You’re looking to move. Maybe you’re someone who has only lived at home with your parents, and it’s time to make your way out into the world alone. Or, maybe you have been living somewhere for a relatively long, and it’s time for a much-needed change in scenery. You could be moving in with a significant other, or you could be moving to a different neighborhood, state, or country.
There are many reasons why someone would elect to make a move, whether they want to upgrade or downsize.
The thing is, however, there are very few people who are adequately prepared to make a move. And once they become involved in the moving process, small problems arise, and it could cause complications or even arguments that make your move even more stressful and arduous. When you think about it, you probably haven’t taken the initiative to do your homework or prepare. But, that’s alright. There are plenty of tips that you can take into account that will really assist your move.
Here are 6 tips designed to make your residential move a seamless one.
An Overnight Bag
This may seem a little funny. You’re moving into a home, why would you need to pack an overnight bag as if you were sleeping over at a friend’s house or spending the night in a hotel? Well, moving is hard and it’s very possible your first night in your new home will be the result of a long day of running around and moving heavy objects. You are not going to want to navigate your way through many boxes and make a mess trying to find your toothbrush or pajamas. So, packing an overnight bag is the perfect little tip that will help you sleep for the night without having tired yourself out by searching through your containers for the essentials.
Tips for Packing
Not only is it suggested that you pack the items you wish to unpack first in clear containers so you can see exactly what is there, but it is also a good idea that when you are wrapping fragile items to use clothing to wrap your glass in. This saves on items like newspaper and bubble wrap and is still as efficient as if you were using these items. You can pack glass cups and such in socks as well, these are just some tips to preventing anything from breaking during the middle of transport.
Even if you are doing the moving yourself instead of calling service, you run the risk of dropping your boxes and breaking things that could have also been valuable and family heirlooms. Another tip is that if you are packing plates, you want to pack them on facing upwards instead of stacking them on top of each other because this actually prevents the chance of the plates breaking during the move.
Clean Beforehand
If you can do so, see if you can go to where you are moving before you bring in the boxes and furniture and clean. OF course, make sure that the previous owner or landlord hasn’t made arrangements to have the house cleaned already. The last thing you want to do while you’re in the middle of all the commotion that goes into moving is a dirty kitchen or dust everywhere. You should sweep where you can or just be sure to clean the windows. This way, you don’t have extra work to do!
Invest in Saran Wrap
This is strange, I know, but it is worth investing in. You may want to wrap a few boxes in saran wrap to make putting things on a dolly easier and to prevent anything from getting scuffled during the move. On this subject, you’ll want to keep things like small Ziplock bags handy because say you have small items that you don’t want to lose, these are good for packing those small items up, such as little nuts and bolts.
If you don’t take advantage of little bags, you may end up losing a few screws both figuratively and literally during the confusion.
Take a Picture of Cords
Again, an odd little tip but if you had things set up one way during the move and depending on whether or not you’ve lived there for a long time, it may be difficult to remember how things go when you move. Suddenly, you have a big box of wires and electronics and you won’t know what you did with these items and suddenly, you’re becoming frustrated. You should take a picture of the setup of everything so that you can remember where everything goes – this way you are not trying to scratch your head to remember what goes where.
Get Some Friends to Help
This is really an important thing to remember when you are planning to move. Friends are really a great asset when it comes to moving. Make sure you ask for the help of some friends who can carry heavy items such as couches and televisions. And if you get them to agree, make sure you also repay your helpful assists with food and drinks.
After all, they are taking time out of their busy days and schedules to help you, when you could have spent way too much money on moving services. Getting refreshments to your friends is the least that you can do.
Moving can be hard work, and there are going to be little things that present themselves as they go along. You will want to make sure to pack everything accordingly. Map out your home and see where you are going to want to put things.
In the weeks and even months to come, you will move things in different places and you may even be putting aside something that you haven’t unpacked simply because things have become too busy or because you packed the item without any real knowledge of where you were going to put it in the new home. You may not have smooth sailing when you move, but you can certainly do all you can to ensure you have the smallest headache possible.
