6. Keep the essentials with you
On the night before the move, tuck everyday essentials—a change of clothes, a toothbrush, must-have stuffed animals or toys for the kids, medications, paperwork, etc.—into a suitcase or bag you'll keep with you in the car, the truck cab, or on the plane. If catastrophe strikes and the moving truck gets lost, at least you'll have some essentials with you.
A few days before the big move, stock up on supplies. The last thing you want is to have to make a run to the store while you're packing moving boxes or making sure everything is out of the house. Order or purchase box cutters, adhesive bandages, permanent markers, packing tape, paper towels, and garbage bags. (If they aren't all used during the move, they'll still be useful afterward!)
For larger moving equipment, considering renting moving tools from a moving company. (If you hire a moving service, they'll likely have their own.) If you move very frequently, you may be better off purchasing these tools. Either by buying, renting, or borrowing, make sure you have a furniture dolly, furniture pads or covers, and tie-down straps or rope at your disposal during the move.
If you're a DIY mover, you absolutely need a truck with a ramp. It may be cheaper to rent a truck without one, but the hassle (and struggle) of lifting every box and piece of furniture high enough to get it into the truck will add hours—plus sore muscles—to your move.
When you pack books for moving, pack them or other heavy items in small boxes; light items, like linens and pillows, can be packed in bigger ones. (Large boxes packed with heavy items are a common complaint of professional movers. They not only make the job harder but also have a better chance of breaking.)
The Best Packing Materials for Your Next Move (and How to Use Them)
And if you're loading the truck yourself, pack your heaviest boxes first, toward the front of the truck, for balance.
3. Don't leave empty spaces in the boxes
Fill in gaps with clothing, towels, or packing paper. Movers often won't move boxes that feel loosely packed or unbalanced.
It will make your packing quicker and your unpacking a lot easier, too.
This will help you and your movers know where every box belongs in your new place. Numbering each box and keeping an inventory list in a small notebook is a good way to keep track of what you've packed―and to make sure you still have everything when you unpack.
Use a couple of pieces of tape to close the bottom and top seams, then use one of the movers' techniques―making a couple of wraps all the way around the box's top and bottom edges, where stress is concentrated.
Understand exactly how to pack artwork for moving to help keep it safe. You should never wrap oil paintings in regular paper; it will stick. When you pack pictures for moving, make an X with masking tape across the glass to strengthen it and to hold it together if it shatters. Then wrap the pictures in paper or bubble wrap and put them in a frame box, with a piece of cardboard between each framed piece for protection.
Packing the kitchen involves a lot of different types of items. Learn how pack dishes for moving: Put packing paper around each dish, then wrap bundles of five or six together with more paper. Pack dishes on their sides, never flat. And use plenty of bunched-up paper as padding above and below. Cups and bowls can be packed inside one another, with paper in between, and wrapped three or four in a bundle. Pack them all in dish-barrel boxes.
When you pack glasses for moving, use a box with cardboard dividers to help protect the glasses, and wrap them in plenty of layers of paper to protect them.
There are a few different options to pack clothes for moving—you can pack folded clothes in cardboard boxes, suitcases, or even leave them in the dresser (if it doesn't make the dresser too heavy to move!). For hanging clothes, use a special wardrobe box, so you can hang your clothes right in it. (Bonus: you won't have to worry about figuring out how to pack your hangers for moving!)
You need to protect your shoes from each other when you pack shoes for moving. Wrap shoes individually to keep sharp heels or buckles from damaging other shoes, and to keep dirt from one pair of shoes from messing up the rest of your shoes. You can pack socks into shoes to help them hold their shape.
When you pack jewelry, you can recycle some items to help you—you can string necklaces through straws or toilet paper rolls to keep them from being tangled.
Check Out Here Best Moving Companies In CalgarySome movers treat TVs like any other piece of furniture, wrapping them in quilted furniture pads. Plasma TVs, though, require special wooden crates for shipping if you don't have the original box and can be ruined if you lay them flat. If you're packing yourself, double-box your TV, setting the box containing the TV into another box that you've padded with packing paper.
Better weather, different food and a new job are all very exciting, but there are some things that you just can’t leave behind when you move. Children and pets are (hopefully) first on the list, followed closely by your furniture.
When moving furniture overseas, it’s vital that your belongings are given the utmost care. After all, you don’t want to arrive in a new country to find your furniture has got damaged during the transportation process.
Luckily, this guide gives you a complete rundown of how to ship furniture overseas, so read on to find out everything you need to know.
It’s hard to give you an exact price, but you should expect to pay anywhere between £1,000 (GBP) and £5,000 (GBP) to ship your furniture overseas. How much you’ll pay will depend on several factors, such as how much furniture you’re moving, where you’re moving it to and from, and whether you move it by sea or air.
Speaking very generally, it will cost about £2,445 (GBP) to ship the contents of a three-bedroom house by sea from London to New York, while it will cost around £2,000 (GBP) to ship a 100 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm pallet on the same route by air. The table below gives you a rough estimate of how much it costs to move your furniture abroad from the UK by air and sea.
Want a better idea of how much it’ll cost you to move your furniture to your new home? Thankfully, there’s an easy way you can do this. Join the thousands of people that have used our easy-to-use quote tool to find the best offers on shipping items abroad.
All you have to do is pop some quick details about your trip in our short form, and put your feet up. We’ll take care of the rest.
Select the size of your move to get free quotes
*Bear in mind that an air freight pallet is only 100 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm, so can carry much less than a 20-foot shipping container.
Please note: these costs are for moving the contents of a three-bedroom house and exclude add-ons such as door-to-door delivery, professional packing/unpacking and basic insurance cover. Our shipping suppliers normally incorporate these services into their prices, so expect some discrepancy between the rates given here and the quotes you receive.
What other costs are there to consider?
When shipping furniture overseas, there are other costs to consider including: the disassembly and reassembly of your furniture, the packing and unpacking of it, the loading, unloading and transportation of it to and from the port/airport, and even the cleaning of your possessions and your home.
Professional removal companies offer all of these jobs as part of their overall service, but of course they come with a fee. The table below shows you how much removals companies typically charge for these add-ons. Prices are based on a three-bedroom house that’s moving its furniture abroad.
As you can see from the table above, you can save a lot of money by disassembling and packing your furniture yourself rather than paying a removals company to do it for you. In fact, doing your own packing can cut costs by as much as 50%. You just need to make sure you a) buy good quality packing materials, and b) pack your furniture properly. Read on to get our top tips on what packing materials to get and how to pack your furniture, whatever its shape or size.
Once you have all the packing materials you need, you should create a plan for your packing. Here’s our plan for how you should create your plan. There’s no such thing as overplanning.