Moving to a new apartment is among the most common happenings we can encounter in our days. And even though we change the place we live in averagely a few times before settling for good, removals are still among the most stressful activities possible. Just working out the organization of shipping everything you have from one place to another is quite a job and when you add packing, unpacking and choosing the suitable hauler to help you with the move, it seems really huge and quite nerve-wracking. Luckily there are a few ways to make the move as efficient as possible as well as significantly less stressful.

Packing and securing your belongings for transportation

The most important thing you need to remember while packing is that you should create a clear plan that you’ll have to stick to during the move. It is good to make an inventory of all the things you want transported. It can not only make the packing easier but additionally will allow you to check if all your belongings were successfully transported to its place of destination. Removal entails shipping a great deal of stuff, including a lot of little items that can be easily misplaced when packed in a hurry – an inventory will help you make sure they all arrived to the place of destination safely. Another important step is tagging all the boxes as precisely as you are able to. One of the more helpful ways of tagging cardboards is by category. For example all the kitchen accessories and devices go into cardboards tagged ‘kitchen’, all the duvets as well as jewellery in the box tagged ‘bedroom’ etc. You’ll quickly find out how much time labelling can save once you start the unpacking. Remember to label both sides and the top of the box, so that you (and the transport provider) can be sure which box goes where, no matter how they will be stacked in the transporting car.

Take special care when preparing to transport delicate things. Wrap them in thick layers of fabric and bubble wrap and then label them in an easily visible place (including a “This way up” label). You also need to ensure that the hauler is aware that he’ll be shipping delicate load as well as which boxes requires handling with caution.

When you are shipping furniture, it’s imperative to empty them before the removal and transport all the things inside individually. Any unattached things in cupboards or drawers could harm your furniture on the road. It’s also good to close all the furniture doors as well as drawers using tape to make sure they won’t open on the road. You can use ordinary Scotch tape to do that. Another issue is the matter of putting the furniture inside the transporting vehicle. Ahead of trying to move your furniture out of the house, be certain that you’ll be able to transport them through the 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 (make sure that you have at least one person to help you!). If they can’t, dismantling them is the only method to transport them safely. Be cautious with dismantling – be sure to have all the pins and screws gathered like in a Ziploc bag and that you’ve secured all the elements of the furniture sufficiently. Dismantling furniture is also convenient whenever you want to fill the transporting car to the maximum, as dismantled furniture will take a lot less place.  

When packing minor items, such as books, tableware, cosmetics etc., cardboards will be the smartest choice. It’s very possible that you will need more boxes than you have – however there is a few ways to acquire some more. Firstly you may acquire new cardboards in most of the home-improvement and construction stores. However since you’ll most likely need lots of cardboards, you may choose a more affordable way. Go to nearby stores and see if they have any cardboards they no longer need. Stores usually possess a lot of unneeded boxes and most of the time they are willing to give them away. 

Another options, instead of boxes would be using bags, especially for transporting textiles as well as small items. There is a much bigger possibility that you have some bags already at home. As stated above, bags will serve as an adequate alternative for packing textiles, magazines and small items, but unfortunately they have a couple of disadvantages. Bags are much less durable than boxes and prone to tearing, if you choose to use them for transporting things with hard corners (for example books, cutlery and so on). Moreover – stacking bags on top of each other is much more difficult than stacking cardboards in similar fashion.

Among the most tricky items to ship are houseplants. It’s obviously smartest to transport them individually, however if for some reason you cannot do that, make sure that the transport provider is aware of what he is going to ship. One day before the move water the plants generously and allow the water to sink in. It’s important that the plants are watered enough to endure the transportation, but it’s equally important to let them take in what they can prior to putting them in a cardboard (you need to get rid of the extra water from the saucer, to make sure it won’t soak through the container).

Selecting suitable transport provider

Of course, besides properly securing your load for the removal, it is equally important to find a suitable hauler. What factors should you consider when making your decision? Cost of the service, of course, is important, particularly on lengthy, international routes, but that’s only one of the things to consider. Whenever shipping all your belongings you need to in the first place take into consideration if your things will be properly protected in the hands of the hauler. Whenever listing your delivery on a shipping marketplace, such as Clicktrans, you not only may ask possible transport providers every question you require an answer to before making your decision about a hauler but moreover you may read feedback given by previous customers on each hauler’s profile page. Not much can be more believable than feedback left by a person who’s already used the services of the transport provider you are considering.  

Prices of removal

Price of removal is pretty difficult to asses, because it changes, sometimes drastically because of how much the cargo weights and how big it is as well as the route length. If you are transporting a lot of fragile items, the cost is likely to go up. It’s similar for removals between countries – routes within one country are usually less pricey than shipping your items across borders.