Moving day requires a great deal of planning, but with the right preparation you can reduce the amount of stress you encounter during the move. Here are three tips to help make your next household move easier and less stressful.
Prepare a Moving Kit
Before your moving day arrives, make a list of items you will need to have available during your moving day. Then, pack up these items into a "moving kit" box that will be ready for you on moving day. This includes personal care items, clothes you will wear, and food you can prepare and eat without using a stove or microwave. This moving kit can also include paper plates, paper towels, and plastic utensils you can throw out after eating.
You may also consider keeping a blanket and pillow for sleeping the night before the move, then use again when you arrive at your new place. Moving day can be long and tiring, and you may not want to have to search for bedding items to make a bed before you can retire for the night.
Keep any important items you will need to have with you or want to keep safe during your move. During a move, packing important documents or expensive jewelry into boxes is risking that the items may be lost or misplaced.
Plan a Packing Strategy
Plan to begin your packing with consideration of how much stuff you have, giving yourself plenty of time to get everything well packed into boxes. Experts recommend that you begin packing up to six weeks before you move. You can begin by packing one box each night after work as a good strategy to get you going on the project. This also gives you time to sort through items and discard them so you don't pack things you no longer need.
As the official moving day approaches, plan to pack your household items according to the amount of usage they get. For example, pack items you rarely use first, such as holiday decorations, wall decor, book collections, food storage, outdoor equipment, items in a storage space, and off-season clothing. Anything you won't be using between now and when you move should be packed and boxed up very first. Then, work on other items that you may use occasionally, such as DVDs, extra bedding and towels, games, and dishes you don't use on a daily or weekly basis.
Toward the end of the packing time frame before your move, pack up clothing, shoes, pantry items, and dishes that are not in your moving kit items set aside for the moving days. You may want to make a calendar or schedule for the days or weeks before you move to indicate what items you plan to pack up each day or each week. Then, as you pack them up, you can mark them off the calendar. This also helps show you your progress in a task that can seem overwhelming.
Arrange Moving Transportation
It is a good idea to arrange transportation for all your household items well before the moving day so you are sure to be able to complete the task on the day you plan for your move. It can be helpful to reserve a moving service months in advance.
When you are hiring professional movers or a relocation service, get the reservation confirmation in writing and also call them a few days to a week before the move to get a final confirmation. Make sure the moving company does a moving pre-inspection to estimate the amount of household items and furniture you have for moving so they can handle the moving and transportation on moving day.
If you have reserved a do-it-yourself moving truck for your moving day, it may not necessarily be guaranteed that the truck you requested will be available for you to pick up that day. Calling the company a few days before to make sure everything is in order is a good idea, especially since their rental trucks are constantly coming and going as customers rent and return them.
Use these three tips to make your next move go more smoothly.
Share22 March 2017
After I found out that my employer wanted us to relocate internationally, I was nervous about what it would mean for my family. I wanted things to move smoothly, but I wasn't sure how much of a hassle it would be to pick up and move an entire family. However, I started focusing on making sure things were in order, and before I knew it we were on the open road. It was incredible to see how much of a difference we were able to make, and within no time, things started to move along. This blog is all about moving without the problems, and staying organized with the help of storage.