Moving to a new home can be a difficult, tiring and traumatic experience. Moving home is especially hard when relocating from a long-time family home. Living in a place for years creates loads of memories and a seemingly endless collection of items. We will explore the five most important things to consider to make your moving experience a little easier and less traumatic.
Invest in good packing supplies
Packing supplies might seem strange to put as the number one thing, but it is a key to a seamless moving experience. Packing supplies such as:
- Boxes,
- Bubble wrap
- Butchers paper
- and tape
Having plenty of good quality packing supplies is the key to being organised and keeping your goods safe during transport. Investing in boxes fit for purpose, such as wine glass boxes, will make the packing experience simpler. Bubble wrap and butches paper ensure that items don’t smash together, chipping and breaking in the moving process.
It is surprising how many boxes you will require to pack your house, and an estimate would include:
- 1-2 bedroom apartment (15 large boxes and 20 medium boxes)
- 3-4 bedroom house (20 large boxes and 50 medium boxes)
- 5+ bedroom house (30 large boxes and 50 medium boxes)
Buying new boxes is expensive, with large boxes costing approximately $5.00 and medium boxes costing $3.50. When you factor in bubble wrap, butches paper and tape, the cost can be well over $400 for a five-bedroom home. One option to save money on packing materials is hiring boxes from a website like www.theboxrentalcompany.com.au. When you hire boxes, the quality is much higher, and it can lead to considerable savings.
Leave plenty of time for the packing process
The packing process is the most significant and time-consuming part of the moving process. Packing often gets left to the last moment, which leads to being unfinished when the removalists show up, and cost blowouts.
Get your packing supplies early and leave yourself plenty of time to pack. Packing can be an overwhelming experience for many people. As you go through your stuff, you will dig up items you have forgotten that bring back memories. It is often hard to part with such things and leads to the packing process being slow and methodical.
If you can afford it, hiring some professional packers can make the process far less stressful. The people you hire will know how to pack fragile objects and have no attachment to the items. You can hire packers for a few short hours that can often break the back of a large job. The helping hands can make all the difference in getting through what can seem like an impossible task. Your removals company will often be able to provide these services, and tying packing with the removals job can lead to discounts.
If you want to do the packing yourself, there is a great article here explaining how to pack those tricky, fragile items.
Label, label and label again
As mentioned, a three-bedroom house can require seventy boxes. If those boxes aren’t clearly labelled, you will create a nightmare for yourself when you get to the unpacking process.
Those who have seen the animated children’s film the Incredibles will remember Elastigirl being chuffed with herself at unpacking the last moving box three years after they moved. As extreme as that sounds, I think most people can relate.
For all Elastigirl’s heroic superpowers, labelling her boxes was unlikely one of them. Label things clearly if you don’t want to unpack your last moving box three years after you move. Labelling will make things super easy when the removalist arrives and can place the boxes in the correct room.
Find a professional moving company for the right price
Finding a removalist should be a straightforward process, but unfortunately, it isn’t. A removalist will require the entire inventory list of items to move to quote your job accurately. Getting on the phone and explaining the things you need moved to several companies will soon test your patience.
We would recommend using an online quote-finding service such as https://ezzyquotes.com.au Sites like Ezzy Quotes allow you to attach your inventory list and other critical details and then automatically send the quote to local removalists.
It is essential to hire a local removalist as their home depo will be close to your pickup or drop off location, which will mean less travel time and a lower price. Quote-finding websites automatically match you with local movers, and then they fight to win your business. Moving companies know they are competing with others, so they will put forward their best price.
Removalists charge by the hour and add transport and insurance costs on top. The price you get quoted will not always be the final price. If you are disorganised, the job may take longer, and the price will quickly blow out. Be sure to ask the removalist lots of questions and check if moving on a weekday or off-season will save you some money.
Be organised on moving day
Moving day is when you pay for services, so it pays to be organised. Before the removalists arrive, ensure you have all your boxes lined up at the front door. Think about how large bulky items will get out of the building. It is common for large items to need disassembly; having this done before the removalist’s arrival will save you lots of time and money. Professional removalists are trained to disassemble furniture, so if you don’t have the tools, you will be able to get them to help.
Ideally, your bedrooms are empty on moving day with boxes, bags and items lined up at the front door. All your draws are empty, and you have performed a basic vacuum. If you do all these five things, you will find your move less exhausting and far cheaper, happy moving day!
