Not every move is a step up
Plenty of moving advice assumes an upgrade: bigger house, better area, exciting new chapter. A fair proportion of moves are not that. They follow a separation, a bereavement, a job loss, an illness, or simply the arithmetic no longer working on a place you love.
Those moves are harder for reasons that have nothing to do with logistics, and they get almost no practical coverage. This is an attempt at some.
Downsizing, and the maths of what fits
The commonest version. The new place is smaller, and the honest question is not what you want to keep but what will physically go in.
Measure before you decide anything. Room dimensions, doorways, stairwell turns, and the wall lengths where large furniture would have to sit. A sofa that fits the room but not the staircase is a common and expensive discovery.
Work out the volume, not the item count. A removals survey does this properly, and it is worth having early rather than late, because it tells you how much has to go before you start making sentimental decisions under time pressure.
Deal with the easy categories first. Duplicates, things that are broken, things you have not used in years. Leave the difficult items until you have built up some momentum.
Do not decide about the hard things on moving day. That is the worst possible moment: tired, rushed, with a crew waiting. Put anything genuinely undecided into storage and come back to it in a month when the pressure has gone. Paying a few weeks of storage to avoid a permanent decision made badly is usually money well spent.
Separating a household
A move that splits one home into two is really two moves, and treating it as one is where things go wrong.
- Agree who takes what before the day, in writing if things are difficult. A crew cannot arbitrate and should not be asked to.
- Consider two separate dates if that reduces the friction. It costs more and is often worth it.
- Use storage as neutral ground when one person has somewhere to go and the other does not yet. Containers can be delivered to two different addresses later.
- Keep an inventory. It prevents a great deal of argument afterwards about what went where.
- Tell the removals company that it is a household split. Any decent firm handles these regularly and will send a crew that knows to be discreet and to take instructions from one named person.
If money or housing is part of the difficulty, Citizens Advice and Shelter both give free advice, and StepChange covers debt.
Clearing a family home after a death
This is the hardest kind of move, and the most common mistake is rushing it.
Check whether you are able to act yet. If the estate is going through probate, there are limits on what should be disposed of before that completes. Your solicitor or the executor will know.
Get valuations before anything is thrown out. Jewellery, furniture, artwork, collections, tools and even paperwork can matter to the estate. What looks like clutter is sometimes not.
Do it in stages if you can. Emptying a parent's house in a weekend is possible and frequently regretted. Storage buys the time to make decisions when you are able to make them rather than when the tenancy or the sale demands it.
Divide the job. Practical items, items for family members, items to sell, items to donate, items to dispose of. Having categories makes it possible to keep going.
Accept help with the physical part. There is no virtue in carrying furniture down stairs while grieving. That is what a crew is for.
For support rather than logistics, Cruse Bereavement Support runs a free national helpline and local services across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
When money is the reason
If a move is being forced by cost, the move itself needs to be cheap. Some of this is genuinely effective and some of the usual advice is false economy.
What actually saves money:
- Move less. Volume drives the price more than anything. Sell what you can, in advance rather than in the last week.
- Move midweek, mid-month. Fridays, month ends and bank holidays are the expensive slots.
- Match the service to the job. A studio flat does not need a full removals crew; our guide to how a man and van booking works sets out where the line falls.
- Be completely ready when the crew arrives. On hourly work, waiting is money.
- Get three quotes, all based on a survey, so you are comparing the same job.
What often is not a saving:
- Packing everything yourself if the result is damage. Self-packed boxes are commonly excluded from transit insurance, so a broken television is your loss entirely.
- The cheapest quote if it means fewer people and a longer day, which on an hourly rate you pay for anyway.
- Hiring a van and doing it alone, once fuel, insurance excess, congestion and ULEZ charges, equipment and two days of your time are counted.
Storage as breathing space
The recurring theme in all of these is time. Almost every difficult move is made worse by having to decide everything at once.
Container storage separates the two problems. The house gets emptied on the date it has to be emptied, and the decisions about what to keep happen afterwards, at a pace you choose. Containers are collected from the property, held at a monitored facility, and delivered back to whichever address you nominate, in one go or in stages.
Practical point: allow a few working days' notice for the return, rather than expecting same-day access. Plan the date you actually need things and work backwards.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do with things I cannot decide about when downsizing? Put them into storage rather than deciding under pressure on moving day. A few weeks of storage costs far less than the regret of disposing of something permanently in a rush.
How do I split a household between two addresses? Agree what goes where before the day, ideally in writing, keep an inventory, and consider two separate move dates. Tell the removals firm it is a household split so the crew takes instruction from one named person.
Can I clear a house before probate is complete? Take advice first. There are limits on disposing of estate property before probate completes, and valuations may be needed. The executor or the estate's solicitor should confirm what can be moved and when.
How can I reduce the cost of a move? Move less, book midweek and mid-month, match the service to the size of the job, be fully packed when the crew arrives, and compare three quotes based on proper surveys.
Is packing myself always cheaper? Not necessarily. Self-packed items are frequently excluded from Goods in Transit insurance, so anything damaged in a box you packed may not be claimable. Check the policy before deciding.
How quickly can I get things back out of storage? Allow a few working days' notice rather than assuming same-day access. Work back from the date you actually need the delivery.
How we can help
RMV Storage & Removals has handled every kind of move across London for over fifteen years, including the difficult ones. We offer house and office removals, man and van work, packing services and materials and container storage delivered to your door, across every area we cover.
If a move is coming, the moving house checklist covers the sequence, and settling into a new home covers what happens afterwards. Otherwise get in touch, tell us the situation, and we will work around it.
Written by Riki Migliori, Director at RMV Storage & Removals. Originally published December 2015. Fully reviewed and updated summer 2026.