7 Moving Day Tips - BTA Self Storage

Moving day can be extremely stressful. If you plan ahead it can take away a lot of the stress. There are so many things to do when moving that you should spend much of the month leading up to your move getting organized and packing so moving day goes as smoothly as possible. Each of these moving day tips and tricks can help you stay calm during a move.

1. Schedule Your Moving Truck Right Away

Especially if you are moving at a peak time of the year, it can be tough to get the moving truck you want. Whether you’re looking to rent a specific size and type of moving truck to drive yourself or you want to hire a top-notch moving company to take care of it all for you, make your calls now to get your reservation. Then you will have one less thing to worry about as you pack.

2. Call Utility Companies to Switch Service to Your New Home

You would hate to arrive at your new home only to find that you don’t have electricity or water. That’s why you need to call at least a week or two in advance to get utilities turned on and make an appointment to set up your cable or satellite TV service. If you are moving in town, you can probably just switch your existing account to the new place. If you have a long distance move, you will need to make separate calls to your local utility providers and give them your moving date so they can end service.

3. Be Smart About Your Home’s Storage Capacity

Your new home probably isn’t the exact same size as your current one, and even if it’s close, the storage spaces (closets, attic, garage, etc.) are probably different. Be aware of how much space you have for storing rarely-used items, and rent a self-storage unit if you have more stuff than you can comfortably fit into your new home. A move is an ideal time to get a new storage unit because you are already sorting and packing, and you will have a truck available that can swing by your storage facility to drop off the items you want to keep there. If items are going to storage, label them clearly and put them all in the same place so they will go into the truck together and will be easy to find and take out together, too.

4. Know the Timing Details for a Long Distance Move

There are all sorts of complicating factors for a long distance move, which isn’t as simple as loading and unloading a truck on the same day. If you are hiring a moving company, one of the most important long distance moving tips is to pack enough stuff to get through until your belongings arrive. You may not know the exact day when the truck will pull up, so in addition to clothes and toiletries, make sure you have documentation you may need as you start a new job and basic kitchen supplies so you’re not eating out for weeks.

5. Pack a Suitcase with Everything You Need for a Week

You need to move your suitcases anyway, so you may as well use them like you would if you were going on vacation. Even if you’re moving locally, a couple days before your move, pack up a suitcase with all your essential clothes and toiletries for the next week. That way, you can just pack everything else without having to worry about whether you will need it before your move. Then when you get to your new place, you will be able to rely on the suitcase for your first few days so you don’t feel rushed to unpack everything to find your essential items.

6. Use Appropriate Packing Materials and Techniques

While it may sound appealing to go the cheap route and use whatever packing supplies you can find for free, this strategy could leave you footing the bill later to replace items that didn’t survive the move. Some of the best tips for moving are to pack carefully and intelligently. Durable items like books can go in recycled boxes, but these boxes should be small, and ideally all the same size to make it easy to stack them. Breakable items should go in new, sturdy cardboard boxes with the appropriate cushioning around them. When packing fine china, don’t wrap it in newspaper or anything with text on it, because the inks can rub off onto the china. Also, pack plates on end to take stress off the thinner centers of the plates, which can break if a lot of weight is put on them.

7. Label Boxes by Room

Unloading a moving truck can be incredibly chaotic if you have to open each box to figure out what room it needs to go in. Even if you write down what’s in the box, one of the things to remember when moving is that the people helping you unload may not know what room you want that stuff to end up in. Clearly label each box with the name of the room it goes in. You can also write a few words to describe what’s in the box, which can help you prioritize what to unpack first as you get settled in.