10 things I learnt moving house...

1. If Britain's about to have the biggest rain storms and most extensive flooding for 50 years, move at least the day before.

2. If you are moving a very short distance and choose to do a deal where you pay your removal people by the half hour, it could well end up being much cheaper (1/3 the cost of our best fixed price quote in our case) but you'll end up helping them move boxes etc. to speed things up and save money. If you are an overweight desk jockey, this could be v. tiring. Especially if the day before Britain's biggest rain storms and flooding for 50 years is a really hot sticky day.

3. Packing is really hard work. Do a little bit each day in advance (but don't tell my girlfriend she was right about that). Even though we'd done quite a lot before we had our packing day it took us a solid day of hard labour. On the plus side apparently you can pay people to pack your stuff for you.

4. Be organised.

5. Have a little bag to take with you with easy to eat food and drink for when you get hungry.

6. Have some kind of chairs (eg. comfy camping chairs) handy to sit on to eat the above / have a rest.

7. If you are going to pack the tea/coffee and kettle in a very sensibly labeled box so that you can easily make a nice cup of tea when you get to your new house, it'd really help if you put some mugs or cups in the box, it seems my girlfriend forgot that they are an essential part of hot beverage making.

8. Keep all the packing materials and tape unpacked until the end in case boxes start falling apart. "Oh, the rest of it is in one of those boxes on the truck" is not a useful thing to hear when a box starts collapsing.

9. Keep all your tools, alan keys etc. handy. This was invaluable when we had to disassemble stuff at the last minute to fit it in the truck.

10. When you own your own house you instantly gain a never ending list of DIY projects.

Conclusion:

The only lazy solution to moving house really is never to do it, ever.