It’s not a surprise that with so many things to take care of, the process of moving often proves to be more complicated than you have originally planned. And with adding the constantly increasing move-related stress prior to your moving day, you can get a highly volatile situation where the number of unforced and forced moving mistakes can easily increase. In such a chaotic situation, such errors can often happen without you noticing them. That,s why you have to be extra careful when planning and conducting your relocation. And, that,s why, we at Intermove Bosnia, step in to show you what kind of oversight people usually conduct during their relocation.
To help you have smooth move from start to finish, take a look at the common mistakes when packing for a move, costly mistakes which you must avoid in order to keep things under control. Just follow our Intermove advices and your move will not be a stuff of nightmares.
To start packing without a reliable plan !
One of the most common mistakes is to just start packing household items without having a clear packing plan and strategz in your head or written down. You need to have an exact packing sheet that needs to be conducted in the systematic way so that, with that specification of the packing, you can done the job in a reliable way and without worring that you forgotten something.
The main issue with packing up your home on a random principle is that although it feels like you’ve initiated the most time-consuming process a residential move can offer, in reality, chances are that you’ll be only wasting precious time. And time is exactly what you don’t have the luxury of wasting.
The proper course of action in this situat is toprovide a packing timeline for moving which you should consult frequently and stick to diligently in order to increase significantly your packing productivity. Ensure that you also prioritize and customize your packing tasks as well. In that way the packing process will increase significantly, and all the functions of that process would be functional and optimal.
To leave packing for moving day !
Of all packing errors that usually occuring, a classic example is to leave most of the packing tasks for later in order to take care of a more “significant” job.
The thing to understand here is that, regardless of how much time you have left until the moving day, the more you tend to procrastinate packing, the harder it will be for you to actually begin the process. Procrastination will lead to stress, stress will lead to panic, and panic will lead to bad decisions. So don't leave everything for the last minute, because that moment can turn into torture.
The proper way to get something done is to get something done the correct way is to start working on it right away. Therefore you must initiate the arduous packing process the moment your house move is confirmed.
To have opinion that sorting is a waste of your time !
Another common error when moving packing is to assume that the required step of sorting household items can be skipped without any serious consequences. Ignoring sorting can prove to be a very detrimental decision that can revert to you – with revenge.
There’s a good reason why some people get the impression that they will save a lot of valuable time by packing everything now and sorting it out later when they arrive in their destination. That line of thinking is completely wrong because, in reality, such packing thinking will not only waste more of your time (packing more items will require more time, but it will also hurt your budget because, the more your final shipment weighs, the more money you will pay for its transportation)
Therefore, don’t skip the required sorting task. In the end, you should take with you only the things you will really need in the foreseeable future.
To assume that packing supplies are overrated !
Assuming that you can do without quality packing materials is probably the most “innocent” error you can ever make during your preparations. That is because packing materials are your primary means of work, and the better the means, the better the packing process itself.
The main problem, however, is that often a single misjudgment leads to another, and pretty soon you may become confident that you can manage the packing job with just any supplies you can lay your hands on. In revert that will compromise the packing safety of your entirepacking operation. Like an avalanche – one small lump can be turned into total avalanche.
For that purpose, don’t use cardboard boxes that are visibly in bad shape as they can easily break under the weight of their own contents and cause you deadlock in the process. While acquiring your packing materials, make sure all of them are clean, dry, sturdy, and have safe and confirmed origins.
If you are in the place that you can afford it, do the right thing and purchase most of the required supplies brand-new – from a moving company, a home depot store, or online.
To assume you won’t need an essentials box !
A packing mistake even methodical people make when moving is to forget that once they place their personal belongings into moving containers, they will no longer have access to them until after they are delivered successfully on their destination. And without convenient access to a number of really essential household items, things can suddenly become trickier than usual and stress levels can reach high limits.
To avoid this problem you must pack essentials box that will contain your absolute life-savers. This is especially important when you have a baby or a toddler, and a long road trip is scheduled ahead. That box will be life saving box, trust our experience at Intermove.
Also here are a few ideas of what you should consider packing up inside your survival kit: bottled water and sandwiches, prescription medications, kitchen utensils, spare clothes, basic toiletries, a set of hand tools, toys, and everuthing that you can,t do without while you are not in your house or apartment.
To overfill your boxes !
From our rich experience we, at Intermove Bosnia, can tell you that the worst packing mistakes to avoid are all connected to safety – safety both for all participants in the move and the actual items that are being moved. So, spending more extra money than planned or losing extra hours while packing cannot possibly match a heartbreaking moving accident due to compromised packing safety.
To avoid such a safety hazards you should start with not overfilling your boxes, because the most strong boxes has their weight limits. Remember not to overdo it with filling your packing boxes, and keep a reasonable weight limit of a single packed container of around 40-45 pounds, especially when you’re packing books or files due of their small size where people are fooled and packed too much in a box that tent to be extremely heavy.
To leave empty space in your boxes !
Another safety-related packing mistake is to leave empty spaces inside the packed cardboard boxes when packing breakable items. This is packing error not because the inside of the container won’t be fully utilized, but because any available room that is not taken care of through suitable filling and padding materials can cause any fragile objects to come into contact with one another. As a result, such undesirable contacts can only lead to chipped, broken or ruined highly-delicate and breakable pieces. In this way the personal belongings can be damage only due to your overlook when packing, where people usually think they need to leave a blank space in the box to avoid being too heavy.
The only way to overcome this problem for you is to don,t skip on padding and filling supplies. That will fill the space in the box without overloading it with weight.
Use crumpled pieces of packing paper or newspapers, as well as sheets of bubble wrap or pieces of old but clean clothing to fill in any remaining spaces inside a box and thus, immobilize its contents. A good way to test whether or not you’ve done a correct job is to lift the container and shake it gently. If you hear a clanking sound or feel that something is moving inside, start over until no sound is heard when shaking the box.
To pack items you shouldn’t have !
One of the most common packing mistakes is to prepare household goods for transportation only to learn that your movers won’t load them on their truck due to their hazardous nature. Packing non-allowable items will only lead to loads of wasted time and effort and that can cause unneccesary trouble.
Avoid this rookie mistake by be prepaired in advance in a manner that you ask your moving company to give you the full list of goods forbidden for transportation. Once you have that checklist in your hands, you’ll be able to figure out what to do with each individual item well before your move-out date.
In general, such non-allowable items can be listed into 4 categories:
- Hazardous goods: flammable, explosive or corrosive substances that can hurt a person or damage the moving vehicle.
- Perishables: mostly perishable foods that can go bad on the road or ruin other goods.
- Pets: it’s up to you to transport your pet(s) safely to your new home. Also, moving company can do it efficiently for you, but you have to prepare documents for the dog from his vet.
- Plants: your leafy friends can be too fragile to survive a relocation trip. Consider entrusting them to a good friend to take care of them for you.
To believe your memory instead of labeling your boxes !
Interestingly enough, some common packing mistakes when moving house come as a result of overconfidence. A great example of such a moving error will be to assume that you have precise memory and will somehow manage to remember what’s inside each box without having to label the containers. Even if you are truly proud of your memorizing skills, it’s good to remember that the chaotic period of moving from one home to another is notorious for playing tricks with people’s minds. So, be careful and always label your boxes. In that way your mind will be at ease.
For this purpose you will need just to take a black marker pen and mark each packed container with its detailed contents, destination room, and special handling instructions both for yourself and for your helpers. The usage of colored labels for each individual destination room is also recommended.
To assume you won’t need any help !
Of all the mistakes to avoid when packing for a move, the assumption that you can pack up your entire home on your own is probably the judgment error that can hurt you the most.
How much time you will actually need to bring the packing marathon to a successful end will surely depend on how many items you’re planning to take with you and how well you are prepared prior to the initiation of the most time consuming pre-move task of them all.
But, no matter how you look at the tough job ahead, the best way to pack for a move is to have a few extra pairs of helping hands. That way, you are guaranteed that no cardboard box will be left unpacked prior to moving day. It is always better to have few pair of hands instead of one because the job will be conducted thoroughly and with no loose ends, because something you do not notice can be noticed by someone else.
Yes, the idea of inviting your friends to a packing party can work out great in the end – you’ll see your pals one last time before you move out, and of course – you won’t need to pay professional packers to help you pack, protect, and box your earthly possessions.
And for the end please don’t make the moving mistake of assuming that professional packing services are too expensive to afford. As long as you pack whatever you can by yourself and leave to the pros only the things are either too fragile or too large, or both, then you may be pleasantly surprised by the affordability of the extra service offered by full-service moving companies. That,s why we at Intermove try to be flexibile to our customers and try to meet them halfway because moving is a big piece of cake that you will need some assistance to eat.
Don,t mistake in your move, and roll on our Intermove friends.
