Today I am going to write you guys a blog post all about the things to remember when moving house. It is true what they say, moving house is one of the most stressful things that you can do. It is almost two years since we got the keys to our first home with one another. Even though looking back I wouldn’t change it for the world, I can remember the amount of stress at the time.
It was hard work and it really put me through the ringer. At the time, I can remember feeling like I had nobody to turn to and ask for advice. So, I thought that I would pop this blog post today and share the things to remember when moving house. I just hope that this helps you guys out if you are in a similar situation to what I was!
Plan everything well in advance.
As you get closer to the day where you pick up the keys, things need to be planned in advance. There is so much that you need to do in order to ensure that it runs smoothly. You need things to go well, not just for yourselves, but for the other people involved in the process. Make sure that you stay on your solicitors to keep things moving. Communicate with the movers to ensure that everything is on track. If you are having furniture delivered, organise the dates accordingly. My main piece of advice is to keep a detailed list of what you need to do and the date in which you need to do it. Obviously I kept a spreadsheet (I love a good spreadsheet) and it really helped me.
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It is going to cost more than you think.
When we were first looking at houses, we opened a savings account. The amount of money that we planned on saving was 10% of the household value. Even though that is a great benchmark, I quickly realised that had to be the minimum amount. There is so much that you need to take into consideration. You have things like solicitors, surveys, stamp duty and so much more. All of these things really add up and it can be a shock to the system. Without stamp duty included, the extras set us back around £4,000. It wasn’t the end of the world because by the time we found the perfect house we had more money saved, but it still wasn’t ideal. Just ensure that you have a safety net of cash for the unexpected costs!
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Paying the god damn movers.
Around a decade back when I was in my late teenage years, my mum moved house. I was a driver by that point and I had a boyfriend that drove a van. We thought that we could do all of the moving ourselves to save some money. Even though we managed it all, it wasn’t without a struggle. Even though I do think that I am very strong, there are some things that I am just unable to do. When we bought this house, we paid movers and it was a dream. I think they cost £300 for the full day’s work, they moved everything. They even got our sofa up into our second story sitting room, which they had to winch up the side of the house and through a window. Well worth the money in my opinion. It is just one less stress.
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Correctly labelling boxes is a must.
When we boxed up everything in our old home, there was no order to anything. To be honest, we didn’t think that we had that much stuff. That was until we were stood in our new home, surrounded by unlabelled boxes. If everything is labelled correctly and you have somebody co-ordinating, the movers will put things in the right place. However, silly old us didn’t label anything. This then meant that we had the best part of 40 boxes in our hallway that I was working though. I would open them up, try to look where they needed to be. Liam then had to run around the house putting things into the right room. It wasn’t the end of the world. Just another one of those little things that you don’t want to have to deal with in the midst of all the drama.
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Double the time that you think it will take.
I know that this may sound cynical, but if you think it will take two months, expect it to take four. Especially if you are stuck in chain, things can really move at a glacial pace. When we were buying our home, we were not in a chain on our end. However, the previous owners of our house were in the middle of a messy chain. They had young children and understandably didn’t want to move anywhere temporarily and we wouldn’t expect them to. Although looking back, if we were in a chain ourselves, they would have had to do that, to ensure that we wouldn’t lose the deal on our end. It can be so hard. However, back to the timings, just always think worst-case scenario, then anything better is just a bonus!
I hope that you guys liked this blog post. These things to remember when moving house are so important. I wish that I had seen all of this laid out when we were on our home buying journey. It is hard work, but something that is ever so rewarding. For me, nothing compares to the security and comfort in owning your own home.
As a teenager, we always lived in rented housing and even though it was fine, nowhere ever felt like home. I would love to hear from you guys. Please leave me a comment below. Let me know if you are trying to get on the property ladder or if you have the keys to your own home. As I mentioned, it really can be the most rewarding thing that you will ever do!
