Some of our best moving house tips, for making a move as easy and stress-free as possible.
Moving homes is tiring – but with planning and suitable materials, it needn’t be a traumatic experience!
Here’s a round-up of our best moving house tips to help simplify the process.
1. Design a moving timeline
The best way to tackle the jobs that have to be done before, during and after the move is to create a detailed timeline.
Relocating involves more than packing and unpacking. Having a blueprint of what has to be done – and when – is critical to success.
It’s easier to remember to apply to a new school, book kennel accommodation for the pets, arrange for utilities to be transferred or disconnected, and terminate the existing lease when they are to-do items listed in black and white.
2. Create a room-by-room packing plan
Before the packing starts, make a plan outlying how each room will be packed, and what packing boxes and materials are required.
That way, you can estimate the amount of work involved and how long it will take to pack up the entire house, room-by-room.
3. Make copies of key documents
Make paper or digital copies of important family documents, such as birth certificates, passports, marriage certificates and identity documents. Keep the originals with you.
Back up your mortgage agreement, degree certificates and vehicle repayments, and store them in the cloud. It’s an efficient way of securing documents. It also enables access to the documents, from any location, via a laptop, tablet or mobile phone.
4. Rent plastic moving boxes
Instead of cardboard boxes, consider renting plastic moving boxes. They’re uniform in shape and size, easily stackable, crush-proof and water-proof.
The best suppliers of plastic moving boxes for rent drop the required boxes off at your door. Once the unpacking is finished, the boxes are collected at the new address.
Use recycled and recyclable plastic moving boxes, and you’re doing your bit to protect the environment. Better still, there’s no waste to dispose of after the move.
5. Photograph existing room layouts
Before you start disassembling the furniture and packing away items, snap photos of the existing setup in all the rooms in the house.
Although no two houses are the same, referring back to the old layouts can help you position the furniture and accessories the best possible way.
Set up the children’s bedrooms to match the previous layouts. This can make the transition from one home to the next much easier.
6. Ask someone to look after your children
Moving day is always chaotic. Having small children running around underfoot adds to the pandemonium.
Ask a friend or relative to look after them for the day. The kids will be safe and occupied, and you can focus on the job at hand.
7. Store breakables and unwanted items in self-storage
One of the best moving house tips is to make use of self-storage.
Protect fragile items by storing them in a self-storage unit for the duration of the move. Mirrors, expensive glassware and antique dinner services are expensive and irreplaceable.
Placing them in storage ensures they’re not smashed or damaged during the heavy lifting phases of the move.
Another good use of self-storage is as a halfway house for the unwanted items heading to charities and other beneficiaries.
There’s seldom time before the move to deal with the items you no longer want. Self-storage allows you to get around to the donations once there’s more free time.
8. Pack matching items together
When packing up a room, stack all the matching items together: towels, books, trays and so on.
Then divide the items into similar groups, such as bath towels, beach towels, textbooks and coffee tables books, and pack each group into its own labelled box.
You can quickly take stock of what you have and find exactly what you want when you want it. If there are too many of the same items, dispose of them. Too few, and you can shop for the additional items you need.
How XtraSpace storage can help when moving house
At XtraSpace, we offer clean, secure self-storage units that are ideal for storing breakables until you’re ready to move them into your new home or premises.
Contact us for more information or browse to find a branch near you.