DIY Moving Mistakes & How to Avoid Them
Tips from Local Moving Companies in Denver & Colorado Springs
Planning a move is stressful on your body, your schedule, and your wallet. Local moving companies like Great Plains Moving and Storage know that many individuals or families might think it’s easier or cheaper to try to manage the move themselves. Renting a truck and asking your grocery store for cardboard boxes might sound like the most cost-effective option but moving is a big endeavor that involves all of your household possessions and huge chunks of your time. Avoiding help from local moving companies isn’t always the right answer, even for the most budget-conscious among us.
Ask for a Quote
First, know that you can ask local moving companies for quotes on your whole move or any part of it. You and your family might decide to manage lightweight or boxed parts of your home, while still getting expert help in moving furniture, exercise equipment, antiques, or other challenging items. Great Plains Moving and Storage can give you a quote on any of these options.
Packing and Unpacking
Next, consider how you’re protecting your household goods. Is it really cheaper to risk damaging your furniture, your kitchen items, or your valuables? After reviewing your quote from Great Plains Moving and Storage, you might reconsider; or you might decide that packing yourself and letting our moving teams handle the rest is a good compromise. If you decide to pack yourself, make sure to use high-quality packing materials, and use plastic bins or heavy-duty cardboard boxes for items that are both heavy and fragile.
Let Someone Else Do the Work for You
Don’t forget to consider your time commitment. Especially if your move is long distance, it’s often more economical to let local moving companies move your household in one trip, rather than making multiple trips yourself. If you find yourself needing to take multiple days off of work or planning days of travel to accomplish your move, you might not be saving yourself money in the long run.
Understand Your Limitations
DIY packers or movers should also remember to be aware of their physical limitations. Our professional moving teams have extensive personal equipment (back braces, knee braces, training on lifting techniques) and moving equipment (dollies, lifts, standard size boxes) that make lifting heavy items safer and easier. When you do it yourself, try to mimic these best practices as closely as you can. Fill any void area in a box with packing paper or air bubbles. Only use boxes that are in good shape and be sure to clearly label each box. Ask for help lifting furniture and other items, and be cautious in hallways, doorways, and stairwells. Always clear your moving path before you begin to move heavy items.
Contact Great Plains Moving and Storage
Great Plains Moving and Storage offers a comprehensive packing, moving, and storage service that can be customized to fit your needs. Contact us today to get started with your free quote.
Tips from Expert Moving Companies on Consolidating Households
Consolidating households with a partner, roommate, fiancé, or family member is a great opportunity to start fresh and build a relationship. The logistics can also be overwhelming as you navigate names on leases, mortgages, utilities, and more, layout and floor plan questions, and more. One great way to reduce stress is to seek the help of professional moving companies.
Great Plains Moving and Storage has served the families and individuals of our community for more than 100 years, and we’d love to help you with your next residential move. We offer full-scale residential moving services, including packing, moving, unpacking, furniture building, IT set-up, and more. Our expert movers can also provide you with a quote for smaller needs, like moving a few heavy pieces of furniture, or transferring vehicles from one residence to another.
Combining Households Without Raising Stree Levels
Moving in with someone else means you’ll need to spend some time planning before you move and figure out what items need to go into your new space. Professional moving companies like Great Plains Moving and Storage know that the more time you can spend planning and prepare, the easier your move day—and after—will be.
· Take an inventory. Each member of your new household should make a list of what they can bring into the new space. Try to also mark each list with what items are most important to each individual. For instance, if you’ve had the same couch since college, and your housemate has a beloved living room set they don’t want to part with, it will probably be an easy choice of which sofa winds up in your new living room.
· Decide how to proceed. If you and your roommate both own full-size dining tables, chances are you don’t want both of the table sets to wind up in your new home. You can decide to sell, donate, or discard duplicated items across your household inventories.
· Downsize wherever possible. Beyond items which both you and your new housemate own, downsizing your amount of possessions generally is a great idea as you combine households. Downsizing means you have fewer items you need to pack and move, which will make your move easier, and it also means you’ll have fewer items to have to find places for in your new home, which will make unpacking and organizing easier.
Contact Great Plains Moving and Storage
The best tip to make moving in with someone else easier is to hire a professional. Moving companies like Great Plains Moving and Storage offer comprehensive services that can take some of the labor and stress off of your shoulders, leaving you more able to focus on other logistics of your move and the joys of partnering up your living situation. To learn more about the moving services offered by Great Plains Moving and Storage, call or contact us today.
Settling into Your New Home When Moving to Colorado
If you’ve moved recently, or you have family or friends moving to Colorado, it’s important to take the time to make your new space feel like home. Often, we spend the first days or weeks after a move surrounded by boxes, just trying to make sure we’re getting to work or school on time. Making the time to make your new house feel like a home can also make moving to Colorado feel like coming home.
Finish Unpacking
It helps to have a strategy as you approach your unpacking, like going room by room. Start by setting up pieces of furniture and arranging the layout of the room, and then unpack the items that belong there.
As you unpack, make sure to remove the cardboard boxes from your new home. We’re guessing you don’t usually decorate in cardboard, so having it hanging around the rooms of your house won’t make you feel more at home. You can often donate or recycle moving boxes. (Moving to Colorado means finding green solutions for almost everything!)
Settling In
Finding homes for your décor, your art, and all the little touches that make a space look and feel like you. As you unpack your art, you can think through which rooms or spaces you’d like to hang it in.
Unpacking your kitchen gives you the opportunity to decide which small appliances, baskets, or vases you’d like to have out in your kitchen. And as you organize your living room, don’t forget to add throw pillows, family photographs, your game collection, and all the other odds and ends that make the room your own.
Moving your household also gives you the opportunity to throw a great housewarming party. Nothing makes a house feel more like it’s really yours than filling it with family or friends. Giving loved ones the opportunity to celebrate your moving to Colorado, enjoying your new space, and adjusting to your new life will also give you the opportunity to feel more at home.
If you haven’t yet planned your move, or you know someone who will be moving to Colorado, the full-service team at Great Plains Moving and Storage would be happy to help. We offer comprehensive packing, moving, storage, and logistical support for residential and commercial moves. Learn more by contacting our friendly representative for your free quote today.
Moving Tips for Relocating During the Holidays
While moving during the winter holidays might seem like a last resort, there are actually many benefits to choosing the winter months for your next move. Real estate and rental prices tend to be lower during the winter months. The costs for movers tend to be lower as well because the winter is the off-season, and because it’s less busy, you’re more likely to get the moving dates and times you want.
Moving during the winter months can present different challenges. The teams at Great Plains Moving and Storage have gathered these moving tips to help you make your holiday move stress-free:
Plan Your Move in Detail
When you partner with Great Plains Moving and Storage, we’ll help you build a moving plan that works with your timeline, your budget, and incorporates all the services that you need. When you have your moving plan finalized, you’ll know exactly what to expect, and you can plan out the rest of your logistics as well.
Schedule Your Move Well in Advance
Your moving team can schedule the day you’ll move out of your old residence and into your new residence, and you may be able to pin down the time of day for your move, as well. Ironing out as many details as possible ahead of time will help your move go smoothly.
Make Plans For Your Pets
No matter how you’re planning to travel to your new household, you’ll need to make a travel plan for your pet, too. Your vet can offer tips for extended airline or car travel and how to make that easier for your pet. You should be prepared to travel with food, water, and any needed medications for your pet. Keeping your pet safe from the weather during winter travel can be more challenging; make sure you have a plan for any downtime or in case of emergency.
Be Mindful of Holiday Closures
Preparation ahead of your move will go a long way to making sure that your utilities are on, cable or internet is installed, and there’s food in the fridge for your first few days in your new home. When you move over the winter holidays, you’ll need to be mindful of any closures for the utility service companies, cable or internet providers, and local services like restaurants and groceries. You can research in advance to make sure you can set appointments around holiday closures.
Moving over the holidays might make you feel like you’ve missed the opportunity to celebrate with family or friends. That’s why our moving tips include recreating holiday celebrations. A housewarming can be a great reason to gather those you love, too! Recreating a family tradition or homecooked meal in your new space can make it feel more like your home.
The best moving tips from Great Plains Moving and Storage are to use our comprehensive packing, moving, and storage services to their full extent. Your move will become easier the minute you had off the hard labor to our team.
Get started today by requesting your free quote.
How to Stay Safe While Moving Heavy Furniture
When you are planning your Denver move, you may decide to do the move yourself. Before you jump in, let an expert mover give you some tips on how to do it more safely. Moving heavy furniture on your own can be risky, and is oftentimes accompanied by unwanted injuries and accidents. Take it from expert movers who lift heavy objects all day; there are easy ways to avoid injuries and falls. Here are our top tips on how to keep yourself and your belongings safe during your move.
Tips For Transferring Utilities During a Move
Moving is such a busy time that it’s easy to forget to complete some of those tasks on your to-do list. Changing over utilities is usually one of those things that gets left for the last minute, causing additional stress before the big move. Changing utilities over to a new address isn’t difficult, but it is important to do before you move. Here are tips for making the transference of utilities to your new home stress-free.