Worried About Your Belongings While Moving? Here Are 7 Safety Tips
Moving to a new place is a disturbance through and through. Whether planning, organizing, packing, or unpacking, there are so many instances during a move that can give you severe headaches and anxiety. But what about the safety aspect of moving? Have you thought it through? How will you pack in a way that nothing breaks or gets lost during transit? Have you done your security check? These are all the important questions that you should be asking to make a fool-proof plan. After all, what is the point in taking the hassle of packing if you did not ensure its safety?
The risk is not limited to damage and breakage only; there are chances of theft and plunder while your stuff is en route to your new house. As important as this aspect of moving is, you should pay close attention and consider all the elements of the safety of your belongings while moving. Moving involves lifting, packing sharp, and other delicate objects; you may hurt yourself in the process. You have to take care of your stuff and yourself, especially when you are packing yourself.
However, if you want to avoid the stressful and daunting task of moving, you may consider hiring a reliable moving company. These professionals have the skills and experience to safely and efficiently pack, then transport your valuables and other belongings as well as provide storage solutions.
So here we are, offering the best safety tips to help you get through this task of ensuring a safe move.
Get Rid Of The Stuff You Don’t Immediately Need
First things first, there is no need to pack, load, and then manage stuff in your new house that you don’t really need immediately after arriving in your new home. You can solve this problem by renting a self storage unit with temperature-controlled settings and fool-proof security to keep your belongings safe. People also rent storage units to keep their vehicles if they don’t have a garage in their new house.
As for the things you no longer need, you may consider selling them. You may organize a garage sale or sell your items online at reasonable prices. This is the best way to make money when moving. And since moving can be costly, you can use the extra cash to cover your expenses. Other benefits include reducing the clutter in your new home and not having to pay for transporting the items you don’t need anymore.
Don’t Tell People About Your Moving Plans
Some of you like to share your moving plan with people around you and often post on social media too. This sometimes attracts unwanted attention from people you don’t personally know and trust. You have to be even more cautious about your moving route. You must not share this information with people other than your family. You never know what plans others might be cooking in their mind. Often people share their details and the route they are taking and end up being attacked by robbers on the way.
Pack The Delicate Items First
When you start packing, pack the delicate and breakable items first. For instance, the art and décor pieces need care when packing. Therefore, they also take more time. So, when packing delicate items, ensure that you get rid of extra space between the objects to avoid breakage. Use packing material inside fragile hollow items to avoid cracking. In addition, use a few layers of bubble wrap at the bottom of the box to act as padding.
Once you’re done placing your fragile items in the box, add layers of bubble wrap on top for good measure. As for oddly shaped items, use bubble wrap and packing tape to add an extra layer of protection.
So, it is wise to pack them in the beginning when you have more time, and the stress of moving to a new place is also relatively low. In the beginning, you are more excited to go to a new home than stressed. It is in the latter days of the packing that stress and anxiety take over and overwhelms you.
Don’t Over-pack The Card Boxes
A bigger size of a cardboard cox does not imply that you can fill it with indefinite weight. Each box can carry a certain amount of weight, after which it is prone to breakage. If you stuff more items into a box, there is always a chance of damaging the stuff due to mishandling. Moreover, it is also difficult to carry heavy packages, and you risk straining your back, shoulder, and knees.
As a rule of thumb, a small box can carry 50 pounds, a medium one has the capacity for 65 pounds, and a larger one can carry 70 pounds. So, you should not go beyond this limit. If you have extra-large boxes, use them to carry stuff that takes more space but is not heavy, such as linen and clothes.
Ask For Help To Carry Objects
Even if you have not hired a moving company, ask your friends or relatives to lift heavy objects with you. Furniture is weighty to carry even you have disassembled it, so you will need the help of someone to carry them with you.
On the contrary, if you have hired a moving company, stay with the assistants to make sure they don’t get careless due to fatigue or speed up the process. If you are helping them carry something, clearly communicate what route you will take and the best way to maneuver the piece. In most cases, people from the mover company are trained to do their job carefully.
Use Clothes And Linen To Wrap Sharp Objects
It is common to have to encounter minor injuries during packing when moving houses. The most common injures are getting a cut while packing knives, glass objects, and hurting your back while lifting. But you can avoid a lot of such incidents by being careful.
Use your clothes, linen, and towels to wraps sharp objects such as knives and forks. You can also pack your china with cloth padding to cushion them against any external pressure. Hence, you don’t only protect your valuable stuff, but yourself too. Moreover, don’t carry more than what you can manage. You might be tempted to speed up the process and try to lift multiple boxes. But remember, packing and transporting your things is just a part of the whole moving stuff.
Be Careful While Driving
If you have rented just the moving truck and planning to drive it yourself, be careful during the travel. Go through the route, ensure the height of your vehicle and ensure that your vehicle can pass through the hurdles such as underpasses and low overhangs. If you have not managed a bigger vehicle like a moving truck before, be careful and only take up this task if you are sure of handling it perfectly.
Moving to a new house requires careful planning and going through all the nitty-gritty. Ensuring the safety of your belongings should be one of your paramount concerns. People often lose or damage their essential stuff during the transit and packing process. So, it is your utmost responsibility to make sure this does not happen to you. These tips listed above can help you ensure the safety of your belongings at all the steps of your moving process.
