How to move house during a pandemic
The ultimate guide to help you achieve a stress-free house move (well, almost…)
Everyone knows that moving house is stressful. So it’s hardly surprising that according to research, a house move is the most stressful event of your life.
And trust me, they’re not wrong.
A recent study has shown that moving house is more stressful than getting divorced, having a baby and starting a new job. But throw a pandemic into the mix and it’s a whole new ball game. So here’s what I wish I’d known before moving house during lockdown 3.0:
1. Everything takes ages
We sold on 31st October 2020. We didn’t move until 1st March 2021. But we should count ourselves lucky. We had the shortest chain you could wish for and no hold-ups, yet it still took 18 weeks from the day that we accepted our offer.
Why? Because everyone had the same idea.
As a result of the coronavirus lockdowns, people have spent a lot more time at home. And with the whole family under the same roof 24/7, what used to be the perfect family home is now claustrophobic.
The “Stay at Home” order has made people want what they don’t have, whether that be an extra bedroom, a dining room, or, most commonly, a garden. Almost 40% of prospective buyers were looking for a bigger home, with over 70% craving more outside space. If these reasons weren’t enough to convince us to make the move, the stamp duty holiday certainly has, with the average house buyer saving £4500. And even those who thought they were happy have found themselves mindlessly scrolling through Rightmove for their dream home as they had nothing else to do.
We were moving anyway though. After spending 15 years in the same home (and collecting 15 years’ worth of stuff), we thought it was time to swap our two-up two-down semi-detached house for something a little bigger. So, unfortunately, we got caught up in the surge of cabin-feverish people wanting to escape their humble abodes for a change of scenery.
After finally clearing the backlog caused by the first lockdown, when all house moves were put on hold, solicitors and surveyors are busier than ever. So make sure you do all the relevant checks and fill out your paperwork early to give you the best chance of having a swift and smooth move. But, above all (as Gary Barlow would say), have a little patience.
2. You get no help whatsoever
If you’re moving house during lockdown, brace yourself.
You’re on your own.
According to the government guidelines, “people outside your household or support bubble should not help with moving house”. This might not be too much of an issue if your household and support bubble give you lots of manpower, or if you don’t have a lot of stuff.
But, take it from me, you have a lot more stuff than you think.
And when there’s only two of you to pack up your whole house, including all those little cupboards and draws that you forgot existed, this isn’t something that will happen overnight.
If you are able to, save up your annual leave and take as much time off of work as you can. Take a week off either side of your moving date, giving you a week to pack and clean up your old house and a week to unpack and settle into your new house. If, like me, your new home needs a bit of TLC, allow some time for any immediate renovations to be done.
3. Pay for removals
Now I know what you’re thinking. Removals are bloody expensive. Why pay someone else to move boxes from A to B when I could just do it myself? But trust me, it will be the best decision you make. You could be saving up to £15,000 because of the stamp duty holiday, so reducing that saving to £14,000 is still a win.
You’ll have a million and one things to do — last-minute packing, cleaning your entire house from top to bottom and dropping keys off to the estate agents to name a few — and far too much on your mind on moving day. So rather than running around like a headless chicken (which chances are you’ll be doing anyway), leave it to the experts. They’ll even take your flat-pack furniture apart and put it back together again.
4. Make lots of lists
Make a list of all the things that need doing. And I mean everything.
Go around your house room by room and note down what items need to be packed. Trust me, if you take the time to do this now, it will save you so much time in the long run. If, like me, you’ve lived in the same house for a long time, everything has its place, so much so that everything seems to blend into the background. You won’t believe how many times I walked past the same painting before realising that I actually needed to take it off the wall.
And remember that some things can’t just be chucked in a box. Make a note of all your fragile possessions that need bubble-wrapping (it takes a lot longer than you think).
But this is the most important list of all:
You don’t realise how important your address is until you are faced with the tedious task of changing it for every single account you own. Make a note of all the companies that you will need to contact before you move, such as Royal Mail, your gas and electricity company, your bank and your broadband provider. And then make another list of all the other companies who can wait until after you have moved.
5. Declutter BEFORE you move
Now this is something I learned the hard way. Not only is there more to pack, and then unpack, but there are more boxes to search through when you’re on the hunt for items that are so essential to everyday life that you forget how often you use them. Like cling film, the glass microwave turntable that you safely bubble-wrapped and packed in one of the many “fragile” boxes at the last minute and the Pyrex dishes that you use to cook dinner most nights.
But we’re in a pandemic. Nothing is open. How do you off-load your unwanted clothes and the items you kept because you thought “that’ll come in handy one day” ten years ago? Set aside a box and put everything you want to get rid of inside. Although you’ll still be taking it with you, at least it’s all in one place and ready to go once life starts to return to normal.
6. Buy plenty of boxes
This may seem like an obvious one but it’s better to have too many boxes than not enough. Take it from someone who had to buy more boxes the day before moving.
7. Moving day is absolute chaos
No matter how organised you are, something always seems to go wrong. There’s always something you forget to pack, a piece of furniture that refuses to fit through the front door (despite how that’s the only way that it entered the house in the first place) or your buyer shows up before you’ve finished moving out.
But…
8. Everything will be okay in the end
Just when you’ve achieved the mammoth task of packing up your entire life, you’re faced with the equally monumental task of unpacking it all. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed. So just take your time, embrace the “where the hell did I put that?!” moments and before you know it, your house will look like a home in no time.
