10 Things to Do befor you Move

1. Lighten your load

Sift and sort through your belongings and decide what to throw out, what to give away and what to sell. Think of it as lightening the load that you must pay to have moved—you’re saving yourself money! After you’ve pared your possessions down, begin to pack.

2. Save newspapers
Stop throwing out old newspapers and start saving them for packing material. Since you’ll want to wad up and crumple newspaper for cushioning and wrap multiple pieces of newspaper around fragile objects, save a lot more newspaper than you think you might need…like three times as much! Bear in mind that if you pack dishes with newspaper you may need to wash all of your dishes upon arrival at your new home. A way around this is to use tissue paper or extra large plastic wrap for the inner layer next to the dishes or buy plain newsprint from an office supply store.

3. Arrange for temporary housing and storage if needed
Take a good hard look at the timing involved in moving out of your old home and into your new one. If your new home won’t be ready in time, you will need to arrange to stay at a temporary location and your belongings should be moved into temporary storage. Make sure you arrange for storage near your new home so that if you need anything you don’t have to go far to get it.

4. Repair and renovate your new home
Get any repair or renovation work that you need on your new home scheduled and started, since jobs often take longer than anticipated. Call to get it scheduled about four to six weeks prior to your moving day.

5. Hook up with the utility companies
Start calling local utility companies such as electric, water, gas, internet, cable TV and phone and let them know your moving date. Make sure the services stay on the day of the move but have them cease that evening or the next day. After all, you and your movers will need to use the bathroom and you’ll want lights on in the house along with water to drink and phone service. Make the same calls for your new location to make sure you get services turned on starting with your moving day.

6. Reserve elevators in your building
If you live in a building, contact the supervisor about reserving the elevators. The same thing applies to condominiums or co-ops. If your condo is above the first floor, the management will probably want you to reserve the freight elevator for your moving day. Schedule this as far in advance as possible to avoid finding out that the elevator is already booked by someone else. Your building/condo/co-op management might charge you a fee to have a building maintenance man supervise your move. Also, check with the management at your new building about any move-in rules they have. There may be a move-in charge.

7. Stop and start delivery services
Two weeks out from your moving date you should schedule with delivery services to stop deliveries such as the newspaper, laundry, or dry cleaning pick-up and delivery. If you are moving long-distance, ask your relocation consultant or the local tourist bureaus about hiring new services at your new location.

8. Get your address changed
Fill out a change of address online at http://www.usps.com or with a mail-in card approximately 2 weeks before you moving date. If you run a home based business that ships inventory, you will also want to change your address with FedEx, UPS and other shippers you use.

9. Make arrangements for your pets
You can’t ship pets on moving vans, so prepare to take them with you unless you’re moving far enough away that you need to ship them by air. If you need to ship them by air, contact the airlines a week or two ahead of time to find out their requirements.

Make sure your pets have up-to-date identification tags that list rabies shots and immunizations along with your name, address and cell phone number. For moves across state lines, make sure you have copies of all current shots and immunizations because state authorities often check. If you are moving to Hawaii, you will be required to quarantine your pet for 120 days. Lastly, check with any new co-op or condo to see if they have restrictions on pets and the number of pets you can have.

10. Plan for your plants
Start planning what you will do with your house plants. If you are moving across state lines, be aware that some states require an inspection by a state agriculture inspector. Your plants can get shocked by moving and if weather is very cold (below 35 F) or very hot (above 95 F), it can be dangerous to move the plant because those extreme temperatures add to the shock. Your plant can be kept in the dark for up to a week but try to minimize this and get them some sunlight as soon as possible.



How To Donate Things

The more you donate, the less you have to move and that saves you money. Plus, of course, you get to feel good about helping people who are less fortunate and need things. Don’t forget that you can save the receipts and deduct items given to charities from your federal income taxes!

Before you donate clothing to charity, make sure that it is clean. Charities have enough work to do without having to wash dirty clothes. Bear in mind that most of the people who help out at charities are volunteers, so make sure your household items are in good working order and reasonably clean before you donate them. That old toaster that doesn’t work will probably be tossed in the trash if you give it to charity, unless the charity specifically advertises that it welcomes non-working appliances.

Look for organizations such as Goodwill, the Salvation Army, church resale stores, and local charities.

You can also have a “freebie table” at a garage sale—the strategy here is to sell the higher-value items and give away items that wouldn’t make you much money at a garage sale.

Yet another way to donate items is to ask friends and family if they want them, and to put them on websites such as freecycling.org or craigslist.org for giveaway. Make sure you take down your online ad after the items have been given away so you don’t keep getting inquiries.

The only potential downside to giving away items to friends, family and strangers from online sites is that it won’t be tax deductible—a charity needs to be registered with the government in order to provide you with a tax-deductible receipt.



How To Pack Your Belongings

​ <General guidelines>
Start packing sooner than you think you need to because it always takes longer than you think. The first things to pack are things you rarely use such as books you’ve read or wedding china. Use packing material to pad breakable items. Newspapers are good but the ink rubs off fairly easily so be careful. Place breakable items in separate boxes from non-breakables and mark the boxes of breakables “FRAGILE.”

​

Don’t pack anything flammable like propane cylinders, torches or matches. Buy or find good, sturdy boxes in various sizes. Pack boxes as tightly as you can but don’t load them up too heavy. Put the heaviest items in the box first so the box won’t tip over. 20-30 pounds is the ideal weight for boxes, and 50 should be the absolute maximum.

​

Don’t use masking tape to seal boxes because it isn’t tough enough—use packing tape, that’s what it’s for. Get a wide-tip indelible marker and label your boxes legibly on more than one side and on the top so that you can read the labels even when they are stacked.

​

Get an inventory list going on your computer or notepad. Mark boxes for different rooms either by writing things like “Dining” for dining room or with colored stickers to designate destination rooms. Write what’s in the box on the outside of the box—it doesn’t need to be an essay, just a few words.

​

For things you’ll need right away like bathroom items, cooking items, and some of your clothes, mark those boxes “OPEN FIRST”. Keep anything expensive or irreplaceable with you as you move along with indispensable items like your cell-phone charger and personal items. Put them in a bag or suitcase.

 

Books
Pack books flat in the box. Alternate them so that every other one has the spine facing left and the ones in between face right. This equalized the weight. If you live in a humid climate, put a piece of paper between the book so that they won’t stick to each other. Don’t overload the box—keep it to 20-30 pounds. This means using smaller boxes for books.

​

Liquids and bottles
Make sure you don’t pack anything flammable—many items under your sink are flammable or dangerous. Check the federally-mandated list, “Items You Should Not Ship.”

Wrap tape around the lids of bottles to seal them, then wrap them snuggly in newspaper. Wad up newspaper and use it to pad the bottom of boxes, then lay bottles on top of the newspaper. Fill in the sides and top with wadded-up newspaper.

​

Dishes and china
First, wad up newspaper and use it to pad the bottom of the box. Next, wrap large pieces of china with newsprint. You can bundle as many as three similar items using one single piece of news print. As you put each bundle in the box, put them upright in rows, don’t lay them flat where they can break. Then pad them on the sides with lots of crumpled newspaper. Put about two or three inches of crumpled newspaper on top of those items, then pad and put in your lighter items like cups, saucers and such so that the box is bottom-heavy.

​

Clothes—hanging and folded
For hanging clothes, put the in a wardrobe box along with all winter coats and bulky items and anything you plan to store. If you will be storing that box, use moth repellent and seal the box with tape to protect your clothes from moths and dust.

For folded clothes, pack them into suitcases, bags, or laundry baskets. You can also put your folded clothes into a special linen box or other lightweight boxes.

​

Computers and electronics
It can be hard to remember what plugs into what on your computer, so take a picture of your wired connections and label the cables. Colored zip ties are ideal for this and you can find them at office supply stores. Unplug all the wires and cables, roll them up and bundle them in with their components to make it easy to put everything back together.

Use your original computer and electronics boxes if you still have them, and use lots of Styrofoam, bubblewrap, newspaper and foam sheets. If you don’t have the original box, pick another sturdy box and pad the bottom of it with wadded up newspaper. Flat screen TV’s fit nicely inside picture boxes!

For electronics, wrap them in plastic bags or newspapers and put them in a box on top of wadded-up newspaper. Stand the electronics on edge and pad heavily all around it.

​

Food items
You’ll want to pack your food last, after packing everything else. Don’t pack perishables like fish or salad greens, even on a local move, because if you forget about them it could be very unpleasant.

Tape up all food box openings, including spices. Use small boxes for small spice jars and then put that box into a bigger one and pad it out. Be careful not to overload boxes with too many heavy canned goods and heavy food items.

​

Lampshades
Detach the lampshade from the base of the lamp and pack the lampshade in newspaper. You can nest lampshades inside each other with newspaper between them. Be careful to hold the lampshade by the wire base to avoid damage to the shade. Put lampshades in at the top of boxes and pad them thoroughly. Linen boxes are ideal for lampshades

​

Pictures
Use book boxes or liquor boxes for pictures. Pack pictures separately from everything else, especially if they are irreplaceable. Pad framed photos to protect them and lay them all on edge inside the boxes, then pad out the inside so the box packs tightly. Label your boxes so you can tell what’s where. For irreplaceable pictures, take it with you in your vehicle as you move.

​

Shoes
Put your shoes in shoeboxes or ziplock bags, then pack them in a big box or linen box. If you don’t have shoeboxes or ziplock bags, you can wrap your shoes in newspaper to keep them from getting scuffed up.

​

Linens and bedding
Put your linens, pillows and bedding into a lined box or other container and put a layer of newspaper between them if you live in a humid climate.

​

Knick-knack and figurines
Use bubble wrap to pad these items. For very fragile, delicate items, wrap them with small-bubble wrap, then wrap the whole thing with large-bubble wrap. Pour foam peanuts around the items as you place them in the box so they stay put. You can get recyclable or biodegradable peanuts. If you don’t have bubblewrap or peanuts, use lots and lots of newspaper.

​

Stemware
Wrap every piece of stemware in newspaper. Put wadded-up newspaper into each goblet or glass and then wrap newspaper around the stem. Make sure you use lots of newspaper to cushion your stemware and put them in the boxes stem side up.