Top 10 Tips for Moving/Relocating - Plan Your Move and Make Your Life Easier

Posted on January 8, 2008
Filed Under Tips, top 10 |

Did you know that moving is one of the top items that stresses people out the most? We have moved many times over the last few years, and have tried to optimize it as much as possible, and I thought I would share some of our moving tips with the nomadic amongst you. These tips have helped us organize our moves and keep our sanity over the years.

Plan your packing - don’t wait until the last moment. See how many rooms you have in your house, and figure roughly 1 week for every room and 2 weeks for the kitchen. This way, the packing should be pretty easy.
Label your boxes! Color-code them if you can. You need to be able to determine what is in your boxes when you get to your new home without much rummaging.
Get boxes! Get more boxes than you think you need - you will probably be thankful for them later. Ask your shipping department and work, friends and family for them. Go to grocery stores, large discount retailers, shopping clubs and the like and ask customer service for them too.
Don’t forget to fill in the US Mail forwarding form at least a couple of weeks before you move.
Get your newspapers, magazines forwarded to the new address. Make a note of your subscriber account numbers, and save them since you will need them the next time you move, and whenever you go on vacation.
Seriously consider getting professional, insured movers. Sure, moving yourself and with friends may be cheaper, but is it really worth risking an injury? Professional movers have boxes too.
Utilize wardrobe boxes. These are great for moving many clothes easily, and you don’t have to take them off their hangers.
Give stuff away! This is a great time to donate a lot of stuff you don’t really use to charity and get a tax deduction in the process (keep the donation receipts!) If you haven’t used something for a year, then ask yourself if you really need it.
Get your utilities transfer setup a few weeks before the move. Some companies offer frequent flier miles for signing up (for example Scana energy, Reliant, Gexa), so you may want to check that first.
Get your cable or satellite TV setup. There are some great deals with cash back that you can get - there are some great deals here. Here’s a tip - if currently your cable or satellite is in your name - set it up in someone else’s at the new place and you will qualify for a new subscriber’s deal.