Moving house gives you the perfect opportunity to overhaul the way you consume energy. It’s a fresh start, allowing you to rethink the whole thing, resulting in lower bills and less waste. Given how pricey moving can be, cutting down expenses is not a bad thing, and saving energy is one way you can easily achieve this. So how do you go about the hands-on way of applying this?

In this blog, we’ll go through some of the key steps you need to take when making your new home greener. You’ll know the main areas of improvement and how they affect carbon output and other environmental considerations. Additionally, you’ll be booking Surrey’s greener removal provider if you choose WH Cox & Son as your moving company.

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One of the drawbacks of renting is the possibility of having to live with someone else’s vision and taste, especially if they clash with your own too much. You may find your landlord’s style is dowdy or excessively chintzy, too minimalist or too fussy. Ideally, a landlord will have chosen from a neutral-ish palette of colours, giving you room to overlay your own taste upon it, but we’re not always so fortunate and you may instead be greeted by strident and/or garish colours. Whether or not you’ve been unlucky, there are still plenty of things you can do to make a rental property feel like your own home. And seeing as more and more of us are renting, it’s worth having a few ideas and some helpful pointers to get you going. In fact, you can end up in a best-of-both-worlds set-up where you’re not liable when something breaks or goes wrong, but are still able to create a personal, cosy environment that feels all your own. Here’s how:

1. Check with your landlord. What are you allowed to change, exactly? Can you paint? Can you alter the garden? Of course, it may be that you don’t want to invest your own time and money into a place that you don’t own, but if you’re likely to be living there for years and might even enjoy the process of making changes, then find out what degree of freedom you have to do so.

2. Furnished, part-furnished, or unfurnished? This decision will greatly impact the extent to which you can create your own environment with your own taste. Sometimes part-furnished is the best compromise, giving you room for change but not requiring you to do it all.

3. Soft furnishings. These give you lots of leeway for making changes. You may be stuck with the walls and carpet, but you can bring in your own style with your choice of curtains, cushions, pillows and more. Soft furnishings can go a long way in terms of changing the feel and atmosphere of a place.

4. Impermanent wallpaper. You don’t have to fix wallpaper to the walls in the conventional, time-consuming and permanent fashion. Wallpaper can be hung against walls (there are plenty of different ways to do this, with a plethora of online guides and instructions) or pasted on to large wooden boards which are then placed against the walls.
5. Art. Here you have carte-blanche (although your contract may require you to fill in and paint over holes when you vacate the property). Your originals, prints and posters can transform every room in the house or flat and

So…you’ve managed to ready your plants so that they’re all set for moving, having read our earlier blog on the subject. But the question remains: how do you manage them on moving day itself? And what about afterwards, when you need to help them adapt to their new surroundings. It isn’t only humans who need to be flexible and get used to a new home; plants need sympathetic support and a kind pair of hands to help them get through the adjustment phase. Here are some guidelines to help keep your houseplants in rude health, not just on the day of the move but well beyond, so that they can enjoy long, happy and productive lives, their wellbeing undiminished by the stresses of moving house.

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If there’s one thing that’s always part and parcel of moving house, it’s the cardboard box. It’s simply inconceivable that anyone could consider relocating without, at some point, stocking up on them. They’re a trusty staple of the removals world, without which the whole process would be far harder. Remember those student-era moves, when you’d try to do it all with bin-liners, only to discover that hardback books have a tendency to tear through them, leaving your precious possessions falling out in the road? Shudder. So here’s to the cardboard box, an invention that almost rivals the wheel for its combination of genius and simplicity. Of course, when we think of the cardboard box, we tend to picture the standard, square-shaped variety, but there are many more styles out there, most of which could come in handy during your move. Here’s a little run-down of our favourites.

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What could be more exciting than making your first ever move? We don’t mean moving into short-term student digs, which is another matter – we’re talking about the nest-flying moment when you move out of your parental home and into the world. It’s a rite of passage that ushers you into adulthood once and for all, with – all being well – no turning back. It’s daunting, of course, but that’s more than mitigated by the sheer optimism that characterises this moment when it comes, in whatever guise, beckoning you into the realm of the fully grown-up. Still, it pays not to rush headlong into it with nary a thought or plan. In fact, it’s vital to give it proper forethought. Of course, there’s never going to be the perfect time of readiness – we have to take the plunge with a bit of blind faith because we can’t know the future. But we can still make sure we’re as primed as we can be, so that, fingers crossed, it all goes well. Here are some considerations to ponder when your first move approaches, whether you’re 16 or 36.
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Summer isn’t just good for the long, balmy days spent lounging by the pool, strolling in the park or sitting outside at pavement cafés (with some allowances made, of course, for the increasingly unreliable British climate) – it’s also a good time to move, and there’s a number of advantages to uprooting yourself between June and September rather than, say, over Christmas or the dead of winter. True, all seasons bring with them their benefits and drawbacks and a case could be made for moving at any time of the year. But summer, arguably, makes the best bet. It’s not just the time of year for barbecues and open-air concerts – it’s the time of the year to make that move you’ve been thinking of, possibly for some time. Here are just some of the reasons why:

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At first glance, it might seem like an uninspiring subject. After all, who gets excited about tape and the multiple varieties thereof? But in fact, it pays to know your tape; to know which kind you need for which job. So let us introduce you to the world of tape – some kinds you’ll already be acquainted with, and some may be new to you.
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