Moving House

When booking a removal company, its important to do so as far in advance of your move date as possible – removal firms who do all of the packing and moving for you expect to be able to come out and assess your belongings, for insurance and van/person ell cover.

It’s important to de-clutter, or have a guesstimate of how much you’ll have de-cluttered before you move so that they can give you an accurate quote.  If you overestimate the space you need, you’ll not get a refund, and find that space is wasted – especially, if you book a larger van than you require.  Too small and you may find that your belongings don’t fit, or that you get charged extra.  You also might not get to move that day, if they have to unload one van and reload another, or book another transport for your belongings.

Allowing a company to pack your belongings isn’t without risk, so before you hire a removal firm be sure to check their credentials and references thoroughly. You’ll have items you don’t want them to pack – make sure you pack them yourself, or tell them, clearly what you expect them to pack and not pack. Its always good to take an inventory before allowing anyone to come in and pack your belongings – and if you can, take photos.

Most companies provide insurance and are consummate professionals, but some can cause more damage than the cost of hiring them, and its important to have redress when moving belongings. Their insurance should be carefully examined to make sure it covers everything – this will also give you an idea of what they will and won’t pack – and what extras (such as mattress covering) they’ll provide. Companies can come in and pack your house in as little as two days – so its important to know what to expect and when to expect them. You will want to stay and watch them packing (and possibly pack some of your own things) so make sure to allow for that when planning your move.

Unless you’re moving a very short distance and can do many hops in your own transport – or if you’re moving with a group of people (such as in the Military), or your family has access to a suitable van, its important to book your van as far in advance as possible, to allow you to ensure that you get your van.

You can collect quotes online based on your move date and expected destination – and the phone and confirm an2discuss these quotes if necessary.  During this phone call, you can also ask about anything you’ve got concerns about, if anything.

You’ll need to decide whether you’re moving yourself and just hiring a van, or hiring a van and moving team. Or even hiring a company to take care of it all, from packing to moving you to your new home and arranging your belongings so that you can unpack.

You may also need some basic information on the amount of items you want to move, the sizes of your bulky items, and whether you’ll be moving into a house that’s up stairs or an elevator – and what access you have, as some companies charge premiums for this if you’re using their team to move.   Access includes whether its a long way to your front door, or if parking is readily available, or conversely, difficult.

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Fragiles are some of the hardest items to pack. From ornaments to dishes, antiques, photos and lights, you’ll need to consider what you’re packing, and how best to transport them.

Large photos, framed items and paintings other wall based items are easiest wrapped in bubble-wrap and then placed carefully in a safe place – they’ll need to be monitored carefully when moving, as anything falling against them could cause serious damage, tear or break them.

By far and away, the most awkward items to move are computer monitors and TV are the hardest to move – unless you’ve kept their boxes, you’ll find it very difficult to either fit them into a box that you have acquired, or find that you need the boxes for other things.  These can be wrapped in sheets or dust covers and placed, with padding around them, in the van once the boxes are in.  Most removal companies bind layers to stop them from shifting or falling, so you can secure your monitors, and computers in the same way.

Fragile items, such as ornaments and dishes can go in polystyrene bead lined boxes, or be packed in bubble wrap, but its important to remember that this will cut down on the volume of the items you can fit into the box, and its still no guarantee that they will survive the move.

Careful packing does minimize the risk of things being broken, but one of the only ways to actually ensure that you have no breakages whilst moving is to take them with you, or, if hiring a firm, allowing them to pack.

Newspaper is a great buffer item, but remember, the ink may rub off when you’re in transit, giving you another chore at the other end.  You can get white “newsprint” paper from most box suppliers, which is considered to be best for packing and wrapping fragiles.

Step 1: Making the Decision

You should remember to always include your family when making decisions that will affect all of their lives. Nowadays, parents often tend to disregard the opinions and the feelings of their children in making decisions affecting the whole family. The common line that can be heard is this: “Kids, we are moving overseas.” That’s it, end of discussion. What needs to be heard from you is this: “Kids, we have been presented with a wonderful opportunity, but in order to get that opportunity, we are going to have to move overseas. What do you think we should do?”

Parents know that any child will always react negatively to the question. Because of this, they would rather not listen. This can be very harmful to a child’s self esteem. He or she might grow up thinking that you never had any respect for his or her opinion. Because of this, children often grow up resenting their parents.

Some parents think that the step of making the decision and breaking the news to the family should be separate. However, you need to understand that making the decision of moving the family overseas needs to be done by the family. You need to consider every opinion and you need to show that every opinion matters.

Step 2: Comforting Fears

Once you have made a decision, you should encourage your children if they have any worries regarding the move. Of course, your children will have all sorts of questions about what would happen. They will also have a lot of fear. This is natural. We all fear the unknown. This understanding will give you the first thing that you can do to ease those fears.

You need to learn about where you are going. This is the best thing that you can do to assuage your fears. When your children know what to expect when your family moves overseas, they will be able to drive their fears away. This step will also help you since knowing about where you are going will help calm your fears too.

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