Moving Basics

Obviously, you are DIY moving because you want to move economically. This implies that you want to move efficiently and safely, avoiding costly personal injuries and/or damage to furniture and/or property. In order for you to properly move household goods, you need to become knowledgeable about a lot of factors. So, please read all of this section and its links in order to best prepare yourself for the various circumstances you’re going to encounter when doing DIY furniture moving.

PRIMARY MOVING DAY CONSIDERATIONS

– In Correct Order of Priority –

1. Movers Safety when Moving
2. Safety of the article being moved and the surfaces involved
3. Minimizing moving time spent on each moving task
4. Meeting moving time deadlines
5. Minimizing moving aggravation
6. Minimizing moving costs

Minimizing moving costs (6) should be your very last consideration, when moving by yourself, even though it’s your first objective.

As you do your move, if you keep all of the above listed considerations in this order, you will discover that you will automatically end up saving all of the money that you’re hoping to save!

MOVING DAY DECISIONS

You do not want to have any of the 6 above-mentioned considerations out of this order at any time or you will make faulty decisions that will probably increase your moving costs, cause you an unnecessary aggravation and increase the time you spend doing your move. Take a few moments to think about each of these 6 considerations and their priority.

For instance, if you rush the moving task, you will in effect be putting the (1.) Safety of the movers and (2.) Safety of the article being moved into lower priority than (3.)Minimizing your overall time spent moving.

As a direct result of that shift in priorities, there could be a costly injury and/or costly damage to your furniture and/or costly damage to expensive floors, walls, ceilings or door surfaces. Besides forcing you into increased costs, you will also have to deal with unwanted moving grief and who knows how much extra time spent on rectifying these problems.

We have therefore given you quite a bit of information linked to each of these 6 considerations for your review so that you will make right moving day choices and accomplish all of your time- and money-saving goals.

First and foremost, we will instruct you that it is wise for all of your movers to learn how-to-move safely in order to avoid personal injuries. A severely injured person is the worst kind of problem to encounter on moving day. You certainly don’t want to see anyone get hurt helping you and it can get quite costly at a hospital to treat some emergency injuries.

Secondly, you obviously don’t want valuable furnishings damaged, so we will teach you how to pack and/or very carefully blanket-wrap as many of your household goods as possible in order to protect them.

The picture on the left shows you quite a few well-protected furnishings neatly loaded onto a truck and strapped off to avoid load shifting. When furnishings are this well protected all through the moving process, it is very unlikely that any damage will occur.

Thirdly, you also obviously want to avoid costly and aggravating real estate property damage. So, we will also teach you floor, wall, door and ceiling protection.

Finally, we will emphasize correct trucking procedures in order for you to avoid truck accidents, occupant injuries and / or furniture damage on the truck.

SORTING THROUGH YOUR GOODS AND ORGANIZING THEM OR DISPOSING OF UNWANTED THINGS

Most people are packrats to some degree. Nearly everyone’s home has old junk in it that should no longer be there. Of course, what is categorized as old junk and what is still useful and worth saving is entirely subjective to your personal opinion. Only you know what you still want or need. So, you should try to decide before move day just what you want to be transported to the new residence and what you want to dispose of.

ARRANGEMENTS SHOULD BE MADE IN ADVANCE FOR DISPOSAL OF UNWANTED GOODS

Then, all goods that are being moved and that can be boxed, should be properly and carefully packed up and labeled. Goods that cannot be boxed should be blanket-wrapped, if possible, to protect them. The rest of your things will have to be moved unprotected, so just be very careful with them.

Small appliances such as toasters, counter grills, mix masters, radios, toaster ovens, blenders, etc. should all be carefully packed into boxes and moved as fragiles because they can be quite costly to replace. Remember, you’re out to save money when you’re DIY moving and each thing that you can fully preserve from damage during your move saves you repair money or replacement money.

MOVING HIGH-VALUE ITEMS SUCH AS CURRENCY / COIN / STAMP COLLECTIONS, HIGH-VALUE ARTWORK, ETC.

Do all of this kind of moving very carefully by yourself. If anything gets broken or disappears for some reason, you only want yourself to blame. Don’t trust anybody else with these kinds of light, valuable items because if anything goes wrong with them, it will become a nightmare for you. Breakage or loss of these kinds of valuables can lead to theft accusations, outbursts of anger, loss of friendship or close relationship, police involvement, law suits, etc., etc., etc.

PROVIDING YOUR MOVING / PACKING HELPERS WITH SNACKS, MEALS, BEVERAGES AND BATHROOM FACILITIES

When relatives and/or friends are helping you to pack up and move your home, it’s wise to make conditions for them as comfortable as possible. During working periods, just having tasty snacks and non-alcoholic drinks on hand can do that. Ordering pizzas, chicken, oriental food or other kinds of meals will also be appreciated. Remember, these folks are giving you their help and saving you the labor cost of employing packers and movers so a few such relatively inexpensive, thoughtful gestures will help to make their work for you more pleasant.

You can also let them pick their own radio stations or TV stations while they’re packing your things up or moving them. Again, this makes the work environment more pleasant for them. And be sure there is plenty of bathroom tissue, kleenex and air freshening spray where it can be easily found in the bathroom so your people don’t have to ask embarrassingly for it.

Never, never, never bring forth alcoholic beverages for your helpers until the day’s work is completed. Alcohol makes people get prematurely tired and lazy so save it until everything to be done that day is actually finished. Then, maybe go ahead and relax and unwind with a couple of drinks with them but don’t let anyone who’s driving get legally drunk. Any DUI’s issued that evening would be a terrible downer for the recipient, for you and for any of your folks who helped out.

THE SURPRISINGLY LARGE NUMBER OF NOTIFICATIONS YOU MAY NEED TO FILE WHEN YOU CHANGE YOUR RESIDENCE!

• state dept. of licensing
• post office
• schools
• library
• banks
• finance companies
• department store credit dept.
• IRS
• veteran’s administration
• insurance companies
• telephone company
• cellular provider
• gas company
• electric company
• city water dept.
• cable company
• internet service provider
• dairy
• disposal company
• diaper service
• drugstore
• fitness company
• realtor
• hair stylist
• doctor
• dentist
• veterinarian
• stock broker
• accountant
• lawyer
• business associates
• consultants
• relatives
• friends
• churches
• clubs
• civic organizations
• subscriptions

Moving by yourself is a lot of hard work. Get free moving quotes and see how much experienced professional movers will charge you for the same job. In reality, you may be pleasantly surprised by the affordability of most top-rated moving companies in your area.