10 Moving Tips to Remember for Your Next Relocation

Planning and making sure everything is prepared would surely guarantee your move to go smoothly. Relocating to your new residence is a one-of-a-kind opportunity that happens in your life, and you want to make the most of it.

However, we also have to face the fact that there will always be unexpected and unwanted events that may occur during the actual day. But anticipating the possible circumstances would help you prevent bigger incidents from happening.

We’ve listed the ten common suggestions for the activities you can do as part of the planning and preparation phases of your move.

1. Look for prospective moving companies near your current location

When you’ve determined your preferred month or date of moving out, that’s when you realize the difficulty of booking your desired date due to many factors.

A lot of people have already booked on the date you wanted to move, or the date itself falls on a weekend or holiday where most people relocate. We highly recommend that you schedule your move during weekdays when rates are much more affordable and not very busy for the moving company.

Remember, when choosing among your top moving companies, make sure that they are credible and trustworthy professionals. Your relocation will also depend on the company you’ve relied upon, so it’s only appropriate to do background research to verify the legitimacy of the companies as well as the quality of the services they provide.

Have a thorough check on the feedback provided by the former customers of the companies and compare the services and the rates offered to whether they suit your moving needs.

Once you’ve selected the company, contact them for inquiries and ask if they can personally visit your place and note the number of things you’ll be sending to your new home.

2. List all the tasks you need to accomplish before the moving day

We understand that overwhelming feeling that arises when remembering all the things you need to do for the move. To prevent being too distressed with everything, listing all the activities would be of great help to you, especially in terms of time management.

Don’t be too complacent with your preparations when you’ve already completed most of the tasks weeks or months ahead; take the time to review or go through those tasks just to ensure you haven’t forgotten anything.

3. Allot enough time for decluttering and cleaning

One of the most tedious tasks is eliminating objects that are not needed or destroyed as well as cleaning the entire property. Cleaning is an activity with a collection of tasks that needs to be carried out so that when you move out, the property is prepared for its next owner.

With cleaning, it’s important to give undivided attention to the dirtiest places in your home and make sure they’re spotless. It’s also necessary to keep the entire house sanitized and disinfected to avoid the growth of bacteria and fungi.

Cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting are three different things but are equally important in keeping the home neat and presentable.

With decluttering, you’ll have to go through the items in every room. Take out those objects that are already old, ruined, and cannot be recycled or used at all. If there are things you don’t want to throw away, you can donate them to those interested in having them.

We strongly advise that you only keep fewer things with you so you won’t have to undergo the trouble of sending a lot of things to your destination. Plus, transporting many things would mean paying a lot of fees, so to cut those expenses, lessen the number of items.

4. Develop a strategy for packing your items

A common misconception made by most first-time owners who relocate is that they think packing is a task that can be accomplished overnight. Unfortunately, that is not the case because it will consume most of your time or day, considering the number of things you’d want to bring with you to your new residence.

Begin packing the items in those rooms you rarely use since you’ll be using them to store your other packed belongings. Don’t forget to label the boxes clearly with the contents and the room they belong to avoid confusion and consume your time opening all boxes to locate a specific item.

Another reminder to avoid overpacking the boxes, but the struggle will begin once they are lifted and loaded into the moving company van. The smaller packing boxes are allocated for heavier or larger items, while the big ones are for the smaller and lighter items. We don’t want difficulties while moving the boxes, so best to not fill the boxes beyond their capacity.

5. Identify which items are prohibited from being moved

This may not be the case for some companies, but some uphold restrictions when transporting certain items. For example, there are moving companies that don’t allow hazardous or toxic materials in their moving trucks. Paints, plants, and liquids with combustible properties shouldn’t be included in your items to move.

For your plants, we suggest that you remove the soil and put the plant in the pot. Put the pots inside plastic bags to secure the plants. Companies want to avoid dirt or waste inside their vehicles, so abide by their policies.

Among everything else, the safety of everyone involved in the relocation is the top priority. Packing the equipment and other devices you intend to be delivered to your home should be safe and cleaned properly. If you’re packing sharp objects, wrap them in several layers of paper and label them properly.

These items could be placed into a storage unit for temporary holding periods while you consider what to do with them long term. 

6. Secure important paperwork

Keep all necessary documents like birth certificates, passports, registration certificates, and contracts in a single file or box so you can easily access them anytime. Please put it in an area visible to you at all times.

It is advisable to scan these documents to have electronic copies that you can send online when needed. Store them in your laptop, external hard drive, or cloud storage.

Make sure you’ve informed the post office of your new address through their redirection service so that the latest mails would be sent directly to your new home. This allows you to contact all your sources for the emails you’ve received to change your mailing address.

7. Transfer the registration of utilities and other subscriptions to your new address

Before moving out, make sure to settle any pending payments named under your old address and request to transfer the indicated address to the new one. Your internet or telephone subscriptions could still be used in your new home, so inform your provider about the address change. The same thing is applied to electricity, water, and gas utilities. This is to ensure that upon your arrival at your new residence, the utilities are readily available for you to use.

8. Conduct a strict inspection of the house

This is one of the things that should be immediately performed as soon as arriving at the place. Check if the water is running when the faucets are switched on, whether the electricity is present, the security features are operating properly, and other utilities are accessible.

The same thing is applied to your old home before leaving it. Make sure it is already prepared for when the new owner takes over the home. Of course, no one wants to transfer to a home that is not in good condition.

9. Separate your essentials in a hand carry bag

Before the relocation day, you should prepare a bag full of your necessities such as food, water, money, phone, phone charger, some clothes, and hygiene items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, bath essentials, toiletries, and a first aid kit. This should be separate from the things you’ll be transporting to your new home since you’ll be needing your bag most of the time.

This would also be helpful on your part as soon as you arrive at your new home since you’ll be tired, thirsty, and hungry from all the things. It would be convenient for you to get food to eat and water to drink without going through all your packed boxes.

10. Unpacking doesn’t have to be completed as soon as the relocation is done

We get the excitement of unpacking everything after the move, but when your body doesn’t have the energy to go over the boxes, don’t force yourself to do it. You can unpack a box for the day or start the day after so that your mind won’t have to worry about anything after the move. Remember to also rest in between to keep you energized and healthy.

Conclusion

The thrill of moving out also comes with the worry that the move may not go the way you planned. But that’s okay since relocations aren’t entirely perfect and without any issues. However, you can avoid most of the issues with enough preparation and planning to predict the possible problems that may occur and know how to deal with them immediately.

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Tags: Moving, Relocation, Home Ownership, Guest Post