Lifestyle

Tag: moving

  • 15 Tips for Moving Day

    15 Tips for Moving Day

    Moving into a new apartment? If you don’t plan ahead and make specific arrangements, moving day can become a nightmare. With a little planning and preparation, you can make moving day run smoothly for both you and your movers.

    Make moving day easier with these 15 moving tips:

    1. If you’re hiring movers, set a moving date at least two weeks beforehand. Remember to be flexible, though, if you plan to move on a weekend or during the summer as these are busy times for movers.
    2. Before you hire a moving company, ask friends, coworkers, and neighbors for recommendations to ensure you hire a reliable company.
    3. Remove any clutter from your current apartment or home before the movers arrive.
    4. Unless you’re paying your movers to pack your belongings, too, pack items you won’t use at least one week before moving day.
    5. Make lists of contents and separate boxes according to which room they’ll go in in your new apartment so your movers can place them in the correct room. Sequentially number boxes so that if anything is missing you’ll know what was in the box.
    6. Be present on moving day in case the movers have any questions.
    7. Label boxes with large, clear handwriting or labels to help the movers recognize what goes where in your new apartment.
    8. Label and separate items that are heavy or fragile and be sure to tell the movers to be extra careful.
    9. Ask your new landlord about parking and unloading regulations before moving day to ensure you and your movers have adequate space to park and unload. If your old or new building has elevators, find out if they have to be reserved in advance.
    10. Prepare a floor plan so your movers will know which boxes and pieces of furniture go to which room.
    11. Have drinks and snacks available for your movers at both your old and new apartment.
    12. Have soap, paper towels, and toilet tissue easily accessible at both your old and new apartment.
    13. Do a final walk-through of your old apartment and your new apartment before the movers leave to ensure everything is in the correct place and is not broken. Once you are satisfied, sign off on any final paperwork.
    14. If it’s in your budget, hire a cleaning crew to clean your old apartment after your belongings are out.
    15. Tip your movers, especially if they did a good job.

    SOURCE

  • Tips For Moving Into Your New Home

    Tips For Moving Into Your New Home

    Congratulations, you’ve bought your home and it’s move-in time. Wait!

    Before you move in, read on to get some practical and important tips.

    Change the locks

    You’ve closed escrow and the keys to your new home are yours.

    The first thing you should do is change the locks. It’s hard to say who may have access to your home. Anyone from real estate agents to the sellers or maintenance people: all could still have a set of keys to your home. Be safe and change the locks first thing.

    If the home doesn’t have deadbolts on the doors, install them. If the door has glass on it, be sure you install a deadbolt that uses a key to unlock from both sides.

    If someone is breaking into your house and there is glass on the door, it can be shattered and the intruder can just reach through the broken glass and turn the deadbolt. Instead, use a key deadbolt and keep an extra key near the door but out of reach and out of sight from the outside.

    Create an inventory of your belongings

    Don’t risk losing something that means a lot to you. Take an inventory of all your belongings. It’s best if you can pack your items in clearly labeled and numbered boxes that are marked for particular rooms, such as kitchen or bathroom supplies.

    Using an inventory sheet to detail what each box contains will make it so much easier to unpack and remember where things are. You may need to find something quickly before you’re fully unpacked. If you’re using movers or friends and family to help, the inventory sheet will also help you keep track of your stuff and make sure that it all ends up in your new home. You can find moving inventory sheets on the Web.

    Repair and paint while the home is empty

    It’s a no-brainer but sometimes goes overlooked. If you have to make major repairs, try to do them before you move in. It’s easier to take care of major maintenance or messy repair jobs when the home is empty.

    So, give your new home a good look and mark down the maintenance needs, then try to plan your move-in dates for after the work is completed. Even if the work is being done in an entirely different room, it still helps to have the house empty. That way you can feel better about leaving workers in the home while you’re not there because your home is empty.

    Whole-House cleaning

    It’s maybe the only time you’ll have this opportunity. Give the entire house a good top-to-bottom cleaning. It’s a great way to start a new life in a fresh, clean home. Plus it’s a lot easier to clean everything when nothing is inside to be moved around.

    This is a good time to make sure things like smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are all functioning properly. Change the batteries on them so that you can track the need for new batteries with the anniversary of the home purchase.

    Thinking ahead and taking a few extra steps will save you time and energy. It will simplify the move-in process and make your home a safe place to get good sleep on your first night.

    SOURCE