You hear stories of removal men packing the rubbish bin too! That hasn't happened to me, luckily. I've always used removal firms - too much stuff to move ourselves. Also they are experienced in trying to get large sofas out of tight doorways and round narrow corners. Moving house is stressful and exhausting enough without having to kill yourself shifting furniture.

I think one of the things that would put me off paying a removals firm to pack for me is that they wouldn't label the boxes right - "kitchen cupboard #2" or "very important stuff to unpack immediately"

It doesn't matter if the boxes aren't labelled as you might wish - the main thing is that all your stuff gets there.

We moved from a house that had a conservatory to one that didn't - so we nicknamed a spare bedroom "conservatory" and in it all went - snooker table, plants.....

As well as that, remember that these folks have lots of common sense. They'll know where your kettle is, and the mugs, and they'll have essential bedding to hand where you can find it. They're the professionals!