Moving guide
How to pack so moving day doesn't break you
Hundreds of moves in, I promise you the difference between a calm day and an absolutely horrible one almost always comes down to the packing. So here’s what I’d tell my own little sister before she moved.
- Pack an essentials bag that stays on you. Phone charger, loo roll, a mug and teabags, painkillers and other meds, water, snacks, cutlery. It’s the stuff you’ll be desperate for the second you arrive, and you do not want to be tearing open 30 boxes looking for a spoon.
- Pack one suitcase with everything you’ll need for the first 3 nights in your new home. If you’d want it on a city break, put it in the case. Again, you don’t want to be hunting through boxes for really immediate things in the first few days. You need living to be one job, and unpacking your home to be a separate one.
- Please, actually eat something. Everyone’s up at 5am with nerves, runs on empty all day, then has a massive crash at about 3pm. Nine times out of ten, the culprit is no food and no water since breakfast. Build in real breaks, grab drinks with electrolytes and buy plenty of food which doesn’t need plates or cutlery to graze on throughout the day.
- Buy proper boxes, I’m begging you. I know suitcases and bags-for-life feel cheaper, but bags don’t stack, won’t seal, can’t be labelled, and the handles cut your fingers on every trip. Boxes, tape and bubble wrap can come to as little as fifty quid and make everything easier. A folding sack truck on top and you’ll be able to wheel five at a time instead of dying on your feet all day.
- Pack heavy with light. One big box of every hardback you own is deeply satisfying right up until you try to lift it off the floor. Mix it up: books with jumpers, glasses wrapped in paper with cushions on top. Every box should be a weight you can actually carry.
- Give yourself more time off work than you think. A Friday-finish, back-Monday, do-it-all-in-a-weekend move just isn’t enough to pack, move and unpack properly, and then you end up hating your life for no reason. Take a couple of extra days if you can, including time beforehand to declutter, so you’re not paying to cart stuff around that you don’t even want.
- Stop judging how much stuff you have. Nearly every woman I’ve moved has said “I’m so embarrassed, I’ve got way too much stuff.” And every single time I’ve turned up and thought, this is a completely normal amount to own. It only looks like too much because it’s all piled in the middle of the floor. There’s no correct amount of stuff for a person to have. You’re a normal woman with a normal life, so be gentle with yourself, okay?