First of all, congratulations on your upcoming house move! With December fast approaching, you’re likely eager to settle into your new home before Christmas. Although December is the busiest time of year, there’s no need to feel overwhelmed. With proper planning and the help of a trusty removals service, there’s no reason you can’t be settled into your new home before Christmas rolls around.
This guide will walk you through the necessary steps for planning and executing a house move during the hectic Christmas period, ensuring a stress-free and enjoyable holiday season for you and your loved ones.
Finalise the Paperwork
Exchanging contracts is when moving house becomes legally binding, as both parties agree the seller will sell the property to you and the buyer will purchase the home. Before contracts can be exchanged, you must agree on a completion date. This is when the bulk of the money is transferred, and you can collect the keys and move into your new home. Once a completion date is finalised, you will know the time frame you’re working with to get all your moving arrangements in order.
Make A Christmas List!
No, not your wishlist for Santa. Start writing a to-do list with all the tasks you need to get done before moving house. Note down everything from booking a removals service and buying Christmas presents to packing each room. Ticking off items as you complete them will help you make sure you stay on track.
It’s also a good idea to take inventory of your items. Work room by room to go through your items early. You’ll soon notice plenty of items lying around that you don’t need to take with you. So take the time to declutter, only writing down the items you want to take forward with you into your new home. Donate, gift, or discard any unwanted items ahead of time. This reduces the number of boxes you’ll need to handle on moving day.
Book a Removals Service
Don’t delay in arranging your removals service, as the busy Christmas season can book up quickly, making it difficult for you to find house movers to help you. As soon as your moving date is agreed upon, you’ll want to start researching moving companies to find the right one for your needs.
Think about the types of services you require. Do you have any antiques or bulky items, like pianos, that may require special handling? Look up removal companies in your area and read online reviews, or ask friends and family for recommendations. This can help you feel confident in the team you pick for moving house.
Buy Presents Early
No doubt you’ll be busy running around trying to organise your old home before moving out, but one thing you mustn’t forget about is Christmas presents. We recommend buying Christmas presents as early as possible, even before moving out. This way, you won’t have to worry about rushing out on Christmas Eve, frantically looking for presents to gift your friends and family the next day.
If you’re feeling super organised, consider wrapping all your presents early and delivering them to friends and family ahead of time. They can store them safely until the big day, saving you extra packing on moving day and ensuring no presents get lost along the way!
Organise Your Packing
Strategic packing is always helpful to streamline moving house, but especially when you’re tight for time, and don’t have weeks to unpack gradually. Particularly, if you’re entertaining the whole family this Christmas, unpacking and settling into your new house needs to be quick and efficient.
On average, we at Essex Removals believe you should allow yourself at least two weeks to pack your belongings carefully. Rushing can lead to haphazard packing, risking items getting damaged during loading, transport or unpacking. The longer you give yourself to box up items, the more care you can take to ensure they are securely packaged up.
Try to keep items from each room together, with separate boxes for bathroom items, kitchen supplies, etc. Make sure to clearly mark each box to simplify unpacking. You also don’t want to leave any important documents behind, so dedicate one box for your passports, birth certificates and bank documents, as such. It’s also worth making an essentials box, which you can fill with items you’ll want to unpack straight away, like the kettle and tea bags!
If packing seems like a task you just don’t have time for, removals services can often be tailored to include packing and unpacking for an additional charge. Professional house movers can organise and handle your packing, ensuring items are well-protected and can be moved and unpacked in an orderly manner.
Prepare for Snow
Check the weather forecast regularly in the weeks leading up to your moving day to get a sense of what conditions you can expect. But, remember not to take the weather forecast as gospel. As we all know, predictions are notoriously unreliable.
Even if snow or harsh weather conditions might seem unlikely, you don’t want to be caught moving in freezing temperatures or pouring rain, only to find your winter coat packed away in a box! Consider keeping some winter clothes, a shovel and even some road grit on hand to handle whatever the English winter weather throws at you!
Take Care of Your Bills
If you haven’t got a direct debit set up to pay your bills, be sure not to take your eye off the ball and accidentally miss a payment. Make sure to take meter readings and settle all your bills before leaving your previous home and moving to your new location.
Another thing to remember is to contact the service providers for your new address before you move in. With a million-and-one things on your mind at Christmas, you don’t want to be celebrating the festive season in a dark and chilly home!
Food Glorious Food
With the Christmas rush, food is often flying off the shelves like there’s no tomorrow! Beat the supermarket rush by scheduling a food delivery to your new address. This lets you stock up your cupboards and get all your Christmas food items ready for the big day without having to brave the shops!
Pack a few essential food items for moving day to keep you fuelled and schedule a food delivery for the following day. This gives you time to unpack some boxes without having food filling up your kitchen while ensuring you have something ready to eat once you’re settled in your new home.
Unpack
Once you are all moved in, turn your attention to unpacking. If you have friends or family members ready to help, it’s worth designating each person a room to tackle. With boxes assigned to specific rooms, each person can focus their efforts on unpacking their space. This prevents everyone from getting under each other’s feet and creating unnecessary tension, allowing for a more efficient and peaceful unpacking process.
Decorate
Finally, once all the boxes have been unpacked and the rooms are set up, it’s time for the fun part… decorating for Christmas! Whether you have a Christmas tree or have decided to skip it this year, there are many easy ways to decorate your home to make it feel special. You can line the walls with tinsel or garlands or hang ornaments from the ceiling. Adding some red, green and gold decorations can easily brighten up your home and get you in the yuletide spirit.
Essex Removals
At Essex Removals, we offer professional and reliable removals services, specialising in both domestic and commercial moves across Essex and beyond. Whether you’re moving house locally or internationally, our experienced team of house movers ensures a seamless and stress-free experience.
Available throughout the holiday season, we’re ready to assist with all your moving needs, from careful packing to safe transportation of your belongings. Trust us with your next house move, even during the busy festive period, and enjoy peace of mind you’re items are in safe hands. To book a removals service, contact us today!
