Moving Your Stuff into a New Rental Property: 5 Tips
Moving day is always exciting yet stressful in equal measure. You’re getting the entire contents of one house, or maybe a room, into another house or room. Sure, there’s lots of possibility and the fun of wondering where everything should go to get that ‘right-on’ feng shui look, but there’s also travelling and contracts and making sure everything is packed. Take a look at our tips to make the whole moving in experience a lot less stressful.
Donate what you don’t want
Moving is a good chance for a declutter. Those weird gifts you smiled painfully at when you opened them, that dress you swore you’d wear, the pots and pans too broken or rusty to actually use, they can go. Where can they go? Well, that’s where a judgment call is needed. If they’re in decent condition they can go on the Facebook marketplace or the charity shop. And keep in mind that you don’t need to just stick to clothes with the charity shop. Furniture charity shops will gladly pick up that chair that won’t fit in your new home, along with any other furniture you might want rid of.
Recruit friendly talent
What are friends for if not to avoid paying a professional? Friends unfortunately cannot be paid with exposure either so you might want to ring in a pizza order. Maybe sweeten the deal with a couple of beers.
However, if you’re moving into an apartment, you might want to hire a professional. Getting sofa’s stuck on the stairs on the way up to your apartment isn’t just one of the best Friends gags: it’s a painful reality as anyone who has experienced it will testify. Besides, moving is stressful. Hiring a professional service will cut down on the, if not screaming matches, the snippy remarks when your patience starts to go.
Professionals will also be more careful when handling your items, because moving day is inevitably when you notice that rip in the sofa that wasn’t there in the last place.
Protect everything
You are going to want to wrap anything you care about up. That’s a low bar to set. You might not “care” about your computer mouse, but you’ll be sorry if it breaks and you have work in the morning. There are loads of tips for protecting fragile things while on the move. The best one is wrapping them in your clothes, like wine glasses in fuzzy socks and plates wrapped in t-shirts. Use half the space and skip the bubble wrap.
If you’re still worried, you might want to seriously consider taking out a renters insurance policy to cover your items while you’re in the property, should they get damaged.
Take your time
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to have the place looking like a showroom that night. Get the essentials sorted and you can worry about the rest as time goes on. This starts with the packing. Put aside a box with a couple of plates and cutlery plus a few toiletries, and another with clothes you need immediately. Those, along with the bed (maybe some bedding), the sofa and the TV should keep you going for a couple of days until you can get everything else unpacked.
If you don’t fancy living in boxes for the foreseeable future, think about putting your non-essentials in a storage unit until you need them. You can go home every day and only pull out one box until it’s empty and you’re entirely unpacked.
Arrange some pet care
Pets can really get in the way of moving in. Dogs will feel the excitement, or the stress, in the room and get lively, often tripping up people who can’t see over their nose with a box in their hand. That’s a recipe for disaster. And cats can go wandering with the door open constantly, and given they’ll be in a new environment you might want to let them wander when your mind isn’t on other things.
For your own peace of mind, maybe ask a friend or even a new neighbour to watch them for the day. It might be a way of endearing yourself to a new neighbour by letting your cat sit on their lap for an hour until the big things are in and you can shut the door?
