How to Prepare for Moving Day

Moving is tough work. That’s why our customers hire us – because we make it easier. Before we show up, we get asked a lot of questions. The most common question is “how long will my move take?”. This question is important because our customers obviously want to plan their day accordingly, and perhaps most importantly, have an understanding of what the move will cost. After all, time is money. It’s also a very difficult question to answer. So many variables play a role in how long the move will take. For starters: home size, amount of furniture and boxes, walking distance (parking access), weather (rainy and/or hot days can slow us down – we’re only human!), and finally, customer preparation. How much you prepare ahead of time can really make a huge difference in making your moving day more efficient, and hopefully save you money at the same time! Here are a few tips on how you can achieve this.

Soda City Movers’ Awesome Tips on Move Day Preparation (in no particular order)

1) Accurate Information – Hands down the most important thing you can do to make sure your move goes smoothly is to provide us with accurate information about the scope of your move. A lot of times, customers plan to get rid of furniture either via donation or yard sale, but end up with everything still at the home. This can be the difference in our recommendation of how many movers we send to your move, which can really end up saving a lot of time on move day. If something with your original plans change, please let us know so we can make the necessary adjustments.

2) Be “Move-Out Ready”– A lot of our customers want us to get in and out as quickly as possible. This can only be done if the home is “move-out ready”. We don’t expect you to do the work for us, by any means. But if you’re on a tight budget, you can save our guys a lot of time if everything is ready to be loaded. This basically means have all of your boxes packed and taped, minimize the amount of “loose items”. In other words, consolidate the items that may be smaller awkward items hanging around in your garage or the kids’ playroom and pack them into boxes. The fewer trips our guys have to make, the faster we can get everything loaded. It’s also a good idea to have beds taken apart and appliances disconnected. We are happy to help with furniture disassembly and reassembly, but keep in mind it does take time.Expert tip:Staging all of the boxes in one room will help us load the boxes more quickly and save time.

3) Kids & Pets are Cute, but…– We know how much you love your children and pets, and moving day is a stressful day for them, too. However, it’s best to keep kids and pets out of the way while we’re in the home. Not only for obvious safety reasons, but also because we won’t have to move as carefully to navigate around them inside the home. Expert tip: Use leftover moving supplies to let your child’s imagination run wild. You would be amazed how quickly you can setup the best play-fort in the world with your leftover moving boxes. And don’t even get us started on the bubble wrap…

4) Have a Plan– Once we arrive at your destination to unload the truck, you should have a plan for where you would like the furniture and boxes to go. Plan to stay nearby the movers so you can quickly direct traffic to the appropriate rooms in the house. We’re more than happy to help rearrange furniture after it’s been placed in the room.Expert tip:If you really want to save time, plan to have one room for all the boxes to go into so you can sort through them later after we’ve left – garages work best. Alternatively, you can color-code the boxes with colored tape and use the same color tape on the outside of the rooms in which the boxes will go in the new home. That way, we can see where the boxes go without even having to ask! This is completely optional, but will really help save time.

As you can see, not a lot of top-secret information here, but we think it’s pretty good advice. You are not obligated to do any of these things, but if you do it should save a little bit of time and money. Of course, the best thing you can do at any point in the process, including on moving day, is to give our office a call with any questions or concerns. We’re here to help make your move as smooth as possible.

“HOW THE HECK DO I PACK MY BOXES?”…Packing is arguably one of the least-fun parts of moving. Many of our customers utilize our packing services as part of their move in order to save time (and stress). However, the vast majority of our customers prefer to pack their own boxes, for various reasons, and often ask us for advice on the best way to pack. Well, we’re here to help! Although there are many different ways to go about packing, we try to think outside the box, or in this case, INSIDE the box:

Small Boxes:The general rule of thumb for small boxes (often referred to as “book boxes”) is to pack fragile and smaller, heavier items. The smaller the box, the heavier you can pack it. Larger boxes do not hold heavy weight quite as well. Some examples of what to pack in these boxes are:

• Canned goods
• CDs & DVDs (or cassettes and VHS if you got ’em)
• Fragile/glass items (dishes, glassware, etc.)
• Books
• Small electronics
• Toys, baby items, and other odds and ends.

Medium Boxes:Bulkier, awkward items should be packed in a medium box. 1 to 3 items of average weight and awkward shape would be best here. Some examples of what to pack in these boxes are:

• Kitchenware / pots and pans
• Small appliances
• Computer towers
• Everyday clothing and shoes
• Lamp shades

Large Boxes:Large boxes should be packed with light and/or bulky items. As long as the box doesn’t get too heavy, feel free to stuff it full! Some examples of what to pack in these boxes are:

• Linens (Sheets, towels, blankets, etc.)
• Sleeping bags and other camping gear
• Lamps
• Medium appliances (Looking at you, microwave.)
• Other large household items

Dish Pack Boxes:These boxes are obviously great for their namesake – dishes. But they can also be used for other fragile items. The great thing about these boxes is that they are double-walled boxes and offer strength and protection for breakable pieces. Be sure to use packing paper to wrap these items and to form a cushion at the bottom and top of the box. Some examples of what to pack in these boxes are:

• Dishes and fine china
• Wine glasses
• Ornaments
• Porcelain keepsakes
• Small breakables

Picture/Mirror Carton:Last but not least, we present: the picture/mirror carton. These boxes are pretty cool because most come as an adjustable kit which will allow the box to expand and contract to size in order to protect your wall hangings. Keep in mind that you can usually fit more than one picture or mirror per carton to save time and money. It’s also a great idea to use bubble wrap or packing paper to create a layer of protection – especially if the frames have glass. You can use these boxes for the following:

• Mirrors (duh)
• Pictures (again)
• Canvas paintings
• Other decorative wall hangings

Think Inside the Box

Everyone has played Tetris. Tetris is the reason I had to search for my Gameboy, only to find it in the hands of my mother, who was suddenly addicted to the puzzle game. It turns out she might have made a good mover, too. Moving furniture is a lot like Tetris. If you think about it, you can look around your home or office right now and find the same shapes. Go ahead, try – I’ll wait. OK now that you looked around the room (admit it, you looked) you can see how that would be a pretty helpful tool in moving furniture. In fact, we’re so excited about this not-so-shocking revelation that we’ve decided to eliminate all of our training programs in place of Tetris. All of our movers will be required to play Tetris for at least 10 hours a week. OK not really, but if you can beat our movers in Tetris then we’ll give you a discount on your move. Actually, we can’t do that either (SC regulates us heavily, bummer). Anyway, play Tetris because it’s fun and stimulates the brain, or something.

Moving is like Tetris

In addition to launching our fancy new website, we thought it was important to have a blog. We’ve never had a blog before, because we didn’t think that what we had to say was important enough. While that’s probably still true, we also decided that we should share our hilarious mover-minded thoughts with the rest of the world (or at least our friends and parents – HI MOM!). What would be better for a first blog post than sharing groundbreaking information? With that, we would like to present what is possibly the most important moving tip of all time. Remember folks, just because moving stinks doesn’t mean you have to!

Remember folks, just because moving stinks doesn’t mean you have to!