House moves are exciting, nerve-wracking, but also filled with stress – with so many things you have to think about and remember, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the entire process. And if you’re not looking to hire furniture removalists like Giffen Furniture Removals – home to the top movers Brisbane can provide – then you might be thinking about a DIY house move.
That’s why we’ve prepared this ultimate guide to a stress-free DIY house move. Enjoy!
1. Make A Checklist
You will want to start with a checklist. Now there’s the question of, “What exactly do I include on the checklist?” That’s a question only you can answer. Ideally, you will want to start preparing the checklist 2-3 weeks before your “move” day. This will give you more than enough time to go over every room, remember every special item that might need more consideration, and write down every little thing you can’t forget. These things may include:
- Buying all your packing supplies
- Remembering to call your service providers and update your home address
- Updating your home address with your work
- Informing your neighbours you will be leaving
- Figuring out your new daily routes from your new home
2. Get All Your Supplies First
Supplies, supplies, supplies. You can’t underestimate the importance of having the right supplies, right when you need them. Leaving your supplies last-minute can leave you empty-handed if the stores are out of bubble wrap, tape, or boxes, and what would you do then?
Make sure you have all the right supplies available weeks before you intend to pack. This gives you enough time to scout out a new supplies store if any issues come up.
3. Throw Away More Than You Pack
You might think that you need to pack everything in your house, but this is rarely (if ever) the case. The truth is that every home is filled with junk that you don’t really need, and the last thing you want to do is start your first day in your new home by filling it with unnecessary, old garbage.
Be brutal, be rough. Give every member of your household a box and instruct them to go around their rooms, tossing everything they don’t really need into the box. Go over every room two or three times, making sure that you ask yourself – is this really something I want to bother packing?
4. Pack Room By Room
Now that you’ve thrown away the garbage, let’s get started packing. You might think that the easiest method is to have every member of your family pack their rooms individually, but that can leave you with a bit of a mess. You need a single person who is aware of everything that’s been packed, and which boxes those items have been packed in.
That’s why we suggest that you pack room by room, with your helpers alongside with you. Start with one bedroom, then another bedroom, then the kitchen, then the living room, and so on. And make sure to leave every packed box in the room of its items – you don’t want to end up seeing a box from the kitchen hanging out in the bathroom.
5. Label And Photograph Everything
The biggest problem you will have when you reach the unpacking stage of your move in your new home is remembering where everything is. While labelling your boxes “kitchen” and “living room” can help, you can also add an extra step if you really want to avoid the unpacking headache.
Make a chart of every item that you’ve packed, and label exactly where those items have been boxed. For extra visual evidence, photograph the insides of every box before you shut them up.
6. Load The Heaviest Objects First
You might be tempted to start loading the lightest boxes – simply because you’ve spent an entire day packing and you’re not in the mood to throw out your back. Unfortunately, it is highly recommended that you start with the heaviest objects first.
Your wardrobe, your dining table, your refrigerator – these things go in first, all the way to the front of the moving truck. This makes unpacking a thousand times easier – it means you can unpack all the lightest boxes first, making enough room for the heavy items last.
7. Keep The Necessities By Your Side
Phones, laptops, books, and even toiletries – you do not want to bury these items underneath piles of lamps and plates and a mountain of other household items. Essentially, keep the items that you find yourself using every day in a backpack by your side.
8. Hire The Pros!
No matter how much you prepare, DIY house moving is almost never stress-free. It takes hours of preparation, worrying, and heavy-lifting, and when you’re in the middle of a house move, you have plenty of other things to think about. So why not just hire the pros?
At Giffen Furniture Removals, we offer two amazing services that can make your next house move an absolute stress-free experience:
- All Furniture Removal Needs: Everything from pre-packing to furniture protection to dismantling and assembly and more. Whatever help you need with the packing and unpacking process, we’re here to help.
- All Furniture Storage Needs: Do you have furniture that doesn’t fit or belong in your new home? Let us take it off your hands – with our storage facilities, we can handle the extra furniture with no added stress on your part.
So what are you waiting for? Giffen Furniture Removal is home to some of the best movers Brisbane can offer. Call us today and ask for your obligation-free quote for all your furniture removal and storage needs!
