Here are just a few tips on how to maximize the efficiency of your packing up process.

• Try not to leave all the packing until the day you move out. Ideally, you want to have everything boxed and ready to go once the agent has called you to release your new keys. Pack items that you don't use on a daily basis as soon as you know that your contracts have been exchanged.

• Get hold of good quality boxes for moving home. Obtaining boxes from supermarkets is becoming increasingly difficult and the chances are they are not the sizes you are looking for and will often be soiled.

• Make sure you have roughly the right size packing boxes for the job in hand. The best scenario for large items such as television sets will be to use their original box and polystyrene packing pieces. If you do not have these, use plenty of bubble wrap and wrap up the cable to avoid tripping over it on the way to the van.

• Wrap china and crockery in acid free tissue paper. This will help prevent the dulling of your china and protect it during transit.

• Protect your mattresses with mattress covers. These thick heavy duty plastic covers will prevent your mattresses getting scuffed or marked if they are dropped. They can also be used to transport duvets and other bedding items as stuffing these into boxes takes a lot of room. You can also use them to cover your three-piece suite and protect these from dust and dirt or better still, dampness if it is raining. When you get to the other end they can be kept and used again, left on the mattress to prevent moisture damage or even used as large rubbish bags.

• Make sure you have plenty of tape and a tape gun they are both absolutely essential for sealing items quickly and securely.
• Try not to just throw clothes in bin bags. Make life a little easier for yourself (and your removal people) by simply transferring your clothes to a cardboard wardrobe. This will keep your close dirt and dust free during transit and potentially save on expensive dry cleaning bills and/or a large ironing pile the other end.

• What about your best crystal or the bottles of wine that you have in your rack? You will need to keep these separated during transit to prevent them from banging together and breaking. Special glass boxes or bottle cartons designed specifically with this in mind are available and come with dividers that separate each item. Adding tissue paper (acid free, of course) to this equation will give you extra piece of mind.

• Don't overfill your cartons- making them too heavy to lift.

Make sure that you have informed each of these utilities companies that you are moving home and if possible, see if you can get the account simply changed over rather than having them cut off. This will save your buyers having to pay re-connection charges once they move in.

• Gas
• Cable/Satellite TV
• Water
• Broadband Connection
• Electricity
• Telephone

There may be many different companies that service your home and these will also need some action unless for instance you still want all of your post turning up at your old address.

• Post (Redirection)
• Cleaner (Cancelled)
• Milk (Cancelled)
• Newspapers (Cancelled)
• Window Cleaner (Cancelled)

Moving house can be just as exciting as it is arduous and leaving a place clean and tidy with information about the services/area will help your buyers settle in a little easier. Below are some tips on how you can make their lives a little easier.

• Leave your house as you would hope to find it. We're not talking a full spring clean here but wiping ring marks from work surfaces, vacuuming up the dust from behind long-standing items after you've move them and giving the toilet a once-over goes such a long way to making people feel more comfortable with their new environment (remember they will have had a tough day of packing, lifting and traveling behind them already)

• Remember to empty your bins and write down the times and days of refuse recycling collections so that your buyers know when to leave theirs out.

• Leave out all the keys that relate to your property. The front door key goes without saying (as the agent will probably hold these) but keys for things such as sheds, greenhouses, outbuildings and more importantly, windows will need to be tagged so that your buyer knows which is which.

• Make sure that all of your utilities - Gas, Water, Electricity, are switched off (not cut off) and leave operating instructions for things such as the central heating, gas fires and boilers and locations for things such as Stop Cocks for Gas and Water and Mains Switches for Electricity.

• Also point out locations of utility meters and take meter readings, leaving copies for your new buyers so that there can be no dispute for any utility settlement.

• Do a quick check against your fixtures and fittings list (which your solicitor will have forwarded to you) to make sure you have left all that you said you would leave.

• You may wish to leave a forwarding address if you have chosen not to have your mail forwarded directly by the Post Office.

No doubt you will be fairly weary yourself once you arrive at your new home. No one says that you have to do everything the same day, after all you will probably be spending a fair amount of time getting the place just the way you want it. So, these pointers may help you move comfortably into your new home.

• Always, always put the beds up first because the last thing you'll want to be doing on the day of moving is put up your bed at midnight when you are already tired.

• Switch on all of your utilities (if your sellers are using these tips, they should all be off) and pay special attention to the hot water/boiler

• Familiarise yourself with the keys to your property and ALWAYS KEEP ONE ON YOU to avoid getting locked out (believe us, this does happen). Better still, arrange for a lock smith to change all of the locks at your property to give yourself added security.

• Keep pets inside if possible. Cats especially need to get used to their surroundings before they feel comfortable enough to venture outside.

• Find your utility meters and take readings. Send these off to the relevant company IMMEDIATELY so that you can start your new account and verify the readings that your sellers have potentially already given them.
We can't guarantee a smooth ride every step of the way but follow these tips and they will go a long way to helping you avoid a lot of the hassle that moving can create.

Happy moving
Fine Packages.com