If you’ve made the decision to hire professional movers to pack your belongings as part of your next move, you’re one smart cookie. There are a lot of moving pieces involved when moving from one address to another, and hiring a dependable and accredited moving firm like Rent-a-Son to complete all the packing takes one big stressor off your plate.
With this full-service option, the mover is traditionally responsible for procuring all the packing materials and supplies, packing up your belongings, loading every carefully packed item into the truck, unloading everything at your new address and even unpacking everything again to your instructions. Full-service moving is your best way to ensure your move goes smoothly and professionally, and saves a lot of grey hairs in the process.
That said, hiring full-service movers doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t want to lift a finger. Time is money, and the better prepared your household is, the less time and money it will cost you to complete the move. One of the best things to learn in advance of your move is how to prepare for movers to pack. A little bit of advanced preparation will bring order into the chaos, and ensure all your belongings get packed quickly, safely and efficiently.
Get rid of all the stuff you don’t need
The longer you’ve been living at your current address, the more stuff you’ve likely accumulated that you don’t need anymore. Still holding onto toys suitable for a two-year-old but your youngest is now nine? Have half a closet full of clothes that are now out of fashion or the wrong size? Are those actually boxes of VHS tapes in your basement and, if so, why? Other popular items to purge include old electronics, junky old furniture, half-used paint cans, infrequently used kitchen appliances, and old paintings, decorations and knick-knacks that are no longer your style.
There’s absolutely no reason to pay your mover to pack and move items you don’t need anymore. But, please, don’t simply pitch all your unloved items in the garbage and destine them for landfill. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Host a garage/yard sale if the season’s right, ask friends, family, neighbours and co-workers if they want any of your old stuff, or simply donate it all to your local thrift store.
Unplug your appliances and electronics
An easy time-saver is to go around your house and pull the plug on everything you’re going to move. Start upstairs in the bedrooms and disconnect any table lamps and floor lamps. Pop into the bathrooms and unplug your electric toothbrush and electric razor. Power down all the electronics in your home office – you’re not going to get any work done today anyway. Then move to the kitchen and pull the cord on your toaster and microwave, breadmaker, pizza oven and George Foreman Grill. Finally, unplug your home entertainment systems, but not before taking a picture of all the connections so you can set up your home theatre properly at your new address. As you unplug everything, make sure to bubble wrap the cord around each electronic item and perhaps tape it down with painter’s tape so no one trips on a chord while it’s been carried.
Be prepared to move some items yourself
Even with a full-service move, there will be some things you’ll want to move on your own and some things you’ll, unfortunately, have to move on your own. Expensive possessions such as jewellery and rare collectibles, paintings/artwork and items of great sentimental value are best off in your capable hands. There are also a number of potentially hazardous items that a professional mover simply cannot move for legal and insurance reasons such as aerosol cans, antifreeze, batteries, cleaning fluids, fertilizer, fire extinguishers, firearms, fireworks, gasoline, kerosene, nail polish and nail polish remover, and propane tanks. Be prepared and contact us now for a full list of items Rent-a-Son is unable to move.
Get a babysitter… and a pet sitter
Kids, animals and moving day are like oil, oil and water. Children and dogs are liable to get in the moving team’s way and cause an accident. Ask a family member, friend or neighbour if your children can hang with them while your move is going on. If there’s a dog walker in your neighbourhood, see if you can arrange pet sitting for the day. Everyone will be safer and happier if you plan it that way.
How to prepare for full-service movers and packers
Here’s another pro-tip to help you prepare for your full-service movers and packers: take pictures of everything in your house before they arrive. In the unlikely event that a valuable of yours is damaged while getting packed, moved or unpacked, you’ll have a record of what that item looked like before the accident occurred. This neat little trick also comes in handy when you get to your new home and want to arrange all your furnishings and valuable items in a similar order. With smartphones these days, it’s no big deal to even snap a few hundred pictures because you can simply delete them all again when they’re no longer needed. Just make sure you have enough memory/storage space on your phone first.
In most cases, the client is usually the one to arrive at the new home first. In this event, there are likely a number of items you’ll want at your new address before the moving truck pulls up at your front door. Soap, toilet paper and a towel are practically essential. A change of clothes may be nice, a phone charger to ensure your smartphone is always on and you can always be reached, some cash just in case, even some food in the event you start feeling peckish. It’s also a good idea to have a first-aid kit and a fire extinguisher ready… because you can never be too careful.
How to prepare for professional movers
When you prepare for professional movers, you will also want to consider other items you don’t want your moving team to touch for personal or privacy reasons. Some clients prefer their packers and movers stay out of the bathrooms, or at least choose to pack up their medicine cabinets on their own for obvious reasons. Makeup and creams, deodorants and other personal hygiene items, soaps and more can also be packed by you ahead of time with minimal effort.
Another thing to keep in mind as you prepare for professional movers is to perhaps get some insurance ahead of time. While your movers and packers are professionally trained and skilled, and know better than anyone how to pack a moving truck in a way that nothing will get damaged or topple over, accidents do happen. If you’re using a reputable moving firm that is a CAM member such as Rent-a-Son, all your items are covered under our standard liability insurance… but this level of insurance only goes so far. Standard liability provides you with replacement value protection, which covers your items for 60 cents per pound of article. So, if you have a 60-inch TV that weighs about 75 pounds and it unfortunately gets damaged during transit, your replacement value is only $45 – which likely isn’t enough. Contact us to learn more about our top-up insurance options.
What to do before movers arrive: how to prepare for professional movers
One of the most welcome and appreciated things a homeowner can do before movers arrive is to have a clean and well-organized home. Clean rooms and hallways give us the elbow room we need to travel around confidently and give us that much-needed space to place our packing supplies and get down to packing. Another smart idea that is much appreciated and takes very little time is to clean the dust from all your furniture; you don’t want to drag old dust into your new home, and your moving team will appreciate the cleaner, more breathable indoor air quality as they lift, huff and puff all your items into the truck and back out again.