House Moving Tips

1. Book A Removalist - Try to book your removalist as soon as you know when you want to move. Booking in advance is crucial as many companies book up quite quickly and you may miss out on the date you want. This is particularly important if you’re looking to move interstate, or if you want to move during the moving busy season (September to December).
2. Purchase cheap used boxes: www.westsideboxes.com.au
3. Purge as you pack - Take the opportunity while packing to purge items you no longer use. Sell, donate or throw these items away, don’t take items you no longer use to clutter up the new house. If you don’t have the opportunity to part with them before the move label the box to sell or donate so you don’t unpack it.
4. great money saving tip – Sell unwanted items on gumtree, Facebook marketplace or garage sale.
5. Colour code the boxes - Colour coding boxes so it’s easy to identify which room they belong in.
6. Label each box - When labelling boxes write which room it belongs to along with the contents on the top and side of the box. By labelling the sides you can easily identify what it in it when the boxes are stacked.
7. Place boxes in correct room - Get the removalists to put the boxes directly into the room labelled on the box, this will help make the unpacking process more manageable.
8. Don’t write valuables on the box - We want to trust those helping us move, but you never do know what can happen.  If you have a box of valuables going with the removalists don’t broadcast it by writing it on the box.
9. Roll up jewellery - lay jewellery onto a bath towel, fold over each edge, the roll up towel to help prevent necklaces getting tangled.
10. Keep it light - Don’t make boxes too heavy, it’s easy to fill them up but consider how much they will weigh, you don’t want the bottom to break away.
11. Where to start? – start packing in the kitchen, put heavy items at the bottom of a few boxes, then load those boxes with lighter items.
12. Wrap breakables – use clothes, tablecloths, tea towel and/or towels to wrap around breakables.
13. Wrap glasses – use socks to wrap around glasses.
14. Wrap artwork and/or large items – in doonas, quilts blankets etc.
15. Use pillows etc – use pillows, cushions and stuffed animals to pad things and keep them safe from breaking.
16. Prevent plates from breaking – if you have run out of paper try wrapping plates individually so they don’t break, place plastic plates in between.
17. Remember where cables go – take photos of how the electronics cables are connected to easily know how to reconnect them at the new house.
18. Don’t lose screws – when removing screws from items place them in a zip lock bag and tape it to the piece of furniture it corresponds to so you don’t lose it.
19. Keep boxes organised – use plastic grocery bags to keep the contents inside the boxes organised. ie. place items from the top of your bedside table drawer into bag 1, label  bag top drawer.  Items from 2nd drawer into bag 2, label. This will help you easily unpack and place back into the drawers.  This is particularly handy for office drawers too.
20. Tape cables to electronics – to prevent the confusion of what cable belongs to which electronic, tape the cables or cords to the base of it. I say base in case the tape leaves sticky marks it’s not so worrisome on the bottom of it.
21. Fill nail holes – use white soap to fill nail holes in the wall.
22. Eat from your fridge and pantry – don’t do big grocery shops before your move, plan dinners based on food you have in your fridge and pantry, try to use them up before you move.
23. Don’t take clothes off their hangers – use a bin liner to wrap around clothes to easily transport. Wrapping them from the bottom will help prevent losing any clothes that might slip off the hangers.
24. Kids toy boxes – wrap small-medium size toy boxes in plastic bags or plastic wrap to save you unpacking the box into another box, wrap with plastic to help keep the items from falling out.
25. Place heavy items in a suitcase – place books in suitcases they are easier to roll than lift.
26. Remove light bulbs – to prevent them from breaking during the move.
27. Finish it all before moving day – don’t leave any packing for the  day of the move. Have everything ready the night before. I was really surprised that the removalist company managed to pack up our entire house in a matter of 1.5 hours.  There was no time for me to anything more than to clean up behind them.
28. THE DAY OF THE MOVE
29. Babysitter – if possible, organise to get somebody to look after the kids and pets.
30. Valuables – keep your most valuable items with you during the moving process ie. jewellery, passports etc.
31. Esky – have an esky and ice packs on hand to put in all the food from the fridge.
32. Clean fridge – take the opportunity to give the fridge a clean out while it’s empty.
33. Dust under fridge – be ready for a heap of dirt and dust that may need to be cleaned up from under the fridge. Make sure you have your dustpan on hand.
34. Get items from storage – Get the removalists to pick up items you have in storage, this is a huge back saver!
35. Bed assembly – Get the removalists to help you assemble any furniture like beds, it’s a job that you really don’t want to be doing late in the evening while everybody is exhausted and tired.
36. What to unpack first – determine which room you want to unpack first, so at the end of the day you can relax in a not so cluttered space.