Whether you live alone or with your family, moving to a new place can be challenging. Plus, you get to feel excited and anxious at the same time.
After all, it can be stressful to move your belongings from one house to another. But as with anything in life, relocating can be manageable when you plan.
That said, here are 12 tips that will make moving from one to another a seamless process:
Do the Planning Properly
When you're moving to a new city, it would be a mistake not to plan out the move itself and the processes that lead up to your move. With a proper plan, you will have sufficient time to pack your things, identify which items to leave behind or bring with you, hire a mover, and so many more.
Although no one requires you to make a plan for your move, you'll find that it's harder to stay on track without it. This includes packing your items.
You can get distracted while trying to pack, or you might be too busy in other areas of life to be able to settle down and start packing your items.
When you create a schedule along with your plan of action, things will run a lot smoother. You won't have to worry and panic when the move date starts getting closer and closer because you already did everything you needed to accomplish.
Prepare a Moving Checklist
A crucial part of your plan for when you move should be a moving checklist. This checklist should indicate all of the general things you need to do to say that you are fully prepared to move to your new place.
When creating your moving checklist, please don't do a quick scribble and then run with it. Take time to sit down and think through all of the tasks you need to accomplish to move out of your home in peace. You can add more later on, but it's better to get the important ones out of the way.
Consult the checklist to figure out which tasks you haven't done and which ones you did so that you can check whether you're right on schedule.
Create a Budget
After you create the checklist, you have to make a budget, specifically when moving. Depending on how far away your new place is, the fund will be more expensive or cheaper.
You should contact your chosen removalist or mover before you plan on moving so you can get an understanding of their rates.
Aside from the movers themselves, you also need to consider the money that comes with paying for the packaging materials. These things can rack up from the boxes to the tapes, labels, and the bubble wrap if you have many items.
Get Organized Early
As much as possible, you want to finish organizing your things earlier than you planned. That's because there will be inevitable delays that you'll encounter or days when you're not in the mood to organize anything.
That's why you have to account for those days and manage as much of the items as possible.
When you organize early, you won't have to inconvenience your movers or reschedule the day of your move. Plus, you'll be able to double-check your items and ensure that you're not missing out on anything or that you've forgotten something in your tasks.
You might also be able to do extra tasks in your checklist that are optional but will better the move for you if you finish organizing early.
Get Rid of Unwanted Things
Speaking of extra time, if you want to reduce the amount of time it takes you to pack your things, you might want to eliminate unwanted items.
When you get rid of these items, you also reduce the number of things you have to pack. That's why you have to organize your items early to know which items to keep or throw away.
You can do a lot of things with the unwanted items aside from throwing them away. You can donate them to a charity, sell them off, or give them away to friends and families.
Use Proper Packing Technique
When you're packing the items that you plan on keeping with you to your new home, make sure that you do proper packing techniques on them.
Even if you hire removalists or movers, you need to be able to pack them tightly. Otherwise, the items will get damaged, or they might fall off and will delay the move. That's why you don't want to skimp on the packaging budget.
Also, make sure that you take the time to understand what the correct packing technique is. For example, you should put heavier items in smaller boxes, so you don't end up having to lift a big box of heavy objects.
Hire a Removalist
A removalist can be a massive help when it comes to the big day. You won't have to end up with a sprained back after having to lift all those items and make the trip to your new home with the help of removalists.
For professionals like a removalist, you should look for professionals depending on your location or where you're moving.
So, if you're moving to Sydney, you can type in "removalist quotes Sydney" on Google. That way, it'll be easier for you to look for an affordable removalist that serves the Sydney area.
Of course, it's going to be more challenging if the place you're moving to is farther away. However, it's going to be doubly more demanding for you to move your items by yourself if the home is that far from your original crib.
Plus, when your removalists are nearer, that means that you won't have to spend more money to get all of your household items to the new place. Therefore, make sure that you account for those distance costs when creating a budget for movers.
Make an Inventory
Whether you're hiring a mover or not, but even more so when you are, make sure that you take inventory of all the items you're bringing with you. It's extra work, but it's going to help you get a hold of all of the things that you have.
In case boxes are missing or items are, your inventory checklist will help you know which ones are there and which ones aren't.
Aside from the unique contents of the boxes, remember to label your boxes as well. Assigning them a number should be enough to help you identify them. You can then list down the items in each box.
Label All Sides of the Box
When you're labeling the box, make sure that you cover all of the sides with the label, especially when it has many fragile items in it.
Your movers will be looking out for those labels, so you need to do your due diligence and add the labels on all sides. The only place you might not want to label would be the top of the box. That way, there's a key differentiator.
You can use whatever to label your boxes. There are fragile stickers that you could buy and stick onto your containers. However, you can also use a marker to label them for your inventory management.
Consider a Storage Space
If you're moving to a smaller space, you might want to consider renting a storage space where you can store your unwanted items.
Of course, you have to do this before your move, preferably sometime earlier. After all, you're going to be moving these items into a different place.
As you're moving, this is the time when it's best to consider renting a storage space. That's because you already packed your items, and you have a truck or movers available to you.
Again, preferably, you need to have a storage space that is nearest to your house for your convenience.
Load Heavier Items First
If you're moving your items yourself, make sure you load heavier items into your moving truck first. When you hire movers, they should know to do that themselves or have their organization process.
Aside from the heavier items, you should also load larger items into the truck first. And then you can let the smaller items occupy the crevices and whatever is left in the truck.
For the very last items that you should pack, these will be the more fragile items. Make sure that they have a stable foundation where you put them.
Let Friends and Family Know
When you're moving to a new city, make sure that you notify friends and family first before anything else. That way, if they want to reach you or visit, they know that you're in a different place now.
Please don't post it on social media to notify people around you. That's because there might be people with ill intentions who could take advantage of that information.
Aside from friends and family, let your utilities provider and workplace know as well. That will make your other aspects of life go a lot smoother after your new move.
The tips listed above cover the essential tasks you need to do to ensure that your move will be smooth and as free of hiccups as possible. Remember to plan early and to plan at all. Good luck!
Author Bio: Andrew is an NY-based writer who covers DIY home projects, cleaning, and organization. When not writing, he spends his time with his two rescue dogs, Jet and Rocket.
