Moving is not as easy as it used to be. When you were younger, you could ask some friends to help you empty out an apartment in a single afternoon. You could shove everything in the back of a small rental van, drive to your new place and offer your friends pizza and cheap beer as a thank you. Now, it’s not so simple.
Now you have to move the contents of an entire household (along with a garage, a backyard and potentially a storage unit) to a new address. You have kids and pets. And, of course, your friends have busy schedules that they might not be able to ignore to help you haul furniture — even if you try to bribe them with plenty of pizza and beer. So, you might be on your own to lift all of those boxes.
Moving house seems like it will be more complicated this time around — but it doesn’t have to be. Read ahead to see how you can make your moving day much easier.
Get a Shipping Container
If you have a lot of items to haul to your new address, a simple moving van from a rental company might be too small. You’ll need something bigger, like a shipping container.
A large shipping container is 40ft long and 8ft tall. This will provide you with plenty of room to fit your furniture, appliances and personal belongings and leave you with room to spare. You can get everything to your address in a single trip. Take a look at how to move a shipping container across short and long distances. This should give you a clear idea of how you’ll transport your container when moving day arrives.
What can you do with your container after moving day? You have the option to sell your container once you’re done with it. Or you can put it to good use!
Turn it into a personal storage unit for all of the items that don’t fit in the new house just yet. This will give you time to unpack at your own pace. You can turn it into a backyard shed for your seasonal furniture, bicycles, gardening supplies and other outdoor items. Or you can convert it into a backyard building, like a home office, hobby shed or accessory dwelling unit. The possibilities are endless.
Hire Professional Movers
If you want your moving day to go over quickly and safely, you should hire professional movers to help you. They will have the skills to pick up furniture without causing injury. You don’t want to overestimate your lifting abilities and end up hurting yourself. Nothing will put a damper on your moving day like a trip to the ER.
They will also have the special equipment to carry heavy items through the house without dropping or dragging them. You won’t have to worry about your items getting permanently damaged, or worse, the house itself getting permanently damaged.
Professional long distance movers can haul your items out of the house, pack them into a vehicle, drive to your new address – not matter how far – and unload the items there. That will take a lot of the moving responsibilities off of your shoulders!
If you’re using a shipping container, you can hire movers to help you load the container. Then, you’ll need to hire a professional delivery service to attach your shipping container to a tilt-bed truck and drive it to your newest location.
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Prepare for Your Pets
Pets aren’t fond of changes in their routines, so they’re not going to remain calm when moving day arrives. They might run around the house in a frenzy. They might treat any hired movers as dangerous intruders. They might flee from the house and make you chase them around the neighborhood. This won’t make for an easy moving experience.
Instead of letting your pets run free on the big day, make some accommodations for them. Empty out a room before moving day and put all of their essentials inside it: their food bowl, their water bowl, their toys, their litterbox and their beds. You’ll need to lock them in that room for part of the moving day. Having these essentials should keep your pet comfortable and prevent them from disrupting you.
If you have energetic dogs, it might be better to get them out of the house. Hire a dogwalker to bring them on a long walk or bring them to a doggie daycare. This should keep your dogs occupied until you have to drive them over to the new address.
Make Plans for Your Kids
Another way you can make your moving day easier is to have your kids out of the house. Getting them out of the house will help you focus on the tasks at hand so that they get done faster. These tasks will be a lot less stressful to tackle, and you’ll have a lot more energy and patience leftover once you finally get your boxes into the new house.
Doing this can also be good for your kids! You’ll be removing them from a hectic and potentially hazardous environment. They don’t have to absorb that stress, which could make moving feel like a negative experience. They could have a positive experience, instead.
How? If your kids are very young, have a family member or close friend babysit them for a few hours. Suggest doing a fun activity as a distraction, like going to the movies or taking a trip to the park. This will give them a happy memory to look back on.
If your kids are a little older, you should encourage them to spend a special day with friends (especially when they won’t be seeing them as much after the move). You’ll want to acknowledge the emotional impact of moving on your child and give them opportunities to process their feelings. They will miss their friends, and they will want a proper chance to say goodbye.
Moving day doesn’t have to feel like a chaotic whirlwind. When you take these precautions, moving out of your house and into your new address will be much, much easier than you expect.
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