How to Safely Pack All Your Electronics

Moving some of the more delicate items in your home can be worrisome for a family, but one area you may not have looked into is the moving of your electronics. Unless you’ve shipped electronics to someone in the past or had electronics shipped to you, you may not have thought about how fragile these items can be and how much protection they should have.

The last thing you need for your upcoming move are broken laptops or printers, or missing cords and pieces when you go to reassemble something at your new home. Take a look at the ways that you can safely pack your electronics so that you can have a worry-free move to Chicago.

How did you receive it originally?

Something to consider first is how you received the electronic originally. If you happened to have saved the original packing materials, you can just repack it into its original box for the best protection. If not, you can use your product manual to get advice on the best way to pack and store the electronics. The product manuals can often be found online. If you don’t have the original box, simply make sure you have all of the essentials. This includes sturdy cartons, paper wrapping such as a newspaper, packing tape, and labels with markers to mark all of your boxes.

Organize cords

You can also stay organized by taking some precautions before taping up the box. While you are packing, use color labels for your cords to make sure you know what goes to what. Your computer or stereo may have several cords involved and it may get confusing trying to remember which goes to which device. Use color coding to know that all orange cords go to one device while all green tags go to another.

Don’t be shy about extra protective materials

It’s more than alright to go overboard on your protective materials. Don’t be shy about getting extra protection such as by adding blankets or moving pads to your electronics for the move. You’ll be glad that you were safe rather than sorry.

Think about the temperature

You may not have realized the importance of temperature when it comes to electronics safety. Computers and TVs are more sensitive to temperature and may fare better in a climate-controlled storage facility. Be sure to find out from the manufacturer if the temperature is a consideration before moving electronics.

Keep track of the inventory

You’ll want to keep track of everything using an inventory. Make sure to write down what is in each box, as well as the components in each box so that you don’t forget. You’ll also be able to see if something is missing at the destination.

Wrap and tape

Lastly, be sure to wrap your electronics with clean paper or linen to prevent dust. You’ll also find it easier to prevent dust from getting to your devices when you use proper packing tape for sealing the box.

You can safely pack and move your electronics by taking extra precautions ahead of time. Use these tips before moving your valuable devices.

How to Prepare your Office for Relocation

Moving from one office to another can be a chore, especially when you want to continue running your business through the process. No one likes to feel that their business is out of commission when they have customers counting on them, but sometimes exciting changes happen like upgrading your office location.

You can make the move feel seamless by having a good plan of attack and a professional moving crew with experience moving offices. Once you’ve picked a time and hired the movers, here is what you need to do to prepare your office for the relocation.

Start planning

You’ll want to start by planning out how this is going to go down. Several weeks before, you’ll want to choose the timeframe for the move, depending on important dates coming up in your calendar, and also depending on if your current lease is ending. Next, call a professional moving company to schedule a time and to find out what to expect on moving day.

Be sure to start getting your team involved to make sure everyone knows when to expect the move. Suppliers and employers will need to know where to report during the move and to know not to schedule anything for your old location after the moving date. Talk to everyone about their part in the move and have a meeting to discuss the current details. Having a timeline that everyone is included on will make things run seamlessly.

Next, you’ll need to take a closer look at the new space to see if you’re going to need any projects done ahead of time. You may need a painting crew to paint in advance of moving in furniture or you made need to talk to a carpenter about the flooring or constructing walls.

Come up with the layout for the new space, including where desks will go, a receptionist, storage spaces, and where electrical outlets will be available. Are there any problems you could foresee that you’ll need a backup plan for, such as needing more cubicles or finding a place to keep the waiting area or lobby?

Assign tasks to your team

Now that everything is organized, you’ll want to start delegating tasks. You may want to ask for volunteers or assign tasks, as well as let each employee know what they need to do individually before the move.

Whether it’s packing their own personal effects and desk or helping move furniture, your staff will need to know what tasks they have been assigned and at what time. Having meetings will help to answer questions and keep everyone on the same page.

The weeks before the move

You’ve been preparing for 2 months now with your team and now it’s time to handle some of the details that come with running a business. A month before the move you should take the time to inventory everything, purge any extra clutter, notify everyone of the change of address, and order new business cards. This is the time to get rid of furniture or décor you won’t be using, taking note of everything you will be moving, and updating all marketing pieces with the new address.

Now you’ll need to prepare the new space by turning on utilities, notifying area businesses about your plans for the moving day, communicating with the building manager about your moving day needs, and talking to the moving company about their access for unloading at the new office. You’ll want to start getting things packed and labeled and letting your customer base know about any interruptions to business, whether it’s for a few hours or a few days.

Moving your office may sound overwhelming, but with the right plan in place everything can happen smoothly. Use this guide to make it happen efficiently so that you can look forward to your new office!

What are the best days of the week to move?

Have you been thinking about scheduling your upcoming move for the best day of the week to move rather than going with the standard weekend choice? Some people are wising up to the fact that sometimes things just go smoother when you do them on the right day rather than the day that works best for them.

While Saturday and Sunday might work best for your schedule, your best moving days are actually going to fall on the work week and that’s not always the news moving families want to hear. If you can rearrange your schedule for your upcoming move, you’ll find that moving between Monday and Thursday is going to be a heck of a lot easier than moving over the weekend. Find out why, below.

Why moving on the weekend isn’t best

While the most popular day to move is on a Friday, this doesn’t mean it’s the best day to be moving. This was the most chosen moving day in the recent past and that’s because most people can easily take off a Friday from work and they hope to have the weekend to relax after the process.

While it’s tempting to move on a Friday and enjoy your new home over the weekend, you’re going to be up against the challenge of finding movers with availability on that day and traffic tends to be more chaotic. After Fridays, Saturdays tend to be the most popular day to move, but it’s another hard to book and you’ll be dealing with everybody off work and driving at the same time as you.

It turns out that the best days to move are between Monday and Thursday, despite Tuesdays being the least popular moving day. There is far less demand for movers making it a cinch to schedule your moving day, and taking the day the off work to get it done will pay off in big ways. You’ll likely save money hiring movers during this strange part of the week when no one else is moving, and you’ll have the weekend to look forward to unpack and get organized before the work week.

What time of year should I choose?

If you’re looking at your options for the best time of year to plan your relocation, be sure to avoid May and June, the most popular moving months in the country, and the timeframe from Memorial Day to Labor Day in general. Depending on the weather in your area, scheduling a move for the months between September to April will likely save you money and make it easy to schedule being the slower season for moving.

Is there a best time of day or best week out of the month?

Since you’re taking the day off work, you may be tempted to sleep in before the move, but you should actually keep things early since the early bird gets the worm. The early morning is the best time to move with an arrival between 8-10am, and you’ll love the better temperatures before the hot sun later in the day.

Consider scheduling your move in the middle of the month too, because mid-month moves tend to allow for the best availability since they are the lowest in demand. The first of the month and the end of the month are busiest as leases start and end.

If you’re getting ready to move, be sure to schedule it between Monday and Thursday mornings, in the middle of the month, avoiding a May through August move. You’ll find that following these tips makes it easier and more affordable to get your move done fast and efficiently from professional movers!

Why You Need Professional Office Movers When Relocating Your Chicago Business

Relocating comes with a lot of work, a lot of details to consider, and a lot of things to do. That is why hiring a moving company to handle the heavy lifting makes sense for your back, your schedule, and the safety of your belongings. When it comes to an office move, many people think that they can just have their staff handle moving their own belongings and that a moving company isn’t necessary.

If you are relocating your Chicago business, you are wise to leave the job to a professional office mover who will know how to not only protect your sensitive materials, but they can stick to a timeline to make sure you aren’t out of the office for long and help keep you organized from start to finish. Take a look at the reasons below as to why it is important to hire a professional office mover.

Staying organized and on time

First and foremost, your professional office movers will keep things organized and on time for you. It’s too easy for an office move to become unorganized and keeping your team out of the office for longer than intended.

Hiring a professional office mover means that you can rest assured that you’ll keep company data, your calendar, lease paperwork, and more organized from point A to B utilizing the crates and boxes they bring to you for the move. You can focus on other details while your moving crew helps you efficiently move your office’s sensitive information, equipment, and furniture to your new office.

You can also guarantee a return to the office date to your clients because you can count on your movers to keep things timely. When you move on your own, it’s too easy to find yourself with more stuff to pack, move, unpack, and set up before you can get back to work than you were expecting.

Since your movers can get you an ETA of how long the move will take, you’ll be able to plan accordingly to get things done before and after the move with a timeline in place. They can tell you how long to expect for packing, moving, unpacking, setting up, and cleaning up from the move so that you can know when to expect to be back to work.

Helping with the technological elements

In addition to the hassle of packing things without damaging them, moving them to the new location, unpacking them and setting up your office, your movers can help you in the technology department as well. Just like the time you had someone set up your office phone system and your desktop computer, your moving crew will be able to disconnect all of your technology, move it efficiently, and set it back up for you at the new location.

If you had to hire a team to set everything up for you, you will likely need help getting everything set up again at the new location. Allow a professional office mover to handle all of your office belongings and your technological needs so that you can focus on taking care of your clients before and after the move.

If an office mover is right for you, be sure to call The Professionals Moving Specialists in your area to get the move done carefully, efficiently, and properly, from start to finish.

May is National Moving Month

It’s May in Chicago, which means beautiful weather, baseball season has begun, and everyone is moving. This is the perfect time of year to move being not too hot and not too cold like a move in the summer, fall, or winter would be. It’s also a great time of year because the kids have finished up the school season but summer camps haven’t quite begun yet.

Since everyone is moving in Chicago right now, what are some ways to move efficiently with the extra traffic, moving trucks, and busy streets of moving crews? Take a look at these tips for moving that may help you in Chicago during this national moving month.

Why move in May?

May has become the National Moving Month everywhere, but especially for Chicago, where the weather has finally warmed up after a long winter, but it’s not so hot like the upcoming summer months that bring on the sweat.

This is a great time to count on great weather that is less likely to dehydrate you or make you think twice about packing your jacket, and the sun is out after a spring full of rain showers. Just make sure you’ve gotten all of your packing supplies and movers hired well before May since everyone is going to be booking their move for this month.

Tips for your upcoming Chicago move

When you’re preparing for your move, make sure you find a company to work with that can give you an in-home estimate and has a BBB accreditation to ensure they are licensed and valid. Those that have a BBB accreditation are required to keep up with their licenses, which will be easy for you to confirm through some online research.

Then be sure to give yourself plenty of time to prepare for the move, especially with all of the costs involved and time needed to get one of the great area companies to help you or to start the packing yourself.

Your in-home estimate should be free and allow you to discuss everything that you’ll need moved, like the storage items in your basement or specific appliances, and ask questions about anything you don’t understand, along with asking about the insured value of your belongings and when additional fees may come up. Get a written estimate with a few companies and compare costs, reviews, and your experience with each before making your decision.

Once you’ve chosen your professional movers, get the contract signed and have all of your questions answered in writing before the move. Make sure you have a plan in place for the moving day, a truck secured, and your new house is prepped for move-in.

You’ll need to setup utilities in your new home so that you can use the lights, water, and air conditioning on moving day, and be sure you’ve secured with the new building or neighborhood that a moving truck will have access and a place to park for unloading. Find out if there will be other moves happening on that street that day so that you can strategize where your truck will go and what time of day to have everything happen.

What’s going on in Chicago this month?

Now that you’ve settled into your new place, you’re likely going to be ready to enjoy some of the excitement of the city going on this month. This is the perfect time to arrive as baseball season has just started and the weather is feeling great. You can unpack those summer clothes and get ready for more time outside, enjoying the fun of the Navy Pier, relaxing at the beach, or doing some shopping at the Magnificent Mile.

This is the month for Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day weekends which means you’ll find activities celebrating these fun holidays like Mother’s Day brunch and a huge Memorial Day parade in the Loop. Be sure to also make time for the Lincoln Park Wine Fest on the 20th, Beer Under Glass on the 18th, Bike the Drive on the 28th, and Mayfest on the 19th which will offer an outdoor beer garden, pretzels, music, and fun in a giant heated tent on the street.

It’s National Moving month right now and the perfect time for your arrival to Chicago. Make sure you’ve hired a professional moving company to properly handle your belongings and household memories, and once you’re settled in, start enjoying some of the exciting things going on around this incredible city.