Top Three Things You Need To Know About Moving *

I love our cute little flat, and at some point not too far in the future, I hope we’ll be looking to buy a house and start doing that whole “adult” thing properly. For now though, we’re happy, but there are a few lessons we learnt from this place that we’ll definitely be taking with us when we move on. If you haven’t moved out on your own yet or you’re thinking of buying, make sure you have a checklist with these three pointers on it.

Set up all your bills in advance

For anyone living in the modern world, this is a major issue, and you’ll probably have had a taste of this already if you went to university. Things like water, electric, TV license and the like can all be set up in just a few clicks online, so those aren’t a huge problem.

The one that will most likely have you tearing your hair out is the internet. It can take two to four weeks to get your connection set up and your box sent across, so you’ll be without internet unless you pre-order it a fortnight to a month before you move. Trust me, this will save you so much grief.

Start buying things now!

The hardest part about getting your own place is the huge upfront cost of buying all your furniture at once. Start putting things together now, even if it’s just pots and pans, rugs and lamps. Otherwise, you don’t just have to buy furniture, but everything down to the tray to hold the cutlery.

Whether you’re in a fully furnished flat or you’re waiting to buy, these are small items that you can stock pile and it will make a huge difference to your overall costs. I found this great checklist for students about what to take to University, and it’s the perfect place to start for what you’ll need.

Plan the arrival of furniture

I know what you’re thinking. It’s fine to buy the small things that make a home, but you can’t go buying beds and sofas when you currently have nowhere to put it. I completely agree with you, so the advice I would give you is to buy the furniture in advance, and have it scheduled to arrive a couple of days after you move in.

Trust me, you don’t want to be co-ordinating moving vans as well as delivery vans. It’s a complete nightmare. Don’t feel rushed into it though; if you can’t find the right thing then it makes no sense to go wasting money. You look into furniture rentals to help you get settled; you can have everything set up and in place, ready for when the perfect addition to your flat comes along at the right price.

I hope you found this list helpful. Do you have any tips for people just starting out? Please comment if you do and let me know how the move goes.