How Can Your Family Help With the Big Move?

When it comes time for a big move, there’s a lot one needs to think about. All of a sudden, the many possessions we tend to accumulate take on a new light, as we have to consider how to move each one to a new home. That’s why we’ve gathered some moving tips you and your family can use to make the move easier, so click here for more information. If you can get your family to come together to help out, your odds of an easy, successful move jump way up!

1. Most Hands on Deck

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When moving with kids, it’s easy to leave them off to the side and have you and any other adults in the family do all the work. However, kids are often able to help more than we realize. There are caveats, of course. Very young children can often get in the way, and you certainly shouldn’t work kids to the bone. At the same time, most kids can at least help pack up smaller boxes and move them where you need them to go. Additional people helping with a move, even if they’re a bit younger or older than the typical fully capable adult, are something of a dividing factor on the workload.

They mean less time packing and moving boxes to and from. The big exception is you’ll want to make sure very heavy lifts, like a lot of furniture, stay in the hands of your most able-bodied family members. But that only tends to make up a small amount of the stuff you end up moving overall. Friends can be a great help too. Offer them pizza or some other small reward (or cash, if you have it), and try to get a few of the stronger people in your life to lend a hand.

2. The Less, the Merrier

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Anything you manage to cut from your life before making your move means the move gets that much easier. The trick is knowing what to get rid of. The big one almost everyone could benefit from is a clothing purge. The odds are good you have a lot of clothes you almost never use. If you haven’t worn something in a whole year, that’s a good sign it’s time to get rid of it. While there’s a lot of debate about whether the minimalist lifestyle is some perfect ideal or one choice of many, we can borrow some tips from minimalist gurus to help with purging unneeded stuff too. For instance, it’s often said that if something doesn’t bring you joy, you should get rid of it.

We’ll modify that and say that if something doesn’t bring joy or serves a necessary function, you either need to justify why you’ll keep it or should get rid of it. Keep in mind that “getting rid of it” doesn’t always mean throwing it away. Donating things, either to charities or friends, is usually the better option. Even if something is truly garbage, check to see if it can be recycled. Also remember moving is a family event. Don’t throw away things you don’t care about but other family members do! When in doubt, ask around to see what people think before trashing something.

3. Pack Efficiently

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For this tip, let’s borrow some quality advice for frequent travelers. Pack efficiently! In essence, the more you can pack in a given space, the fewer boxes you need for your move. This can translate to fewer trips, more savings with any moving company you might use, and an overall easier experience. One way to improve efficiency is to roll up clothes, rather than folding them like so many people choose to do. Rolling clothes gets them packed very tightly in a given space and can often save you a few boxes focusing on clothes alone.

This all said, remember that efficiency is not always packing things as tight as possible. Weight and fragility are also factors. As is probably obvious, you shouldn’t pack sensitive glass or electronic items tightly or in ways they might get banged by heavier stuff. You also don’t want tons of boxes pushing thirty or forty pounds. It’s also important to note that boxes can fail if too much is packed into them. If you start to worry whether the bottom will give out or not, the chances are good you’ve packed the box a bit too tight.

4. Hire Help for the Big Move

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When you’re young, moving may not always be too big a process. You’re often at your physical best and don’t have all that much that needs to be brought over to your new home. As we get older and our families get bigger, things grow more complicated. You can accumulate more and more stuff, all as your bones begin to creak a bit. It can make moving tough. That’s why it can be a good idea to hire some help. A moving company can bring in a number of strong professionals whose literal job is to efficiently and effectively move anything and everything from one home to another.

This saves you a huge amount of time and energy. They’ll do the hard part for you and let you focus on the various other annoying parts of moving, like setting up your utilities and switching your mailing address. The trick is going to be finding a company with a good reputation and a wide range of services that are well-reviewed and worth checking out.

A Big Move Doesn’t Need to Mean Big Trouble

Many people dread having to make a “Big Move” because of the sheer amount of work it can seem to represent. However, approaching it with some forethought and care can save you a lot of time and headache.