Hire professionals for your residential move: Cover the openings of your toiletries with saran wrap, then put the tops back on. If you own items that you want to get rid of but are too valuable to just give away, start selling on eBay, Etsy, or Craigslist at least six weeks before moving. It’s an easy way to make you feel like you aren’t procrastinating, and you might be able to make enough money back to pay for the entire move itself. But it takes time for things to sell on Etsy and eBay, so you’ll want to plan accordingly.
Here are a few tricks from our favorite Los Angeles moving company. Does everything fit your new home? Furniture that is in your existing home may well not fit into your new home, and it’s best to know this up front so you can sell it / donate it before you move. Take some time to measure doorways etc. and work out whether the larger items of furniture (your sofa/dresser etc.) will fit into your new space. There would be nothing worse than leaving a sofa on the front garden on moving day! TIP – This is also a useful exercise for working out whether you have suitable space for all your furniture. If you are downsizing it’s worth working out what can and cannot fit into your new home, and sorting these out before moving day. If the rental agency doesn’t provide an estimate of what the trucks can hold in terms of equivalent spaces as in the list above, you can guess using this general guide: one room = 3 cubic feet of truck space. Again, this is just an estimate, and you should always err on the side of caution and rent a slightly larger truck than your estimate.
Moving house can be a really stressful time, and no other day requires as much organising as moving day itself. If you’re moving locally this should be a no-brainer. Truck rentals used for local moves are billable at a per day and mileage rate, the daily price may vary by $10-$20 depending on the size. In other words, spend the extra few bucks and get the larger truck just to be sure. Medium truck sizes are best used for 1-2 bedroom apartments as well as small homes. We typically don’t recommend this size to anyone with more than 1200 SqFt of living space. Most small moving trucks have rear wheel wells that stick out and reduce the amount of flat cargo space.
I always suggest going around your home and taking photos of your valuables and breakables before they get packed up. If for any reason things get broken, damaged or lost during the moving process, at least you have a record of them. (Just quick snaps on the camera on your mobile phone will be good enough). TIP – It’s worth doing this anyway for things in your house, as it can help with insurance claims if you get burgled or there’s a fire etc.. – I use the home inventory in my Home File for this. A good starting point will be rooms and items you use the least. The spare bedroom, garage or attic are usually easy places to start. Leave everyday items until the day before the move and keep any essentials items such as medication separately. Discover a few extra details on link.
As you begin packing boxes and storage containers, you may get a much better idea of how much space you need in a moving truck. After all, it can be challenging to estimate truck space you need for all your kitchen items stored in cabinets and drawers. After you pack non-essentials, you can determine how many additional boxes you need for the essentials that you will pack at the last minute. In addition to considering boxes, pay attention to how many furnishings or appliances you own and the dimensions of each. Remember to take advantage of vertical space in a truck. While using a truck rental company’s estimate when selecting the right size of truck or trailer to rent may be helpful, keep in mind that this is merely an estimate. Some people have much more substantial furnishings, more things, and tons of stuff crammed into every closet and cabinet. Other packrats even have entire garages jam-packed with items from floor to ceiling. A smart way to better estimate a suitable truck size is to attempt to cluster your things together, such as in an unused formal dining room, a garage or another large space. This effort also helps you prep for the move. When you pack a place full of items and measure the area, you will have a better idea about the right truck size for your needs.