Every one of us has moved at some point in our life, some of us repeatedly. However organized you were during those days, you probably wish you knew some more moving hacks that make the whole process swift and easy, without all that moving stress. Most of us can confirm that relocating is one of the most demanding and difficult events in one’s life, and we will gladly accept any help that can save us our time and nerves, even if it comes in the form of advice.
There are many reasons to move. You may be relocating for a job, or moving in with your girlfriend. You’ve made it through the decision and you’ve found yourself that perfect place you want to relocate to. But the moment you think about planning, organizing, and packing, the unavoidable anxiety kicks in. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you avoid it, with some simple, yet awesome relocating tricks so that relocating may go easier.
First and foremost, you will most likely be better off by starting early. There are several things that you can get done early on, and here they are listed:
After you’ve completed these preparations, you can get right on to packaging and reorganizing inside your home.
It’s time to go around your household and decide which of your belongings are not coming with you to your new home, and which ones to pack. We advise you to start with the closets and get rid of all the unwanted stuff. Be honest with yourself when you start rummaging through your clothes. Everything that doesn’t fit and is out of style should be donated or sold. The same goes for shoes.
There’s a high chance you own pieces of furniture that you think won’t fit into your new home, or are too worn out. So think about donating them, too, or throwing them out if they are unusable. If you opt-in for a donation, you can donate to charities like The Salvation Army. Decluttering will ease up this whole process, and should be a part of every moving to another state checklist. For all of those belongings you’re not sure you want to get rid of, or take with you, you can invest in a storage unit, and store away those belongings for a short or a longer period, whichever suits you best.
Packing everything up for moving is the most time-consuming part of a relocation. But, with following up on our advice, you should be able to save on time, energy, as well as money. You can cut those expenses down by searching for free cartons. You can find them at a local retailer, such as a liquor store, or a bookstore. Or you could look them up on Craigslist – there’s plenty of people there giving them up for free.
You don’t need to empty the drawers at all. What you need is to pull them out of the dresser, and properly secure all of your belongings in them by wrapping the drawers in plastic wrap. If the dresser itself is not too heavy, you can leave the drawers inside, and just wrap the plastic all around it, to be sure it’s nice and secure.
Group the hangers with your clothes on, and secure them with a rubber band. Then, take a plain garbage bag, pull it over, and tie it up, so it doesn’t let any dirt in. You can also hang your clothes in a wardrobe box, but remember that it’s quicker and much cheaper to store them with garbage bags over them.
While packaging paper is a great technique to protect your more fragile belongings, you may want to put your soft household items to use. That means you can provide cushioning for all those delicate stuff, like vases and lamps, with towels, blankets, and even clothes. Another one of those moving tips and hacks is to secure glasses and bottles of perfume by putting them into your socks. Kitchen dish towels can also be used to wrap up knives and other sharp objects. By doing this, you’re storing two things at once, your soft items, and those fragile ones. And don’t forget to mark the packages with breakables with a label saying “fragile”, so everyone can pay extra care when transporting them.
Kitchen towels can be used as cushioning between the plates. You can do this with packaging paper, but those towels are something that’s already coming with you. Besides, it can save you up on packaging supplies. After you’ve padded the boxes, place the plates vertically, like you would place records. Even pots can count as a storing place, and that is one of those packing hacks for moving that is both money- and space-saving. Open your pots, and fill them up with smaller kitchen utensils and bottles. That is a perfect technique to take up less space when packaging.
We bet you haven’t thought of this. Your suitcases are coming with you anyway, so put them to use. Fill them up with books, or some other heavy stuff, like serving dishes, and the fact that the suitcases have wheels will spare you from lifting heavy boxes.
If you’ve decided to load some of that heavy stuff into a carton, remember not to overload it, because it will be too heavy to lift. So, fill them up to 50 pounds at most, and then fill the box with much lighter items, such as toilet paper, and paper towels. Then don’t forget to reinforce the box. And another one of those awesome packaging hacks to make moving easier is to cut handles on the sides of each box, for easier carrying.
One of those smart tricks that you can do to make the whole packaging process swift is to label all the cartons, so you can avoid headaches when you come to your new home, and start unpacking. Whichever method you choose for labeling, the important thing to remember is to put those labels on the sides of the boxes. When your cross country movers start loading your belongings into the truck, they will stack them on top of each other, and the same goes with unloading. So, you need to see those labels on the sides, to avoid any unnecessary rummaging through the boxes.
The first step is to assign a color to each room and get yourself some colored tape, or colored stickers, and start labeling those packages. You should also color code the doors in your new place, so the long distance movers can have an easy job of unloading your stuff directly where it should be.
This method has its benefits, too, as you can easily detect any missing packages by the number. It would also be a great idea to write down what each and every package contains, or (even easier way) to take your phone and photograph every box. Of course, not all items inside would be visible in the photo, but you can have a general idea of where something you need is.
Another hack that will make your life so much easier is packaging a bag or a carton with all of those essentials that you will need when you enter your new place. This essentials package should contain basic toiletries, your pajamas, a few towels, medications, basic kitchen utensils to prepare a quick meal, and a cup of coffee, chargers, documents, and alike. This essentials package should travel with you in the car, so it’s super easy to grab once you arrive. Even if you have chosen to use auto shipping to transport your vehicle, the essentials bag should travel with you to your new place.
Another important package you should have in your hands when arriving at the front door of your home-to-be is a package with all of those supplies needed to clean your way through while unpacking. These supplies were probably the last thing you’ve packed when you were leaving your former home since you needed to clean the toilets once more and run over the floors with a mop when the movers left the place.
One of the first things you’re going to unload when you arrive is those essentials bags that you’ve transported with you. And those cleaning supplies, to make a really clean start. When you go through the house to reconsider where to exactly start, it’s a good idea to start with bedrooms. When the exhausting first day in your apartment or a house comes to an end, you’ll be glad to have a place for resting. It would also be considered an awesome hack to put one set of linens together with each bed, so you don’t have to search through the packages, when you’re already too tired and just want to rest.
With all these useful packing hacks, moving will be made much quicker, and here are some more that you can use:
To see how to use all these tips and tricks, and find out about some more, take a look at the following video.
Now that you know everything (or almost everything) there is to know about hacking your way through the relocation process, and you find doing this all by yourself an energy and time-consuming work, you can always ask your cross country moving company if they offer any packing services. It may cost more, but it can be a life savior, if you’re in a hurry, and don’t have time to do it all by yourself.
