Your Complete Moving Checklist

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Moving isn't fun, but it doesn't have to be as stressful as you remember it from the last time. By creating a moving checklist early and getting everything done on a timeline, you'll be far better prepared for actual moving day. There are several items you may not be aware of that belong on your moving checklist. Here's a look at a complete moving checklist to help you create one for your specific move.

60 Days Before Moving Day

About two months before you move, it's time to start going through some of your things. This is a great time to deal with decisions, such as items you want to sell, donate or get rid of. It's even a good time to consider planning a yard sale, if that is part of your strategy.

Another good task to get off your list is to start looking into local movers to help with packing or the actual moving. You can also create a moving folder for all of your forms, estimates and receipts from the move.

45 Days Before Moving Day

When you it the six-week mark or about 45 days before moving day, it's time to start thinking about when you want to pack up and getting the right supplies. You can make your reservation for plastic moving boxes at this time and calculate how many you will need. This will give you ample time to change the delivery date, if necessary.

You should also start thinking about buying other packing supplies, such as tape, packing paper, specialty boxes for specific items and bubble wrap. At the 45-day mark, it's also a good idea to start paring down your groceries, especially the perishables and frozen items. This will allow you to move without needing to worry about food spoiling.

30 Days Before Moving Day

About one month before you start moving, you may want to start packing up some of the less needed items, such as holiday decoration or sporting gear you won't be using anytime soon. This is also a good time to locate important documents and valuable items you want to travel with you and not in the moving truck.

At the 30-day mark, you can also change your address online and start contacting important companies to notify them of your move.

10 to 14 Days Before Moving Day

Since you already made your reservation for green moving boxes (plastic boxes), you will want to start packing once your boxes are delivered. You get to keep the boxes for a full 14 days without any additional charge, so this is a great time to start packing. It is possible to have items already wrapped in bubble wrap or sorted out for packing ahead of this time.

2 to 4 Days Before Moving Day

A few days before moving day, you need to wrap up the packing portion of the move. This is also a great time to take apart furniture, defrost the freezer and make sure you have the right amount to pay the movers and cash for the tip.

On Moving Day

When moving day comes along, you want to make one final sweep through the home before you leave for good. Look for any items you may have forgotten and make sure to turn off all lights and lock the door. It's also a good idea to leave contact information for the new tenants just in case you left something behind.

Use this moving checklist and you'll be set for a much less stressful move.

6 Tips for Keeping Your Sense of Humor During a Move

Moving is always a stressful process. It can bring out the worst in a family trying to handle packing, cleaning, moving boxes, and unpacking at a new house. The good news is that with the right professionals in your area, you can avoid a great deal of the work yourself. While you’ll still find that some stress and challenges come with the process, you can make the most of it by finding humor in the situation. Sometimes a great sense of humor can get you through any difficult time in life, with moving being no exception. Take a look at six tips that are a sure way that you’ll keep your sense of humor while making your relocation.

Focus on the positives

Sometimes you have to go through a difficult time to get to the good part. Moving is one of those things and focusing on the positives to come in a new home makes the moving process a little bit easier. Don’t forget to keep perspective during this time and smile thinking of the new neighborhood, the new activities, and the new surroundings you’ll get to enjoy in a new home. Look forward to that new dining room you can entertain your friends in, the new part of town that will offer a chance of scenery, and new outdoor experiences that you can enjoy on the weekends.

Once you appreciate the good things to come, the packing up process you’re going through now will start to excite you. It will be hard to wipe that smile off of your face when envision your new home and what negative aspects of your current home that you can finally say goodbye to.

Find reasons to laugh during this process

Even if the moving process isn’t necessarily hilarious, finding chances to laugh right now may give you the occasional breaks you need to get through. Make it a family movie night at the beginning of the process where you can end a long day of packing with some laughter. Put on some fun, light-hearted music while you work on cleaning the house for the move.

Look for a joke of the day that you can tell the family during your relocation and tell funny stories to keep the mood up. Just because you are going through a tiring time, doesn’t mean you have to stop the laughter.

Have a moving party

This is the perfect time to recruit your friends to help you, celebrate with you, and help you close one chapter and begin another. It’s time for a moving party, whether you need help packing those last few items, friends to help you load the truck, or just people around you as you handle the emotions of this transition. Having a moving party is the perfect way to have some fun, enjoy some laughs, and get a little extra help before a round of cards and drinks.

Stay calm in heated moments

Sometimes stay positive and humorous in the moving process is about minimizing conflict and heated moments. Make sure that you allow yourself to feel the emotions of finding out you’re moving, calmly prepare for the process, stay confident through challenging times, and stay positive at each step of the way. Don’t allow yourself to get frustrated at those around you or to allow the emotions you’re experiencing to cloud your judgement. Keep the positivity and laughter, even during the worst moments of the move.

Make a game out of everything

Make the moving process more exciting by turning everything into a game. Your kids will love getting a prize for winning the game and you’ll love coming up with fun contests and prizes to incorporate. One game could be guessing the correct amount of coins that you’ve found around the house and the winner gets to keep that dollar amount. Another game could be guessing what object is in a box since you’ll be surrounded with so many random household objects and plenty of boxes to utilize. The winner of the boxed object guess gets to pick the pizza toppings for tonight’s delivery.

Make moving day the funniest of all

Finally, prepare for the upcoming stress of moving day by filling the day with laughter now. Write jokes on different moving boxes so that the person who carries that box will get a bit of humor during the carrying. It’ll be a fun way to bring laughter to everyone’s day during a challenging and exciting day.

Use these six tips and you’ll find that you can keep your sense of humor while going through your relocation. Have some fun with your move and leave the heavy lifting to the professional residential movers in your area.

7 Tips for Moving House Plants

One of the trickiest parts of moving may be something you haven’t even thought about yet; how are you going to move your plants? You can pack everything else in bubble wrap and place it into the appropriate box, but you wouldn’t do that with anything living like the pets. That means that you need a game plan for your living plants. Even a fake plant is going to be a challenge to move without damaging it’s complex and intricate structure. When you are concerned about the stress a move will have on your plants, use these seven tips to make sure moving your house plants is done right.

Open boxes work for a short move

For a shorter move that is just going from one part of town to another, you can simply store your house plants in open boxes. That way, your drive across town won’t be too hard on your plants and they can remain in place by good cushioning on the sides with newspaper. Put your plants in the car or have someone hold them until you arrive at your new house. This will be simple ad it will allow you to bring in your beautiful plants first into the new space.

They can be shipped by land or air

Are you moving across the country or even to a new country? Shipping by land or air is another possibility for you. Shipping your plants will be expensive and there is no guarantee that your plants will arrive safe and sound. For a long distance move, you may want to choose a few favorite plants to be shipped or moved by you, but plan to purchase new plants when you arrive at your new house.

Staying at room temperature is important

If you or a moving service is going to take on the task of moving your plants, keep in mind that your plants are used to your home’s room temperature all year round. Make sure the move isn’t going to happen in which your house plants are being exposed to really strong hot or cold temps. For cold temperatures in the winter, make sure you wrap your plants in newspaper before loading them because a few seconds in the extreme chill will injure your plants. Most people load plants into the car through the garage to avoid this.

If boxing them, cushion them appropriately

Just like you would do in an open box, any box that you place your plants in need to be cushioned appropriately. That means cushioning on the sides of the plants to avoid movement inside. Use newspaper and other packing supplies to ensure your plants are not going anywhere even inside of the box or in the event that the box tips over.

Keep movement minimal

Speaking of tipping over, it’s important that there is minimal movement during the plant’s ride to your new home. Keep movement minimal during the move in order to protect the plant. Try to get your plant from its original place, to the vehicle, and then into its new spot in the home without any other movement involved.

Vehicle transportation requires extra attention

If possible, have someone hold the plant or keep it steady on the floor during a moving in your vehicle. Long distance travel will be a challenge, especially if you have overnight stops planned. You don’t want your plants getting too hot or cold, so be sure to crack the windows if you’ll be leaving the car for more than an hour. Provide water for your plant and consider packing your tall plants with sphagnum moss to make sure the potting mix doesn’t get out.

Use a trusted moving service for expert care

The best advice is to call The Professionals Moving Specialists to ensure you have the proper boxes, cushioning, and packing and unpacking services at your disposal. Being experienced in residential moves, they will be able to ensure a safe move for your favorite plants.

These seven tips will ensure that moving your house plants will be as painless as everything else in your home. You can check this one off the list!