Written by Mr. Sahil Mithal, Co-founder of ShiftKarado

 

There is always something about a new home or workplace that even the thought of it fills us with whole new positive and vibrant energy. Moving to another house or office seems an entirely whole new experience every time— the excitement of one of a kind and more unexpected troubles than ever before! But, the fact cannot be denied that no other task is more arduous than packing all the stuff and moving it without any loss or damage. Charting out the cost-effective budget and finding the quality packing material for different things, buying and labeling the boxes, arranging for rental trucks, and many other difficulties make the complete relocation adventure a bit miserable. Well, here are some quick tips and tricks following which one can go super easy with packing and peacefully moving all the belongings to the new place!

1. Declutter your old home before decorating the new one

Relocating is the best time to trash or donate the unused and unnecessary items and goods, which you otherwise, would never be able to do because either you like that stuff (if you really liked it, you must have it used in the first place) or you lack the amount of time it requires (which moving really brought to you). So now, when the unnecessary items are not on your to-pack list, you can now focus on carefully sorting the essentials, packing and moving them straight to your new place!

2. Work out your packing strategy

Many prefer packing the entire stuff category wise, e.g. bed sheets from all rooms together or all the keyboards at one place and the UPSs on the other. This might save you hours at the time of packing but will equally eat up the saved time later when it comes to unpacking and organizing it. However, if wrapping up the items by categories work for you, good to go! But, just in case you need a little flexibility, you can try packing by rooms or the employees (in case of office relocation). After all, being organized always saves a lot of time and efforts.

3. Prepare a handy-dandy inventory list

Before embarking on the whirlwind packing activities, do not forget to make a consolidated inventory of all your goods and belongings that you are going to move. When unpacking and organizing items in your new place, you can ensure that all your packed stuff has been properly shipped and nothing goes missing. It will be even better to mark the serial number on all the items that will help in tracing them later. You can also use mobile apps available for serving this purpose.

4. Plan for the day in advance

The last-minute hassles are so common and so nerve-racking while relocating that is usually caused by taking a bad decision—not planning in advance. Whether you are in a mood to hand over the packing and moving responsibility to a professional firm or making it DIY move, everything should be mapped out well at least a month prior to the moving date. Buying moving supplies, making travel arrangements, estimating deductible moving expenses, boxing up all the must-have items, car shipping service, etc., should all be arranged at least a month before the decided moving day to avoid the last-minute rush. Using a full-sized calendar for strategizing the daily tasks to be done each day is a good way to stay organized.

5. Be extra careful with decorative and art pieces

The boxes, wrap material, and the technique to pack the ordinary items is never the same for delicate decorative and art pieces. Fragile and breakable items like painting, miniature, cups, mugs, lamp call for quality bubble wrap, a lot of time, and some extra carefulness to cushion them right in the boxes. A fluffy blanket on the bottom of the box, items wrapped in bubble wrap and putting pillows on the top of it will keep your favorites perfectly safe and secure. To remind yourself about the box later, you can label it as “BEWARE! Favorite Artwork Inside. Handle with Care” or any other interesting caption you like that will serve as a reminder.

6. Know which box will be right for what

Ideally, all the heavier items should be kept inside the small and lighter boxes and the smaller items inside the large boxes that make it easy to carry them across new home/office conveniently. Also, mark and label them accurately so that you will not make a mess while finding a much-needed item from the heap of boxes.

7. Use Ziploc bags for the small utilities

Why spend extra bucks on big cartons for the easy to forget utilities like screws, laundry clips, keys, mobile chargers, and cords when you can store them in Ziploc bags? These snack-size pouches fit easily into your purses and come really handy on the big moving day because that’s the time when boxes and bags fall short for these utilities and accessories.

8. Seek for movers insurance

If you have hired professional packers and movers for your relocation, you must ask them for movers insurance which many companies offer. Movers insurance for household and offices covers all the loss and damage of the goods and items in case anything happens to the moving truck during the transit. Read the coverage terms and policies offered by the moving company before signing to understand goes in the scope of the coverage and what beyond. Also, it will be a wise decision if you take pictures of all your items before packing them so that you can later check if all of them are delivered to the new place in same good condition or not. It will greatly help you in claiming for the insured items