home you should redirect your mail using Royal Mail Postal Redirection Service, as the new owners of your old home may not have the time or be willing to constantly redirect your mail. This is especially important to make sure you pay your bills on time.
2. Tell service providers your new home address as soon as possible.
3. Update your ID to include your new address.
4. Let friends know your new address. You could let more distant friends/ family members know your new address when sending Christmas cards, but make sure you send them in good time so that they can update their Christmas card list.
5. Do the right thing and put mail intended for the former residents’ of your new home back in the post labelled ‘return to sender’ or ‘no longer at this address’.
6. Keep all bits and bobs relating to furniture in a safe place so you can easily reassemble flat pack furniture in your new home.
7. Acquaint yourself with your new property. Find out where the fuse box is, how to shut off the water, whether the fire alarms are working, etc.
8. Register to vote in your new area.
9. Check the rates/ council tax being charged on your new property is correct.
10. Familiarise yourself with local amenities, e.g. when bins are collected, which bins are used for recycling, etc.

If you are moving abroad instead, check out our guide to things to remember when buying a house abroad.

To find out about using Send My Bag for house removals, visit our 'How it Works' page or our 'FAQs'.