When it comes to moving, the most difficult part is knowing where to start and how to organize it. No matter how skilled your local movers are, if you are not well-organized, your move will turn into a disaster. And this is something that you will hear from everyone when asking (and not asking) for a tip related to your moving. But no one will ever explain how to prepare for it. Moving cannot be avoided, at least once during your lifetime, you will get to the situation where you have to move. The average person living in the US is moving around 11 times, so the chances that you will move more than once is huge. This was my motivation to come up with the list that I wish I had when I was moving for the first or the seventh time. Considering that I had experience with many local movers and DIY moves, you can trust me when I say that I have become the moving expert. And if I can do it – you can do it too! No need to thank me just spread the word around – people deserve to know this.
- Have a moving plan (in written)
You might have heard this from your grandma, but it is true – smart people do write down everything important. And let’s be honest, packing is not the best moment when you want to test your memory. So, let’s see what you will have to put on that list! Firstly, make sure to write down the information about local movers that you are calling and about professional movers that you have scheduled. If this sounds silly and you think that you will be able to memorize this, trust me, I know many cases where people forgot the local movers they hired and couldn’t remember even on the moving day. It sounds like a relocation from hell because it is. Besides the info about local movers, you should write down all the expenses you might have and sum up what is the final moving budget. Speaking of moving budget… It is not a bad idea to leave some money for rainy days, this will help you not to stress out if there are some additional charges. Try to come up with a timeline, and set the deadline for every task on your list. The timeline should include the exact moving day, so you can take a day off from work if needed. This way you will keep the whole relocation organized and well-executed.
- How to find decent local movers?
After you came up with a decent plan, you need to find decent local movers. Where to start with this? Play it safe at the beginning and ask your neighbors, friends, and family if they have furniture movers to recommend. If so, congrats, you just saved a lot of time. I know, I know, usually, this is not the case. But don’t worry, there is a solution for you! First stop – the internet! Of course, we can find anything and anyone online nowadays. Start with typing professional movers in your area and keep reading their online reviews, checking their website, and so on. You don’t want to lose that much time on this, so select between 5 and 10 local movers that you want to call to learn more. Don’t let a couple of bad reviews discourage you because professional movers have those. Just make sure they have more positive than negative reviews. Before calling any furniture movers, come up with a list of questions for your local movers, so you can get as much information as possible in a short period. Don’t let the budget be the crucial reason for hiring local movers, take into consideration the services your professional movers can offer you and not. Oh, and don’t forget to check if your local movers have some hidden charges. And maybe the most importantly – are they insured. Even the most affordable movers should be insured and licensed.
After calling a couple of local movers, make sure to make the decision early so you don’t lose the spot with your professional movers.
Pro tip: Once you find affordable movers who are at the same time professional and experienced, and you had a good move – save their contact information forever. If you don’t need them, someone around you might.
- Prepare for the moving date
You hired local movers, and what now? It’s time to start preparing for your upcoming moving date slowly. If you are moving from a building, check with your building management if they have some requirements, so you can let your local movers know. Professional movers will require you to provide them with a parking spot, so make sure to apply for a parking permit if you don’t have any other option. If you are renting, make sure to let your landlord about moving out in time. In need of a storage unit? Find one early or check with your local movers if they have one. If your home requires some repairs, make sure to find a handyman for that. Oh, local movers cannot disconnect or connect back your appliances, so you might want to take care of that as well. A day before the move, you might want to check if you have enough money on your card or in cash.
- Declutter! Nope, don’t skip this one!
Don’t even try to skip this step, because you will regret it the second it comes to unpacking. Before packing, make sure to split everything you have into a couple of piles: keeping, donating, selling, throwing away. Keepers should be packed. For the items you are donating, make sure to prepare them and take them to the Goodwill or any organization that you have chosen before your local movers arrive. When it comes to selling, you can organize a garage sale or sell the items online. This is not a bad idea because you might save some money and cover a part of the expenses for professional movers. And if you want to throw away some furniture pieces, check if your local movers can do it for you. It is better to know this ahead of time, so if they cannot, you have plan B.
- What about packing?
We are getting to the least favorite part for all of us – packing. But since you declutter a lot of unwanted items, at least you won’t have to pack them. You have a couple of options when it comes to packing. The easiest and the fastest one is to hire your local movers to help you with it. This will affect the price a little bit, but most of the professional movers don’t even charge it that much more. If you opt for this, you can ask your furniture movers to bring the boxes as well. These are charged additionally, but you will have just one task – to open the door for your favorite affordable movers. And if you don’t like the idea of having local movers going through your personal belongings, you will have to do it on your own. The golden rule of packing is to start in time! The last thing that you want is that your local movers arrive, and you are not even close to being packed up. You might want to get a lot of packing paper because you shouldn’t leave any space inside the packing boxes. Local movers always bring different sizes of boxes, and you should do the same. The heavier the item is – the smaller the box should be. It is advice from local movers.
Don’t forget to label the boxes and add the instructions for your local movers, such as ‘this side up’ or ‘fragile’.
You should pack up the essential bag too. Pack everything that you might need during the moving day and your first day or night in your new home. After a long day of moving, you will have everything you need without having to unpack dozens of boxes.
- What (not) to pack?
Local movers have restrictions when it comes to moving the items, no matter if you are packing those or you are. How can you know this? You will have to read the confirmation email that your local movers will send you out when you make a reservation. Local movers won’t move anything hazardous or flammable, for example. And in case you are not sure what your local movers can or cannot move, you can always ask them. I would always recommend that you pack and move your documents and jewelry on your own, no matter how much you trust your professional movers. This will make you feel safe and sound along the way. What about plants? Local movers can move these, but they cannot guarantee their safety, so you will have to decide what to do about it.
- Ring your babysitter early
How the moving day will look? You will have a couple of local movers who will carry heavy furniture around, the doors will be open, you will have to supervise what your professional movers are doing – everyone will have their role. And you won’t have time to take care of your kids or pets. It is best to hire a babysitter and pet sitter for your loved ones. Not to mention that the moving site might be stressful for them. The kids will be nervous, and the pets might be even scared since they will have strangers in their homes. Make sure their sitters bring them to the new home after the local movers leave. After the move is done, you will all be at your new home settling down, without any stress.
- Prepare your home for moving in
After you have prepared everything for the arrival of your local movers to your old home, you should start preparing your new home for moving in. Do all the repairs and painting that you need to do before your professional movers bring in all the furniture. If you are painting, do that a couple of days before, so your walls are dry. You might want to transfer utilities before your local movers bring everything in because you don’t want them to work simultaneously. Since local movers charge per hour, you don’t want them to move one sofa inside of your home because you are not sure where to place it. This is why you should make a layout of your new home before you arrive there with your professional movers. Come up with the list of items that you have to buy.
- Walkthrough (and truck check-up)
Your role when having local movers is to supervise the process and to check if they have loaded and unloaded everything from their moving truck. Before you leave your old home, check if your local movers loaded and packed everything you wanted them to. Once you are at your new location and your professional movers have unloaded everything and placed the furniture where it should be, the relocation is over. But before they leave, your furniture movers will ask you to inspect the moving truck and sign the document proving that all the items are unloaded. Make sure to do so, go inside the moving truck, and check every corner. The last thing that you want is to try to find lost items after you have signed the document that your local movers unloaded everything.
- Unpacking
Local movers cannot help you with unpacking, trust me, I tried. But how can you help yourself? If you labeled your boxes, professional movers will place them in the appropriate room. One step is done. The golden rule – do it quickly! It’s like removing the bandage, the faster the better. And to keep it under control, set a deadline for unpacking and unpack at least a couple of boxes each day.
If you need a recommendation when it comes to local movers, I would always recommend Top Movers Houston. As their name suggests, they are top local movers and you won’t regret hiring them. Getting a quote is so simple. You just need to give us a call and they will guide you through the whole process. And within a couple of minutes, you will have professional movers scheduled!