Once you’ve finally bought your new East Bay home it is time to move in and for many people, this process is one of the most difficult thing to do. Here are a few tips to make the process easy and pleasant.
1. Preparing for the Movers
If you are planning on having professional movers there are still many things that you can do to streamline the packing and unpacking jobs. The first step is to start with the right materials and start as early as possible. If you are planning on moving a month from now you can begin packing items you know you won’t need in the next month. The garage and the storage areas are great places to start. Many of these areas might still have unopened boxes from the last time you moved.
Materials.
It is important to have an assortment of boxes in various sizes. In the Bay Area, you can find used boxes on Craigslist or the classified and these are fine if they haven’t been used too many times. If buying new boxes, your moving company can usually provide them early and drop them off at your house weeks before you are planning to move. This is probably the most expensive way of getting boxes so make sure that they will only charge you for the boxes you use. You can also buy moving boxes from local storage companies and some places will arrange for delivery as well. The standard sizes are 1.5cu ft boxes (book boxes), these as the name implies, are perfect for books and heavy items like the cans in the pantry. Make sure you use extra tape on the bottoms so it doesn’t open up when carried. I would recommend at least 25-35 of these for a 3 bedroom house unless you have a large library. 3.0cu ft boxes (medium) are great for most items in your house, just don’t fill them with books because they can get too heavy and cumbersome to move. Big bowls, vases, pantry food, shoes are just some of the things to put in these highly versatile boxes. You can also stack smaller pictures upright in these boxes with a little paper padding in between the frames. I recommend 20-40 for a 3 bedroom house.  4.5 cu ft boxes (large) are for bulky items and you need to make sure you don’t load too much in them. Anything that won’t fit in a medium box is a perfect candidate for a large box including pillows, linens, towels, etc. I recommend 15-20 for a 3 bedroom house. Dishpack boxes are usually double walled for protection and are for the dishes, china, and valuable breakables. Again, make sure to add additional tape to the bottom of these boxes for strength. Don’t skimp on the newsprint when packing your dishes. Put a layer of crumpled paper as a base and stack newsprint wrapped dishes flat with the large dishes on the bottom and the smaller dishes like cups and saucers on top. Put a layer of crumpled paper every once in a while to add some additional padding. When the box begins to get heavy, this is a good time to fill it to the top with Tupperware or other lighter bulky items in the kitchen. There are also a wide range of Mirror/Picture boxes which are useful for longer cross country trips. If you are moving across town, ask you movers to wrap the pictures up in moving blankets and stack them between the mattresses. They should be safe there.Â
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Posted by Bruce Wagg on
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