The Layman's Guide To Moving House

As a man who is certainly not famed for his organisation outside of work, it was no great surprise that I returned from a thoroughly enjoyable, yet thoroughly exhausting, teambuilding event to pack and move house.

The twenty four hours that followed will probably haunt me for years to come, as I aimlessly lugged possessions around Manchester city centre with no real idea if I wanted them in the first place. For anybody who tends to take a blasé and nonchalant approach to these sort of things, please heed my words when I say 'don't.' Despite such a rain soaked, harrowing experience, it remains true that every cloud has a silver lining as I certainly learnt a couple of lessons through my inadequacies.

1) Pack in Advance

Probably the most obvious piece of advice anybody could give when discussing moving house, but a crucial piece of advice I chose to ignore, as my colleague Gemma could pay testimony to. It turns out that packing isn't something that can be done within an hour, it takes time, a lot of time; so make sure that you get packing at least a few days in advance to make moving day a lot less stressful.

2) Be Ruthless

I've always denied that I have an ever-so-slight hoarding problem, however, given how the past few days have manifested themselves, I'm starting to come to terms with it. Clothes that no longer fit, books that you've read twelve times and games that would seem dated if they were played at the turn of the millennium are all good items to bin/give to charity prior to moving.

3) Check Every Room

Another piece of obvious advice that I failed to adhere to. If housemates/partners/families insist that they have packed items on your behalf, assume the opposite, otherwise you only have yourself to blame. Common things to go missing are razors, socks, tv cables and any other functional items you use on a day-to-day basis - be sure to be extra vigilant with these.

I'll certainly be following these three simple steps next time I'm in a position whereby I'm moving house as only a fool doesn't learn from their mistakes. However, should you soon be relocating, I implore you to take heed from my errors as well and put a bit of thought into it, it's not as easy it as may seem!