Even the neatest, most organised person in the world can get caught out by a relocation move. You’ve got your boxes labelled by room, spreadsheets ready, and the whole timeline mapped down to the hour. But none of it makes you bulletproof.
Stuff still falls through the gaps when your head is in ten places at once and you’re running on caffeine and nerves. You end up laser-focused on the big things, while tiny crumbs and niggles quietly stack up in the background. Before you know it, there’s a delay you didn’t see coming. Or a cost that wasn’t in the budget. It happens to nearly everyone, and that’s a fact.
Mistake 1: Don’t Underestimate Just How Much Stuff You Have
Many people walk through their homes and assume they know how much space their belongings will take up. They look at the sofa or dining table they’ve known for years and think they know how much space it will take up in a van or at the new place. But that’s rarely how it actually plays out.
Here’s one that trips people up more than you’d think. The loft. The garden shed. That cupboard under the stairs you haven’t opened in two years. All of it gets completely forgotten until the movers show up and suddenly there’s a whole extra load nobody planned for. Now the van’s full and you’re standing in the driveway with a pile of stuff and no idea what to do with it.
Give yourself a proper walkthrough of the entire property at least a month out. Every room, every cupboard, every weird little storage nook. You’ll be surprised. There’s almost always more than you thought. And if you don’t account for it early, you’re looking at a second trip or scrambling for a bigger vehicle on the day. Neither of those is cheap, and neither is fun.
Mistake 2: DIY Moving
Most people don’t think of moving as all that complicated. Fair enough. But picture this for a second. You’re in a cramped London flat, deep inside the ULEZ zone, surrounded by oddly shaped furniture that barely fits through the rooms it’s already in. And your grand plan? Stuffing it all into a tiny hatchback. That’s a disaster waiting to happen, honestly.
This is exactly why so many Londoners end up calling in professionals like Kiwi Movers. They’ve seen it all. The impossible staircases, the sofas that absolutely will not clear the doorframe, the sheer chaos of navigating city streets with a van full of someone’s entire life. An experienced crew knows how to take apart furniture when it needs taking apart and get it back together on the other side.
There’s also the stuff you just don’t think about until it’s too late. Protective wrapping. The right tools. Straps and blankets and all those boring little details that actually make the difference between everything arriving in one piece or not. Hand all of that over to a proper moving team and suddenly you’re free to deal with the paperwork, the address changes, the utilities. They do the heavy lifting. Literally.
Mistake 3: Overlooking ULEZ Fees When Hiring a Van
London plays by its own rules when it comes to moving. One big thing that catches people off guard is the Ultra Low Emission Zone. It covers all of Greater London now. Every borough. And here’s the problem. A lot of the older vans you can hire just don’t meet the emissions standards.
So you rent a van, load it up, drive across town, and then a charge lands in your inbox that you weren’t expecting. Not great. Before you hire anything, check the vehicle’s registration. Seriously. Look it up on the TfL checker. Because if that van isn’t compliant, you’re paying the daily charge for every single day it’s out on the road within the zone. It adds up fast.
Professional moving companies usually have a fleet of compliant vehicles so they will help you avoid these extra costs. It’s one less thing for you to worry about during a busy week.
Mistake 4: Relying on a Basic Packing List of a Detailed Inventory
A basic list of boxes is often not enough when you’re moving a lot of stuff, or highly valuable items. You’ll need an inventory that tracks every item and its condition before it goes into a box. This is particularly important for insurance purposes. If something gets damaged in transit, you will need proof of its state before it was packed to make a successful claim.
These are the things you should include in your physical inventory:
- Clear, high-quality photos of expensive furniture and electronics
- A list of box numbers and their specific contents
- Notes on any existing scratches or marks on items
- A separate record of items that require special handling
Mistake 5: Leaving Utility Transfers to the Minute
Organised people usually remember to tell their energy supplier they are moving but they often do it too late. Keep in mind that you need to give them accurate meter readings on the day you leave, and the day you arrive in your new home. It’s also worth pointing out that setting up broadband in a property can take weeks. If you work from home you will want to arrange this well in advance.
Do not forget to update your details with the council and your water company as soon as the move is confirmed. Leave it too late and you could end up paying for services at two addresses. Nobody wants that. Stay on top of the admin early, and future you will be grateful.
Signing Off
Moving is a big deal no matter how organised you are. There’s no getting around that. But if you know where people usually come undone, you’re already ahead of most. Watch the small things. They’re the ones that can actually derail a move.
And look, there’s no prize for doing everything on your own. When it starts feeling like too much, just call someone who’s done this a thousand times before. That’s literally their job.
Image Credit: depositphotos.com
