ElizabethStreet.com: 7 Moving Tips To Make Your Next Change of Address Stress-Free and Totally Organized

Article by Adrienne Mascaro

Mention you’re moving to any of your friends and immediately they grimace and let out a loud moan. Just the thought of packing up boxes can make anyone want to avoid this dreaded task. Well, wipe away those tears because I’m about to let you in on my go-to moving tips on making your next relocation quick, easy and (gasp) organized!

Step 1

Assign each room a different color and mark all boxes and furniture from each room accordingly. I like to use Avery Removable Stickers because they’re bright and can easily be removed from furniture.

Step 2

Take inventory of all your larger furniture pieces and list them by room. For example, your bedroom might list a bed, two nightstands, one dresser and a chair.

Step 3

Make a diagram on each room and draw where your furniture and boxes should go. This does not have to be an extravagent drawing, but a simply diagram of your room. This allows you to see where your existing furniture would be placed in each room and gives you the opportunity to move extra furniture to different rooms in advance. This is also key because your movers will know exactly where to place items so you don’t have to move furniture after they leave.

Step 4

Tape each diagram to the door of the room that is equates to in your new home. Take your colored stickers and place on the coordinating room door so each room and color are easily identified.

Step 5

Meet with your movers before they begin packing your items in the truck. Walk them through each room and show them the colored stickers so they can pack the truck room by room. This will help when they unpack the truck, so you don’t have family room boxes in the kids rooms and vice versa.

Step 6

When you arrive at your new home, give your movers another walk-through of the new space. Show them each diagram so they know exactly where to place your furniture and boxes and can reindentify the colors for each room.

Step 7

Have one person stand at the unloading dock and another in the house. As items come off the truck, have one person identify which room they go in and have the inside person reconfirm it. With the diagrams and two people identifying items, this gives the movers easy direction so they don’t leave boxes and furniture wherever they can find an open space.

It is key to find a mover that you can easily communicate with. Locally, I like Meathead Movers because they use athletes who actually run in between trips which seriously does save you time. They also send a Captain to every job so there is someone to lead your organizational charge with you!

SOURCE: http://www.elizabethstreet.com/living/moving-tips?section=home