Moving Tips That Will Make Your Life Easier
For most people, moving is never really a stress free experience. There are a lot of factors that will determine whether or not your moving experience will be easy or difficult. Thankfully, there are many things that you can do to ensure that you make the process as smooth as possible. Here are a few moving tips that will make your life easier:
Start Packing as Soon as You Can
This is the most basic and essential advice anyone can give someone that is moving. It does take a lot of work depending on how many things you have, and that can make it easy for some people to procrastinate until the very last minute. It is important to avoid this because if you wait until the last minute to get started with moving, you will make the experience more stressful. You will also avoid feeling rushed and disorganized.
Prioritize Your Belongings
Once you go through your things, you may find that you have an oversupply of miscellaneous junk. Consider sorting through your belongings and deciding on what you need and what you don’t need to bring with you to your next residence. You can get rid of things for free by donating them to organizations around your city like schools or thrift stores. Or, if it is early enough before you move, you can flip your used items and sell them online or in your local area. This extra money can cover your moving expenses.
Because most moving companies charge by weight, it is important to downsize and make sure that you’re only taking what you actually need. You’d be surprised at how fast small insignificant items can be replaced. You just have to let go.
Label Every Box And Container
Nothing is more frustrating than being unorganized while you move. Whether it is before, after or during the move, it will be most helpful to label every box that you use so it will speed up the packing process. When it comes to labeling things as “miscellaneous”, do it very seldom. If you have too many boxes with a neutral label, it will defeat the purpose of labeling them in the first place.
Take Your Time
Yes, it is important to avoid procrastination and move as quickly as you can. However, you also need to take your time in certain areas of your moving process. For example, don’t start packing everything at once. Take your time when grouping things together so that you minimize the amount of boxes that you use. You can also try packing one room at a time instead of going from room to room trying to fit all related items in one box.
Change Your Address Online
One of the most popular ways people change their address is going to the post office or using their updated address when they file their taxes for the following year. However, you might be in a situation where you don’t have time to run to the post office, fill out the form, and wait for them to change your address. Or maybe you live in an area where the nearest post office is too far away. In that case, you always have the better option to do a USPS change of address online.
You can do this on the post office website or on the IRS website easily. The specific instructions will be on each website when you enter ‘change of address’ in the search bar on the site.
Pack Important Documents and Valuables First
It would be a nightmare to lose your birth certificate or social security card or debit card while you’re moving. In that case, find these important documents and put them in a freezer bag or lock them up in a safe.
You should also consider doing this with your valuables, as most moving companies don’t prefer taking valuables with them anyways. Try taking your valuables to the place before you move anything else in there. That way, you already know that they are safe and out of the way of everything else.
Consider Getting Moving Insurance
This is another situation where valuables come into play. If you do decide to go ahead and bring your valuables on the moving truck, you should also consider getting moving insurance to cover the cost of any damage that might happen. This is the reason why movers don’t really prefer moving valuable items. Driving through streets with potholes or wrecked roads can be inevitable at times. Sometimes, driving over things like that is all it takes to put a crack in something. If you decide to go with it, take extra time to pack that up with extra padding so that it is protected.
Research Your Moving Company
When choosing a moving company, you want to make sure that you’re dealing with people that will take the extra step to care for your things. If the movers are reckless or unprofessional, your belongings will pay the price for it. Make sure that the company is reputable, professional, and good with their customers. Try going online to see reviews or ask them questions to determine whether or not they are right for you.
Prepare the Home for the Move In
It is best to get simple things out of the way before you have so many things taking up space in your new home. You might find that you need to do a little bit of cleaning before you move things in or maybe you want to measure the space to see what will fit and what won’t. Or maybe you want to paint the walls and do some decorating or remodeling before you move things in. Either way, it is best to try to do these things before you bring things in to prevent creating a more stressful experience. This is also another reason why it is better to do everything as early as possible so that you have time for things like remodeling and decorating.
Plan Your Move Ahead of Time
Even if you’ve already started moving things and packing things early, you should probably prepare even before doing that. Aside from planning for the actual transporting of things, plan on how you want your things to be arranged and where you want them to go. This is the first step to mastering your big move.
Author: Brenda Vollman
Thanks for the wonderful article and for explaining in detail about moving. I have learned lots form you. Next time I will definitely use this technique next time and i also share it with People. I have one quetion for you