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You may think what could you possibly forget when moving house, how could you possibly forget to pack things?

Well… most of the things that people often forget are actually things to remember and do in the lead up and process of the move rather than actually forgetting to pack items.

At Hackworthy & Sons we have put together a list of the things that people often forget to do when moving house, which will hopefully help others that are moving soon.

1. Notifying the relevant people of your move

First up, is notifying the relevant people of your move. People often talk about their house move with those that they see frequently as it is something that is going on in their lives. However, it could often be forgotten to inform those that live further away from you of your house move as these are likely people that you see less of in comparison to those you are with week to week.

2. Transferring school / medical records

If you are moving to a completely new location then you may be looking to move your children to a new school which is something that you have to prepare for in advance by visiting a range of schools to find the best ones for your children.

Although, if you are looking to keep your children in the same school, you must inform the school of you moving house to update your child's records with your new address.

The same goes with your medical records, if you are moving to a new location you may need to relocate to a different doctor's surgery, therefore you’d need to register to your chosen new surgery. You don’t want to get to the point where you need to visit the doctors when you realise that you have forgotten about this when moving.

3. Redirect mail

You may have informed all those relevant people of your house move, however there is always going to be someone that you may have forgotten to inform, most likely your amazon account or a shops mailing list that you’d like to keep updated with.

For this reason, it is really useful to have a mail redirect in place which will redirect any mail from your old address to your new one. This is then a good reminder for you to update your address with those people that have sent mail to your old address.

4. Defrosting your fridge / freezer

If you own a stand alone fridge/freezer and are planning on taking this with you when moving house. Don’t forget to defrost it, this can often be forgotten as you need to use it all the time, but is important so that you don’t end up with water spilling from it during the moving process. If you forget to defrost your fridge/freezer you may end up having to do this later than you’d like, meaning that you might end up having to manually speed up the defrosting time, taking up time that you could otherwise spend doing other things to move house.

5. Arranging a parking space for the removal van

It can be quite common when moving house for there to not be enough room for the removal van to fit down the driveway (and that’s if you have one!). So if you have a driveway that is too small for the removal van to fit or you don't have a driveway at all, you will need to arrange a parking space for the removal van on the road outside your home.

Arranging parking can often be something that people forget when moving house as they may not feel the need to measure the size of a driveway beforehand and end up finding out that the van doesn't fit upon arrival to the new house, when there is no parking on the road to unload the van.

6. Writing down meter readings

Why do I have to write down meter readings when moving house you may ask? By writing down the meter readings you can send these to your energy supplier both at the old house and the new house to ensure that you are not overcharged and receive an accurate last and first bill.

7. Packing an essentials box

Many people get caught up in the process of packing boxes that you can often forget to pack things in a separate box that you might need to access quickly at the new house. So, by packing a box of your essentials you can be sure to be able to easily access the things that you need and avoid having to go through all of your boxes to find the toolkit to put your furniture together.

8. Look after your pet

If you haven't already updated your address on the microchip of your pet, this is something that you must do to ensure that they come back to the correct address should they go missing.

However, it’s not just the paperwork that people can usually forget when moving house, but it can often be forgotten that moving can be stressful for pets as well as humans. You may want to consider arranging for somebody to look after your pet when you move to ensure that you don't have the added stress of keeping them calm. Not only that but it's also important to calmly introduce them into their new home, the PDSA provides some great tips on moving home with your pets, should you like any advice.

9. Inform your employer

When moving house you must remember to inform your employer of your new address. People may forget as they’ve been talking about their house move in work and assume that the employer will update their records accordingly. Although, it is important that you officially provide them with your new address in order for them to update your records and to update where your payslips are sent to if you receive these through the post.

10. Dont forget things you may have left at the dry cleaner or storage units

You may have carried out all of the things that people usually forget when moving house, but have you remembered to collect any items that you may have left at the dry cleaners, the seamstress or even a storage unit.

These are often forgotten as they are not in your house to remind you when you are packing up and the paperwork has probably been thrown into a drawer somewhere that you won't find until you have moved house and unpacked.

This is especially important to remember when relocating to another city or even country.

11. House plants

House plants become part of the furniture after a while and when packing up your house can be forgotten as it can begin to feel like they were there when you moved in.

Some UK removals companies may refuse to transport houseplants for you when moving house, and although you can transport the small ones by yourself, if you own larger plants this could be a struggle if you don't have a big enough car. Therefore you may want to research your removal company and find out if they will transport your plants.

If they don't you will need to plan how you are going to move them or if you need to sell them or donate them to a friend.

12. Packing up the storage areas in your house

Storage areas in your house such as the loft/attic is something people often forget about when moving house. As things that are stored in these areas are not often used very regularly so it's no surprise that people can forget to pack these areas when moving house.

If you forget about these when purchasing boxes for packing, you are likely to run out of boxes before you discover these….Or worse you might have moved by the time you remember that you have not bought certain items with you.

We hope this list of things that people usually forget to do will help you in the lead up to your house move and if you’re still looking for a UK removals firm to help with your move, get in touch with our team today for a quote.