Strategies for Packing Your Bedroom Quickly When You’re Moving

Packing quickly is a skill that is usually mastered through repeated experiences, but if you’ve never had to pack quickly before, there are some strategies available to help you through this race against time.

Purge First

Before you begin packing, it is always beneficial to purge your possessions of useless clutter. This will help to reduce the items that need to be packed. Here’s a guide to getting rid of stuff before you move.

Sort Stuff By Priority

Pack your bedroom items based on how often you need them. Cheap Movers Philadelphia (www.cheapmoversphiladelphia.com) says seasonal clothes, shoes, and decorative keepsakes should be packed first. These are items that you won’t need anytime soon, so they will be a safe choice for your first set of boxes.

Items that you use every day or that you need on a weekly basis should be packed last. Be sure to mark each box with what it contains so that if you need a specific item before the move, you can find it easily without disturbing all of the previously packed boxes. It is also helpful to pack and set aside an essentials box for your first few nights in your new home.

Utilize The Entire Box

Too often we pack our moving boxes partially full. Not only does this cause us to need more boxes but it can also cause shifting while the boxes are being handled. Shifting items in a contained space is how objects become shattered, damaged, or broken.

To properly utilize the space in your boxes, cover a layer of solid possessions with a few articles of clothing. These articles of clothing will not only fill the space to keep your items from shifting and tumbling around, but they will also act as a layer of cushioning. The more clothes you stuff into random boxes, the fewer clothes you will have to pack later.

Trash Bags Are Your Best Friends

For a quick packing session, trash bags are a miracle. Not only can they expand to fit large amounts of items but they are also fairly cheap and easy to move. While trash bags are rather durable, you should still be cautious not to overload them, or they will rip open and spill all of your items making a mess.  Trash bags are the perfect quick-pack fix because you don’t have to be discriminate when packing them. Simply toss in any items you wish without stacking, folding, or wedging. They can also be carried easily with their built-in handles.

Pack Your Room By Sections

If you’ve been given very little time to pack and no time to plan, a simple packing strategy is the best way to go. The most straightforward packing strategy is to pack your bedroom by sections. Mentally divide your bedroom into sections and then start packing.  Do your best to pack an entire section of your bedroom into one bag or one box if you can. Properly label the box or the bag then set it aside.

Utilizing this strategy could find your entire bedroom packed within a few hours.  Another strategy to consider when packing your boxes is to pack the heavy items in smaller boxes and save the lighter items for, the larger boxes, this ensures that you will be able to get a better grip on heavier boxes. Larger boxes that are packed with heavier items are more likely to be ungainly with the combined weight and size challenges.

 

Week-by-Week Checklist for Planning Your Long Distance Move

Moving can feel a little stressful sometimes, but it’s also extremely fun and rewarding. Get organized by using this weekly checklist to ensure you’re still on task for the big moving day.

8 Weeks Before

  • Organize all of your paperwork and designate a special folder for important invoices and receipts
  • Start making piles of all of your belongs: keep, discard, give away and donate
  • Ask friends and family members for referrals for moving companies
  • Research moving companies on your own. Cheap Movers DC (www.cheapmoversdc.com) suggests getting quotes from at least 3 cross country movers, so you can compare rates.

7 Weeks Before

  • Begin accumulating boxes and packing materials; buy tape, bubble wrap, labels, markers and tissue paper
  • Plan a lawn sale for your items in your “for sale” pile; post an ad on Craigslist, post fliers, tell all of your friends on Facebook

6 Weeks Before

  • If you have kids, start getting ready to transfer them into a new school; contact their current school and new school; gather their records
  • Start telling neighbors of your move; begin planning a going-away party if you have a lot of friends to say goodbye to

5 Weeks Before

  • Decide on a moving company; go through all of your referrals and get a quote; tell the company of the date of your move; get the confirmation in writing

4 Weeks Before

  • Begin packing everything that you don’t use on a daily or weekly basis; begin packing off-season clothing items; begin labeling boxes; place empty boxes in every room to remind yourself you need to get packing
  • Schedule your utilities to be shut off; schedule your new utilities to be turned on
  • If you have a month-to-month lease, tell your landlord your move-out date
  • Confirm the date you’ll expect your deposit back

3 Weeks Before

  • Try to use up all the food in your home—especially perishables
  • Only buy food that you know you’ll use before your move; plan on using up frozen foods
  • Donate foods that you know you won’t use
  • Find out how to move your pets if you don’t plan on driving your pets yourself. Try contacting a pet transport service.
  • Notify the post office of your move; change your address on your credit cards; change your address on your cellphone and other non-location specific utilities
  • Call the cable and phone companies to schedule a transfer of services
  • Cancel the insurance on your current home or apartment and contact companies about new insurance policies
  • Take your car into the shop for a tune-up and oil change if you’re moving long distance; contact your car insurance company to change addresses

2 Weeks Before

  • Begin packing everything that you won’t absolutely need in the last few weeks
  • Pack your valuables and keep them in a safe place (but don’t label them “valuables”)
  • Contact a house cleaner to schedule cleaning services
  • Make a trip to the dump, schedule a bulk pickup and schedule a pickup for any hazardous items

1 Day Before

  • Pack any remaining items
  • Defrost your refrigerator and freezer
  • Clean any remaining items

Moving Day

  • Communicate with the movers where everything needs to go and what boxes have fragile items
  • Confirm all items are loaded in the truck
  • Complete a walkthrough of the home

7 Tips For Moving On A Budget

As anyone who has ever moved will likely tell you, moving is the worst. Between packing your life into cardboard boxes and how much it costs to do so, the process can be frustrating enough to make you reconsider the move. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Moving should be an adventure, not a daunting chore. There are various tips and tricks from Cheap Movers Phoenix that will help take the stress out of moving while saving you time and money.

1. DIY Packing

Regardless of whether you plan to move on your own or hire a moving company, pack the boxes yourself. Boxing up belongings is typically considered an additional service and will likely cost extra. Not only will this method save you money, it will also allow you to implement your own organizing system, for effortless unpacking.

2. Mail Your Books

You love your books, and there is no way you are leaving them behind. That being said, books are heavy, often bulky, and a general pain to move. Considering the fact that weight is a significant factor in determining cost, books can be an expensive inconvenience. Instead of packing your books with the rest of your things, use USPS to ship them to your new home. You can ship a 20-pound box of books by USPS media mail for less than $12.

3. Don’t Buy Boxes

When you think of moving, images of cardboard boxes instantly come to mind. The two go hand in hand, which is partially to blame for how much you will be charged for them. Instead of purchasing moving boxes, scour your office. Copy paper boxes are large and sturdy enough for moving. Check with local grocery stores and liquor stores, they typically have more boxes than they know what to do with.

4. Shop Around

As Money Crashers recommends, just because you’ve decided to hire a moving company does not mean that you should go with the first one you find. Speak with multiple companies, get quotes, and compare. This method allows you to compare not only prices but services offered, ensuring you get the best bang for your buck. Sites like Cheap Movers will let you compare rates from multiple movers all in one convenient place.

5. Eliminate Clutter

Throwing away things you don’t want or need seems like such a simple, common sense concept. For the vast majority of people, however, that is not the case. Moving serves as a stark reminder of just how much stuff you can accumulate without realizing. A yard sale or garage sale is a great way to manage clutter and make some extra cash. If you don’t have the time or patience for a yard sale, donate the items instead.

6. Don’t Buy Supplies

Packing supplies like bubble wrap and packing peanuts are expensive and, as it turns out, unnecessary. Save cash and space by using towels, coffee filter, blankets and even clothes to wrap fragile items.

7. Ask for Help

If hiring a professional is just totally out of the question, asking friends and family for assistance is one of the best ways to cut costs. This suggestion is often overlooked, however, usually to avoid being an imposition. While exploiting friends for free labor is not recommended, you might be surprised how many people would be happy to lend a hand.

Your Austin Yelp Movers – The Best, Worst, & Affordable Options

Moving to different locations is made easy by moving companies; and anyone who has had gone through the hassle of moving their stuff out of an old place of residence to a new one, knows that it can be stressful. There large and small moving companies across the United States. Some can move stuff across interstate borders while others like to work on the curve in their locality. In Austin, Texas, in particular, you can find a lot of Austin movers Yelp page which is an online yellow page for businesses, and most of these local movers do have a surprisingly vetted reputation.

This is good news for you because it means that you’ll get excellent services from them for the amount you’re paying.

Top 5 Movers

Reputation is what makes or breaks any person or even a company. If you have a bad rep, then you can be sure things will be difficult for you; however, a proper name has plenty of rewards! Having said that, here are the top 5 best moving companies in Austin:

1. Green Gorilla Movers
2. Jackson’s Moving & Delivery
3. Longoria Moving
4. Austin Professional Movers
5. Infinity Moving Company

Most of the feedback that they got from customers at their Yelp page indicates that, because they are locally based and cover a relatively small area; the logistics they employ is more efficient compared to those bigger companies.

Hiring Movers and Truck Renting Tips

With all these information abound how good movers are, you should still maintain a level of discretion before hiring them. It will put you at a particular disadvantage if you’re too naive. In light of this, here are some tips that you can use to get the best services out of a moving company.

  • Get quotes from at least three movers
  • Have them visit your home first before hiring them
  • Think cost-efficiently and hire the cheapest company with the modest service
  • Don’t forget to ask about the details
  • Check if there are other charges on top of the asking price

Get Help from Smartphone Apps

Hiring a mover these days can be done via phone call, email or online transaction, but you can also use your smartphone’s app to do that. Moving Guru and Moving Day come highly recommended, and they don’t cost extra when you pick out a moving company from Austin movers Facebook page via your app. Make a few gestures on your smartphone’s display, tap a few buttons and boom! You’re ready to move. These apps are available on iOS and Android phones, so you should be able to use them in any phone and service provider.

So, When are you Moving?

Perhaps the only thing left to discuss is when do you plan to move? People move to different locations for various reasons, and they can be because of a job, family-related concerns, or maybe you just want a bigger house than the one you have right now, or it could be the opposite, or maybe even for other more personal or profound reasons. But the fact is that you will find it difficult to move your stuff by yourself, and your friends or relatives can’t always be there to help, so hiring professional movers is the best choice. Well, you know where to find the best movers in Austin, and they’re at Austin movers Yelp page. Call them now and get a free quote!