We are planing to find a new apartment this years so I wanted to ask what tips people have for an uncluttered (and smooth) move and getting settled in a new home.
I've only moved once in my adult life (around 6 years ago) and it went fairly well but then I had more time then I will have now to plan/purge/pack then this time. We will hire professional movers so that is taken care of But any other tips will surely help.
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Posted 4 months ago #
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http://unclutterer.com/discuss/tags/moving
Check these out as well as the great comments that I'm sure people have for you!
My advice:
- Consider well what you pack; don't sort anything at the other end but cull, purge, be ruthless before packing into the boxes. And each box costs for you to have moved, too.
- If possible, pack in similar boxes for easier handling and stacking.
- Start well in advance and be determined not to pack anything major on the moving day.
- I would start from the least used items and finish with an overnight bag so you easily can find your tooth brush etc.
- Consider food and drink, possibly for the removals guys too.
- Be consistent with your method of choice; if you begin with a chronological numbering system and keep track of contents in a word table or excel sheet, stick with it through all the boxes or it is useless.
- Pack as tightly and securely as possible; don't leave air in boxes.
- It might work to pack according to destination room(s) or then not; again pick a strategy that you will stick with.
- Be prepared that it will be tough even if you pay for the physical moving of boxes. Accept that you might walk into a wall at times and factor this into your time plan. No need to make it more hateful than it already might be :)
- Embrace chaos and emotions. It's both wonderful, exciting, stressful and horrible at the same time! Have fun!Posted 4 months ago # -
I think the above advice is great, but that's also highly dependent on how large your current apartment/how much smaller your future apartment is. Tips from a recent college grad - meaning I don't have rooms of stuff, and have narrowed down to what I consider a fairly minimal living space.
Envision your ideal living space - is it cluttered, what's on display, what do you want to see?
Ruthlessly cull anything that didn't pop up in your vision, especially heavy and bulky items. I'm thinking mainly of books, clothes, and random furniture/storage. If you declutter enough to get rid of a few storage items you don't have to move its content or it! Another huuuge clutter area is the kitchen: since you have time, try keeping track of what you use from now until the moving day - everything else (except maybe a few occasional items) goes.
If you're motivated by savings, calculate what it costs to move a box/get the bigger van. If it's not worth the shipping cost to you, don't move it!
Posted 4 months ago # -
if you are moving a lot of stuff and using a service I do recommended making a simple sheet with each box numbered and then checking them off as they go into the house so you know everything made it (and if it didn't, you can file a claim). Same with furniture if you have a great deal of that. I also put a second label on the box noting where it should go. so you might have 1-K and 2-LR and 3-BR1 and 4-BR3 for Kitchen Living Room Bedroom1 and Bedroom 3 (each of which you can just stick a big post it or something on the door with the code so the movers can find it themselves.
Also highly agree with the "purge before you move" advice if you have time to plan ahead. I didn't have time the last time I moved and ended up moving a LOT that I didn't need. We are planning another move this summer and I hope to be better prepared by sticking to ATAD and getting into those sneaky little back cupboards earlier not later!
PS keep anything key with you like your phone, phone charger, laptop, laptop charger, insurance and other key papers, passports, etc!
Posted 4 months ago # -
http://www.marthastewart.com/274838/moving-checklists/@center/276998/organizing-checklists
http://www.marthastewart.com/268813/moving-to-do-list-and-box-labelshttp://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/organizing/moving/plan-relatively-stressless-house-move-10000001059998/index.html
http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/organizing/moving/moving-checklist-00000000000208/index.html
http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/organizing/moving/12-steps-hiring-mover-10000001057423/index.html
http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/organizing/moving/where-buy-moving-supplies-10000001061055/index.html
http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/organizing/moving/moving-packing-tips-00000000009513/index.html
http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/organizing/moving/moving-made-easy-00000000000327/index.htmlFor some reason I can't read Martha on Firefox; might be something to do with my privacy settings, addons etc. but it works fine on Safari.
Posted 4 months ago # -
we did a 3000km move two years ago and it went quite well despite a short timeline.
i started three weeks out (all the notice we had) and spent the first week purging and sorting. the second week i packed seasonal/less used items, and the last week i packed everything else. i also borrowed dishes, kitchen towels, bath towels, etc. from my mum so i could pack all of ours and drop hers off as we left. we were driving cross country so we had some clothes packed with us and i made a list of essential items to buy immediately upon arrival (namely, toilet paper). i also packed an "open first" box with cleaning rags, etc. that we would need right away.good luck with your move!
Posted 4 months ago # -
what a perfect opportunity to get rid of any excess!
i agree with labelling the boxes.
label them with the room you intend them to go into.
keep a master sheet describing the contents of each box. and have a copy somewhere.
fragile/precious/important items and documents travel with you.i think the main thing is to have a clear plan, to allow yourself plenty of time, and to just go about it methodically.
it really is a good time to evaluate, organise and clean every single thing you own.....because you are going to be handling it all at least twice anyway.Posted 4 months ago # -
Advice here is sound - just did an 800 mile move this past summer, and ruthlessly cut down my belongings. Got screwed by a moving broker - make sure you contract directly with a moving company, and not a broker purporting themselves to be a moving company. Dirty thieving lying CROOKS.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Ok, trying to post this for the third time. Some great advice on here already, but I thought I'd share my top 5 tips:
1. Find or make an accurate floorplan of your new place (I usually go in with a camera and a tape measure and make my own floorplan). Then measure all your furniture and use your preferred method (paper cutouts? dedicated software? 3D models?) to plan your new layout. That will give you a good idea of what will fit where and what will need purging or replacing.
2. Move only what you plan on keeping. Purge before you move, and don't plan to have anything in storage.
3. Pack well in advance, and use a good planning and packing guide - like this one: http://www.moversdirectory.com/packing_tips.html (no affiliation, I just found their site quite useful)
4. Instruct your movers to load boxes first, furniture last. That way, the furniture will come off the truck first and be placed in its intended spot, and boxes will be piled in the middle of each room for easy access, instead of having box-lined walls and a pile of furniture in the middle.
5. Unpack mindfully. As much as we preach purging before moving, I always unpack with a different perspective than I had while packing. Evaluate each item as you unpack it, and keep a donation box nearby. You might be surprised by how much more you get rid of.
Posted 4 months ago # -
re furniture, also measure door frames and hallways, latter both inside and outside of the flat. they move grand pianos through the windows in amsterdam (almost got a heart attack from merely watching) but that is not how the rest of us necessarily deal with large pieces...
Posted 4 months ago # -
actually i just remembered some interesting advice at flylady's. since an empty flat is indeed empty, the rooms other than kitchen and bathroom might not have any clear function to the moving guys, so she suggests colour coding the rooms instead of calling them office or master bedroom or whatever. the boxes are given the same colours on their labels as the coloured printer paper sheets smacked onto the respective doors. pretty nifty i would say!
Posted 4 months ago # -
I have moved a lot. Besides decluttering ruthlessly beforehand, identify the contents of your boxes as completely as you can. You don't want to open six boxes marked "kitchen" to find your coffee mugs--or corkscrew, whichever you need first. Labeling each room is good. I've used highlighters to color code labels and that worked well.
You probably can't tell the movers how to load the truck. They need a balanced and stable load and heavy stuff usually goes towards the front. To avoid damage, use lots of paper or bubble wrap and tape the boxes closed. Standard sized boxes stack easier.
You cannot start packing too early. It always takes longer than you think.Posted 4 months ago # -
@Northshore, certainly we would be needing the corkscrew FIRST. :-)
Posted 4 months ago # -
My dad has seen his fair share of the moving business since he used to work on the office side of one :) Some of it had rubbed off on me and one of his greatest annoyances (huh a word?) are book boxes that are too large. They are simply too heavy to carry and due to my booklove he has mentioned it to me more than once - and usually with a deep sigh. Next time I move the books go in the smallest box available only! Lesson learned.
Posted 4 months ago # -
@Northshore: good tips. Whether or not movers can accept instructions on what to load first will depend on the movers you use. In my experience, they're fine with putting boxes around the perimeter of the truck (balances it out) and furniture in the middle, with weight properly distributed. One of my co-workers worked as a mover for years, and it's amazing what he can fit in one cargo van. It's like watching a life-size game of Tetris :)
@ninakk: I second that about the books. I made that mistake once and had to re-pack 2 huge boxes of books into 5 small ones. Not fun at the time, but I was happy when I could actually move them around the house afterwards.
Posted 4 months ago # -
good advice about the books! i scavenged every printer paper box i could from our office (and had friends collect them for me from their workplaces) to pack our books in. they were the perfect size to hold some of our larger reference books, but small enough that i couldn't overpack them and make them too heavy.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I've used professional movers to move four times in the last 2 1/2 years (using a different moving company each time). Here are my tips:
- Movers don't/won't read labels, so all your "Fragile" stickers are meaningless. If an item is critically fragile, carry it yourself.
- Same goes for labeling boxes "Up" or "Top"... you can expect that your boxes will be turned sideways and upside down, so pad the contents accordingly.
- Movers LOVE big bright color coding. Use giant labels or huge swaths of colored tape on ALL sides of your boxes, for each room. Tape a big sheet of matching colored paper on each room's door or main wall to guide the movers to the right spot.
- For your own sanity, label your boxes on ALL sides. If you don't, then for sure the movers will put the only side with the label against the wall.
- Your movers will love you if you provide bottled water, juice, or lemonade and some finger food snacks like pretzels or bite-sized cookies. Something they can just pop in their mouth without breaking stride.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I put notes on the wall where each of the major furniture items went. It was helpful for people to know exactly where to put furniture and where to put boxes so that they wouldn't be in the way.
We used a "you pack, we ship" company, so it was us and some relatives loading and unloading the truck. I agree with DMO3 about professional movers. They are not regulated in the US and they are terrible crooks. If you are using a professional service, be sure to check them out first on moving scam or a similar site.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I second Ella's comment regarding fragile items. Pack everything you own as would the box be dropped during transport and make a decision beforehand whether you should transport it on your own insurance (and mental health) or the company's.
Same goes for the critically important papers, jewellery etc. that luxcat mentioned.
Assume something will break and if it won't, goody!
Carpets are very convenient to move inside plastic "sausages", which have been properly shut in each end. Removals companies will sell these. I had to dry clean some carpets recently and they were handed over to me in those plastics; if you dry clean right before moving you'll have fresh carpets in your new place.
If you have furniture which will be taken apart, put each pile of screws etc. in its own envelope or plastic bag/container of choice. NAME EVERY SINGLE ONE, too. As in immediately after you have unscrewed all parts. You won't remember which piece precisely that screw should go into once you're at your new address. Here comes the most important part: treat this collection as was it the crown jewels, bring them with your important papers neatly assembled into one vessel of choice. You might want to add the correct tools to the collection, as well.
Posted 4 months ago # -
All of these are great suggestions. I would include 2 more:
1. Have a First Night Box with all the things in it that you'll need to make yourself a cuppa, sleep in a bed, maybe make some toast or something else that you will need the first night. There's nothing more horrible than having to go through box after box to find a set of clean sheets, pillow, duvet or blankets at 2am in the morning because you forgot to pack them separately.
2. Do your best to have one space - bed, living, or similiar that is unpacked and without boxes in it, on your first or second day. It will be your sanctuary when you're unpacking especially if unpacking takes up to a week. Living amongst boxes can be very stressful.
Posted 4 months ago #
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