How To Pre-Plan For Moving – Get a Jump On Moving Day!

Moving can be such a daunting task. It requires money, time, energy, and patience. The process is basically an enormous to-do list that starts with an intention and does not end until every last item has been placed inside your new home.  Thinking about a move from start to finish is a bit overwhelming so it’s a good idea to tackle it in segments. Start with pre-planning. Here are several tips for getting ahead.

• Locate or buy boxes. To save money, ask your friends. With more items being delivered due to Covid-19 your friends may have more boxes to share than normal! Friends also often have boxes left over after their own move but haven’t gotten around to getting rid of them. Also, check with stores. Sometimes retailers will let you have their empty boxes.
• Purchase plenty of shipping tape. It’s really annoying to be in the zone with packing then run out of tape.
• Gather newspapers for wrapping breakables. Look around your house for other spare materials such as tissue paper, wrapping paper, bubble wrap, etc. Save those Amazon air packs!
• Purchase Sharpie markers. Go with wide tipped markers. They will make it easy to label the box in big bold letters. Plan to label multiple sides of the box so you don’t have to search all over the box to find out what’s in it.
• Go through every room where you currently live and extract anything you don’t need. Throw away or recycle anything that can’t be repurposed. Create a pile of items that can be donated and a pile that can be sold.  Locate a local service to pick up your donations, or you can save them the gas costs and drop them off. Schedule a socially distanced yard sale or list the higher quality items for sale online.
• Decide if you’d like to paint or add new floors to the space you’re moving into. If so, plan to find out if you can go in and paint a few days before the move. It’s much easier to paint an empty room, and this way you can budget for the paint costs and time it will take to paint. Installing new floors before the move can save time and money. No need to move furniture twice! Remember to protect your new floors before move-in day.
• Find help with moving. This includes help with actual moving and borrowing things like large vehicles, dollies and blankets. Ask friends and family, or hire a reputable company. Consider specialty items. For instance, items like grandfather clocks and mirrors require special handling.
• Hire a maid service to clean the space you move out of. Who wants to go back and clean the old place after moving into the new one?

That should get you started!