10 HOUSE MOVING TIPS
HOUSE MOVING TIPS TO SURVIVE THE CHAOS
House moving is a stressful task, usually under stressful circumstances of change. To take the pressure off yourself and make the transition as easy as possible, consider our moving tips to ease the load.
1. SECURE A DATE WITH YOUR MOVER EARLY
Surprisingly, many people leave this task to the last minute. There are naturally 2 popular dates for house moving: the last day of the month and the first day of the month. As house movers generally take the most part of a full day for a house move, they could generally only fit in 2 month-end moves depending on the number of vehicles they have. In a smaller town with fewer house movers, you can see how you will quickly run out of options here if you are late with securing a booking.
2. HAVE A HOUSE MOVING STRATEGY
This is probably the wisest tip we can give you. Remember that you are undergoing a major life upheaval, so it is best to plan it properly.
How much “stuff” do you have and how far in advance will you need to start packing?
Someone will be required to supervise the loading at your old home and another person will be needed to supervise the offloading at your new home.
What unnecessary items can you pack ahead of time to ease the packing load?
Who will look after your kids and pets on house moving day?
Have you got a lot of frozen food in your deep-freezer? Can you eat your way through this in the month prior to moving to avoid any food defrosting in transit?
Who will clean the house that you move out of? Is the house that you are moving into already clean?
Have you arranged for the transfer of your mail if it goes to your street address?
Have you arranged the transfer of electricity accounts? Will the electricity in the new home already be connected? If it is a prepaid meter, do you have the payment details?
There are several more items to consider here, but you can see how having a strategy in place will help overcome any last-minute challenges
3. CHECK YOUR ESTATE RULES
For those residing in estates or housing complexes, be sure to check any moving-day rules with your Body Corporate or Home Owners Association. There may be access-time restrictions, vehicle size restrictions, access permit requirements for your movers, parking restrictions, or more. Without checking in advance, these can cause your move to go horribly wrong or even be canceled, leaving you stranded.
4. MASTER YOUR LISTS
If you’re not a list-maker, this is a great tie to get started! You will not be sorry. Here are our suggestions for some great house moving lists:
– General strategy “To-Do” list with deadline dates
– Moving day checklist
– Packing and inventory list: make a final list of the number of boxes you have, of the furniture, and all the loose items. This will be useful upfront for quoting and on the moving day for checking all has arrived
– A numbered inventory list of your boxes: as you are packing, number each box, and keep a list of the items in that box. This is specifically useful if some of the boxes are going into storage.
5. DECLUTTER
House moving is an ideal time to declutter your home. Instead of mindlessly packing everything into boxes or crates, turn everything over twice and really consider its usefulness in your life. There is a lot of need in any community and you could donate your items to give them new life. For example in Ballito, we have the SPCA Dog Box which is a shop selling second-hand donated items. They use the funds to feed the animals at the SPCA. There are also several charities who would welcome any unwanted clothes. If you are unsure, your nearest church would be able to advise or just ask Facebook! As a general rule: if you haven’t used something for over a year, through 4 seasons, chances are you don’t need it.
6. PACKAGING
There is much to consider here. You will need
– boxes or plastic crates of varying sizes
– packaging tape
– a permanent market
– bubble wrap
– newspaper or acid-free paper
– scissors
You can collect used boxes from any grocery store or retailer – generally they don’t keep many out can help you with a few. Your local storage park like Ballito Self Storage will also sell you new or used boxes. In fact, they offer a range of very useful packaging materials, from wine boxes to clothes-hanging boxes.
Consider going green with your packing as well – instead of cardboard boxes that may end up in a garbage dump, use plastic crates that can be reused as storage later or sold on to recover the costs.
Bubble wrap is important to protect your more fragile items.
If you need assistance securing any of these items for your move, give us a call, we will arrange delivery of your requirements.
7. LABLE CORRECTLY
This is where your permanent marker comes in. There can be nothing more frustrating than arriving on the other side in your new home and not know what box should go into which room. If the boxes are well labeled, the movers can pack these directly into the relevant rooms, saving you the hassle or reshuffling when you are unpacking.
Be sure to label FRAGILE boxed items correctly as well, and if anything needs to be placed “THIS SIDE UP” remember to point the arrow in the right direction!!
8. HOUSE MOVING DAY KIT
We suggest a very basic moving day kit:
– Cleaning supplies
– Toilet paper
– Light bulbs, candles, and match sticks
– Extensions cords and 2 pin plugs
– Bin bags
– Overnight bag with a set of clothes, a towel and toiletries for each person
9. KEEP YOUR VALUABLE ASIDE
Keep a box for valuables such as jewelry, heirlooms, passports and other official document, certificates and original irreplaceable items. This box should travel with you personally in your vehicle as far as possible.
10. BE READY ON THE DAY
It often happens that movers will arrive to start packing their trucks, but the client’s goods are not even in boxes yet. The clients say that they will pack the boxes whilst the heavier furniture is loaded onto the truck but alas, everyone here underestimates the time this takes. Not only will this make for a very frustrating and stressful day for yourself and the movers, but it may raise the costs as mover will have to work overtime. Do the right thing – be ready for your mover.
