In the last 5 years I have moved 6+ times through 3 different states. I might not be a professional mover but I can honestly say there is a list of tips that I can offer that will help reduce your stress during your move. We all have to move at some point, even if it is just out of our parents homes. More likely though we are moving for a couple of different reasons, bigger house, smaller house or employment. Regardless of the reason for moving, these tips will help make the move smoother.
1. Write down a List: I cannot stress this first step enough, make a list of everything you need to do for the move such as utilities, mail forwarding, etc. Make another list for the supplies you will need for packing your home and reserving your rental truck. Then once you have those two lists, make a 3rd list which will cover what you are packing into those boxes. You want to have a list and a marking system to keep track of your belongings and how many boxes you have.
2. Supplies: Given the amount of times I have moved, there has still been 2 times when I ran short on boxes and had to acquire more. It is honestly easier to purchase more than you think you will need and just return the unused boxes than it is to not have enough and then have to find more boxes. In addition to boxes you want to make sure you have enough packing materials, unprinted newsprint and bubble wrap, tape and markers.
3. Wardrobe boxes: I was never really convinced on wardrobe boxes until this last move. Between all of our clothes, coats, winter gear I was willing to give them a try. I will never move without using them again! We were able to get everything into 4 wardrobe boxes, I didn’t have to wash, iron or re-hang anything when we unpacked the house. Additionally we used one of the boxes for several bolts of fabric.
4. Organize: When packing your home try to keep everything organized. You want to keep important papers with you, luggage can be used to pack things as well and lastly keep your cleaning supplies organized and consolidated.
5. Pack Ahead: There really is nothing more stressful than packing the last room of your home on the day you are loading the truck. Make sure you pack everything you won’t need early. This helps to ensure that you won’t be stressed out when loading the truck.
6. Storage: This might be one of the most important things to take into consideration when moving. Will you have enough room for everything you are moving with you? If not, a self storage unit is honestly the best solution than trying to shoe horn your life into a space too small.
More on storage, self storage rarely gets the credit it is due. More often than not people view self storage as a way for people to store their “things” when they end up having too many of them. From personal experience I can tell you this is not always the case. I have used self storage in East Syracuse, NY when I moved from a 2 bedroom apartment to a 2 bedroom apartment with 3 roommates. I needed a safe and secure place to store my belongings and I was lucky enough to find Simply Self Storage had a location there. And again when I moved to Illinois, Simply Self Storage has a St. Charles self storage unit which was only 20 minutes from me. In both cases the facilities were well kept, secure and I had no problems with self storage being easy to access when I needed to.
Simply Self Storage is the largest privately owned self storage company in the US and Puerto Rico. With 20+ years in the self storage business , professional staff of customer service professionals, and locations across the country, SimplySS is able to answer any of your questions on self storage, set you up with a truck rental and if needed also able to supply you with short term local moving labor to help unload your truck.
