As if moving weren’t hard enough, there’s the chance you might hurt yourself, if you’re not careful. Lifting heavy items can strain your back. You can drop things. You can fall. Here’s how to have a safer move if you’re moving yourself.
Things to Consider Before You Rent a Large Moving Truck
Renting a truck is a popular, economical way to move that lets you set the schedule of your move yourself. But what else do you take on when you opt to be the person behind the wheel of your relocation effort Consider these items to help you decide whether you’ll be able to handle your moving truck.
Do you need a large truck?
You may look around your apartment and feel sure that you’ll need an entire fleet to move you out of your apartment, but before you decide, take a serious inventory of your belongings. This is a good time to do a serious purge of your things, especially if you’re making a long-distance move. You may have pieces of furniture, for instance, that you intend to replace. Your impending move might be a good time to dump these and get something you like better on the other end. Each large piece you can part with reduces the space you’ll need in your moving truck. Continue reading “Things to Consider Before You Rent a Large Moving Truck”What is Self-Service Move?
You’ve signed the lease on your new apartment and now it’s time to plan you move. You may think you only have two options: hire movers or move yourself. But there is a third option available where you pack and load your stuff and someone else drives.
Continue reading “What is Self-Service Move?”What Size Moving Truck Do You Need?
Bigger is not always better when it comes to renting a moving truck. There are a lot of factors that should go into your selection, but if you do your homework and rent wisely, you’ll have a smooth ride. Here are some things to consider when getting a rental truck estimate.
Continue reading “What Size Moving Truck Do You Need?”How to Pack a Moving Truck
Friends and family are standing by to serve as moving crew, you’ve rented a moving truck, you’ve got plenty of water on hand and a pizza delivery number in your back pocket. You’re ready to get everything in the truck, right?
Planning how you will load the moving truck from the beginning of your moving preparations can save you wear, tear and broken belongings. Here are some tips on how to pack the truck and make sure everything gets to your new place in one piece.
Continue reading “How to Pack a Moving Truck”How to Ask for Moving Help
Scared to ask your friends and family for moving help Don’t be. While most people may regard moving as an unpleasant experience, it doesn’t have to be. Use these tips to ask friends and family for help moving to a new apartment.
Who to ask.
If you need help moving to a new apartment, the first thing to do is come up with a list of folks who could potentially help you out. First consider how much stuff you have to move, how heavy it is, and how valuable or important it is to you. All of those factors will inform who you ask — and who you trust — for moving help. Remember to be realistic about the amount of manpower it will take to transport your belongings. Generally, the more bodies helping out, the faster the moving process will go.
Essential Moving Tools for Moving Yourself
You’ve decided to save yourself hundreds or even thousands of dollars by moving yourself. Make another smart move by assembling the moving accessories and supplies you need to make your move as easy as possible. These moving tips will explain the tools you need to make a do-it-yourself move easier, safer, and more efficient.
Dollies and handtrucks
Take every step you can to make
moving yourself as easy as possible physically.
Renting helpful furniture moving tools like dollies and handtrucks goes a long way toward reducing the physical strain you put on your body during a move.
Even if items aren’t heavy, using a dolly to move them can help you navigate your apartment community quicker, which is a big plus.
You also may be less likely to drop or break items if you transport them using an appropriate handtruck.
Checklist for a Self-Service Move
A do-it-yourself move should save you money, but staying on top of all the important details will be a challenge. That’s where this self-service moving checklist can come in handy. Use our checklist throughout the entire self-service moving process to help keep your moving efforts organized. This checklist is separated into sections according to a timeline. If your timetable is faster than this, simply adjust your to-do items to meet your schedule.
The planning phase.
Eight weeks before your self-service move
A successful do-it-yourself move is an organized move. Set yourself up for success by creating a plan of attack well in advance of your moving day.
This part of the moving checklist will help you assess the scope of your move so you can create a moving plan.
Antique Moving
How to move antique furniture?
There are lots of books that explain how to do this but moving companies sometimes don’t train their staff about this. Of course some companies do this and spend time to train their staff for those cases. However, I will explain how we do that.
When we have a case with antique furniture that needs be lifted the first question is what kind of object we are dealing with—a chair, a table, a desk, a coach or other type of furniture. Any and all of them have a construction. The bottom is the part of the construction that gets all the weight of the object. That is the right place for lifting. A chair is a very popular object and a good example. Lift the chair for the seat, not for the back support. I recommend that a table be disassembled. Separate the top from the legs and wrap them separately. It is very important to lift a buffet from the base—the part where the legs are attached—not for the top. If you lift for the top, the screws or dove tails with which it is attached can come off, or even worse, break. When the object is at the place where it will be wrapped and packaged (usually the garage), you are ready for the next step. Use foam wrap, not bubble wrap as the latter doesn’t let the object breath.
Continue reading “Antique Moving”