Moving Tips and Tricks

Moving Tips and Tricks that include packing tips for moving and advice. This post will help you minimize stress with tips for moving out.

This summer I had a crazy idea that I thought my husband would never go for. So, I scheduled a date night and I laid out my plan to sell our home and rent until we could find our next dream home. At first Kurt thought I was a little crazy. But, as I laid out all the reasons I was shocked how quickly he came around to it. Then we start on this process getting our home ready to sell.

I am still in shock that everything came together and we sold our home last month. We have not moved in 7 years so we were a little rusty. Now that we have successfully moved I wanted to share some moving tips so you can make your move low stress.

The first is the most important purge, purge, purge. We did a lot of purging to get the house ready to go onto the market, but once we knew where we were moving we were able to purge even more stuff. We hired a designer to help me determine what furniture we should bring with us. I originally was going to put the extra furniture into storage. She gave us great advice and said if you don't love the furniture or have an emotionally attachment to it sell it. We learned a lot about other tips about selling furniture online that I will share soon.

Ideally, everything you post online will sell, but I think that rarely happens. So, it is important to also schedule a free pick up service for donation. There are a number of charities that will come to your home and pick up everything from furniture to clothing. Make sure you save your receipts for when you do your taxes later.

Packing Tips for Moving

Photos of Your Items

Take inventory of your items. For items that have a great value make sure you take photos of the products and their tags.

Moving Boxes

I am still in shock with the number of boxes that we ended up using. If you want to save money you can find free moving boxes at local stores, online through sites like Nexdoor.com and Craigslist and by saving shipping boxes from shipments that come to your home.

For your heavy items make sure to place them in small boxes so that they are easier to carry. It is also safer for your items since they are less likely to fall out of the bottom of a large box.

Color code your moving boxes with either different color paper, tape or pens so it is easy for your movers to place the boxes into the right rooms without you having to hover over the movers.

Make sure you wrap your valuables with foam pouches or even with your pillows and blankets.

Have Fun

Moving can be very stressful. Try to do whatever you can to make it fun. We incentivized B to be a part of the process by paying her to help us. And letting her surf through the halls at the storage facility helped.

Pack a moving day essentials box

This is a mistake we made with our latest move. Make sure you pack an essentials box or bag. This should have everything you may need on moving day, well maybe moving week since it may take some time to get everything unpacked. Essentials could include toothbrushes, medications, toiletries, clothing, important documents, baby necessities, toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning spray, trash bags, a tool kit, pet food, bottled water, wallets and extras shoes.

Thanks to Publix and their For Home. For Family. For You promotion you can simplify life and stock up on all the supplies you will need for your moving day essential box when you are getting your groceries at Publix. As an added bonus, you will also receive a gift card you can use to spoil yourself. Buy $30 get $10, valid 11/14-11/20/19.

Gain, Tide Pods, or Gain Flings Detergent. - $9.99
Cascade Dishwasher Detergent - $6.49
Bounty Paper Towels - $7.49
Charmin Bath Tissue - $7.49
Prilosec OTC – $9.99
Secret Aluminum Free Deodorant - $10 for 2
Pantene Hair Care - $12 for 2
Crest Complete Toothpaste - $6 for 2
Tampax Pearl Tampons - $6.99
Pampers Diapers - $24.99

Finish Packing Before Moving Day

This is an error we made with our last move. Having the movers in the house while we were still packing boxes added to the chaos of the day. Make it your goal to have everything packed the night before the movers are scheduled to come.

Moving Companies

Our last move the movers were terrible so finding a good moving company was really important to us. We got recommendations from friends including one recommendation from a friend who has move 7 times in 11 years. I recommend getting quotes from at least three companies so you can compare their prices and services. You will want to make sure they are both licensed and insured. Also find out how many people are expected to be there so there are no surprises the day of.

If you have flexibility for your move in dates select a mid-week, mid-moth move in date can save you money since demand is highest on the weekends.

If you are moving into a building make sure you schedule the move in with the building. Many buildings have moving restrictions and will want you to reserve an elevator for your move.

You will also want to have some waters and extra cash to tip the movers if they do a great job for you.

Final Walkthrough

Make sure you check every cabinet and drawer once or ideally twice to make sure you don't forget anything.

House Keys

You will want to leave all the keys, garage door openers and code to any doors for the new owners. I was happy our agent asked about the garage door opener because I had forgotten we even had them.

Welcome Letter

No one knows your home like you do. We love to leave a note for the people moving in with a rundown of who your neighbors are (assuming you had good ones), recommendations for services like your lawn person, pesticide company, and other things that you would want to know if you were moving in.