Whether you move frequently or you’re getting ready to relocate for the first time, moving can be a highly stressful experience. In fact, many relocators claim that moving is the most stressful life event they’ve ever gone through — more stressful than a divorce, a wedding, and other major life occurrences!
But don’t let those claims freak you out! Moving doesn’t have to be as stressful as many people make it out to be. With plenty of planning and a few creative moving hacks, your upcoming move can be a breeze. Sure, it’ll be time-consuming and require a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be a complicated, overwhelming mess.
Curious about what you can do to simplify your Rochester moving experience? The professional movers and packers at Ace Moving & Warehousing share several helpful moving hacks below!
1. Establish a Moving Budget and Stick to It
One of the greatest sources of moving stress is money. And when you don’t create a budget for your move, you’re bound to spend more than you bargained for. Moving can get pricey in a hurry, but with well-designed expense planning, you can minimize your relocation costs, or at the very least, understand exactly where your money is going.
Not sure how to create a relocation expense plan for your unique needs? Check out our outline of how to create a moving budget for helpful tips.
2. Create a Timeline of Move To-Dos and Stick to It
Moving involves so many moving parts (pun intended) that it’s exceedingly easy to lose track of time or forget all of the small details unless you make a plan (write it down) and follow it. Ideally, you’ll want to make your to-do list and put it on a weekly timeline at least eight weeks before you know you’ll depart for your new home.
Making an eight-week moving checklist will help keep you on track in the months leading up to your relocation and will split up the workload into easily accomplishable chunks, so you don’t feel overwhelmed and super stressed. It’ll also help you thoroughly review all of your must-do activities on paper, so you can add anything that you noticed you left out.
3. Arrange Pickups for Items You Plan to Donate
Donating your infrequently used belongings is one of the most effective ways to reduce the amount of stuff you need to move. But when you have a packed schedule, it can be difficult to find the time to bring those belongings to a donation center.
Fortunately, many donation centers offer free pickups, which means someone will come to your home and load up your items for you. If you know you’ll have a tough time making it to a donation center during operating hours, schedule a pickup to take this task off your plate.
4. Hire Professional Movers and Packers
Hiring professional movers and packers isn’t necessarily a moving hack, but it deserves mention as a stress-reducing relocation strategy. Conducting a DIY move is tough; it’s time-consuming, physically draining, and in many cases, mentally draining, too. But when you hire professional movers and packers, they handle the majority of the labor involved in a move.
Professional movers provide a range of useful services beyond simply loading and unloading your belongings. When you opt for full packing services, your movers not only pack your whole home but also provide:
- Appliance moving
- Furniture moving
- All the necessary moving supplies to complete the job
- Custom crating to protect awkwardly shaped or pricey items
- Unpacking your belongings in your new home
Working with our team at Ace Moving & Warehousing also affords you access to secure, climate-controlled storage solutions where you can keep potentially vulnerable items safe during your relocation. Hiring a moving team is perhaps the best thing you can do to cut down on the stress and overwhelm associated with relocating.
5. Use Up The Food In Your House
Packing, transporting, and unpacking food is a pain. But if you do your best to use up most of the food in your home before your move date, you can all but eliminate this annoying task. What if you hire professional movers? Won’t they move the food for you? Unfortunately, the answer is no.
Professional movers and packers do not move perishable items. There are also a number of other non-allowable items they cannot move according to federal regulations. Many moving companies also have their own restrictions on certain items, so it’s best to find out what those are before you commit to a particular company.
Use Creative Packing Hacks
If hiring full packing services isn’t in your budget or you simply prefer to do the job yourself, employ the following hacks to make the packing process easier:
6. Prevent Spills With Plastic Wrap
To avoid accidental spills during your move, make sure you place a small piece of plastic wrap under the lid of any bottles that contain liquids.
7. Leave Your Dresser Drawers Full
When you pack, you don’t have to empty your dresser drawers. You can keep them full and use them to transport a large percentage of your clothing.
8. Keep Clothing on Hangers
Taking clothes off their hangers only creates more work. Instead of packing clothes and hangers separately, leave them together. Consider using wardrobe boxes to keep your clothes protected and wrinkle-free.
9. Use Linens and Soft Items as Packing Material
Not a fan of using disposable packing materials? Trying to save some cash? Your home likely has plenty of cushy blankets, towels, and other linens you can use instead of dedicated packing supplies.
10. Pack Your Suitcases and Other Large, Empty Items
Rather than buying tons of moving boxes, look for items in your home that are empty and can contain your stuff. You can use suitcases, trash cans lined with bags, duffel bags, pillowcases, laundry baskets, and many other items as makeshift packing containers.
11. Take Pictures of Your Electronics
Putting your electronics back together after a move can be super frustrating, especially if they have several parts, ports, and cords. To minimize the time you spend setting these things up in your new home, take a photo of each item before you break it down and pack it. When it comes time to unpack and set up your electronics, you’ll have a perfect visual diagram to follow.
The same idea applies to any items you’ll need to disassemble for transport — having a visual diagram to follow will make the reassembly process so much easier. You may also want to take photos or videos of anything valuable that’s going in the moving truck just in case those items suffer damage in transport.
If you need to file an insurance claim with your movers after completing your relocation, having visual proof of the pre-move condition of your items will be invaluable.
12. Pack an Essentials Bag
Whether you’re packing your things on your own or hiring professional packers for the job, the packing process will likely be chaotic. And with all that chaos, it’s all too easy to forget to set aside the things you know you’ll need during and immediately after your move.
That’s why it’s so important to remember to pack an essentials bag. Ideally, you’ll want to pack this bag before your packers arrive or before you dig into the packing process yourself.
What is an essentials bag? It’s a bag of stuff you know you’ll want while you’re traveling or on your first or even your second night in your new home. You’ll want to include things like:
- Medications or supplements you take daily
- Any toiletries you use regularly
- A couple of changes of clothing
- Chargers for electronic devices that need them
- Important documents you may need during your move
- Flatware (especially useful if you know you’ll get takeout during the trip or on the night you arrive)
- A shower curtain if your new shower doesn't’ have glass doors (you’ll likely want to clean up when you get to your new home)
- Anything else you anticipate needing for at least a day or two after you complete your move
13. Color Code Your Boxes
If you’re packing up your home on your own, do yourself a favor and make the unloading and unpacking process easier by clearly labeling and color-coding all of your boxes. Choose a color for the kitchen, a color for the primary bedroom, a color for the bathrooms, and so on.
By making each room’s boxes easy to identify, you’ll be able to quickly figure out where those boxes go when you start bringing your things inside your new home.
Ready to Hire a Rochester Moving Company? Contact Ace Moving & Warehousing
If you’re getting ready to relocate, let our team at Ace Moving & Warehousing make your upcoming move as simple and low-stress as possible. Since 1958, we’ve been helping Rochester residents with all of their moving and storage solutions needs, and we’re ready to help you too.
To learn more about our services or get a fast moving quote, give us a call today at 507-288-3341 or contact us online.