Moving Tips and Tricks for Easier and Faster Relocation

Moving Tips and Tricks for Easier and Faster Relocation

From packing your stuffs to purging your household items, relocating an entire household is not a walk in the park. Whether you're packing up your items for the first time in a long time or you relocate often, it is a notoriously demanding process that can overwhelm even the best of planners. Luckily, there are some ways to reduce the workload, pack and unpack faster, and ultimately simplify the process to make it smoother than it might.  Sounds great, right? Try these moving tricks and tips to improve your move and make the process easier on your nerves.

Getting Ready to Move:

There are a few things you need to consider or put in place when preparing for a move; these include:

1.   Have a budget and checklist

Relocating can be demanding and expensive. You do not want to end up with surprises or sticker shock; neither do you want to forget an important aspect. That is why you should create a budget and checklist of all the items you're moving.

Sit back and consider how much you're willing to spend and how much it will take you to move, then draft a timeline and checklist of all the things you need to move. It would be best to base your movement on how sooner you want to move and how realistic your budget is. You can try an online calculator to figure out the amount of money you can expect to spend.

2.   Hire professional movers or seek help from friends and family

If you want to relocate but not sure where to start, you should consider hiring a fast mover. Please understand that packing and moving things can be very stressful, so it's ok to hire professional movers or get help from willing friends and family members.  

Professional movers get a lot of work done and help reduce stress, especially when you hire the right company. However, it would be best to ask for quotes from at least 3 different professionals movers to select a company with the price that works best for you.

3.   Inform all the necessary people of your move

It's easy to forget this aspect (or people you should inform about your move) once you get busy with the move. However, adding this to your checklist helps you achieve it without leaving anyone out.

Through phone calls, personal visits, emails, or other means, make sure you inform the right people (family, office staff and boss, any other important person) that you are moving to avoid stories that touch. You should also call your utility companies to cancel the utilities at the home you're vacating and ask them to set them up at your new place once you know you're moving.

4.   Eat up

Moving the food items in your freezer, pantry, or fridge can be very stressful. On the other hand, throwing them away and not moving them is wasteful. Avoid stocking more food items and consume as many food items as you already have at home before the moving day finally arrives. Try to be creative with recipes to use up as many food items as you can. It would be best to consider doing good by donating unexpired and unopened food items to your local food bank.

Packing Things to Move:

After you have drafted your budget, informed all the necessary quoters, and prepared to move, the next thing to do is pack your items to your new location. Here are a few tips to help you do this efficiently:

1.   Sell, trash, or donate the items you no longer need

Lighten your load and stress by selling what should be sold, trashing things that need to be disposed of, and donating what you need to donate. Don't pack and move things you no longer need; get rid of them before you start packing to make your packing process a lot easier.

If you have items that you don't want to move to your new place, it would be best to donate or give them out. If you're donating large items like rugs, furniture, make pick-up arrangements ahead of time to ensure you deliver them to the people or an organization that will receive them. You can allow local charities to request your items by listing the things you're donating on sites like Zealous Good. You can even schedule a pick-up with the Salvation Army, Goodwill, or any other organization that will accept your donations.

2.   Make use of good moving packages and boxes

Get new quality boxes to pack the things you will be moving as you don't want your loads falling/spilling because you failed to buy quality boxes. Quality packages and containers are not too expensive and are worth the cost, considering how durable they are.

3.   Don't unload your dresser drawers

Instead of unloading your clothes and other items in your dresser drawer to pack them into boxes, just take out the drawers from the dresser with your items in it and wrap them up with a plastic wrap to secure the items in it. You can equally leave the drawers as is and wrap the dresser up with a plastic wrap if it is not too heavy.

4.   Don't unhang your clothes

Unhanging your clothes, folding them, boxing them, and hanging them back at your new home is a ton of extra work. Avoid unnecessary work by leaving your clothes on the hangers and hang them in a wardrobe box or group them up and wrap them in large garbage bags.

5.   Pack a bag containing instant essentials

There is a huge probability that you will be too tired to start unparking things when you've moved. You might want to pack all your essentials in an easily accessible bag. These essentials may include your toiletries, quick change of clothes, laptop, medications, important documents, chargers, and any other thing you may need at the snap of your finger. The purpose of having this instant essential moving bag is to know exactly where to find your essential items instead of hunting around when you need them.

6.   Make use of colored packing labels

Being organized is critical when packing; make sure you use colored labels on packs and boxes to identify where you kept a particular item.

7.   Don't under-pack/overpack a box - use the right size box

Ensure you don't leave empty spaces in a box and ensure that you don't cram all your thing into a box in your bid of not leaving space. Find/buy the right size boxes for the things you will be moving and use them. 

8.   Consider packing household items separately from other items

It would be best not to pack things like bottles, medication, tools, paints, equipment, chemicals, and other items with household items to avoid spillage and contamination. Make sure to pack them separately.

9.   Pack your plates and other breakables vertically

Make sure to pack your plates vertically and ensure you pad all your breakables. If you are going to place them in boxes, pad them up with paper and pads. It better to pack your breakables with some cushions. Note that ceramics, crystals, and any other break wares need to be packed carefully with lots of padding.

10.                 Use saran or plastic wraps to avoid spillage

Take your time to handle anything that tends to spill. Using saran or plastic wraps will keep your toiletries and other liquids from spilling all over your belongings when you move.

Ensure that you kept all toiletries and liquids separately from dry items. Also, make sure you use plastic wrap as an extra seal between the lid and the bottle.

11.                 Hold small items with pots

Use your large pots or other sealable containers to hold small kitchen items like gadgets and spices instead of wasting extra boxes. This will help you to save a lot of space.

12.                 Take the pictures of the contents of the box

After packing your items in boxes, take pictures of the inside of these boxes. This will help in case you need to find any item you forgot where you placed it.

13.                 Snap the back of your TV and audio equipment

Remembering where all the wires for your Tv and audio garget connections go can be difficult. Snap the back of the gargets while they are still plugged in so you can remember how to set them back up at your new place.

Tips for Moving Day:

The following tips will make moving your items easier on the moving day.

1.   Have a moving plan

Moving day can be very stressful, especially if you don't have a plan or direction of how that day is supposed to go and what to move first. A moving plan helps you guide the movers on a moving day, thereby saving time and energy on that day.

2.   Don't rush; take your time

The joy and happiness of moving to a new place might be taking their toll on you, thereby causing you to rush the things you need to move. You might lose, break, or forget something in that process, and you will get worked up. Take all the time you need to move all your stuff, as the more time you take, the better your chances of moving with all your stuff.

3.   Eat enough food and stay hydrated

It's easy to get hungry and dehydrated with the chaos of the moving day. So, fill a cooler with snacks, drinks, and items that are easy-to-grab to keep your strength up all through the day. Instead of moving the cooler in a moving truck, carry it with you in the car so you can easily access it when you need to.

4.   Plan for kids and pets

If you have pets or kids that are too young to assist you on the moving day, having them out with your family or friends is your best bet to keep them safe and relieve a bit of stress.

5.   Say your final goodbye to your visiting neighbor

After all, is set for your move, ensure you say your goodbyes and extend your farewell messages to your neighbor and friends as you don't want to leave that undone.  

Final Words

We hope the tips above help simplify your relocation and steer it in the right direction. If there's any reliable and practical moving tips or tricks we missed, kindly notify us in the comment section below.