Start Early
We cannot emphasize enough how important it is to start early. So many people fail to understand the basic fact that the fewer items you have to move, the easier and less time consuming your move will be. Give away your unwanted clothes to thrift stores, hold a yard sale to clear out the furniture you no longer need, and there are a lot of other ways to get this done. While you are it, you are not only downsizing your move but also raising some additional money.

Another important part of getting started for a move is gathering necessary packing supplies such as strong, corrugated cupboard boxes, box labels or stickers, bubble wraps, newspaper, packing tape, markers, scissors, and more. Pack a few boxes each day so that the task doesn’t overwhelm you.

Packing fragile items such as dishes
When packing fragile items, keep them safe and secure from breakage by putting them into medium-sized boxes, the bottom lined with crumpled packing paper. Carefully wrap each item individually, and place in the carton. When packing glasses and stemware, don’t forget to fill them with crumpled packing paper and place the items in an upright position. Make sure that the box marked ‘fragile’ is always stacked at the top. You can get quality packaging supplies quite easily in New York.

Packing electrical equipment
When possible, you should pack small appliances and electronics in their original packaging. These items fit efficiently in their original boxes, and are often awkward to fit into other types of cartons. If you do not have the original packaging, choose an appropriate-sized box, and place protective padding on the bottom of the carton.

Wrap cords separately, label to identify usage, and place in a plastic bag away from delicate surfaces. Keep in mind that non-detachable cords should also be wrapped.

Packing mirrors, paintings, and pictures
Wrap small mirrors, pictures, paintings, and frames, and place on edge in cartons. For added safety, place tape diagonally across mirror to protect better against damage.

Packing clothes
Use wardrobe boxes to pack clothes on hangers. Keep folded clothes in dresser drawers, and take the drawers out before you move the dresser into the moving truck or pod.

Disassembling the beds
Ahead of your move, disassemble beds to prepare for transport. Take the mattresses off the frame and disassemble, being sure to keep all nuts, bolts, and other hardware in a sealed plastic bag. You might also want to secure the bed rails with tape or twine.

Packing food items
When packing canned goods, place upright with no more than 24-30 cans per box. Wrap glass containers and boxed foods individually and pack in small cartons. Try to consume all perishable and frozen food items before your move, as these items are difficult to move.

Packing a survival kit
Pack a “survival” kit to carry in your car or have first off the truck. Some important, often overlooked items to place in the survival kit are basic tools such as hammers and screwdrivers, toiletries, eatables, cleaning products, and some first aid supplies.

Staying organized
When loading moving cartons into your pod or moving truck, it is important to stay organized and load efficiently. This will ease the unloading process and keep your items more secure from damage. Keep boxes from the same room together to help the unloading process.

Asking for help
Your friends can be a helpful and inexpensive resource to utilize during your move. Ask for their assistance, and let them know your move date well in advance. Offer to reward them during and after the move, as this will encourage their enthusiasm to assist with the move.

Unloading and unpacking
When removing boxes from the moving truck or pod, take them to the proper rooms where they belong. Stack boxes neatly and allow ample space for moving furniture into the room. If possible, take off an extra day or two from work. Having a couple of days to unpack will make the job less overwhelming, and you will return to work a little more refreshed than if you were rushed to unpack. Unpack larger items first, and assemble items you had taken apart for the move.

Levic Van Lines offers the best moving services in New Jersey and New York through on-time service, upfront rates, friendly movers, and exceptional customer care. We have been offering top-notch moving services for a long time now and understand the challenges involved as well as the best solutions to them. Our movers understand how different can it be for an individual to manage a move especially when dealing with family and kids, and that is precisely why our goal is to be more than a moving company. The professionals can help you with planning the day ahead of time, locating storage facilities, finding enough of the right sized boxes for you, and getting them packed as needed.

In addition to that, as responsible commercial office movers in New York and New Jersey, we have also been taking special preventive measures to help people move amid COVID-19. We are here to provide highly professional service at every step of your moving process and we believe that we have the skills that it takes to make a move stress-free. Feel free to browse through the website for more information. Get in touch right away.

The post 10 Things That Will Make Packing and Unpacking A Piece of Cake first appeared on Levic Van Lines.

If the recent statistics from the American Moving and Storage Association are to be believed, the average cost of a move between states is $5,630, and the average cost of an intrastate move is $ 1,170. It also suggests towards the fact that whatever you may anticipate your final moving cost to be, the cost is very likely to be higher than that.

Now, you must be curious why is it so. This happens because irrespective of all the planning you put into a move, there usually are a lot of things that people tend to miss including to the budget. This may happen because a lot of the things are not so obvious when moving and it is only human to make mistakes. Whatever your reasons may be, you can almost be sure of these missed elements coming back to haunt you during the move in the form of additional costs you never saw coming.

Some of the most commonly experienced hidden costs pertaining to a move that need due consideration have been listed below.

Damage to the Home
There is a lot that goes into completing a move. You may have to witness a lot of things right from scratched floors to holes on the wall – resulting in a toll on both your old as well as home. It is but obvious that in case the damages occur while you are moving, you will be the one who will be held responsible for the damages. It is just a short glimpse of how the costs sneak up on you! This matter, however, can somewhat be addressed by hiring a reliable local moving services provider in New Jersey. It is a smart practice to discuss with the hired moving company about them taking responsibility for any damages to the house before signing the contract. The same advice will come handy for the house you are moving into.

Idle Time
It has been rightly said that one needs to beware of anyone working by the hour; their clock is bound to go slow. Even though there are several moving companies in New Jersey who will bill you by the job, there are some that offer to bill you by the hour and if they are billing you by the latter, chances are the moving is going to take longer. Not to mention that a lot of moving companies are going to bill you for driving and breaks. The best way to avoiding these costs is making it a point to discuss it with your mover beforehand.

Tips
Irrespective of the way you choose to look at it, in the end, the move experience that you have all boils down to your long-distance moving services provider in New Jersey. Keep in mind that these professionals operate on a thin margin and considering moving to be an essential part of the service industry, tips are expected. You might want to set aside $3-$4 for every hour each member of the crew served you and a little more for the driver. Of course, this amount is heavily determined by the quality of service that you receive and thus, can be altered according to it.

Additional Boxes
As far as a move is concerned, too many boxes are never really a thing especially when you are having a lot of fragile items in your inventory. In order to avoid having a box shortage and risk damaging your belongings, you should consider asking your movers in advance about how many boxes will they be needing and go with the highest estimate.

Clean Up
A lot of people take this for granted until the last moment. One needs to understand that cleaning your old place before you move out and your new home when you move in are essential steps of the moving process. Of course, you have the choice of doing this on your own where the only costs you will incur time and supplies, or getting it done by hiring a professional cleaning company. A lot of long-distance movers in NJ offer cleaning services as a part of their moving services.

Having said all this, the key to avoiding hidden moving costs lies in understanding the scope of your move. Being fully aware of what services are included in the quotation and what is not eliminates the grey areas and dramatically reduces hidden moving costs. A lot of people ask for and expect a door-to-door moving service, complete ignoring the fact that door to door is a loosely applied term. You can almost be sure of keeping your move on budget by applying the 3 following steps:

1. Ensure all services you require are included in the price.
2. Check you are not being charged for any services you do not require, or have not agreed to.
3. Accept and budget for any cost which is randomly applied and genuinely beyond anyone’s control.

Levic Van Lines offers the best moving services in New Jersey and New York through on-time service, upfront rates, friendly movers, and exceptional customer care. We have been offering top-notch moving services for a long time now and understand the challenges involved as well as the best solutions to them. Our movers understand how different can it be for an individual to manage a move especially when dealing with family and kids, and that is precisely why our goal is to be more than a moving company. The professionals can help you with planning the day ahead of time, locating storage facilities, finding enough of the right sized boxes for you, and getting them packed as needed.

In addition to that, as a responsible long distance moving company in New Jersey, we have also been taking special preventive measures to help people move amid COVID-19. We are here to provide highly professional service at every step of your moving process and we believe that we have the skills that it takes to make a move stress-free. Feel free to browse through the website for more information. Get in touch right away.

The post 5 Hidden Costs of Moving and Tricks to Avoid Them first appeared on Levic Van Lines.

RENT THE PACKING SUPPLIES INSTEAD OF BUYING SOME
If you have moved before, you must be aware how expensive can buying fresh packing supplies get and the fact that this stuff will soon wind-up curbside makes it even painful to spend money on these. One good way is to score some free boxes but then not everyone can get those handy. The smarter way out is renting plastic moving boxes as this would cost up to 50% less than buying new cardboard boxes. Even though this value may vary depending upon which part of the country do you live in, it will surely be less expensive than spending cash on newer supplies. The best thing about renting plastic boxes is that they are not only easy on your wallet but also crushproof and waterproof.

There are several companies nationwide that offer rental packages that usually include plastic moving boxes in various sizes, zip ties, peel and stick labels, and free delivery. If your moving company doesn’t offer packing as a part of their services, spending some money on these boxes is definitely going to be worth it.

SELF MADE VACUUM SPACE BAGS
Things such as pillows, jackets, and more take up a lot of space when packing and this issue can be addressed by compressing these in such a manner that more stuff can be packed into fewer boxes. Now, before you point out how expensive vacuum space bags are, there exists an easy way of getting the job done using an ordinary garbage bag, vacuum cleaner, and a rubber band.

ORGANIZE THE PACKED BOXES SMARTLY
You must have heard all those people suggesting you to label the boxes with the room that the stuff will go to but when you need to find one particular item, this might not be a very handy idea. Creating a detailed list of the items that go into each box might be a solution that first comes to your mind but isn’t very practical considering the amount of time and effort it would take. Have you ever thought of taking a picture of the stuff that goes into each box before packing it? It does sound a lot more convenient because then all you will need to do is rename the picture to the name of the label that goes on that particular box!

Another alternative can be using one of those organizing apps which allow users to create visual inventory lists for each box they pack using printable QR code labels and photos.

MAKE IT EASIER TO PEEL THE STICKY END OF THE PACKING TAPE
Nothing can be more annoying than the struggle of finding the sticky end of the packing tape when you are busy packing. This can be avoided by taking a step as basic as using a toothpick to mark where to peel.

CREATE YOUR OWN PACKING MATERIAL
Contrary to the popular belief, bubble wraps and packing peanuts are quite costly. So, what’s the solution?

Well, put that paper shredder to use and instead of dumping the clutter into the bin, use it to cushion blows. In order to avoid the mess, you can stuff the shreds into plastic bags and use them as padding in the boxes containing fragile items.

ORGANIZING THE SMALLER STUFF
You can use transparent Ziplock bags to pack stuff such as papers, cords, screws, etc. and the best part is they can be reused to organize the smaller stuff even after the move. Adding labels to the bags will make it look even more organized.

PROBLEM-SOLVING KITS TO GET YOU THROUGH THE DAY
You might want to keep important things such as a soap or a clean towel handy until the last minute before you move out and as you enter the new accommodation. To make the transition smoother, you should consider segregating your stuff into various kits. These may include a toiletry kit with all the basics, a first-aid kit for emergency situations, a toolkit, and a kit with some eatables and bottled water. Another addition to this list should be a cleaning kit with some garbage bags and paper towels.

KEEP THE PACKED BOTTLES FROM LEAKING
Use some plastic wrap to keep liquid toiletries from spilling while in transit. The correct way to use this tactic is placing a small sheet of plastic wrap over the bottle’s opening by taking the cap off and then putting it back. Not just while moving, this hack can be really helpful to keep your stuff from leaking during air travel as well.

PACK YOUR WARDROBE IN A BAG
Yes, you read that right! A lot of people feel it would be a good idea to use kitchen trash bags as garment bags when moving but what they do not realize is that it might rip open even before you get the bags on to your moving truck. Instead of that, you should consider using a heavy-duty outdoor trash bag as it won’t tear open that easily. The best part is you will be able to reuse those later as actual trash bags.

You should choose these bags to store your garments over trolley bags as these can practically be fit anywhere inside the moving truck and take up lesser space.

Diamond Moving & Storage is the best moving company in New Jersey that offers on-time service, upfront rates, friendly movers, and exceptional customer care. We have been offering top-notch moving services for a long time now and understand the challenges involved as well as the best solutions to them. Our movers understand how different can it be for an individual to manage a move especially when dealing with family and kids, and that is precisely why our goal is to be more than a moving company. The professionals can help you with planning the day ahead of time, locating storage facilities, finding enough of the right sized boxes for you, and getting them packed as needed.

In addition to that, as a responsible long distance moving company in New Jersey, we have also been taking special preventive measures to help people move amid COVID-19. Feel free to browse through the website for more information.

The post Packing Hacks That You Need to Know first appeared on Levic Van Lines.