How to Make Moving Easier / 3 Ways to Move

Is there any way to make moving easier? The answer is yes there is.

Here at The Life We Weave we are all about a simple life. Sharing tips and ideas on how to make things easier. Since I have been married we have moved 11 times.

Moving across town or across the United States we have a lot of experience.

Doing it all ourselves or hiring it done. We have done both several times.

I thought I would share my experience with moving to help you make your moving a memorable moment that will be a simple happy one. This will be a series of posts to make moving easier since there will be a lot to cover. I want to make sure I help you out the best I can.

You can read part 2 of series here.

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The first part of the series is :

Three Choices You Have to Make Moving Easier

There are three choices you have when it comes to moving.

Do it all yourself
Hire a moving company
Pack yourself, movers move it.

One of these is the right choice for you. Lets go over each one so you can figure out the right fit for you.

1. Do It All Yourself

What you will need:

Doing it all yourself is the one most of us choose to do. We automatically think it’s the cheapest way to go. Which it might be if you are staying in the same city and not moving many miles away.

When you do it all yourself remember that you will be taking on every aspect of moving.

Helpers

Before you decide to go this route the first step is to make sure you have enough help moving all of the large objects. That dresser that is easy to scoot around on the wood floor is a lot heavier to pick up and carry into a truck. Make sure that you have people that are able to pick up heavy items around at all times.

I suggest getting 4 heavy lifters, 3 at the least. Everyone gets tired as the day goes by. Do not let anyone carry a heavy object on their own. Don’t take a chance on anyone getting hurt.

Now you have found help for moving day you need to start getting ready to move.

This next step goes for every moving choice.

Declutter

Declutter, Declutter, Declutter. I can’t emphasize this enough.

When my husband and I made our first move we didn’t have to many items so the first move was okay. But the 4th move after we had kids for awhile oh boy! You can imagine the stuff we had. I didn’t even think about it. We had hired a company to move us and just let me say “I wish I had decluttered!”

I have written several posts on decluttering that you should check out to help you get started. There is a lot of great information. The post titled “Where to Start Decluttering” is a great one to start with.

Packing Material

Packing material is not just boxes. This is the step that makes sure your breakables get to your new home all in one piece.

I’ll cover boxes first.

I know this is one material that you know you need. Did you know that there are so many different boxes out there? What is needed for sure are different sizes of normal square or rectangle boxes. They come in many different sizes. Not everything fits in that medium box. A lot will fit into large boxes but beware!!! The more you put in a box the heavier it will be. You have the chance of fragile items getting broken or the bottom of the box coming untaped. Not to mention they will be a lot heavier to carry.

Boxes So Many types of Boxes

Make sure you get a nice mixture of boxes. The small boxes work great for glassware or you can buy special glassware boxes also.

Earlier I mentioned all different kinds of boxes. I have covered square or rectangle. Did you know there are wardrobe boxes, television boxes, dish boxes and even boxes for your art. they make moving so much easier. They might cost a bit more but use my experience. It’s cheaper to buy the boxes instead of a new television.

The next moving material you need is packing paper. Hit up all of your neighbors that still get the printed newspaper. It works great. Might make your hands dirty but nothing a little water won’t take care of.

If you can’t find enough newspaper make sure you get packing paper it actually is pretty cheap. You get a lot for your money and it sure helps protect your items.

Another must have item is packing tape. Masking tape doesn’t hold well enough the bottoms of the boxes will fall thru if your not careful. Make sure you get plenty tape at the start. Running out of tape while your on a roll packing is a bummer.

The best way to go is this packing kit that you can buy. It’s affordable and it even helps you get the amount of boxes, tape, packing paper and other items that you need for the size of home you are moving out of. This helps make your moving easier.

Vehicle

This could be one of the most important decision to make after you have decided which moving way is the easiest and best way for you. The vehicle or vehicles that will move all of your stuff from one place to the other. If you or a friend has a pickup truck that might be an option you can use. Especially if you are moving a one bedroom apartment. Most likely you don’t have that much stuff so it would be doable. Remember with a pickup truck not much furniture will fit into it at once so it will also take a lot more trips back and forth.

If you are doing this on a budget allow for the gas with numerous trips.

Avoid filling the pickup truck past the top of the bed. I lost an expensive baby item because it was balancing on top of something else. It flew off the truck and broke into pieces. Another tip is to tie items down so they won’t shift or fly off. This will take a little extra time but it is worth it trust me I know from experience.

Another vehicle option is a moving truck or trailer you can rent. They come in many different sizes. Searching the internet will help you find different companies that rent moving trucks in your area. The websites usually will help you figure out how big of a moving truck you will need.

Just make sure you choose the right way for you. In my experience using a pick up truck made it a lot more work.

Moving Snacks

Yes, you read that right. Moving snacks for the helpers. Keeping your helpers fueled up for the day will get the job done. Make sure you get some protein thrown in there not just sugary snacks. Also check and see if anybody has any food allergies just in case. Some of those granola bars have peanuts in them so check for those peanut allergies. Fresh fruit is a great item to have sitting around. Anybody can grab it and go.

Water is another necessity to keep everyone hydrated.

Plan on getting lunch for everyone. They are helping you out so it would be a nice gesture to feed them. Plus this helps you out by keeping them around longer to get you moved.

Moving Date

Your moving date needs to be set before you start making all of the other plans. This is the date that you need to make sure everything and everyone is ready for. Don’t worry if you followed the advice in the above paragraph you will be on your way to having a easy moving day!

Another Way to Make Moving Easier

2. Hiring A Moving Company

This option is probably the least physical for you to do.

But not the least amount of money. Depending on the size of house you are moving and sometimes even smaller houses depending on the amount or weight of your items the cost differs.

Most moving companies will charge you by the distance they will be driving and the weight that they will be carrying. Often they give an estimate but there is a chance they just might be off and cost you more or if your lucky a little less.

Choose A Mover

Choosing a mover will take some time. Make sure you get prices from at least three different companies. Each company will charge differently but add everything up to see which one will be more affordable for your move.

Watch What Is Put On The Truck

The first time we had a moving company it was paid for by the company my husband was working for. We didn’t have any problems. But the second time we had movers move and with a different employer they had a limit on what they would pay and we had to pay $5,000.00 dollars out of our pocket because of weight.

Then the third time we made sure that the movers knew exactly what we had and they gave an accurate estimate and made sure the company paid for all of it.

In every option of moving decluttering needs to be done. With movers they are not allowed to question what you have. If it is there they will pack it.

I actually unpacked trash. It must of been sitting on the counter in a small bag and they got to it before I did. It was wrapped nice and neat and put inside a box.

Tell Movers How You Want It Packed

You are probably thinking that they are professional movers and they know what they are doing.

Yes they do but you just might want something packed a certain way.

For example when my children were small I had their toys in bins separated so we would know what goes with what. Keeping the toys together. When we got to our new house and opened up the boxes to get their rooms unpacked we realized they took each bin and dumped them all into a couple of boxes together. They packed the containers up separately. This wasn’t the end of the world but it was certainly inconvenient.

This happened on our first move with movers ever since I make sure I tell them how I want certain items to be packed and it has been no problem.

Sit Back

The above paragraphs may sound like a moving company might not be the way to go but it does have some benefits also. After you have decluttered (which you need to do no matter which way you choose to move), chose the right moving company and specified the way you want certain items to be packed all you need to do is grab a drink sit back and watch the movers do their magic.

Just knowing that you don’t have to pack, load, unload and if you choose they can for a price of course unpack your boxes for you. On this last move it was included in our moving package and I declined it. Not realizing later that I would regret it. So if you have that option seriously think about it.

Hiring movers is something I really recommend if you are moving states. It definitely makes moving easier

3. Pack Yourself and Movers Move It

This is the best choice if you want to make sure everything is packed to your liking.

Gather Packing Materials

Materials that you will be needing are the same as the first option. Boxes, packing tape, packing paper. This moving kit is a great way to make sure you have all the right moving materials you need to get the job done right. Once you have all of your packing items ready you can begin.

Declutter

Once again here I can’t say it enough declutter. You don’t want to move items that are trash or unwanted anymore. It’s best to take the time and declutter now. Checkout my posts on decluttering here.

Pack All Items

You can declutter as you pack if you are needing to get out of your house soon or you can declutter first then pack. You might of already decluttered when you staged your house to sell. Either way packing needs to begin. Make sure you label each box with what room it goes in and if possible list the items that are in the boxes.

Find Movers

There are three different types of movers you can hire. The first is a moving company that has guys and a truck show up for so many hours and helps you move. The second you get a rental truck and hire laborers to help you move or you can rent moving containers that they deliver and you fill with your items and they pick the containers up and move them to your new house. It’s your choice. Make sure you check out the cost of each and line it up before your moving date.

We did the last option when moving from Tennessee to Indian. It worked out great. We had seven days to fill them and they picked them up and we chose a date for them to deliver them to our new home. We were able to unpack on our timeline also. So no rushing with this method. If I were to move again even if it was in the same city this is what I would do again for sure.

Quick Recap To Making Moving Easier

The decision is yours. It all depends on how much or how little you want to do. If you don’t mind doing heavy lifting the Do It all Yourself Option is for you. But if you would rather not do much at all by all means hire movers to do it all.

Or if you are like me and want to do the packing but not the deal with the moving truck the moving containers are it.

Have You Decided Which Way To Make Your Moving Easier?

Happy Moving!!!!

How to Make Moving Easier / 3 Ways to Move

Three Choices You Have to Make Moving Easier