10 simple tips to make your next move painless and easy. 

Who isn't dreading a move? No one is, but just the thought of it makes you frown. Now that your home is on the market and your focus is on staging, showings, keep the home clean and showable, you've not even focused on the last minute details and planning need to pull off a smooth moving process. 

But, if you don't properly plan ahead, you could end up wasting hundreds or even thousands of dollars to hire out all that work to someone else. 

Many moving pro's and Realtors advise that the packing process should actually begin before you even put your house on the market. Actually, they also believe that about 30-40% of your house and personal items should already be be packed up and in storage before it’s even on the market. 

So, where do you begin and how do you get started. The first step should be to collect all the essential items you will need to be efficient and effective in your planning, packing and moving. That first step begins with a detailed list to make moving easier and eliminate multiple trips to the hardware or dollar store. Be organized and have all the materials you need to keep the process efficient. 

Lets start with your hardware store shopping list: 

1. Storage for important documents. Before you throw everything into boxes, you need an easy way to keep track of all of your critical documents, receipts, and personal records in one safe place. Grab a binder, heavy duty folder, or small storage container for any files or paperwork that you can’t afford to lose in the move. 

Here are some examples of items you should organize into your handy dandy record keeper:
•Home sale documents
•Tax forms
•Receipts for home maintenance costs
•Passports
•Birth, marriage, death certificates
•Social security information
•Health records
•Veterinary records
•Kids’ school records

Put anything that’s irreplaceable (or will cause loads of stress if lost) into your new document storage system. Then put that binder or folder into a locked compartment or at least tuck it away somewhere safe.

2. The essentials for packing up household items: boxes, packing tape, bubble wrap and more. Stock up on all of your moving essentials. If you’re packing up a whole house, it’s better to have extra packing materials than not enough. Once you get into the steady rhythm of packing, you won’t want to stop to go buy more boxes.

Here’s a list of household packing essentials that you don’t want to forget at the hardware store:
•Heavy duty boxes in various sizes
•Packing tape-dispensing guns (one for each person that’s packing, plus one or two extra in case they get lost in the chaos)
•Bubble wrap or packing paper for fragile items
•Dish foam for dishes
•Markers to label each box

3. Vacuum seal bags for clothes and linens. Use vacuum seal bags to save space for clothes, linens, and pillows. With a strong squeeze or vacuum suction, the bags will compress the air out to reduce the storage size. Stack the compressed bags into a box or just pile them into the backseat of your car to save space between trips.

4. Tie downs and ratchet straps for your car or truck. Whether you’re using your own car or renting a moving truck, you’ll need strong straps to protect your things between point A and point B.

Grab a 100 foot line of ¼ inch nylon rope to tie furniture and boxes down so they don’t get damaged during the move. Get some ratchet straps with hooks on the ends to secure items to internal walls of a moving truck.

5. A hand truck or dolly for heavy items. For that massive wall-unit that weighs a ton or the box of old ethics textbooks you can’t bring yourself to get rid of, a hand truck is your saving grace. Save time (and your lower back) with wheels that do the work for you. Call your local hardware store to see if they sell or rent hand trucks. 

If they don’t, make your one-stop moving haul at at HomeDepot or U-Haul to rent a dolly for discounted, one-time use. If your house has a lot of stairs, ask for motorized dolly that’ll handle the weight up and down the stairs.

6. A portable ramp or plywood to move heavy items down steps. Imagine your defeat as you wheel your dresser to the front door only to remember those pesky front steps! Luckily, you can buy (or rent) a portable ramp to lay over your steps. Did you know that you can rent a loading ramp for the duration of your move at your local hardware store or HomeDepot. 

The cost of rental ramps varies, depending on the size of the ramp and how long you’ll need it for. If you’re feeling really crafty, you can build your own moving ramp with some plywood from your hardware store.

7. Furniture covers, sliders, and straps for protection. Keep your furniture, walls, and floors free of dings and scratches. Buy moving blankets to cover furniture and protect it from getting scratched, ripped, or dirty throughout the move. Furniture sliders help to push heavy items across a hard floor, so you don’t hurt your back or scratch up the floors. 

Don’t forget furniture straps to hold the furniture in place while you move it. Your local hardware store should stock these items to help with your move.

8. Portable speaker for music. OK, this isn’t a necessity to make moving easier… but it does make moving fun! Get a portable speaker to move with you as you go. Turn up your favorite tunes to keep the energy high as you pack up your house, and keep it on while you bring items back and forth to make moving a little less painful.

9. Car charger and phone mount. With everything packed away, it’ll be a pain in the neck to find your phone charger. Grab a car charger and a phone mount for your car to make sure your phone is charged and ready to guide you to where you need to go.

10. And the most important item you need is...patience. Yes, things are bound to go wonky at some point in the loading, transport and off loading of your move. Just take a deep breath, relax and before you know it, you will be moved and unpacked in your new home. 

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If you or anyone you know is looking to Sell or Buy a home anywhere in Apopka, Orlando or the Central Florida area, please follow the links below for either an INSTANT Home Value & Market report or a FREE MLS Search of All Homes For Sale on the local MLS System. For more information or a no-obligation consultation, contact Joe Bornstein, Broker, Rock Springs Realty, Cell# 407-252-8092 or Toll Free# 877-333-2811 or joe@rockspringsrealty.com 

Follow this link to do a FREE Search of All Homes For Sale On the MLS:
https://www.rockspringsrealty.com/search/advanced_search 

Curious to what your home is worth? Click this link for an INSTANT Home Value & Local Market Report: 
https://www.rockspringsrealty.com/cma/property-valuation 

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