Plan to be flexible when selecting a pickup date. Never schedule your pickup on the closing date of your residence, on the day you must vacate an apartment, terminate a lease, or the day a cleaning crew is to start cleaning your quarters. Scheduling the pickup on these days leaves no room to adjust to unforeseen problems. Additionally, it ‘s a good idea to leave your phone and other utilities connected until all property has been picked up. Also, limited agent capability during peak season means that not everyone can move on the last day of the month. The moving industry has suggested that, when possible, a two-day pickup date be scheduled which provides some flexibility in the event something goes wrong. Personal Property Counselors will also be asking you for primary and alternate packing/pickup dates.

MOVING TIPS

Preparation

• Use the move as an opportunity to have a clear-out. Have a yard sale or go to a car boot sale with anything you don’t need/want. Or give your local charity shop a boost. Either way it’ll make you move cheaper and easier and might actually make you some cash.
• Think about the space in your new home before you move and start to imagine the best way to arrange your furniture in it. You can even make sketches if you like. This will make moving in much easier and help you feel at home.
• Take any staples out of boxes before you pack them. Stray staples can scratch floors and surfaces, as they’ll probably move in transit.
• Buy LOTS of packing tape. It’s great for strengthening boxes, won’t let them open in transit and can be easily opened when you want to with a knife. Go the whole hog and buy a tape gun too – it makes taping so much easier and it’s kind of fun too.
• If you have a piano think about how it’s going to get out of the house – your mover may need special equipment.
• Plan where your movers can park to load and unload – the further they have to walk the longer it’ll take.
• If you’re moving yourself hire something to help you move stuff in bulk such as a trolley or dolly. It’ll speed up the move and help make sure you don’t injure yourself!
• Teach your kids your new address and phone number as soon as you have it.
• Don’t use any special cleaning/maintenance products such as wax or oils on antique furniture for a couple of weeks before your move. They can make the wood softer for a few weeks and leave it more likely to get damaged.
• If you unplug your TV a day before your move it’ll settle down to room temperature. Unplug it just before you move and it’ll retain heat – this can actually cause internal damage.
• Write down instructions for any systems in your home such as central heating and air conditioning etc., and make sure the people moving in know any alarm codes. If you have brochures, guarantees or any paperwork relating to systems or appliances you’re leaving behind make sure to leave them somewhere obvious. This will make their move much easier for them.
• If your new home has an alarm system ask for the code before you move!
• Try to get a good night’s sleep before your moving day. L

Moving Tips

MovingHints.com is a community-based non-affiliated site devoted to answering basic questions about a painful necessity of life–moving. We’ve picked up these tips and tricks over countless moves, both local and national, and are constantly updating our content as visitors email us to share their advice. If you have advice that you’d like to contribute, email us!

Moving Hints

Moving is hard, finding reliable movers should not be

My family has moved a lot in my lifetime. I can recall times when we were helping one of my sisters or the other traverse the Alcan highway with all sorts of exciting things. Such as the reports I have heard of one trip I was not on where my sister had my nephew huddle the others in the doorway of the bus she was driving in preparation to bail out at her order because the bus was not slowing down going down a rather bad slope with a sheer drop-off cliff to one side.
Phantascene.com’s Travel Journal: Moving is hard, finding reliable movers should not be

More efficient moving tips

Less than seven months after our last move, we’ve moved again, this time into our own home!We had one 17′ U-haul truck and three pickup trucks. The U-haul truck got crammed full, the other trucks just had a few things in them that were awkward (such as our bikes). We packed the trucks in 1 hour and 15 minutes and unloaded in 30 minutes; since this was an in-town move, it took about 5 minutes to go from one house to the other.  In addition to following last time’s moving tips, we did a few more things that made this move even more organized:

More efficient moving tips « Corrie Haffly

Moving internationally can be a fun adventure as well as intimidating. The most important issue is the secure handling of your personal belongings. When moving abroad one can find a safe and reliable moving company with just some careful planning.
First, use a company that is in your local area. Getting to know the company and getting recommendations are easier if the company is in the general area. There are many different categories of moving companies to choose from. If you move overseas you will probably require a long-distance move. However, if you are moving internationally you may be able to use a local company. Decide what your needs are before moving ahead.
Tips For Choosing An International Moving Company | articlemarketer.org

WASHINGTON—Spring and summer are high seasons for moving to a new home, and as families across the country pack their belongings and load moving trucks, The HSUS is offering tips for pet owners to help make the mover safer and less stressful on their pets.  “Moving can be tough on pets, as well as their caregivers,” said Stephanie Shain, director of companion animal outreach for The HSUS. “The hustle and bustle leading up to moving day and settling in to a new home can be stressful on pets. However, you can help make it a smooth transition with just a little advance planning.”  On the day of the big move, take with you all the familiar and necessary things your pet will need from day one in your new home: food, water, medications, bed, litter box, food and water bowls, and health records. No matter if the big move takes place during Allied Van Lines’ National Moving Month in May or in the dead of winter, your pet will be ready to handle his or her new home.

Planning on Moving Soon? Help Keep Pets Safe During the Transition with Tips from The HSUS | The Humane Society of the United States

My sister, who recently moved from the country to the city, found that their dog Daisy (pictured here) while quite excited by their move, was a little confused when the new home had stairs – their former house was a small ranch-style. It took her a little time and encouragement to ascend the stairs and discover an entire new floor!  So, while most dogs are excited by the change that a move brings, there are some preparations and tips that will help them transition just a little easier. Check out these suggestions and if you have any pet-moving stories, just send them in via the comment link below and we’ll post them on the site!

Moving, Packing and Settling into a New Home – Local and International Moves

The Bulletin – Philadelphias Family Newspaper – Ready To Move? Timing Can Mean Everything
Spring is almost upon us. The weather gets nicer. School lets out for the summer. And everyone who needs to move and has school-age children wants to move at the same time. Any moving expert will tell you that moving will become increasingly more difficult during the next few months. In fact, according to John Bisney, director of public relations for the American Moving and Storage Association AMSA, “June to September is really known as the high season in the moving industry.” Everybody wants to be moved in before the kids start classes in their new schools.

piano man: Everything You Need to Know About Piano Moving
Moving can be a very stressful time in a person’s life, especially if he or she has not hired appropriate help to move their furniture. Piano moves can be especially stressful, because the mover needs to have special knowledge and skills to safely move the piano. In this article I have outline a few frequently asked questions about piano moving in order to help understand what is involved in moving a piano and prepare you with the information to choose the right mover. At the end of the article, I have listed some questions that you can ask to help you choose your piano mover, as well as the information that you should have ready in order for the mover to be sufficiently prepared for your move.

EarthFriendlyMoving is out to change the way American homeowners move with an environmentally friendly, do-it-yourself (DIY), packing and moving system developed entirely from recyclable trash mined from local landfills. Something we all need when we are packing away for our remodel!

Spencer Brown came up with a very simple green idea to take our hard to recycle plastic trash (all of that stuff found under your kitchen sink and laundry room) and convert this waste plastic into RecoPacks (Recycled Ecological Packing Solution).

Made from 74 plastic bottles, a RecoPack is a plastic moving container that you use instead of cardboard boxes for your remodel storage or move. RecoPacks are rented through EarthFriendlyMoving.com.

“When you do the math, we have removed over 740,000 bottles to make the first 10,000 RecoPacks,” says Brown. “For every 100 RecoPack containers we manufacture, EarthFriendlyMoving removes an average of 256 pounds of trash from the country’s landfills!” Brown also notes that it saves three healthy green trees from being cut down and made into disposable packing products like cardboard boxes.

GREEN MOVING BOXES: RecoPack makes your remodel storage eco-friendly | GetWithGreen.com

The last thing you need if you’re pulling up stakes is for your mover to hijack your belongings. But it happens. A lot. Each year, thousands of of people are bilked by movers or have their belongings lost or destroyed due to incompetence. Don’t become one of them.

Ask around
Don’t just pick a company after a quick Internet search. Ask friends and family members for recommendations. A good source of information is your real estate broker; he or she has seen plenty of botched moves. Look for companies that have been in business for a while. Then ask the moving company for references. And follow through.

How to Choose A Moving Company | AllPropertyManagement.com

Planning a Move

Moving a household is never easy, but it doesn’t have to be traumatic. The easiest way to handle a move is to divide it into manageable chunks. With thoughtful planning and organization of tasks, you can minimize the work that remains to be accomplished on moving day. Neglecting to take care of chores ahead of time, however, can turn a move into a nightmare.

We cover every aspect of moving in this article, from planning and packing to the arrival at your new home. In this opening section, we’ll start at the beginning, with the planning stage.Howstuffworks “Moving: Tips and Guidelines”

Packing Supplies, Labeling & Packing Tips

Keep the following supplies handy for packing:
Boxes, (Check)
marking pen, (Check)
bubble wrap, (Uh oh….)
newspaper and tissue (Check)
Tape and scissors (Check… Will probably run out of tape…)
Tape measure (HA! MANY of those kicking around!)
Use strong boxes and containers that can be secured tightly. Purchase special boxes for dishes, wardrobe and other special items. (Gotcha!)
Pack audio-video equipment in their original boxes. Label cables and tighten transit screws. If removing screws, tape them to the objects they are removed from. (I’m leaving this up to Tyler so when we get to our new place and things are ‘missing’ I can’t be to blame! *L*)

It’s a Zog World!: Moving -Packing Tips