Guest Post - Moving to a New City: 12 Best Tips to to Make a Smooth Move

Whether you live alone or with your family, moving to a new place can be challenging. Plus, you get to feel excited and anxious at the same time.

After all, it can be stressful to move your belongings from one house to another. But as with anything in life, relocating can be manageable when you plan.

That said, here are 12 tips that will make moving from one to another a seamless process:

Do the Planning Properly

When you're moving to a new city, it would be a mistake not to plan out the move itself and the processes that lead up to your move. With a proper plan, you will have sufficient time to pack your things, identify which items to leave behind or bring with you, hire a mover, and so many more.

Although no one requires you to make a plan for your move, you'll find that it's harder to stay on track without it. This includes packing your items.

You can get distracted while trying to pack, or you might be too busy in other areas of life to be able to settle down and start packing your items.

When you create a schedule along with your plan of action, things will run a lot smoother. You won't have to worry and panic when the move date starts getting closer and closer because you already did everything you needed to accomplish.

Prepare a Moving Checklist

A crucial part of your plan for when you move should be a moving checklist. This checklist should indicate all of the general things you need to do to say that you are fully prepared to move to your new place.

When creating your moving checklist, please don't do a quick scribble and then run with it. Take time to sit down and think through all of the tasks you need to accomplish to move out of your home in peace. You can add more later on, but it's better to get the important ones out of the way.

Consult the checklist to figure out which tasks you haven't done and which ones you did so that you can check whether you're right on schedule.

Create a Budget

After you create the checklist, you have to make a budget, specifically when moving. Depending on how far away your new place is, the fund will be more expensive or cheaper.

You should contact your chosen removalist or mover before you plan on moving so you can get an understanding of their rates.

Aside from the movers themselves, you also need to consider the money that comes with paying for the packaging materials. These things can rack up from the boxes to the tapes, labels, and the bubble wrap if you have many items.

Get Organized Early

As much as possible, you want to finish organizing your things earlier than you planned. That's because there will be inevitable delays that you'll encounter or days when you're not in the mood to organize anything.

That's why you have to account for those days and manage as much of the items as possible.

When you organize early, you won't have to inconvenience your movers or reschedule the day of your move. Plus, you'll be able to double-check your items and ensure that you're not missing out on anything or that you've forgotten something in your tasks.

You might also be able to do extra tasks in your checklist that are optional but will better the move for you if you finish organizing early.

Get Rid of Unwanted Things

Speaking of extra time, if you want to reduce the amount of time it takes you to pack your things, you might want to eliminate unwanted items.

When you get rid of these items, you also reduce the number of things you have to pack. That's why you have to organize your items early to know which items to keep or throw away.

You can do a lot of things with the unwanted items aside from throwing them away. You can donate them to a charity, sell them off, or give them away to friends and families.

Use Proper Packing Technique

When you're packing the items that you plan on keeping with you to your new home, make sure that you do proper packing techniques on them.

Even if you hire removalists or movers, you need to be able to pack them tightly. Otherwise, the items will get damaged, or they might fall off and will delay the move. That's why you don't want to skimp on the packaging budget. 

Also, make sure that you take the time to understand what the correct packing technique is. For example, you should put heavier items in smaller boxes, so you don't end up having to lift a big box of heavy objects.

Hire a Removalist

A removalist can be a massive help when it comes to the big day. You won't have to end up with a sprained back after having to lift all those items and make the trip to your new home with the help of removalists.

For professionals like a removalist, you should look for professionals depending on your location or where you're moving.

So, if you're moving to Sydney, you can type in "removalist quotes Sydney" on Google. That way, it'll be easier for you to look for an affordable removalist that serves the Sydney area.

Of course, it's going to be more challenging if the place you're moving to is farther away. However, it's going to be doubly more demanding for you to move your items by yourself if the home is that far from your original crib.

Plus, when your removalists are nearer, that means that you won't have to spend more money to get all of your household items to the new place. Therefore, make sure that you account for those distance costs when creating a budget for movers.

Make an Inventory

Whether you're hiring a mover or not, but even more so when you are, make sure that you take inventory of all the items you're bringing with you. It's extra work, but it's going to help you get a hold of all of the things that you have.

In case boxes are missing or items are, your inventory checklist will help you know which ones are there and which ones aren't.

Aside from the unique contents of the boxes, remember to label your boxes as well. Assigning them a number should be enough to help you identify them. You can then list down the items in each box.

Label All Sides of the Box

When you're labeling the box, make sure that you cover all of the sides with the label, especially when it has many fragile items in it.

Your movers will be looking out for those labels, so you need to do your due diligence and add the labels on all sides. The only place you might not want to label would be the top of the box. That way, there's a key differentiator.

You can use whatever to label your boxes. There are fragile stickers that you could buy and stick onto your containers. However, you can also use a marker to label them for your inventory management.

Consider a Storage Space

If you're moving to a smaller space, you might want to consider renting a storage space where you can store your unwanted items.

Of course, you have to do this before your move, preferably sometime earlier. After all, you're going to be moving these items into a different place.

As you're moving, this is the time when it's best to consider renting a storage space. That's because you already packed your items, and you have a truck or movers available to you.

Again, preferably, you need to have a storage space that is nearest to your house for your convenience.

Load Heavier Items First

If you're moving your items yourself, make sure you load heavier items into your moving truck first. When you hire movers, they should know to do that themselves or have their organization process.

Aside from the heavier items, you should also load larger items into the truck first. And then you can let the smaller items occupy the crevices and whatever is left in the truck.

For the very last items that you should pack, these will be the more fragile items. Make sure that they have a stable foundation where you put them.

Let Friends and Family Know

When you're moving to a new city, make sure that you notify friends and family first before anything else. That way, if they want to reach you or visit, they know that you're in a different place now.

Please don't post it on social media to notify people around you. That's because there might be people with ill intentions who could take advantage of that information.

Aside from friends and family, let your utilities provider and workplace know as well. That will make your other aspects of life go a lot smoother after your new move.

The tips listed above cover the essential tasks you need to do to ensure that your move will be smooth and as free of hiccups as possible. Remember to plan early and to plan at all. Good luck!

Author Bio: Andrew is an NY-based writer who covers DIY home projects, cleaning, and organization. When not writing, he spends his time with his two rescue dogs, Jet and Rocket.

What Pre-Packing Is and How It Helps Before You Move

You've found a new place to live, and now the big day is almost here. Moving day, that is. Before you can get there, though, you've got to pack up your entire life into boxes so that everything you own can be transported to your new residence. Although this process can be slow and arduous, you can make it easier with a technique called pre-packing. This technique has many benefits that can help make your moving experience far more enjoyable.

Only Pack What You Need

The most important component of pre-packing is taking the time to sort through your belongings to determine what you won't need in your new home. After all, you don't want to go to the work of packing something only to get rid of it after you move. Once you've pulled out items that you don't plan to keep, you can sell the nicer items to help cover some of your moving costs.

Understand What Goes Where

Another important part of pre-packing is thinking through where items will end up once you unpack in your new residence. Good real estate agents can help you envision what certain rooms in a home can be used for, which will make this process easier. As you get a feel for what will go together, you can organize these items to be packed together, even if they're not together in your current home.

Start a Stack

The key to successful packing is making forward progress that begins to clear out rooms in your current residence. To help with that aim, it's helpful to clear out a specific area in your home, such as a garage, to be used to collect packed boxes. That way, when a box is packed, you can take it to this staging area so that it takes less time to load the moving truck when it arrives.

Label Everything

Setting up your new home should be fun and joyous, not stressful. To help remove some of the stress, it's important to clearly label each of your moving boxes as they become filled with items. You can even color-code the boxes so that it's easy for all of your moving helpers to understand which room the boxes need to go to.

When going through the entire contents of your home, you're bound to come across some items that you forgot you still had. Therefore, it's perfectly okay to have fun during the pre-packing process. In fact, allowing yourself to reminisce and have fun will help the time pass more quickly so that you can complete the task of packing more easily.

Guest Post - On Which Factors the Costs of Moving Companies Depend?

We partnered with a moving company. for this post. The opinions in the post are honest. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on our personal views. We are excited because we know you will love it.

Are relocating to your next block or a completely new city? No matter where you are moving, the entire process of relocation is very much overwhelming, both in a good and a bad way. Well, it is a good thing because you will meet new people, live in a brand new house, and can start all over again afresh. But moving to a new place also has its consequences, the primary of which is the long expenditure that you must bear. 

Unfortunately, this expenditure starts with the moving companies. You will have to spend money on hiring professional movers. If you have fears and concerns about the expenses, here we have discussed the facts based on which you can get an estimated cost of the professional mover services in your city.

Relocation Distance- Starting To End Point

Most of the moving companies consider the distance between the starting to the endpoint as the primary factor to calculate the relocation cost. People usually think that short distances are way cheaper than the long-distance moving process. But the picture is far more different. Here is how the relocation cost depends on the covered distance:

• If you are hiring a full-time moving service for any distance, you will have to pay a lot more, since then you will be charged for the overhead expenses too. 

• If you want to move short distances, you can choose only a specific service for which the cost will be less. But choosing a specific moving service for long-distance will be more since then the distance per hour will be considered. 

Relocation Time- Season And Month

Many moving companies offer seasonal discounts and offers. Also, during some weather hurdles, the charges of packing and moving increase greatly. So, when you hire any packers and movers, make sure you are considering the month of the relocation and the season. The following reasons will give you a clear idea about moving time that can affect its cost. 

• Moving from one place to the other during winters or monsoons will charge you more because of the roadblocks. 

• In summer and spring, the charges will depend on the demand for the services.

• During occasions like thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, and others, the cost of relocation will be less, as you may get special discounts and offers. 

Relocation Load- Weight And Volume

The next factor that will affect the relocation cost is the total weight and volume of the load to be shifted from your old location to the new place. Moving companies usually prepare an inventory list beforehand and then calculate the costs based on the list. Sometimes, the costs solely depend on the weight of the load, if all the belongings are taking only a single moving truck.

Relocation Difficulty- Hurdles Of Moving And Packing

The last factor that affects the cost of the moving companies for your relocation plan is the difficulty level of the relocation. For example, if your old apartment is on the sixteenth floor, the movers will have to carry all the belongings to the ground floor, which will cost you extra money for the labor service. Similarly, if the truck cannot enter the alley in front of your new home, you will have to pay more for the labor charges for carrying all the belongings from the truck to your new house. 

Conclusion 

These facts are the preliminary estimation steps which will help you to draw a rough budget. To get a more accurate value, you will have to ask the moving companies to generate a quote based on your needs. 

Author Bio: Alyssa Moylan is an ordinary woman from Australia, a writer by day and a reader by night. She writes on various topics like home improvement, business, lifestyle, health, travel and fashion. She likes to think of ways on how to solve daily life problems of people. Follow her on Twitter to stay updated.

When Should You Move? Where Should You Live?

Young people just starting their careers and perhaps living on their own for the first time generally move into apartments or a small rental house. After a while, they may move to a larger apartment or home that has more square feet than their first home. Many couples typically begin married life in an apartment or condo. 

Then, as life goes on, things change. The couple has a baby or plans to have children — they need more space. An apartment dweller wants to adopt a dog — he or she needs a yard and sidewalks. Young people who are well on their way to successful careers may be ready to invest in property. These are a few of the reasons that cause people to move from a smaller dwelling into a single-family home of their own. 

Once the decision has been made to move from a smaller home to a larger home, how do they decide where this home should be? Buying a house is the biggest investment most people will ever make, so careful consideration of the location is of the utmost importance. What should you look for when deciding where to live? 
The accompanying infographic, Go Big AND Go Home … Deciding When to Move and Where to Live, presents a list of the top five reasons people move from apartments and condominiums into single-family homes. It also offers tips for what you should look for in a new neighborhood based on your unique lifestyle. Review this infographic when you’re ready to make your move.

Graphic created by New City Moving, a provider of professional moving services.