I understand the entertainment and educational value of some television programmes centred on house buying and improvement. However, with a few exceptions I usually steer clear of them. Whilst I was having lunch a couple of days ago, I browsed through my TV channels and fell over a programme on ITV helping people to move house, or rather more correctly, advising people how to move house. I admit I didn’t watch it. I found the premise of the programme so laughable that I watched something else instead.

Now, I’ve only moved house a few times, but with one exception they’ve been a couple of hundred miles apart. My first big move was from England to the Netherlands. I had a three week period in which to arrange everything for the move. I had no chance to do any formal preparation as it was a very quick move for work purposes. One of those weeks was spent in Maastricht, working and spending some spare time looking for a place to rent, getting a bank account etc. The other two weeks were spent back in England arranging the move.

My second big move was from England to where I am now, Inverness, Scotland. This time I had three months to prepare. I spent a couple of days in Inverness looking for a place to rent, which was a little hairy. However, I eventually moved out on a Friday, flew to Inverness on the Saturday, moved into my house on Sunday and started work on the Monday. A fairly dramatic move to make in three days. Oh, and during that time I arranged for my house in England to be redecorated and rented out.

So for all those people who feel the need to watch television programmes advising people how to move house here are some tips:

• Work out what you need to do before you move out, while you are moving, before you move in, when you move in, and what you need to do after you move it. Look at it from two viewpoints: the place you’re leaving and the place you’re moving to. Think about everything in your life.
• Make a list of all these tasks.
• Schedule the dependencies between these tasks.
• Identify when to perform each of those tasks, and determine any other tasks that arise whilst you’re considering them.
• Carry out the tasks in accordance with the tasks and the dependencies.
• Review the tasks a couple of times a day.

Both of my moves were managed on one sheet of paper. It’s not rocket science. You just need to plan and think about it a bit. You certainly don’t need a television programme to tell you this.