Hints and Tips for Moving Home Safely

1. Hints and Tips For Moving House Safely

2. Moving house is a stressful experience – there are so many little things to do, that it’s inevitable that you’ll miss some of it. In this article, we’ll look at some of the ways in which this upheaval can be made more manageable. Make a List and Check it Twice We all think we can name every item in our property off the tops of our heads. But the reality is quite different. This is why committing your list to writing is a good idea. This will allow you not only to check that you have thought of everything, but that everything’s arrived in good working order on the other end of the move. Simply tick everything off as you unpack it.

3. Prioritise Once you’ve made your list, you’ll want to arrange it in order of importance. Put the essential stuff, like your upholstery, at the top; put the dispensable stuff at the bottom. You should also organise your list according to what’s going to go well with other items in the same box. If you have breakable goods in tow, you’ll want to put them away from other stuff. Don’t Overfill Boxes We’d all like to make as few trips to the removal van as possible. But forcing an enormous amount of stuff into a single box is just asking for trouble. Not only are you going to put them at greater risk of breaking, but you’re also going to put yourself (or the removal people) at greater risk of suffering an injury.

4. Have a Clear Out Naturally, the more stuff that you take with you on the move, the more stressful the whole thing will be. What’s more, if you decide to take things that you’re never again going to use, and will likely throw away, then you’ll have wasted time and energy, won’t you? For this reason, it’s a good idea to have a clear-out before you start packing things away. This will give you the perfect impetus to throw unwanted items away. Ask yourself at every opportunity whether you’d be happy to pack and unpack the item you’re currently considering. If the answer is no, then put it in the bin!

5. Don’t Skimp on Tape When you’re packing your removal boxes, it’s important they’re strong enough that they won’t fall apart. This means taping them securely using a large quantity of tape. This will ensure that your possessions aren’t sprayed across the concrete outside your house. If you’re going to be shipping fragile items, like crockery, then this is particularly important – and tape is an excellent means of conveying that the contents of a box are fragile!

6. Check Your Insurer Some insurance policies are notoriously creative when it comes to covering items while they’re in transit. If the worst should happen, you’ll wish you’d checked that you’re covered. So do it, and save yourself the stress later on. Remove printer cartridges It’s a little-known fact that printer cartridges, when jostled around, risk spewing ink everywhere. If you’re shipping a printer, you’ll want to take the cartridges out and store them in sandwich bags. Remove disks from drives Similarly, if a disk is left in a drive, it’s at risk of rattling around and suffering scratches. Take them out and put them in their proper boxes as part of your pre-move tidy-up.

7. Pack a Box For Overnight When you first get out of the car and into your new home, you’ll need a few items urgently. These might include laptops, phone chargers and kettles. If these are all randomly strewn through your boxes, then you’ll be in trouble. The same is even truer of changes of clothes, toothbrushes and towels. In order to prevent this unpleasant scenario, you should pack all of the stuff you’ll need right away into a dedicated overnight box. That way, you won’t be rooting around for that essential item on the first night – all the stuff you need will be right where you want it.

8. Store Electrical Items Properly Whilst it’s tempting to simply stick all of your consumer electronics into a crate with some polystyrene, it’s far easier in the long run to put it into its original packaging. This will allow you to identify these items on the other end of the move. What’s more, if you’re thinking of selling the item in the future, then this packaging will hugely improve its resale value. Make sure that all cables and adaptors are included and properly tied – there’s nothing more annoying than an expensive piece of technology rendered useless by a missing or broken cable.

9. Thank You For Reading Contact Us Greenaway Residential Estate Agents Boscobel House, 109 High Street, Crawley West Sussex. RH10 1DD T 01293 561188 www.greenawayresidential.com