The summer moving season is upon us again — 65 percent of moves occur during May 15 through Aug. 31. So whether you’re a coed headed back home for break or newlyweds signing a lease on your first place together, you’re going to go through the pains of packing. Andrea Boccard, vice president of marketing at FlatRate Moving, offers some tips on how to make the process stress-free.
Your step-by-step moving guide
De-clutter:
Before boxing things up, Boccard says it’s really important to de-clutter. “Even in teeny apartments, we tend to accumulate a lot of stuff,” she says. “Spend a couple of days getting rid of the items that you don’t need like takeout menus from the old neighborhood. Just clearing that space will give you a clear picture of what you’re actually packing.”
Create “a move book”:
The key is to stay organized. Keep the important details of your move together in a book or folder on your computer. “It should include everything from lists you make, to your insurance and building management information, to estimates you receive,” says Boccard.
Know the rules: “You should be in close contact with the management for both [your new and old] buildings,” says Boccard. She advises reserving freight elevators and making sure your movers have the proper insurance coverage your building requires. “Any hitch in the details can cause problems for the entire moving day.”
Pack in advance: “Plan your move more than a month in advance if you can,” says Boccard. Start by packing the items you don’t need such as books and out of season clothes. “The biggest thing we see is when we organize moves is we ask people, ‘Do you want us to pack for you?’ and they say ‘No, no I’ll pack myself,’ but two weeks before [the move] they’re nearly in tears because they’re unable to do it,” she says. “So being realistic about time and what time you allocate to moving activities is the best advice I can give.”
Stay organized: Maintaining organization while your whole life is packed up in boxes may seem nearly impossible, but Boccard says it’s a crucial part of the moving process. The company recommends creating an inventory of your belongings.
Keep important items by your side: Store key items such as your move book, prescriptions, jewelry, toiletries and chargers in a designated bag on move day.
Change of address notifications
The last thing you want is private and important documents going to an old address. The U.S. Postal Service advises completing a change of address
form online, at www.usps.com before moving to your new place. And through www.1StopMove.com, you can easily inform multiple companies such as Internet and cable providers about your address change by filing out one form.
Key tip
What’s the biggest moving mistake?
“Don’t leave anything until move day. The planning and organizing process is crucially important. For instance, if you have kids, where are they going to go for the day? There are a lot of those things that you don’t want to wait for the movers to show up before you figure out. Really, you don’t want to have to make any decisions on move day. You want everything to have been orchestrated so that when you wake up that morning, everything just happens.”
