July 13, 2022
Relocating long-distance is a lengthy and exhausting process, and can take a lot of effort to pull off. It’s also hard finding useful and reliable tips for moving as well, but don’t worry. We’ve compiled a list of some great and helpful tips and hacks for a smooth relocation. By the time you finish reading this list, you’ll be a relocation guru.
Tips and Hacks When Preparing to Move
For any type of relocation, long-distance or local, you need to have a plan. Rushing to get started is a quicker way to get yourself off-track and lost rather than packed and ready to go. Be patient in getting organized, and the process will be much smoother. While getting your relocation plan together you can look up moving hacks to help you along your process.
Make a Moving To-Do List
If you have any sort of written plan such as a checklist or to-do list, you can break down tasks and keep yourself on track with your relocation. A simple way to start is to write down every task that you can think of in order of priority. For example, If you’re just starting, the first thing on your list can be to create an expenses checklist or budget. After that, you can decide what the next most crucial step is.
Schedule Utilities
It’s much better to have this done as early as possible so that you’ll have a smoother transition into your new home. It only takes a few phone calls, but all you have to do is contact your utility providers to let them know that you’re in the process of relocation. By doing so, you’ll let them know when to shut your utilities off and on what day to have your services running. When you move into your new home, you’ll be sure to have running water, electricity, etc.
Get well prepared before relocating
Tips for Hiring Movers
For a cross country move, you’re most likely going to contact professional long-distance movers. Most relocation companies are easy to work with and will give you a high-quality service. However, you should still know about their moving services, what questions to ask, and what to expect, in order to have some control over your relocation.
Understand and Compare Services and Pricing
People make a common mistake when hiring a moving company because they aren’t sure about the company’s specifics or chosen service. There is more concern about what saves the most money. There are a couple of problems this brings up. The first problem is that you might end up paying for poor service, the second is that you might have to pay for hidden and unexpected charges that are a part of the offer. To avoid these problems, always look up different companies and learn about their offers and policies. You can always call a company and ask a representative about each service. After you’ve found a few that you’re considering, you can compare them and decide which company to go with.
Book Movers Early
Booking a time slot early on in your process is the best when hiring a company, because it can save you from paying a higher price. If you’ve booked enough in advance, you can get a day at the beginning of the month you plan to relocate.
Always book a moving company early
When Should You Start Packing for a Move
When it comes to relocating, especially long-distance, there’s a good rule of thumb to follow: the earlier, the better. Preparing your belongings to be packed early will speed the entire process up by a lot. Your movers will appreciate it, and unpacking will be just as easy.
Make a Plan Ahead of Time
Much like your relocation to-do list, you can do the same thing with all of your stuff. You can break packing down by room or by the material. You can take inventory in each room. You can also estimate how long you need to pack and how much supplies you’ll need in total.
Start Packing After Organizing
Once you’ve gotten organized and gotten your list drafted, you should start packing right away. Although having a checklist is helpful, getting packed is still a lot of work. Try not to waste too many hours on logistics and do everything correctly, remember you only have so much time to work with and a lot more to do. A good way to cut down on organizing and packing is if you hire a moving company for their packing service. Movers will pack all of your stuff for you in much less time than you will on your own.
Start the process as soon as you have a plan
Finding Less Expensive or Free Packing Materials
Paying for supplies can be really rough on your wallet, especially since you can’t get an exact estimate of how much you’ll need. “How many moving boxes do I need?” is a common question most people have when relocating. But there are ways to cut costs and save time from having to get your materials together. You just have to know where to look, who to ask, and what to ask for.
Ask Your Local Grocery Store
If you go to your local grocery store, there sure will be boxes for purchase, but what about the discarded boxes they have for fruit and other store products they get from warehousing? That applies to other stores as well. See which grocery or department stores will let you take any off their hands. This is great on your wallet if you’re wondering how to save money on moving costs.
Goodwill and The Salvation Army
A couple of places you can also look at are the Salvations Army and Goodwill. Both establishments are great places to check because they have a consistent number of boxes from multiple sources. Simply visit their locations near you and ask for any that they plan on throwing away. It can save you loads of money.
Items At Home
Another excellent source for materials is right in your own home. You can use everyday stuff such as towels and rags to wrap dishes, glasses, and other fragile items. Your luggage and suitcases are suitable replacements for boxes as are tote bags and other large carrying bags. Think of all the money you save just by using stuff around the house.
Look for alternative packing materials to use
Tips to Pack Clothes Faster
It’s relatively common knowledge that getting your clothes packed takes a lot of effort. Depending on how much you have, it could take the longest to get finished. Fortunately, there are some hacks for how to pack clothes for moving.
Leave Them on Hangers
Clothes like jackets, coats, button-up shirts, and dresses, the kind you put on hangers, should be kept that way. All you need is a large garbage bag to cover them, and you’re done. Just pack them up in a box or large suitcase, with hangers still on. Once you get everything moved into your new place, all you have to do is take your clothes and put them back in the closet.
Use Tote Bags
Tote bags are magic when it comes to traveling with clothes. Not only are they big, but they’re very convenient and inexpensive. You can fit a lot of different things in them, but if you want to save some room in your boxes and suitcases, a good trick is to roll your clothes and neatly place them in the bag. Your bigger and bulkier clothes can go in the bottom, and the light and smaller items you have can go on top. You’ll be amazed at how much room you have left after using this simple trick.
Donate, Sell, or Give Away
Whether you’re relocating locally or cross country, getting rid of stuff is an efficient method to get you finished quickly. When sorting through all of your clothes, make a separate pile for anything you don’t want. Once you’ve decided what to discard, you have a few choices for what to do with them. One option is to go to your closest homeless shelter, Goodwill, or Salvation Army. If you’re looking to earn a few extra dollars, you can go to a thrift store or second-hand store that will pay for old clothing or have a yard sale. If selling your things doesn’t sound appealing, you can also call a few friends or family members to see if they might want to take anything off your hands.
Check how much your move would cost
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Hacks for Packing Fragile Items
Getting easily breakable items packed away takes a lot of patience and can be tough since you have to take special care of them. But packing fragile stuff can also require you to buy more materials so that nothing breaks or gets damaged during travel. If you aren’t sure how to pack glassware for moving as well as other easily breakable items there are a few simple tips to get you packed correctly.
Pack Easily Breakable Items Separately
Because this takes a bit more effort and patience, you’ll want to start gathering and setting them away from the rest of your things. Things like glassware, jewelry, expensive appliances, etc. Set up a workstation in a space with lots of room for you to work. This will minimize the risk of something getting broken, and you’ll be able to manage how to pack them. Once you have all your materials together, you can start carefully wrapping each item with paper and box them.
Always Use Extra Padding
You will need lots of soft material for handling fragile items. Packing paper is an obvious choice, but you can also try using newspapers or wrapping paper as alternatives. Bubble wrap is also great for filling in space. Another good choice for soft materials are towels, rags, and sheets. Add as much of these materials as you need for each box. Don’t forget to fill in any gaps that you see.
Be careful when handling your fragile items
Hacks for Moving The Bathroom and Kitchen
Both the bathroom and kitchen are pretty tricky to deal with when relocating. You use them both daily, even on travel day. Plus, you have a lot of stuff that you have to look through and make space for, it can be a tiring job. But, you do have ways to ease the process some.
Discard Anything You Don’t Need
Much like your clothes, there are things in your bathroom and kitchen that you don’t need. Search through any cabinets, your refrigerator, drawers, or pantry’s and start tossing stuff. Unless you have a few bottles of vintage wine or some bath bombs you’ve been dying to try, it’s better to toss out anything perishable and half-empty or empty containers – you can always get more.
Use Plastic Bags
If miracles could take physical form, they would be in the shape of snap-seal plastic bags. They’re efficient and can be used to hold a lot of different things. The perfect tool to help you get your bathroom and kitchen all packed up. You can use them to pack your eating utensils, spices, small kitchen appliances, toiletries, soaps, cosmetics, etc. They come in a variety of sizes and are so easy to pack, or they could be stored in your travel bag.
Packing your kitchen is a long process and you should start early
Label Your Boxes
Moving labels are very useful when loading and unloading your stuff and helps the movers out tremendously. Why waste the breath to tell them where to go when you can write it down for them? A great way to manage everything when unpacking.
Label your boxes before or during your packing process
Tips for Moving Day
Moving day is going to be the busiest of your entire relocation process. You’ll be expecting professionals to come; you’ll have to load all your things, double-check to see if you’ve forgotten anything, get everything ready to go out on the road, travel – you have a lot to do. But before you get too stressed, there are ways to help get you through smoothly.
Place Your Packed Items Near the Door
Before the relocation company arrives at your house, getting everything organized near the front door would be a good idea. This will help you or your hired movers save more daylight hours and get everything loaded faster. It will also make cleaning much more comfortable, and you’ll be able to see if you’ve missed anything.
Tips and Hacks for Moving Day and More
No matter how daunting this or that task may look, everything can be made a lot easier if you know the shortcuts to a job well done. To see what we mean, check out this video:
Before You Go on Trip
If you’re moving to another state alone, it might feel like the hard stuff is over once you get on the road. Don’t think you can sit back and enjoy the ride – trust us, this is only half of the battle. Though this might seem like one of the more straightforward tasks in relocating, there are some things you should do to prepare yourself.
If You’re Driving, Make A Traveling Day Schedule and Budget
Most people choose to fly to their new destination. Others opt for driving. If you decide to do that, you’ll also have to pay for gas and food and have some extra cash in case of an emergency. Traveling cross country entails many factors. To help you sort through everything, create a traveling schedule and budget that covers every aspect. You can budget how much you’ll spend on gas, how many stops you plan on taking, and how much food you’ll buy for the road.
Map Out Fast Routes
If you’re driving, it would be a significant advantage if you planned out which routes you’re going to take. Once you’ve got your way, you can estimate the travel time, how much you’ll need to budget for gas, and minimize the number of stops so you can save money.
Of course, another option that you have is to use an auto transport service so you won’t have to spend extra hours looking up routes or having to pay for gas. Your car will be picked up and delivered right to your new address by the time you get there.
Have a route planned ahead of time
Moving into Your New Home
Now that you’ve gotten all the relocating tips and tricks in your arsenal, you’ll be able to move into your new home with ease. A few things to keep in mind, though, are to unload in stages. Get everything in the house first and let your long-distance movers go – and don’t forget to tip. Then you can move all of your boxes to each room accordingly. If you aren’t able to get everything to your home all at once, you can also hire a storage service nearby so you can bring everything on another day. Be patient, and you’ll be able to relax and enjoy your new home.
