The fact is that every time you move it’ll cost you a pretty penny. Even if you are just moving around the block you’ll need to get in a reliale home removal company, unless you have you own big van and a lot of musbcle.

A friend of mine in South Africa recently moved from a farm to Johannesburg, Gauteng.  She had accumulated quite a few beautiful and rather valuable antiques in her 20 years in the large farmhouse. Unfortunately, when the removal van unpacked her furniture in the city, several of her antique pieces were chipped and damaged. My friend is a fiery Irish redhead and she made her displeasure known to the removal company, but that did not undo the damage to her antiques.

The obvious way to avoid such a mishap is to choose you removal company wisely. What happens to the furniture along the way is out of your hands. You can, however, pack carefully beforehand, to do that little extra to safeguard your valuables. Packing is also the most unpleasant and time consuming part of moving house. With the help of BBC homes, I’ve compiled a few tips on how to do it best and avoid potential hiccups.

Making a list is step one. No-one did anything right the first time without careful planning and consideration beforehand. What you need to include on your list is ‘what stays’ and ‘what goes’. The second step is to focus on the ‘what goes’ part of your list. You are going to be wasting valuable time on unpacking books and furniture that you don’t intend to use in the new house.

When it comes to throwing stuff out, you need to learn to be ruthless. It doesn’t matter if granny gave you that lamp in 1965 for your graduation. If you hate it, you hate it, so get rid of it. You can always keep the card that she attached to it and you have the photos to look at on those sentimental evenings. If you haven’t worn that shirt in the last 6 months, it’s unlikely you’ll wear it again, so let a charity organisation benefit from it instead of letting it moulder away in your wardrobe.

Before packing everything in boxes, you obviously need to get the boxes. Some home removal companies supply boxes, but if they don’t, buy sturdy, thick boxes, lots of strong packing tape and thick bubble wrap. Many supermarkets will give you boxes if you ask them. Newspapers are not enough to protect fragile items, although they help. Categorise your belongings before boxing them up. You don’t want to put tins of paint in with your towels, although you can use a few items of clothing between your dishes if you run out of bubble wrap. Try not to make boxes too heavy, rather leave some space at the top and use more boxes.

Don’t be shy to wrap up your furniture in old blankets and cushion furniture legs in whatever imaginative ways you can think of. It may look like you’re dressing up your furniture for winter, but if it stops damage then it’s worth it. An essential detail is to make sure you clearly mark what each box contains; otherwise you’ll find yourself rummaging through several boxes on your first night to locate the casserole dish, because no doubt you will all be starving after a day on the move.