December 2018 - Lift It Moving & Storage

23 Moving Hacks for a Faster, Easier, and Less Stressful Move

December 20, 2018 admin Packing Tips Comments Off

Moving is a part of life. And whether you move often or are packing up your bags for the first time in a long time, it’s a notoriously stressful process that can take its toll on even the best of planners. Fortunately, while moving isn’t necessarily easy on anyone, there are some ways to pack and unpack faster, reduce the amount of work, and ultimately make the process go just a bit smoother than it might otherwise. Sound too good to be true? Try these moving hacks for yourself and discover creative ways to improve your move.

Getting prepared

There are a lot of things you can do before you even pack up that first box to help facilitate an easier move. The moving hacks below will help you start off on the right foot.

Call the utility companies as soon as you know you’re moving. Cancelling your utilities at the place you’re vacating and setting them up at your new home doesn’t take much more than a couple phone calls, but once you get super busy with your move it’s easy to neglect this all-important task. Tackle it as soon as you know your new address and you’ll not only get it out of the way early on, you’ll also ensure you don’t forget to do it.

Find a mover fast. Planning on hiring professional movers but not sure where to start? Use google and search for “movers near me” to find quality and reliability local movers. Just make sure to ask for quotes from at least three different local moving companies so you can be sure to get the best price.

Set your budget. Moving can get expensive, and you don’t want to end up with major sticker shock on top of everything else. Take advantage of our online moving cost calculator and figure out how much you can expect to spend.

Make donation pick-up arrangements. If you know you’ll be donating big items like furniture and rugs, schedule a pick-up ahead of time so you can be sure you have an organization that can come get them. Use a site like Zealous Good to list the items you’ll be donating and give local charities a chance to request them, or schedule a pick-up with Goodwill, Salvation Army, or another organization that will take your donations off your hands.

Plan out your packing supplies. Use our packing calculator to get a good idea of just how much you’ll need in terms of packing supplies. This way, you can be sure to get what you need on the first run to the store.

Eat up. Moving the items in your fridge, pantry, and freezer can be a real pain. On the flip side, not moving them and just throwing them out instead is majorly wasteful. Find a happy medium by making it a goal to eat as much of the food you already have in your house as you can before moving day arrives. Turn it into a game and get creative with recipes to see how much you can use up. Do good at the same time by donating unopened/unexpired food to a local food bank.

Packing

Packing is one of the areas that moving hacks come in handy the most. There are lots of ways to cut corners and save yourself time while also making sure your belongings are protected. Here are some you may want to make use of.

Don’t empty out your dresser drawers. Instead of taking clothes and other items out of dresser drawers and packing them into boxes, simply take the drawers out of the dresser, leave the items in there, and secure them by wrapping up the drawer in plastic wrap. If it’s not too heavy, you can leave the drawers in the dresser and just wrap up the dresser itself in plastic wrap.

Leave your clothes on the hanger. It’s a ton of extra work to unhang clothes, fold them, box them, and then hang them back up at your new place. Skip the unnecessary steps by leaving clothes on their hangers and either grouping them up and wrapping them in large garbage bags or hanging them in a wardrobe box.

Put your linens, towels, and other soft items to use. Wrap up breakables like glasses or perfume bottles in socks for serious padding, and use linens and towels to provide cushioning for fragile, difficult to wrap items like lamps and vases. In the kitchen, use dish towels to securely wrap up knives and other sharp objects, securing them on there with a rubber band.

Use pots to hold small items. Instead of wasting additional boxes for small kitchen items like spices and gadgets, fill up your large pots and other sealable containers with them. You’ll save a ton of space.

Wrap a small bit of plastic wrap around things that might spill. Prevent spills in transit by using plastic wrap to secure the lids of things like soap, shampoo, cleaning supplies, and other items you don’t want poured out all over your things.

Pack your suitcases. You can get away with packing a lot of heavy things in suitcases since their wheels make them easy to move. Use suitcases to pack things that aren’t so easily transported in boxes, such as books and heavy serving dishes.

Color code boxes. Save time with your box labeling by picking up a sheet of different colored stickers and assigning each color a room. That way, you’ll be able to identify what needs to go where super quickly, and you won’t have to hunt for the marker every single time you seal up a box.

Take pictures of box contents. Snap a quick pic of the inside of boxes after they’re packed in case you need to jog your memory later about what’s where. While you won’t be able to capture every item in the shot, it should help you get a general idea of what you’ll find in each box.

Take a picture of the back of your TV. It can be difficult to remember where all those wires go. While your TV is still plugged in, take a picture of the back of it so you’ll remember how to set it back up later.

Put together a moving essentials bag. Pack a small duffle bag or suitcase with the items you’ll need access to during your move and right after you’ve arrived at your new place. Your moving essentials bag may include important documents, medications, chargers, basic toiletries, a couple changes of clothes, etc. The goal is to know exactly where to look when you need these things instead of having to hunt around.

Moving day

Moving day itself is often one of the hardest parts of the move (and usually the most tiring!). These moving hacks will help you get through it.

Pack a cooler. With all the chaos of moving day it’s very easy to get dehydrated or not eat enough. Stock a cooler with easy-to-grab items that can keep your strength up throughout the day, like water bottles and quick snacks. Move it with you in the car instead of the moving truck so you can access it whenever you need to.

Have a plan for little kids and pets. If your kids are too young to help on moving day, your best bet is to have them out with friends or family to relieve a bit of your stress and keep them safe. The same goes for pets. If you can, arrange alternate plans for your little ones and your furry ones—you’ll all be happier.

Be packed up the day before moving day. Last minute packing can slow down your entire day. Make it a goal to be completely packed before your movers arrive or it’s time to pick up the rental truck. That way, you can focus right away on accomplishing the task at hand.

Unpacking

You’ve finally arrived, but there’s still more to be done. Here’s how to stop procrastinating and speed up the unpacking process.

Start with the kitchen. The kitchen tends to be the most complicated and time intensive room to get unpacked, and the longer you wait to start, the more stressed out you’ll be about it. Getting it done first will give you a big sense of accomplishment right off the bat and allow you to fully focus on the easier-to-unpack rooms.

Give yourself a deadline. There’s no real timeline when it comes to unpacking, which makes procrastinating all the more alluring. Schedule a housewarming party or a more casual get together for a few weeks after your move to provide yourself with a set end date for having it all done.

Do a little bit at a time. Don’t stress yourself out trying to get every single box unpacked right away. Get the major things done, and then focus instead on doing what you can as you can, devoting just ten or fifteen minutes at a time to unpacking instead of feeling like you need to spend hours on it. It will all get done eventually.

Get rid of boxes as you empty them. As soon as a box is emptied of all its items, break it down and recycle it. This will give you a physical marker of progress and clear up much-needed space in your new home.

Moving hacks are all about making things just a bit easier on yourself. Follow the ones above and you’ll notice that, this time around, maybe your move isn’t quite as bad as you expected it to be

4 Myths That Could Wreak Havoc on Your Move

December 2, 2018 admin Moving Comments Off

If you’ve ever moved, you probably know that everyone seems to have an opinion on the best way to go about it.

Well, don’t let your already tenuous grip on sanity fall prey to their well-meaning moving advice. Because moving is stressful enough without crazy talk and terrible pointers. So here are the four common moving myths that will almost certainly derail you, if you let them. Beware!

1. Free moving boxes are best

Free is good, right?

Not necessarily, when it comes to moving boxes.

While you may be tempted to head to your friendly neighborhood liquor store to plead for castoff cartons, resist the urge. You should never skimp on boxes, even if that means you have to pony up a few bucks for them, says storage and organization expert Emma Gordon of Clutter.com, an on-demand storage service.

“Boxes should have top and bottom flaps so they can be taped shut, handle cutouts on the sides for easier carrying, and be more or less square,” Gordon says.

And they shouldn’t be wider than your shoulders. Any more than that and Gordon says you’ll have to carry boxes by holding your arms out and away from your body, which will wear you out faster.

The ideal moving box should be made of thick cardboard and be easy to stack on a dolly. It should also have a designated area for writing what’s inside the box, and have the weight limit printed on the outside so you know what it can carry without ripping.

There’s an unsuspecting advantage to buying boxes: Their uniform size makes it easy to gauge how many you’ll be able to pack in the truck based on the dimensions of the truck and a little math. Also, they’re way less likely to fall apart at the worst possible moments.

But if you do decide to go the free route, be careful about what you bring home from the grocer. Packing your possessions in free produce boxes could mean you’re joined by unwanted insects in your new home.

2. All markers are created equal

Instead of grabbing any old marker you have lying around, Gordon suggests color coding the writing on boxes so that everyone knows what goes where in your new home.

“Permanent markers are best since they work on a wide variety of packing material,” Gordon says. “Choose a marker with a thicker tip, so it’s easier to read.”

Along with jotting down the contents of the boxes, make sure to put an arrow facing up so everyone knows how the box should be loaded and carried, says Alfonzo Williams, branch manager of St Petersburg-based Lift It Moving and Storage St Petersburg.

“If you have delicate or fragile items in the box, make a note on at least two sides of the box,” he adds.

3. There are some things you can’t pack until moving day

It’s tempting to wait until the last minute to pack up personal items and bedding if you’re using them on your final night in your old digs. But that can create chaos and increase the odds of something getting left behind or misplaced.

Instead, have everything packed up and ready to go on moving day, Williams says. Not only will that help reduce the chance for problems, but it’s also good for your wallet, too.

“Lack of preparation is the No. 1 reason why consumers experience higher-than-expected moving costs,” Johnson says.

That’s because you could wind up paying professional miami movers to stand around while you pack up those last few incidentals.

“Pack personal items like medicines, pet food, toiletries, school items for kids, a few days of clothes, as though you’re going on a two- to three-day vacation,” Johnson suggests. “That way it’s easier to find the essentials you’ll need to muddle through a move during the first day or two in a new home.”

4. You should always move on Friday

Perhaps you think Friday is the best day to move because it gives you the whole weekend to unpack.

But here’s the reality: Everybody else is thinking that, too. And that extra demand means higher costs. Local Miami Fl Movers charge more on weekends and at the beginning and the end of the month because that’s typically when they’re the busiest.

“You can see rates 20% to 30% higher during those times,” Johnson says.

Most Miami Fl moving companies also charge more in the spring and summer than they do during the fall and winter, Williams says.

And it isn’t just your wallet that’ll be affected: If you move during a peak time, it can mean crews are stretched thin and you might have to settle for movers with less experience, Johnson says.

No matter when you choose to move, you should make sure to book movers three to four weeks in advance to lock in the day and time you want.

“Getting to the heart of move-related myths like these can make a drastic difference on moving day,” Gordon says. “It can be the line between stress and bliss.”

Cheat Sheet: How Many Moving Boxes Will I Need? – Local Movers in Tampa Fl

December 2, 2018 admin Local Movers Comments Off

Local Movers in Tampa hired? Check. Moving day scheduled? Check. Packed? Um… If your answer to this question is no, it’s probably because you’re overwhelmed by looking around at all the stuff in your home. One of the most common moving questions is: “How many boxes will I need?”

Make the packing process easy by calculating how many boxes you need in advance. You will save time and money and avoid running out multiple times to get more boxes or spending money on boxes you don’t need. You don’t need to solve a Rubik’s cube to be able to do the moving boxes math. You’re in luck, we have created a handy graph to give you an estimate of how many boxes you’ll need based on the size of your home:

General Rule of Thumb: The longer you have lived in your home, the more stuff you will have accumulated. You know if you’re a pack rat, now’s the time to own it. If you have lived in your home for more than five years, or are just NOT a less-is-more type of a person, buy the higher number of boxes for your move. Also, check with your local moving company to see if they buy back unused boxes or will give you a discount on used boxes. Some local moving companies in tampa fl will do both! Check with the movers first, and then stock up! Remember to ask for moving boxes made of 100 percent recyclable materials.

Using the right packing supplies and techniques will assist you in getting your treasures all in one piece to your new home. For more packing and moving box and supplies tips (including how to pack videos) visit here. Happy Packing! This is one time you don’t want to say: “I crushed it!”

Figuring Out the Best Time to Move

December 2, 2018 admin Moving Day Comments Off

The best time of year for you personally to move will be influenced by both your reasons for moving and the details of your lifestyle. If you are moving because of your job or to start school, you likely have limited flexibility about your moving date. If you are moving for other reasons, you may have a lot more flexibility. In any case, a little planning and research can help you choose the best timing.

Rental Options

If you are renting, timing your move depends in part on your goal. Because most Americans move between May and September, this is peak moving season and it provides the most options in terms of rental units becoming available. Off-peak season provides fewer options, but it generally costs less money and gives you more negotiating power with the landlord, who may be more motivated to accommodate your demands and strike a deal anyway.

Weekdays Vs. Weekends

Whether you rent or buy, you will also generally save money by moving during the work week instead of on the weekend. There is greater demand on the weekend because most people find the weekend to be better timing for their personal schedule. You may have a more flexible schedule with the moving company if you move when there is lower demand.

Children and the School Year

Another factor that influences moving dates is the presence of school-aged children in the family. Most parents of school-aged kids prefer to move during the summer months, when school is out anyway. However, that issue isn’t necessarily as simple and straightforward as it might seem. If you have school-aged kids, you should do some research and consider your options.

First of all, if you are moving long distance, the current school system may be on a different schedule form the new school system. Some school systems in certain states follow a year-round schedule. For those schools, summer break does not last three months; instead, it typically lasts about six weeks. However, year-round schools typically have a longer spring break and winter break. If the goal is to have the child graduate from one grade in the current school and then start a new grade in the new school, then the timing needs to fit the summer break schedule for both systems. But if the goal is just to ensure that the child does not miss too many days of school, then Christmas break or spring break may also be good times to move.

A lot of parents do not realize it, but if you are planning to move to another city or another state late in the school year, it is sometimes possible to have your child graduate a few weeks early so that they do not need to enroll in a new school the last few weeks of the school year. In effect, it is sometimes possible to give the child an extended summer break in order to help accommodate the move, and then enroll them in the new school system starting the following fall.

For more helpful moving information, see more of our blog here

5 essential moving supplies when moving

December 2, 2018 admin Moving Supplies Comments Off

You cannot do a task without the proper tools. When you relocate to a new home, you must pack everything using adequate materials. In this blog post we will present you 5 essential moving supplies needed when moving in Miami.

Boxes. You cannot start a move without having these key supplies. You will need boxes of all sizes. What matters the most for them is to be durable and without any physical flaw or damage. Special boxes must be both for fragile items and kits for bottles and glasses. For electronics is recommended to use the original boxes, if you still have them and they are in good condition.
Cushioning and packing materials. They insure that the content of a box does not shift or breaks during the transport. The most common used materials are: Styrofoam, packing peanuts. Bubble wrap and polystyrene foam. Just add sufficient layers around the objects and on top and bottom of each box.
Lifting and moving gear. In most cases, this type of equipment is available only for professional movers. But you can still buy a dolly or a hand truck and some moving pads for your furniture. All of them will speed up the process and will make the relocation easier and more pleasant.
Labels. We typically like to label our boxes manually, using a marker. But you can buy from office supplies stores various premade labels. Labeling is an essential part of the process and it will help you place the boxes in the cargo hold.
Special cases. If you are transporting musical instruments (violin, flutes, etc.) you will surely need to transport them via a specially designed case. Also, some equipment, kits and tools must be transported in special cases.

Our company offers high quality moving services at very affordable prices. Give us a call and see.

Book with Movers in Advance

December 2, 2018 admin Moving Quotes Comments Off

Moving can be a long process. Be sure to get #movingquotes from reputable miami moving companies at least 6 weeks in advance. You should also book your move 2 to 3 weeks before your move date.