Packing and Moving Your Garage

The moving date is around the corner and everything in your house is wrapped, folded, dismantled and packed up. The one area that you dread approaching is your garage – it’s filled with odd stuff, most of which you barely ever use but still like to keep just in case… Bulky items like lawn mowers or old deck furniture, some auto parts from extra tires to engine stands, children’s stuff and outdoor equipment long out of use, tools, pots, broken statues – you have to sort through it all and figure out what still has value and what can be sold or discarded. (“Garage Stuff on Garage Sale” is a nice title for your newspaper ad).

A few things to keep in mind when packing your garage for the upcoming move:

- Drain all the gas and oil from gas-powered items such as a lawn mower or snow blower since they are considered hazardous materials, which most movers are not licensed to transport

- Empty the draws of your desks and workbenches and pack their content into boxes

- Secure together all the tools of similar length using a strong plastic cord; if you don’t have a tool box use a thick-wall carton to pack your hand tools and small power tools. Use paper to fill extra space and prevent tools from shifting. Cover sharp edges of the tools with linen or bubble wrap to avoid injuries when unpacking the box.

- Disassemble metal shelves and tape them together in a bundle along with the bolts placed in a labeled zip lock bag.

- Label your auto parts prior to packing. If there are certain parts that you cannot identify or which origin/purpose are a mystery, you are very unlikely to make use of them in the future and might as well donate them to the local auto shop.

- Flammable or explosive liquids (fertilizer, gasoline, kerosene, motor oil, pool chemicals) fall under the hazmat category and cannot be transported by most movers.

Most importantly, don't leave packing your garage till the last moment, it is notorious for being the most cluttered area of the house and can take longer than you expect to prepare for the move.

Moving During the Holidays

“To new beginnings!” is the toast you say as you watch the Times Square ball countdown on TV. And new beginnings they will be since you just moved to a new house just on time to ring the New Year in. In fact your boxes are still half unpacked and you are eating out of plastic plates after failing to remember where your best china was packed in. It doesn’t sound believable, does it? Who would want to mix the moving chaos into the holiday hassle?

You will be surprised how many people move during the period between Thanksgiving and New Year. Many families choose to move because that’s when the school is out or in hopes that the wide-spread holiday sale will apply to moving services as well. Some tenants’ lease expires at the end of the year and they may choose to move to a better apartment not to get locked in the new lease.

So if your moving date is during the holiday season, there a couple of things you want to be aware of. First of all you will not be one of the “few”, so don’t expect it to be a slow time in the moving season when movers are fighting to get business from you. Holiday discount on the move is probably just a myth so you shouldn’t count on that either. In fact the biggest challenge for moving companies around this time of the year is that they are short of hands because drivers want to take some time off to be with their families for the holidays. Hence, you might expect longer than expected delays for the delivery. So if there is a way for you to postpone your move till the holidays are over, you should give serious thought to the alternative option.

Have a Great Holiday Season!

What Men vs. Women Really Think before Spending

Click on the image to see it full size

Source: GoBankingRates.com

Want to Move with Less - Have a Garage Sale

Getting ready to move means that you might need to sort through your stuff and see if there is anything you can get rid of before the move. Why not hold a garage sale – not only will you dispose of the extra items you no longer need, you can also earn some cash that will help with the upcoming moving expenses.

Planning and organizing the sale will ensure a hassle-free day of parting with your belongings (and some of the memories too), counting the earnings and looking into a future that has more room for new things.

1. First thing that you should do is to check with the local authority if a special permit is required to hold a garage sale. In some places residents can only hold one garage sale per calendar year – so you want to be aware of this and similar rules.

2. Set the date. You will be better of to check the weather forecast first – a nice sunny day will bring in more buyers. Needless to say that weekend sales tend to do better but you want to avoid doing it on holidays.

3. Choose a place. The sale can be held on your patio or backyard, but it’s best if your display is immediately visible so try to arrange it closer to the street/sidewalk so that random passersby could stop by as well.

4. Advertise in advance. Run an ad in your local newspaper, put a sign in your window and spread the word through your neighbors.

5. Sort your items for sale – organize them into several groups by type, size or even assumed popularity (you may want to have a separate “hot items” pile displayed at the front for a better promotion of the sale).

6. Set the price. Think of a reasonable range to charge for items that are still in good condition – usually it would be 20-30% of the original purchase price. You may also use the Value Guide List provided by Salvation Army for the used household items.

7. Be prepared to bargain. Your buyers will want the cheapest prices so establishing a range rather than a set price will serve as a guide by how much you can lower the price for each item.

Enjoy your garage sale and don’t forget to take the signs down when it’s over!

Movies About Moving

"Away We Go" (2009) by Sam Mendes

There are quite a few movies where the plot is based on the fact that the main character relocates to a new place and the story begins so to say. Most people move because there are better opportunities waiting at the new destination: a more promising job, good schools, great recreational activities. Yet some people move simply to escape their past and start life over – a lot of movies are inspired by this idea of a new beginning in life.

Change of Address blog has come up with a list of Top 15 Movies About Moving with the oldest version of "Karate Kid" being #1. This movie is a great example of how moving affects children and all the challenges they are forced to deal with. So it’s a good idea for parents to watch this movie again if they are planning to relocate with their children: they might anticipate some of the potential problems and take a proactive approach to prevent them from happening. Watching it with kids is a good way to prepare them for the upcoming move.

There is another list of Top 9 Movies About Moving on http://listicles.thelmagazine.com . “Piano” is one of them and I personally consider it one of the best movies of all time. It’s about moving to a less civilized world than you are used to, where nothing is like home or will ever feel that way. Not every move can bring about positive changes: sometimes moving to a distant location can cause so much nostalgia and homesickness that a person is simply unable to adept to a new life. Moving back to where you belong and feel safe because this is your home is then the only solution.

There are many other great movies about moving and how it affects people’s lives. In “Mona Lisa Smile” Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) moves to Massachusetts because she believes she can make a change by teaching more progressive ideas to the girls-students of a conservative school. “Away We Go” is about finding a perfect place on Earth to raise a child. Moving from place to place becomes a lifestyle of Chris “Alexander Supertramp” in the movie “Into the Wild”.

What’s your favorite movie about moving?

Choosing a Storage Facility

It often happens that you are ready to move out – but it will be awhile before you actually move in: your new house may not be ready, or you don’t have a house yet and need to look for one, or you plan to go traveling for a couple of months. This means that your belongings need to be put into a storage facility - and possibly for an indefinite period of time. Choose a storage unit wisely to ensure that your things are protected while you are away.

Here are a few factors to consider:

Location.
Maybe you found a great deal in some ultra-modern storage where you will pay just a few bucks for a huge room. But the storage happens to be in the back of nowhere and getting there every time will be a pain. Choose a facility close to where you are currently staying, so that every time you need to pick up a thing or two (which will happen frequently), you can get there easy and fast.

Operating Hours.
Make sure you will have access to your belonging at reasonable hours. It’s best if your storage is open seven days a week.

Climate Control.
If you live in the area with high humidity, you want to choose a climate controlled storage facility to unsure that your things don’t get damaged especially if they are in for a long stay. Too much humidity can cause mold to form and lack of ventilation will result in unpleasant stale smell that will be absorbed by your possessions.

Right Size Room.
You may underestimate how big of a shipment you will have: getting a room that is too small will mean having to fix your things so tight, that you will have a real trouble accessing individual items. Nor do you want to get a room too big: you will end up paying more for the space you are not even utilizing in full.

Long Term Discount.
If you know for sure that you will be staying for a lengthy period of time, make sure to esquire about long term discounts. You might have to prepay for several months in advance but at least you wont have to worry about sending monthly payments promptly and will save some money too.

Good luck with finding your best storage option!

What Packing Supplies You Need for Your Move

No matter whether you are moving long distance or across the street – without proper packing your belongings are likely to be damaged. Some items you can pack yourself, whereas others need to be packed by professional movers. Moving supplies can be costly so it’s a good idea to shop around in advance and see if you could find a better deal on boxes and tape. Should you discover right before your move that you don’t have enough boxes – no need to worry, all the moving companies come equipped with moving supplies including moving blankets, boxes, bubble wrap and tape. If you decide to move on your own and rent a moving truck – many truck rental companies such as U-Haul can also provide you with packing supplies. Some items such as boxes and tape need to be purchased, but things like dollies and moving blankets can easily be rented.

So here are the packing supplies you will need for your upcoming move:

• Moving boxes of various size(small boxes for heavy items such as books, large boxes for bulky items such as pillows)
• Wardrobe box
• Electronic box
• Moving blanket
• Mattress cover
• Crate
• Cushion foam
• Bubble wrap
• Packing paper
• Tape
• Carpet film protector
• Mover’s stretch plastic wrap
• Permanent box marker

Moving blankets are used to wrap your big furniture items such as couch, dresser, and coffee table. Using them requires some practice so you might want to leave this task to professional movers and devote your attention to packing smaller items such as books, clothes, bedding and dishware. Make sure to label each box as well as your furniture (the latter gets almost unrecognizable once wrapped in blankets). It’s a good idea to mark which room each items goes to – this way movers won’t have to check with you every time and the unloading part will move along faster. Don’t rush to discard your boxes once the move is finished, you might want to fold and store them to save some money on your next move.

We wish you a happy packing!