Tips for moving heavy items

The key to a successful move when moving something heavy is to use your brain rather than your muscles. The first thing that you should do is to ensure that all heavy items can fit through openings and around corners of your home. If you think that some item is too big to fit through some door, then you should disassemble that particular item to avoid any scratches on your door.

Then think carefully how you can move the heavy items with the least strain. Once you decide on a strategy, call some friends to help you with the move. The most important thing is to be patient, don’t rush to finish in an hour, move your items carefully. That way you will be able to prevent injuries  both to you and your belongings. If necessary, find more helpers.

Here are some effective tips for moving heavy items:

Remember, pushing is a lot easier and more effective than pulling. So if some item is too heavy to be lifted, then you and your moving helpers should push that item, not pull it.

Don’t forget however that when pushing something across the floor you should put old newspapers or blankets under it. You don’t want to damage your floor.

Make things lighter by removing all of its contents. It’s just silly to move your bureau when there are numerous books in it.

To move a heavy item, like a refrigerator, you should get behind it, lean it towards you, and then you could walk it slowly from side to side.

Furniture

To move your couch or anything else with legs, you should lay it on its back or side and slide it as much as you can.

Heavy kitchen items, such as fridge freezers, dishwashers and washing machines, will slide much easier on the vinyl floor if you spray a little washing-up liquid on the floor first.

Stairs

To get some heavy items down the stair, you can use two boards as a ramp; slowly slide the object down the heavy items down

Or lay the object on a quilt or heavy blanket; control the descent with your shoulder as you back down, lifting the leading edge of the ’skid’ slightly with both hands.

Plasma or big LCD TV

Get enough blankets and/or furniture pads, which can be purchased from a moving company or truck rental agency, to cover and protect the television in its entirety. If you have the original box of your TV it’s best to use it for the move, if not, then cover your TV with furniture pad( I preffer them) and very carefully wrap it. Do not move your TV by yourself, some plasma TV’s are very large but not that heavy and you may think that you can be able to handle the moving job all by yourself, but trust me, it’s more difficult as you may think. Call a friend to help you, it would be much easier for you and safer for the TV.

That’s for now. Stay tuned for more helpful moving tips on TheMovingBlog.com

Choosing Houston Mover

Five quick steps for choosing a Houston Moving Company

Step I

Are they professionals?

You can tell very quickly if the mover you are dealing with is professional or not. Just visit the web site of the moving company that you want to hire and you will be able to tell how much you can trust that mover. If a mover can’t spent a little for a good website, what can you expect from that mover in future, not much.

Step II

How long have your mover have been in business?

Companies who have bad reputation don’t last long in the moving business. So if a moving company has been doing moving services in Houston for a long period of time you can be sure that this moving company is providing quality moving services.

Step III

Is your mover licensed and insured?
Your mover has to be fully licensed and insured. You don’t want to deal with an unlicensed moving company. If the mover you hire is not licensed and insured, then you may end up with a broken TV that you need to pay from your own money. Checks also with your local Better Business Bureau office if they are any complaints against your mover.

Step IV

Can you mover provide to you free moving estimate and a written estimate?

We all know that vital part of choosing a moving company is the price that we will have to pay for the moving services we require. Because of that different moving companies often provide quotes that are not completely accurate. What you need to do is request a written moving estimate for the moving service you require covering the total amount of the move.

Step V

Does your mover have good moving reviews?
Check if you mover have a good moving reviews. A very good site for moving reviews is MyMovingReviews.com
At mymovingreviews you will be able to search and compare different Houston moving companies.

Follow those five simple stems and you will be able to pick your Houston Movers quick.

The most obvious solution when moving expensive electronics is to hire a professional moving company that is fully licensed, insured and have a good moving reputation. Unfortunately that’s not always possible, so you will need to do the packing all by yourself. That’s why we have divided a couple of packing tips that will help you with the packing of your precious electronics. Don’t worry it’s not as hard as you may think.

1. The first thing that you should do, is to check if you have any packing or moving instructions in your manual that comes with the device provided by the product manufacturer. If there are any packing or moving tips that are recommended or suggested by the manufacturer, then you should follow them. The product manufacturer knows the most about what it takes to protect the product from any damage when moved.

2. If you have enough storage space in your home, save the original boxes and packing materials of your electronics. They are specially made to protect your electric device, plus if you have the original box and packing materials that comes with your device, you will avoid the exhausting search for the proper packing materials.

3. If the original packing is not available or if it is damaged, then you need to buy some professional packing materials. Start with these essentials: sturdy cartons, newsprint for wrapping things up, tape, scissors and felt tip markers to number and label each box. Ask your moving company to provide to you packing materials.

4. When you disassemble electronics, such as computers, stereos and other devices that have numerous cords, place small colored stickers on the end of each cord and the same color sticker where the cord connects to the device. This will save you a lot of time reading installation instructions. Also if you don’t connect your devices properly you can damage it. Even if you have a warranty for the devices it’s certain that you don’t need any additional stress of finding and dealing with the device manufacturer to cover your warranty.

5.  To protect your electronics, you need to cover them with moving pads or light blankets, also seal the moving boxes with packing tape to keep the dust out. To secure your electronics further you can use bubble wrap, paper padding or Styrofoam peanuts.

6.  Don’t forget to back up all software that comes with you electronics. Computes require specific software to run properly.

Finally, complete a full list of all electronic components and computer equipment (with serial numbers) prior to moving them. Submit that list to your homeowner’s insurance company.

What to do when moving.

Here at the Moving Blog, we have numerous articles about the things that we should do when moving. Now almost everyone knows the regular moving tips: Always research the mover, read moving reviews of your mover, always hire a mover that is fully licensed and insured etc. But we often forget to do a couple of simple things that will make our move a lot more stress free. To help with your future move, we are going to define a couple of important moving tips we need to do, but we often forget to.

• Prepare a backpack.

Put the things that you will use during the move in a backpack. It’s not enough just to put them in your luggage. There are important things that you need to access fast when you are in a hurry.  A first aid kit, all necessary documents, two bottles of water and a change of clothing should be put together in one place in your backpack, not separated in a couple of different cases.

• Gather all of your records together.
  Your medical, dental, yours and your children’s school records are very important. You need to make sure that you got all of them at one place. Some schools accept only original documents, so copies will not do. Try to find all of your original records and gather them at one place. God forbid that something would happen to you before you find a new family doctor. But if you have your medical records on hand can alleviate this problem.
• Old phone books:
  Don’t forget to take all of your phone books with you.
• Cleaners: remember to pick up your dry cleaning. Also if you have left something for repair you need to pick it up before the move.
• Garage door
  it’s a very common thing that we forget when moving.  Get the garage door opener key or card out of your car.
• Banking problems

If you are moving out of town or out of state, you need to set up a bank account ahead of time. Some banks put a hold on out of town checks and that it’s always a problem when you need to pay bills at your new home. Also some merchants won’t accept you’re out of town checks.

Moving Paintings

So the time has come to move, but you need some help with your precious paintings. Don’t worry, we are here to help you.
When you move valuable paintings  you should weight the benefits of packing and moving by your own or hiring a professional moving company to deal with the move. Moving on your own can save you money or cause you a lot of troubles.

Firstly if the painting that you want to move is traditional oil on canvas, then you need to be sure that the painting is completely dry before the moving process begin. It could take up to 6 months for a painting to become really dry.  When you are sure that the painting that you want to move is dry then you can start packing the painting.

Of course the first thing that you need to do is to purchase good packing supplies.
After you had bought all the packing supplies you might need such as sturdy boxes of varying sizes, packing tape or bubble wrap, then you can start packing each painting individually.
If your painting is framed with glass, you should put masking tape across the front of the painting like an X, so even if the glass brakes your painting will be protected from any damage.
Wrap each painting with non printed newsprint’s and then with bubble wrap. Don’t worry if you over do the wrapping.  But don’t remove the picture from the frame; it will be very difficult even for an expert to put it back on the frame again.

After you are done with the bubble wrap you should tape cardboard around your painting and the last thing you should do is to place it in a flat fitted picture box.

It may sound silly, but don’t forget to label all picture boxes with words like FRAGILE.  And of course, be extra careful when you load your paintings.
However if your paintings are quite expensive, you should hire a professional moving company to deal with the moving process.  Hiring a professional moving company to pack and unpack your precious art can ensure that it will arrive intact. A professional moving company will photograph all of your paintings and they will be fully insured, so even if the worst thing happens, you will be well compensated.

Holiday Packing

The holidays are knocking on the door and it’s time to pack.  You need to be organized and well prepared for your perfect holiday, the one thing you don’t want is to arrive at your holiday destination and discover that you have forgotten something important,  that could really ruin your holiday.
To help dealing with the holiday packing, we have divided a few important steps that could be very helpful for your holiday packing.

Before you start packing for your holiday, think about what you will need and make a list. Take into consideration what sport activities you will do, how is the weather and off course the amount of time you will be gone to determine how many clothes you will need. When you are done with packing of your clothes you need make sure that you took all necessary toiletry items with you. And do forget to take with you a first aid kit; there are plenty of good travel first aid kits that you can purchase.

Put you packing list on a visible place where you can see it. Every time you think of something you might need on your holiday just write it on the packing list, even if you write something you don’t really need, you can always remove it from the list at a later date.

As we always suggest at our packing tips and advices, start packing early.  If you start packing the night before you leave, it is almost certain that you will forget something important to take with you.

Finally when you are done with the packing, be sure that you leave some room in your suitcase. One of the joys of holiday is to bring back some gift or a present for someone, even if you don’t use the extra room; it’s always good to be prepared.

Professional Cleaning Services

After the movers load all your stuff on the moving van, usually what is left is a mess that has to be cleaned in order for the apartment to be released or the house to be sold.

Usually a clean and tidy house may cost more than a dirty one, so if you want to get even more money or just to make your house easier to sell, having professionals to take care of the cleaning is a must. Here is where the professional cleaners come!

Professional Cleaning Services you may want to consider

We are an USA oriented moving related blog, but we are about to present you an UK cleaning company offering services we did not find on the US market. AllTypeCleaning is a cleaning services company based in London that supports a variety of interesting cleaning services. As we start with the regular cleaning services as domestic cleaning and office cleaning services, they have the specific services just to meet some particular requirements like the end of tenancy cleaning and even after builders cleaning services.

How to select a reliable cleaning company

Selecting a cleaning company you can trust is as hard as finding a moving company. On the other hand, searching for a cleaning company is very similar to searching for movers:

1. Search Google for cleaning service providers in your city
2. Make a list of 5-6 different cleaning companies
3. Search for cleaning reviews of customers from these companies and select 2-3 companies.
4. Call the selected cleaning companies and ask for a cleaning quote.

And remember to always research your service providers online before hiring!

College Moving

Moving to college is a tough time for every student. Meeting new people and changing your home is always a stressful experience, that’s why we divided a couple of helpful college moving tips that would help you with your college move.

Create a day moving schedule with your future college roommates

If you and your future roommates are moving at the same day, then that could turn up in a big problem. Be sure to arrange a moving schedule with your roommate or roommates. That way even if you have a little storage space at your new home, you will be able to use it properly. Also you can help your roommates with the unpacking to ensure the moving process is as short as possible.
Your moving will be much less stressful if you coordinate your moving in time with your future roommates.

Check the best time for moving

In most colleges there are specific times that are very popular for moving, for example: mod-morning. But at these times it might be much more difficult to find available parking space to unload your belongings.  You have to remember that least five hundred other students and parents are looking for that perfect parking spot, right beside the dorm. It’s really a god idea to park the car the night before the move and arrive on the moving campus as soon as possible.

Arrange Specific Moving task for everyone who is involved in the moving

To maximize the moving process you need to ensure that everyone who is involved in the moving is occupied with some task. It’s often helpful to assign different tasks to everyone who is helping with your college move.

Reserve moving carts

Many colleges are offering moving carts for students to use when they move. But during moving days it’s really difficult to find one. So it’s really important to reserve a cart before your college move begins.

Ask you roommates for help or call friends to help with the move if you are not using a moving company

You need also to remember that some dorms don’t have elevators. So it would be really hard to move all your heavy belongings, to make your moving a little bit more easily if you have someone to help you. It’s a good idea to help each other with your future roommates, but that’s not always possible. So the next best thing is to get some help from friends.

Moving to a college is a really big and important step in everyone’s life. It’s really hard to know that you wouldn’t see your family and friends for a long period of time and worrying for the moving can make the move even difficult. So take a deep breath and follow these simple college moving tips. But at the end you will adjust to your new home.

Student moving

Are you worried that you have to move soon? Well don’t be! If you organize your time properly you will be able to pack and move even if you have to move quickly.

Student moving is quite different from any other moving process. If you are moving for the summer, you need to find a storage facility for your summer storage or student storage which can be a bit stressful when you are rushed to do a couple of things at once. So you need to be well organized and prepared.
Here are some tips that will help you with your student move.

1. 1. Use a moving checklist. Of course, you need a moving checklist to ensure that you would forget to do something. So make sure that you’ve got one.
   Make yourself a checklist in which you describe in details everything that needs to be done before, and after, your move.
2. 2. Leave any unnecessary items. Avoid moving anything that you don’t really need. Give items you don’t need to a friend or sell them, but avoid moving them if they are useless. It’s expensive, time-consuming and probably if you don’t need them now, you most like won’t use them later either. Plus if you have some old clothes or books you can give them to charity, that way you will save a lot of your valuable time and most importantly, you will do something good.

1. 3. Get some help from you friends. Your move will be a lot faster if your friends help you with the packing.

1. 4. Packing Supplies. Get proper packing supplies from your mover. Most of the movers offer packing supplies at additional cost, so get the proper packing supplies. Yes, it will cost extra, but you will have the proper boxes and supplies and you will save a lot of time.

1. 5. Label you boxes carefully.  It’s essential to label all of you boxes the right way. Be sure to write on each box what exactly it consist. It’s really hard to figure out what’s in what if you have fifty boxes and they all look the same way. Felt pens are superb for labeling boxes with information such as their contents, destination room, fragile or this side up. And If necessary, make a master list so you’ll know what is in each box.

1. 6. Use the A-B-C system.  You don’t need to unpack everything right away after you move, so it’s a good idea to use a a-b-c system to label your moving boxes. Simply write a on the boxes that you need to unpack almost immediately after you move and “c” on the boxes that can wait a bit. Using that simple system you will be able to unpack much quickly after you have moved to your new apartment or house.
2. 7. Wrap it. Get from your mover a lot of wrapping paper and heavy duty tape.  But remember, anything wrapped in news papers will most likely get soiled from the ink, so ask your mover to provide to you unprinted newsprints. You can use those prints for items that you want to keep clean.
3. 8. Pack your belongings room by room. Room by room. Pack on a room-by-room basis, keeping the contents of each room in separate boxes. This way you will eliminate confusion and save a lot of time when you’re unpacking.
4. 9. Start packing early. Of course the best way to avoid problems and stress is to start packing early. Moving is a very stressful time, so start packing two or three weeks earlier if you can.

Devise a plan.  Before you begin to pack sit down and discuss a plan, including who is responsible and what items will go in a particular box, etc. This will really help with your packing and ensure that the things will run smoothly.

Choosing the right Long Distance Movers

Choosing a long distance mover is quite different from just picking a mover for your local move. You need to take so many things into consideration and if you don’t know what you are looking for, then choosing a long distance mover could be quite of a challenge.

As we always suggest, the first thing you should do when looking for a long distance mover or any kind of mover, is to take time and read some moving reviews online. After you read the complaints and the positive reviews and comments about a particular mover, you would be able to narrow you choice to just a couple of movers.
After you pick a couple of long distance movers you must go to your local BBB website (Better Business Bureau) and check for complaints against your movers. If they are any, you should probably consider choosing another one.

Choose only Licensed and Insured Movers

Also be sure to check that if your mover is fully licensed and insured. If you mover is not licensed and insured – that is a big red light, step away and find another one. You could have a lot of troubles with a non insured mover and not get refunded for that.

After you pick a particular long distance mover be sure to ask for a copy for their price list. This gives you detailed information about their services and needs.

Call the Interstate Commerce Commission for reports of any interstate long distance movers you want to use. These reports can help you to understand how good and reliable are those companies and can you trust them or not. There are regional offices across the country, so it wouldn’t be a problem to find them.

Ask also if the movers with the moving company are well trained and capable of doing the job. A poorly trained mover can easily damage your belongings.

If you choose the proper long distance movers, you will be able to avoid a lot of troubles and problems. Follow the simple rules above, and you would be able to pick a professional long distance mover.