Having moved house a week before Christmas a year ago I thought i'd share my tips with you for, hopefully, a stress free move -

Research the area you are looking to buy in, look at the prices of houses selling in the area (www.nethouseprices.com is a good website to see sale prices rather than estate agent's asking prices).

When you've found a house you like, visit the area during different times of the day and at the weekend to make sure the noise etc are acceptable for you.

Ask the vendor / estate agent about the area, council tax bands, whether there is a water meter at the property and anything else which may be of interest to you in the area.

When it comes to putting the offer in, negotiate where you can - the worst they can say is no.

I would recommend getting a removal firm to move everything from your current house to the new house, get them round as soon as you can to measure up so they know how many boxes / men / vans they will need.

Remember to contact your solicitor and mortgage company as soon as you can and get everything moving. Keep pestering them if you don't hear back from them - that's their job!

Contact the Royal Mail in plenty of time to ensure you get your post redirection sorted in time.

Then, it's a case of contacting everyone else, here's a few to get you started -
TV License
Council Tax
Gas
Electricity
Sky TV
BT
House Insurance
Bank
Water
Car Insurance
Your employer
Friends and family

Then on move day it's a case of letting the removal men pack everything up (ours even packed a mug with a tea bag in - luckily we hadn't made the cuppa yet!). It's best top keep a few essentials with you in your car - toilet roll, tea bags, milk, kettle).

Once you've got the call to say all the money has gone through, then they keys are all yours. As I said I moved a week before Christmas, so as I had guests for Christmas dinner I had to unpack all of the boxes asap but I think this was the best thing as I couldn't put it off, so unpack as soon as you can!