Moving house is a lot of hard work, but with a bit of planning and pre-work the move itself can be relatively stressfree.
Here are our top 10 tips to help you get ready for an easy move:
1. Book Your Movers in Advance
Most often, moving home needs to be done on a tight schedule.
If you’ve sold your home you’ll have a date you need to be out of your old home, and a date you can move into your new home. Often this all has to happen on the same day.
Whether you are renting, buying, moving into a retirement village, or just moving a single item – try and book your movers as far in advance as possible.
This will help ensure that your favourite movers can fit you into their schedule and give you comfort in knowing that this very crucial part of your move is all sorted.
2. Get Rid of All Unwanted/Unneeded Items
It’s amazing how quickly things accumulate in our homes, sheds, garages and even around the yard.
Once you know you are moving house, start going through all your lesser used areas – like sheds, spare rooms, closets and storage – and get rid of everything you don’t use, need or want.
Some great ideas for things you don’t want but are in good condition include:
- Donate to charity (like Nurse Maud or The Salvation Army)
- List for sale or free on Facebook Marketplace or Trademe Marketplace
- Give to friends and family
If it’s rubbish, start utilising your council rubbish bins each week to get rid of all the small stuff. You may need to hire a trailer or a skip if you have a lot of large rubbish that needs to go to the dump.
3. Start Packing as Far in Advance as Possible
One of the first things you need to do when moving house is start packing as soon as possible!
Packing always takes way longer than you expect, honestly we know! Our team of packers have a strategy they use to systematically and carefully pack everything in the homes we move. But it still takes a long time. Here are some tips for packing:
- Start packing your least used rooms and spaces first. Empty out all your rarely used cupboards and closets. Pack your sheds, garage, spare rooms and scout around your yard.
- Make sure you leave anything unpacked that you will need to use again – think about your final yard tidy up and house cleaning and keep those items somewhere separate.
- Fragile items need to wrapped and clearly labeled.
- Clearly label each room as you pack it.
- Strong, sturdy boxes that are uniform size are the best for moving (as they stack easily in your moving truck and don’t crush under weight). Your movers might be able to supply you with a packing kit that will include everything you need. Otherwise, start saving all the boxes that you find you have and keep an eye out for friends and whanau who might have spare boxes for you.
4. Clean as You Pack
As you empty rooms, closets and cupboards, clean as you go.
For spare rooms, strip the beds, wash and pack the bedding. Move the beds so you can vacuum under them, or if you are able to, stand them up and remove any feet from the beds and then vacuum.
Wipe down all your closest and cupboards. Wipe the walls, doors, skirting boards and ceilings if needed.
5. Dispose of any dangerous goods
Dangerous goods cannot be moved by your moving company – unless you hire a licensed dangerous goods transport company.
You will need to responsibly dispose of – or arrange transport for – any items that fall into the following dangerous goods categories:
- Explosives (like fireworks)
- Flammable gases (like butane lighters)
- Flammable liquids (like turpentine or petrol)
- Flammable solids (like matches)
- Oxidising substances (like pool chemicals)
- Substances that are toxic to people (like pesticides)
- Corrosive substances (like caustic solutions)
6. Use a Moving Checklist
There are a lot of things to remember when you are moving home! A moving checklist will help you remember, not only the things to pack, but also things you need to organise (like changing your mailing address, moving your power and internet services etc).
Find a great moving checklist (you can download a free pdf checklist here) and print that out so you can work through and check off each thing as you complete it.
7. Get Your Oven Professionally Cleaned
Cleaning your oven is one of those dreaded chores that have to be done each time you move house.
To save some stress and elbow grease, hire a professional to clean your oven for you. Or, if you prefer to clean it yourself, plan this well in advance of moving day.
Once your oven is clean, plan your remaining meals before the move so that you don’t need to use the oven again.
8. Water All Pot Plants a Couple Days Before You Move
If you have pot plants, take them all down from their macrame hangers or shelf locations and give them a really good water. (Pack any macrames or hangers while you are at it.)
Then try and avoid watering them again before you are moved into your new home. This will avoid water spillage/damage during the move.
9. Organise a Babysitter or Pet Sitter for Moving Day
Moving day is a busy day of having your movers come in and move all your items (and sometimes pack too). They’ll be moving around the house quickly and efficiently – sometimes carrying heavy, fragile or awkward loads. Or maybe you and your friends or whanau are doing the move.
Whoever is moving your items, you will not want small children or pets getting underfoot or escaping out open doors or gates.
You’ll also need to organise your keys, last minute cleans (like cleaning your carpets), inspections and other things, which means you’ll be pretty busy.
So its a good idea to have your kiddies and pets safely looked after elsewhere for the day. This makes the move safer for everyone and a bit easier to do all the things that need to be done.
10. Pack a Moving Day Kit
Moving day! There’s a lot to do today, so it’s a great idea to have a moving day kit all packed and ready to use.
Things you might like to include in it are:
- Your phone charger
- Necessary medicines
- Your purse
- Keys
- Today’s clothes
- A simple breakfast
- Just the dishes you need today
- Coffee or tea
Download Moving Checklist
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