Moving hacks to make your life lots easier.
Moving a household can seem overwhelming. Years of stuff to 1. pack up plus the logistics – hiring movers and the costs associated with that. But I’ve got some good moving hacks and tips from clients and friends so help is on the way.
An organizing expert friend of mine who moved here recently said this. There’s three essential things to do when you move. One. Pack a suitcase or two of first night items, Two. pack a parts box, and Three label everything. First-night items are things you’ll need for that first night in your new home. The last thing you want to do after a long day of transporting yourself and your stuff is to dig through boxes for towels or a set of sheets.. So toothbrushes, soap, towels, sheets, pajamas, medicines and anything your kids are used to having at bedtime should go into those suitcases. Also food for pets. And maybe the most important at least for me. A coffee pot.
And then put all that in your car instead of the moving truck. Also keep birth certificates, passports, insurance policies with you and not in a box for the moving truck. The parts box is for tools, drills, scissors, screws, screwdrivers, whatever you need to assemble beds, and any furniture that had to be disassembled so it could be moved. If there are specific parts that go with a piece of furniture – put it in a baggy and label it. Good idea to throw in some paper towels and a bottle of Windex so you can wipe down shelving or countertops. The parts box should be the last thing to go on the moving truck and the first thing off. Put it on the kitchen counter so it’s there and you don’t have to dig through boxes looking for scissors or a Phillips screwdriver. And then the third thing: Label everything in detail so that’s it’s easy to read and there’s no guessing about what is in each box and what room it will go in. It’s easier to do this if you pack one room at a time. Each room should have a box with a red star. Red star boxes have important documents or items that you’ll want to unpack first. If you have a home office, this is especially helpful to save time accessing active files and things you need to get up and running.
Here’s some other tips. If you are hiring movers, schedule early – about 8 weeks. Good movers get booked up. And vet them. A colleague of mine who moved cross country learned this the hard way. She interviewed several movers and one was about half of what the others cost. She read the reviews on their website which were all great so she didn’t do any further research because saving all that money was just too appealing. Moving day came, they picked up her stuff and so she and her family drove to their new home expecting the movers to be there about the same time. They didn’t show up so the next day she called and was told they are waiting for another load to transport with her stuff and predicted it would be about 14 days. So they made a trip to Walmart to buy paper plates, sleeping bags, clothes – not to mention being without tv and that week was the premiere of Yellowstone.
She was looking forward to settling back and watching that in her new home. That moving company’s stipulation that they would deliver after they had another load was in the fine print which – like a lot of us – she didn’t read.
Here’s a few other good ideas. Take pictures of electronic connections and what’s plugged into what – that’ll make it easier to set up in your new home.
If you don’t have time to gather enough free moving boxes, there’s a website cardboardboxes.com. They deliver in 2 or 3 days. The boxes are used but in good shape.
Another thing, make sure the utilities are in your name and on. Good idea to deal with that a week or so before moving.
And finally, it’s a good idea make an emergency plan. What if things go wrong arrangements. So if in the case something falls through the cracks, you aren’t blindsided. One worst case scenario is that the movers don’t show up. If they don’t, first step is to contact the moving company and find out when they will be there – could be they are running late. If you can’t reach moving company or they want more money to show up, then it’s likely a moving scam. So contact police. And have a couple of back up mover phone numbers in your pocket – ones that will take last minute moves. I googled last minute movers and several companies came up. There’s less of a chance of this happening if you do your research to ensure you’re dealing with a reputable company. Be sure to have enough moving insurance so you’re covered for any losses. Make a list and take pics of all your stuff. This will help the moving company should some of your items go missing. They can retrace their steps, check with other customers to see if your items can be located. It will also help you determine if you need additional moving insurance to what is offered through your movers or home insurance.
Another possible snag is that settlement on your new home is delayed for some reason – which happens sometimes. When you are in the planning stage and choosing movers, take that possible delay into consideration.and have a back up plan for short term storage with something like Pods – just in case you’re stuck for a few days without a place to unload furniture. You may need to stay in a hotel during that time. If you map out a plan of action, it will be easier to deal with if it happens.
Or do what another client of ours did. They were retiring – moving south. They got rid of most furniture – gave some to their kids, the rest by an auction and garage sale. They kept only only a few things they wanted and used the money they saved on movers to buy new stuff. That sounds like a good idea to me.
Here’s a link to download a checklist: meetmeinthepanhandle.com/moving.
