How it works

Moving to a new apartment is among the most common situations we can come across in our days. And even though we move at least a few times before settling for good, removals are still some of the most stressful happenings possible. Just figuring out the organization of transporting everything you have between houses is an enormous job and with packing, unpacking and choosing the best company to help you with removal, it seems truly colossal and quite nerve-wracking. Thankfully there are couple of things you can do to make the move as simple as possible and considerably less stressful.

Packing and securing your items for transportation

The most important thing you should remember while preparing for the removal is that you need a coherent plan that you’ll have to abide by through the whole process. It is best to create a list of every item you want to ship. It can not only make the packing easier but additionally will allow you to check if all of your things were safely transported to its place of destination. Removal entails transporting a big amount of stuff, including a lot of small items that can be easily forgettable under the pressure of time – a list will ensure that you will remember to make sure they all arrived to the place of destination safely. The next important step is tagging all the cardboards as precisely as you can. One of the most common ways of labelling cardboards is by category. So all the kitchen supplies as well as devices go into cardboards tagged ‘kitchen’, all the duvets and blankets in the box labelled ‘bedroom’ and so on. You’ll quickly find out how much time labelling can save once you start the unpacking. Don’t forget to label both sides and the top of the cardboard, so that you (as well as the transport provider) can be sure which box goes where, regardless of how they will be stacked inside the shipping car.

Take special care when preparing to transport delicate items. Wrap them in thick layers of textiles or bubble foil and label them in an easily visible place (together with a “This way up” sign). You also need to make sure that the hauler is aware that he’ll be shipping fragile load and which cardboards requires handling with care.

When you want to transport furniture, it’s crucial to take everything out of them before the removal and transport all the things inside individually. Any unattached items in cupboards and drawers can damage your furniture during shipment. It’s also smart to close all the furniture doors as well as drawers with some tape to make sure they won’t open during transportation. You may use ordinary Scotch tape to do that. Another issue is the matter of loading the furniture into the shipping vehicle. Before attempting to move your furniture from the house, make sure that they will fit via front doors, stairways or into the elevator (if your old apartment has one). If they do, you’ll be able to move them without disassembling (be sure to have at least 1 person to help you!). If they can’t, dismantling them is the sole way to move them safely. Be careful with dismantling – make sure you store all the nails and screws in one place like in a Ziploc bag as well as that you’ve secured delicate elements of the furniture sufficiently. Disassembling furniture is also smart whenever you want to use the shipping vehicle to the maximum, because disassembled furniture will take a lot less place.  

When packing smaller items, like books, kitchen appliances, cosmetics and much more, boxes will be the smartest choice. It’s very possible that you will need more boxes than you have – however there is a couple of methods to acquire additional boxes. For example you can buy new boxes in most of the home-improvement or construction stores. However as you’ll most likely require quite a few cardboards, you may choose a more budget-friendly way. Try visiting your local stores and ask if they have some cardboards they don’t need any more. Shops tend to possess a lot of needless boxes and most of the time they are happy to share. 

An alternative to boxes would be using bags, particularly for transporting textiles as well as little stuff. There is a much bigger possibility that you have some bags already at home. As stated above, bags will serve as a decent alternative for storing textiles, magazines as well as small things, there are some downsides, though. Bags are much less durable than cardboards as well as prone to tearing, if you decide to use them for storing things with hard corners (for example books, stationery etc.). Moreover – stacking bags on top of each other is much harder than stacking cardboards in similar fashion.

One of the most difficult items to ship are houseplants. It is usually smartest to ship them by yourself, however if for some reason you cannot do that, make sure that the hauler is aware of what he is going to ship. One day before the removal water the plants generously and give them a moment. It’s important that the plants have enough water to suffer through the shipment, but also to let them take in what they can prior to putting them in a box (you need to pour off the excess water gathered on the saucer, so that it won’t accidentally leak through the cardboard).

Selecting suitable transport provider

Obviously, aside from properly securing your items for the shipment, it is equally important to choose a suitable hauler. Which factors must you take into consideration while selecting the right person? Cost of the service, obviously, is important, especially on lengthy, international routes, however it’s just one of the factors. Whenever transporting all your belongings you have to firstly take into consideration if your load will be safe when given to the transport provider. Whenever listing your delivery on a transport marketplace, like Clicktrans, you not only can ask prospective haulers all the questions you require an answer to before making your decision about a hauler but moreover you may read reviews left by former customers on each transport provider’s profile page. Not much is more reliable than reviews given by someone who’s already hired the transport provider you are considering.  

The cost of removal

The cost of removal is really hard to asses, as it changes, sometimes drastically due to how much the cargo weights and how big it is or how long the route is. If your removal consist of a lot of delicate things, the cost is likely to go up. The same goes for international removals – domestic routes are normally cheaper than transporting your load across borders.