Family Moving in Chicago

Moving as a family can be a very exciting endeavor. It can also become stressful on you and on the children. There are several things you can do to make family moving easier. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Understand the Possible Stress

Before you move, it's important to understand the stress each family member may feel. Both physical and psychological stress are possible during a move. Physical stress is the easiest to manage and deal with.

You can reduce physical stress by staying organized, packing a little at a time and keeping up with a normal routine. Psychological stress is a bit harder to manage. However, you can manage it by allowing each person in the family to feel the way they feel. Don't discount their feelings because they are children.

It's important to keep your family focused on the positive with the move. When dealing with family moving, focus on the chance for new adventures, the possible attractions and things to do they will love, and the possibility of a larger space or nicer weather.

Work Together and Stay Organized

Moving as a family may come with stress, but sticking together can keep it to a minimum. If you're well organized and you work together, you can accomplish plenty more than fighting each other and going into moving without a plan.

You can even turn the packing process into a fun game. It can be a race to pack, but you will need a few rules. Maybe the parents are the ones labeling the boxes and while speed matters in this game, getting the right items into the box also matters.

Remember, you’re the Adult and the Leader

Children of all ages will look to you for guidance and ques throughout a move. Younger children often want to be just like you. If you're negative and complaining about the move, they will likely do the same thing. Even when things get frustrating, keep your complaints between you and your spouse. Don't complain, fight, bicker or spread anything negative in front of the children.

Staying positive will help you to keep your children positive and on task. When you're calm and positive, they have an environment to become calm and positive about the move, too.

Give Your Children Decisions to Make

Children want to be included, at any age. They may act out because they had no choice in the move. Giving them things to decide about will help. They could approve your choice for bedding, rugs or paint for their room or you may finally need to give in and let them have a pet.

Use Age-Appropriate Books for Moving

There are several great books you can read to your children before a move including:

• Big Earnie's New Home, By Teresa and Whitney Martin - Ages 3 to 5

• Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Maybe Maybe by Susan Patron - Ages 6 and up

• The Bernstein Bears' Moving Day, by Stan and Jan Bernstein - Ages 3 to 5

• Where I Live, by Eileen Spinelli - Age 6 and up

By sharing these books with them, it may help your children relate better to what to expect.

Family moving isn't easy, especially if you're moving across the country or to a new city. You can relieve some of the stress by hiring a professional moving company to handle the packing, loading, unloading, and loading.

Packing Fragile Items During a Move

When it comes to packing fragile items, you certainly want to take extra precaution. It takes more than just a little extra bubble wrap. Here are a few tips to help you with packing those fragile items before you move.

• Have a Plan

When you're packing up crystal, breakable items, porcelain and other fragile items, you need to have a plan. Preparation will allow you to have the right supplies to help you pack the item.

• Pack Plates Properly

When you pack your plates, you should pack them in small to medium sized boxes. Pack them vertically and use crumpled packing paper on the top and bottom. Wrap all the plates in bubble wrap and tape them before packing them. Make sure you don't over pack a box with plates.

• Glasses Should be Packed Carefully

Wrapping glasses in packing paper individually will go a long way to protecting them. You want to line a small to medium box with crumpled paper and use the crumpled paper to fill in any space in the box. Layer the paper around the glasses and keep the heaviest items on the bottom of the box.

• Pictures and Frames Should be Packed Standing

When you pack pictures and frames, you want to use a small to medium box. Just like plates, you want to pack them vertically with crumpled paper in between each frame or picture. Frames should be wrapped with packing paper to ensure they stay safe. If your picture is more than three feet in size, a moving blanket and plastic wrap can be used to protect it.

• Packing Other Fragile Items

Using plenty of wrapping paper, bubble wrap and tape is always a good thing. When packing fragile items you don't want to take any chances. You want to use the right type of supplies and methods for each item. If you're not sure how to pack the item, talk to your moving company. They can pack it for you or at least give you a few tips.

• Mark All Fragile Items

If you pack an item and it's fragile, mark the box as fragile. Use large letters and a bold color. Don't be afraid to mark the box in more than one place and use fragile stickers on the box.

Fragile items need to be protected. If you want to make sure all your most fragile objects are packed correctly, hire a moving company to pack your fragile items.

How To Pack For Movers

When it's time to pack up your home and move to a new location, you need to know how to pack for your movers. Hiring a professional moving company will go a very long way to making the move easier. Here are a few tips to help with packing for movers before moving day.

• Know What Your Movers will Move and What they Won't Move

While professional movers will move just about anything, there are some items they cannot transport due to safety issues. This may include liquids, paints and household chemicals. There are other items they may not move due to liability reasons, such as medicine, pets, food, important papers and photographs. Make sure you know what your movers will and will not move for you.

• Create a Plan for Packing

Hiring professional movers means you may have them pack and unpack some of your things. Make sure you choose which things they will be responsible for and what you will be responsible for. In addition, make sure you have a plan for which rooms you will pack firs and which ones will be last. It's always a good idea to have a bag or a box of essentials you pack last.

• Stock up on Packing Supplies

Your moving company will likely sell boxes and supplies you can use for packing. Often, they have boxes for specific items, such as TVs, dishes and other common items. Make sure you have plenty of boxes, bubble wrap and tape on hand.

Don't Make Boxes Too Heavy

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when packing for movers is to make the boxes too heavy. They could struggle to pick them up or the box could break when they do. Use smaller boxes for small and heavy items, such as books. These smaller boxes will be easier to carry because they won't be so heavy.

When you're getting ready to move, packing for your movers is very important. Make sure you check with your moving company as they can give you more pointers and tips for how they prefer you pack for their crew.

Office Moving Tips for Your Business

When it's time to move your office from one location to another, you need help. Hiring a professional office moving company is a good start, but they won't do everything for you. There are a few other decisions you need to make and things you should do to ensure the move goes smoothing.

If you're looking to move your office, make sure you use the following tips to help make moving day easier.

• Give Employees Advanced Notice

The sooner you let everybody know about the move, the better. Giving employees plenty of notice allows for the emotional adjustment and they will be able to know what to expect.

• Choose What Goes and What Doesn't

Moving is a great time to declutter your office and business. You may have a number of things you simply don't need or use taking up valuable space. Instead of just packing everything and moving it all, you can get rid of what you don't need. Cutting down will help to save you money and make it a bit easier to move into your new office.

• Consider the Climate

When you're moving, you may have temperature changes during the day. You want to make sure your old office and your new office are properly heated or cooled for the movers and for any employees helping you. The last thing anybody wants on moving day is to be uncomfortable because the heat or air wasn't turned on in advance.

• Work Closely with your IT Department

If you have an IT department, make sure they have input in how the move will go. It may be helpful to have the IT supplies packed last and unloaded first. This allows your IT department to get to work on setting things up, such as computers, phones and networks.

• Tour the New Office before Moving in

A few days before you move you want to tour your new office before you move in. The last thing you need is to show up to find out there is a leak, broken light bulbs or other issues needing to be repaired. Walk through the building with the building manager and make note of anything needing repairs.

• Stick to Your Timeline

You should have a timeline for your office move and you want to stick to it. This timeline will need to work with the move-in and move-out dates selected as a part of your agreements with the building owners/managers. You may need to do your office move on the weekend to ensure everything is ready to go come Monday. It may also be necessary to make sure you can use elevators or other facilities within the building when you're moving.

Creating a timeline and sticking to it will also allow your employees to know what to expect. This can go a long way in keeping everybody on task and sane throughout the office moving process.

Moving your office from one location to another can be a hassle. There are several things to take care of throughout the process. Hiring a professional moving company will help to take some of that stress off your plate.