Trendymami - 26 Moving Tips To Make Your Life Easier

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26 Moving Tips To Make Your Life Easier
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• Moving tips are much needed during this stressful
  time. Just last year, my husband and I decided to
  make the big move from our tiny apartment in San
  Francisco to our brand new home in the Napa
  Valley after finding out that we were expecting a
  beautiful now 5-month-old.
• Now imagine me trying to get everything together
  while pregnant. So many boxes, labels, fragile
  china, and lots of furniture to be lifted into a
  moving truck, and only so many hands to do it.
• Since my husband and I are pretty meticulous when
  it comes to our stuff, we wanted to find ways to
  make packing as efficient, organized, and easy as
  possible. And of course, we didnt want anything
  damaged! So after some searching, I found some
  moving tips, tricks, and products that made our
  30-mile move a million times easier.

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Lifting, shifting, moving, and carryin
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1. Slide everything you want

• Furniture like sofas and tables are heavy, so
  its easier to slide them across. We tried using
  some DIY sliders made from foam mats, but they
  just werent doing the trick. Luckily, we found
  these great furniture sliders these great
  furniture sliders from Super Sliders with pretty
  durable rubber foam to help us move the dresser
  and couch to the truck.

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2. Lifting made easy
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• Wanting to keep labor costs as small as
  possible,  I found this ingenious lifting and
  moving system from Shoulder Dolly (which kind of
  looks like something a bodybuilder would use!).
  All we did was take the straps over our shoulders
  and buckled the belt in front of us. There was
  then another strap attachment that went under the
  thing we were lifting. That way, wed get extra
  help from the strap to help us move all of our
  heavy things. No movers needed!

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3. Move the heaviest items into the truck first
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• This is one of the most useful moving tips I can
  give you. Items will be less likely to shift the
  closer they are to the cab, since theyre
  sandwiched by other items. Make sure these first
  items are the heaviest, such as sofas and tables.
  Packing bigger items first will also ensure you
  know how much space realistically have in your
  moving truck (and if you need to rent something
  bigger).
• If youre moving across the country,
  internationally, or for whatever reason would
  rather replace large furniture items than take
  them with you, check out HSN which offers amazing
  deals on home essentials (and flexible payment
  options!).

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4. Pack items from the same room together

• We save a ton of time by packing all our kitchen
  stuff next to each other. When we needed to cook
  our first breakfast, we knew exactly which boxes
  needed to be pulled out. Our friends and family
  who helped us pack benefited too They knew
  exactly where everything needed to go.
• 5. Place heavier items in smaller boxes
• Whats harder than lifting a box full of heavy
  things? Lifting a big box of heavy things. Trust
  us, we learned this one the hard way. Once we
  realized what we were doing wrong, we placed
  heavy items such as books, decorative
  centerpieces, and heavier electronics into
  smaller boxes so the box would be easier to
  maneuver.

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Padding and storage - 6. Learn to love labeling

• The key to not wasting a few hours searching for
  stuff is labeling the stuff in the first place.
  Buy at least five rolls of different colored
  electrical tape or these pre-printed label tapes
  that make your life SO MUCH EASIER.
• Once youve labeled by room, you can even get a
  bit more specific. Write the boxs contents in
  marker on the box. For example, after youve
  labeled the yellow tape kitchen and slapped it
  on the box, write dishes and utensils below the
  label for your fork and knife box.

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7. Use shrink wrap instead of duct tape

• We realized how much duct tape we were wasting
  when we went through two rolls in a heartbeat. I
  got some shrink wrap from Ultra that had a huge
  stretch factor perfect for wrapping boxes with
  fragile things inside. We werent wasting tons of
  tape, we used less wrap then we thought we would,
  and it was pretty strong as it wrapped around all
  our boxes.  
• 8. In fact, just say no to duct tape
• Theres a reason why its called duct tape and
  not packing tape! Packing tape is the stuff that
  comes in rolls with a special handle to make
  application to boxes much easier than peeling
  duct tape. Plus, its super sticky and you can
  reasonably write on it (perfect for labeling). If
  its good enough for UPS or the post office, then
  its good enough for your fragile belongings.

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9. The hanger trick

• Taking off hangers from your clothes and then
  putting them back is one of those annoying tasks
  you never think of when moving. Instead, take
  your clothes down from your closet hangers
  included and place them in a large garbage bag.
  Make sure the tie part of the bag is facing
  downward. Then, poke a hole through the top of
  the bag with the hanger.

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10. Fill that fridge

• If youre taking larger items with you like the
  fridge or the washing machine, you can place
  smaller items inside.
• 11. Protect your mattress with a mattress bag
• The bed however was very tricky. We really
  couldnt figure out a way to lift and move the
  mattress and tie it to the top of my car without
  risking damage to the mattress. We found
  this mattress bag online to protect the bed. Who
  even knew there was such a thing? The mattress
  bag made moving the bed downstairs and to my car
  a lot easier.

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• If youre thinking of getting a new mattress, you
  might want to check out Purple, Nectar, Tuft
  Needle, Beautyrest, Serta, Saatva,
  and Molecule for great deals on super high
  quality mattresses! Plus they can ship it right
  to your new place!

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12. Heavy duty totes for everything

• With so much stuff, we didnt have time to unpack
  all the things we put in the van. Since our
  rolling bags already had silverware and China in
  them, I found these nifty, heavy-duty totes from
  Earthware where we packed up pretty much
  everything we needed for the first night
  clothes, shoes, toiletries, laptops, books, and a
  sleeping bag for each of us.

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13. Ziploc bags

• My husband and I were surprised at all the little
  things we had. As in really little things, like
  screws, nails, and little trinkets. Pack a lot of
  Ziplocs so that you have enough to spare when
  these unexpected little things pop out, or you
  need to reassemble your shelf when you move
  in.14. Use Cushion Sheets
• Heres one of the many moving tips to protect
  your items during the move. For Fragile objects
  such as photoframes, glass wear, and dishes these
  cushion sheets make you feel sure that no crack
  is ever gonna happen to them,  if you tend to get
  paranoid, place 2 sheets between the items
  instead of one.

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15. Bubble Wrap Never Gets Old

• A must for wrapping furniture corners, TVs,
  electronics, Fragile objects.
• 16. Use Massive Plastic Bags to Prevent Scratches
  and Avoid Dust
• For keeping Sofas, loveseat, and all your other
  big furniture's clean during transportation and
  prevent scratches and dings, use big plastic bags
  all around them.

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17. Use Blankets for the Big Items

• A easy and fast alternative to Bubble
  Wrap, Moving Blankets are perfect to cover
  tables, TVs, Mirrors and other bigger objects.
  Theyre easy to put on and take off and they will
  prevent scratches and hits.
• 18. Use a Dolly  if youre doing things yourself
• If you decided that you can do things yourself
  without a moving company, a dolly will be
  definitely helpful to move the big bulky items.

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19. Protect the corners

• Protects photos, diploma, all sorts of frame
  corners from getting scratched and dinged up with
  this Frame Corners Protectors.

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The (not so little) detailS - 20. Donate

• This is one of those moving tips that will make
  your life easier and many other lives better.
  Places like Goodwill will take your gently-used
  stuff, and youll get a tax write-off after you
  drop them off. Alternatively, you can also call
  up a donation company to pick them up from your
  soon-to-be-former home. We donated some of the
  board games we had and got some great tax
  write-offs in return. The best of both worlds!

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21. Change your address

• This is one of the moving tips that might seem
  obvious, but youd be surprised how easy it is to
  forget to do this when you have a million things
  going on. We noticed the err of our ways when our
  Amazon Prime shipment didnt come in after a
  week! Turns out Amazon still thought we lived at
  our apartment. If you dont want your fancy new
  drone to be shipped to the wrong address, then
  plan ahead!
• 22. Cancel all your subscriptions
• This one might also seem like a no-brainer, but
  its also something you can easily forget. Make
  sure your TV, internet, electricity, utilities,
  and online shipping subscriptions to your old
  address have been canceled and youve asked for
  your records to be transferred to your new
  address. Pay particular attention to local and
  federal government services, as many of them
  (such as the DMV) require you to register your
  new address within a certain time period (e.g.,
  within the next 10 days). Many online services
  make this service easy on their website or their
  mobile app.

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23. Stop buying food

• My husband and I are foodies, so the worst thing
  you can say to our faces is no food! Its one
  of the moving tips that everybody tends to
  forget. But all that food is going to waste if
  you dont stop buying it before your move. Plan
  to stop buying food at least a week before you
  move to ensure you finish everything. My husband
  and I lived on ramen noodles more times than wed
  like to admit, but it was worth it! Ramen gets a
  bad rap anyway. Its delicious!
• 24. Make copies of your important papers
• I know this is one of the moving tips that might
  sound like making your move even more tedious
  than it should be. But you cant risk losing the
  only copies of your familys birth certificates,
  passports, social security cards, pay stubs, tax
  returns, mortgages, car payments, and the like.
  If it can get lost or damaged, then its best to
  make copies of it. If youre not willing to waste
  that much paper, you can turn your documents into
  PDFs and place them on a flash drive or a cloud
  service. Alternatively, take advantage of
  services that will offer paperless, digital
  versions of your important documents.

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25. Give favors in return

• Whats the best way to anyones heart? Pizza!
  Theres really no reason why you cant thank all
  the people who helped you move with a few pizzas
  and some drinks on your dime. The day of the move
  my husband stepped out for a bit to call some
  pizza and soda in, and we had a makeshift lunch
  in our front lawn while we sat on boxes. Hows
  that for a first meal at the new place?! Its a
  story well always remember, and the least we
  could do for our family and friends who decided
  to help us with the move.
• In just a little over a day, my husband and I
  were able to move everything into our new humble
  abode. And I did it with a baby on the way! Just
  goes to show you anyone can move efficiently and
  easily.