Moving house

By Cheryl Markosky, Property journalist

Death, divorce and moving house top the list of stressful life events. Property journalist Cheryl Markosky, who writes for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, tells you how to make your move a painless one.

After nearly 30 years in our west London house, the time had come to move on. Easy-peasy, you might think. Get in the packing cases, wrap the china and ring up the removal men.

Yeah, right. With three decades of accumulated junk and a TV producer husband who decided to tell the removal team how best to do their job, my worry was we'd face all three traumatic incidents. - the move itself, divorce (when I'd had enough of hubby directing us all) - and maybe even cold-blooded murder.

Luckily, the removal team ignored him, we're still happily spliced and the move went swimmingly. Here are some tips on how to survive the shift to a new dwelling.

• Book a good removal firm. You can save money packing your own belongings (the company will provide boxes and wrapping paper). But you might want to pack at least some of your things, only to make you sort and throw out what you really don't need.
• Contact all the utility companies, your bank and credit card firms with your new address. There are one-stop shop companies who will contact the whole kit and caboodle for you for a small fee.
• Don't bring those huge squashy sofas and oversized beds if they don't fit into your new rooms. A measuring tape is a valuable tool when you move - so use it.
• You'd be amazed how long it can take telephone companies to change over your phone and install broadband. Make sure you book well in advance and remind them a few days before the move. We didn't jog the phone engineer's memory and had to wait an age to get everything installed.
• Get each member of the family to pack a bag with enough items to get through the first couple of days in the new place. It is unlikely you will have the energy to dig around those boxes for your favourite cardigan or the kettle, so keep vital items to hand.
• Label boxes clearly with what is inside them and where they should go. A half-hearted 'odds and ends' or 'miscellaneous' won't mean a lot when you are tired or up against it.
• Finally, don't try to do everything all at once. Get a plan and stick to it. Oh, and hold onto a nice bottle of wine and the corkscrew for a welcome toast to your lovely new home.