Moving to a new house is one of the most ordinary happenings we can encounter in our days. And even though we change the place we live in averagely a few times in our lifetime, removals are still among the most trying situations that can happen to us. Just working out the logistics of shipping all your belongings between houses is a very large job and with packing, unpacking and selecting the best hauler to assist you with the move, it seems really huge as well as quite stressful. Luckily there are couple of things you can do to make the move as simple as possible and significantly less nerve-wracking.

Packing as well as securing your belongings for shipment

The most important thing you have to remember while preparing for the removal is that you need a clear plan that you will stick to through the whole process. It is good to make a list of every item you want to ship. Such a list will not only help you pack but also will allow you to check if all of your things were safely transported to your new home. Removal entails shipping a big amount of stuff, including a lot of little things that can be easily forgettable under the pressure of time – a list will ensure that you will remember to check if they all arrived to the place of destination safely. The next crucial step is labelling all the boxes as clearly as you are able to. One of the most helpful ways of tagging cardboards is by the room name. So all the kitchen supplies and appliances go into cardboards labelled ‘kitchen’, all the duvets as well as jewellery in the cardboards labelled ‘bedroom’ and so on. You’ll be surprised how time-saving tagging can be once you start the unpacking. Don’t forget to tag both sides and the top of the cardboard, so that you (and the transport provider) will be able to recognize which box goes where, no matter how they will be stacked inside the transporting car.

Take special care when preparing to transport delicate items. Wrap them in protective layers of fabric or bubble wrap as well as label them in an easily visible place (including a “This way up” sign). You also need to make sure that the transport provider is aware that he’ll be shipping delicate goods and which cardboards have to be handled with care.

When you want to transport furniture, it’s important to take everything out of them prior to the removal and ship everything that was inside separately. Any unattached items in closets or cabinets can harm your furniture during shipment. It’s also smart to secure all the furniture doors and drawers using tape to make sure they won’t open on the road. You may use regular Scotch tape for that. There is also a matter of putting the furniture inside the transporting vehicle. Ahead of trying to move your furniture out of the house, be certain that they will fit through the front doors, stairways or into the elevator (if your old apartment has one). If so, you can move them without disassembling (be sure to have at least one person to assist you!). If they cannot, dismantling them is the only method to ship them safely. Be cautious with that – make sure you have all the nails as well as screws in one place like in a Ziploc bag as well as that you’ve secured delicate elements of the furniture sufficiently. Dismantling furniture is also smart whenever you want to use the shipping vehicle to the maximum, as disassembled furniture will take a lot less place.  

When packing smaller items, like books, tableware, cosmetics and so on, boxes will be the smartest choice. It’s most likely that you will need more boxes than you have – however there is a couple of methods to acquire additional boxes. For example you may buy new boxes in all home-improvement and construction stores. However as you’ll most likely need lots of cardboards, you can decide upon a more affordable method. Visit nearby shops and ask if they have any cardboards they don’t need any more. Shops usually have a lot of unnecessary boxes and most of the time they are happy to give them away. 

Another options, instead of boxes would be using bags, particularly for storing textiles and little items. There is a much higher possibility that you have some bags already at home. As stated above, bags will serve as a decent alternative for packing clothes, magazines as well as little items, but unfortunately they have a couple of disadvantages. Bags are much more flimsy than boxes and prone to breaking, should you choose to use them for transporting items with hard corners (for example books, stationery and such). Moreover – stacking bags on top of each other is much more difficult than stacking cardboards the same way.

One of the most difficult items to transport are houseplants. It’s obviously smartest to transport them by yourself, but if something prevents you from doing that, make sure that the transport provider is aware of what he will be transporting. One day before the move water the plants thoroughly and let them sit. It’s crucial that the plants have enough water to endure the shipment, but also to allow them to take in what they can before placing them in a box (you have to pour off the excess water from the saucer, so that it won’t soak through the container).

Searching for the right transport provider

Certainly, besides suitably securing your load for the time of transportation, it is also crucial to select a suitable transport provider. Which factors should you take into consideration when making your decision? Price, obviously, is of importance, particularly on longer, routes between countries, however it’s only 1 factor. Whenever shipping all your belongings you should firstly take into consideration if your things will be properly protected when given to the hauler. Whenever posting your listing on a shipping marketplace, like Clicktrans, you not only can ask possible haulers all the questions you need answered before deciding upon a transport provider but also you can read feedback given by previous customers on every hauler’s profile page. Nothing can be more believable than feedback left by someone who’s already hired the hauler you are considering.  

Prices of removal

Price of removal is really difficult to estimate, 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 plan to ship many fragile things, the price is probable to be higher. The same goes for international removals – routes within one country are frequently less pricey than moving your items into another country.