It’s normal that you’ll want to take some of the food items with you to the new home. Sure, you can always buy new food supplies when you arrive in your new home in the new city, but there may be some local delicacies with which you won’t be willing to part that easily.

Here’s the best way to pack food when moving:
– Use small to medium-sized moving boxes to pack food supplies such as canned items, glass jars and glass bottles because they can become too heavy too quickly. For safety reasons, do not try to pack too many food items into one huge moving box.
– Avoid bad leaks and spills in the cardboard boxes by using thick resealable Ziploc bags. This packing trick is especially useful when you pack sugar, flour, spices or opened bottles of olive oil and other liquids.
– Use packing paper and then bubble wrap to wrap up any glass containers you’ve decided to move to the new home.
– Use a cooler to store the perishable items you do want to take with you, such as milk, meat, vegetables, fruits, etc. This is only a good idea if you’re moving locally and the relocation trip is scheduled to take only a few hours. For longer cross-country moves, you’re not advised to take any perishables at all.
– Label, whenever necessary, each moving box that contains any food. This will help you identify and unload those food-containing boxes with higher priority when you reach the new home.

It’s a waste to throw out good food when you are moving. Use these tips so your food will not go spoiled when moving into your new home.

Anytime damage occurs to your house, it’s not good, you get stressed out and might even cost you more than what you expected when moving. I provided you tips on how to protect your stairs, both carpet and wood but it’s just as important to protect your doors.

Moving big furniture items out of your rooms including big ticket items like refrigerators, beds etc. can easily damage doors when moving. If you use movers like Rainier, which I highly recommend, we know how to protect doors when moving out your household goods. We take care of this process to give you peace of mind.

But, if you are moving by yourself and even if you are utilizing a moving company, here’s some tips you in conjunction with your movers can do before moving your big-ticket items:
• Cover up – Use blankets and other type of covers to protect your doors from scratches, scuffs, scrapes and breakage. Professional movers know how to use door covers to prevent any damages occurring.
o In addition to blankets, you can use bubble wrap and cardboard sheets.
• Furniture blankets – This is your best bet….movers like Rainier use this type of protection for your doors.
• Pads – If you don’t use blankets or furniture blankets, tape on pads to all corners of the doors with masking tape, an easy way to avoid cracks, scrapes and other damage to them.

In the next blog, I’ll give you more door protection tips including protecting your door frames.

Safe moving!

One of our previous posts we provided you tips regarding how to get your friends to assist you to move. This week, I’m going to provide you some insights on how to move flat screen TVs and how to ensure they arrive at your destination safely.

Your flat screen TV is one of your most expensive and fragile items you have to move. It’s also one of the most difficult items to move. That said, many people have asked me how to make sure flat screen TVs are moved properly and safely. Here are a few tips:
• Make sure your TV is always moved in the upright position. Why? Because lying it down flat will damage it. No matter the distance traveled, vibrations from a moving van are inevitable and will crack or damage the screen.
• Shipping your TV in the right box makes all the difference to keep it safe and secure. Keep your original box if you still have it and use the Styrofoam inserts as well. If you don’t have the original packaging, have your mover or you purchase a heavy duty, corrugated cardboard box to hold your flat screen. We have plenty of these boxes if you decide to use our moving services.
• Use solid packaging moving tape to close the box. Place Styrofoam on all four edges of the screen. Use bubble wrap and peanuts to go in the box so the TV is in place.
• Use a sharpie or other type of marker to mark the box showing which side is up. Also, note to have it never lye down flat.

Due to the fragility of flat screen TVs are, I’d leave it to professional movers if you can. I’d also recommend purchasing insurance so you can replace your TV if it does break in transit.

Safe moving!

Moving delicate items can be a big challenge when you are moving to a new home especially TVs such as flat screen TVs and other types of electronics.

Here are some tips to keep in mind:
• Make sure your TV is always moved in the upright position. Why? Because lying it down flat will damage it. No matter the distance traveled, vibrations from a moving van are inevitable and will crack or damage the screen.
• Shipping your TV in the right box makes all the difference to keep it safe and secure. Keep your original box if you still have it and use the Styrofoam inserts as well. If you don’t have the original packaging, have your mover or you purchase a heavy duty, corrugated cardboard box to hold your flat screen. We have plenty of these boxes if you decide to use our moving services.
• Use solid packaging moving tape to close the box. Place Styrofoam inside your moving boxes with your electronics and other items. Use bubble wrap and peanuts to go in the box as well.
• Use a sharpie or other type of marker to mark the box showing which side is up. Also, note to have it never lye down flat. This is for additional electronics.

Due to the fragility of flat screen TVs and electronic gadgets, I’d leave it to professional movers if you can. I’d also recommend purchasing insurance so you can replace your TV and electronic pods etc. if it does break in transit.

Safe moving!

When your friends are carrying boxes and heavy items around and that’s no fun, so you can compensate your friends for their effort by planning something fun to do after the relocation. Here’s what I would suggest:

1. Take them out to dinner – Find a nice restaurant that they enjoy and purchase the dinner.
2. Buy tickets to a concert, play, or sports event – This is a great way in paying them back while having fun too.
3. Plan a movie night, a game night, a bike outing, a fishing trip or something similar – Fun activities can be one of the best ways to compensate your friends who helped you move.

Just choose an activity your friends love or a special event they would like to attend and enjoy it together (make sure you pay for it) – this is a great way to reward your pals for their moving help and also a chance to spend some good time with them.

4. Send a thank you note – A thank you letter or card is a classical way to show your appreciation (and one of your few viable options if you’ve moved far away from your old home and your old friends) – everyone who helped you with your move should all receive a personal thank you note from you. It should be handwritten on quality paper (or on a special thank you card) and should not include cliché phrases and empty expressions – make your thank you note personal, meaningful, and fun, so that your friends smile when they read it and feel appreciated and valued.

Follow these tips so if you have to ask your friends to move you again, they ill be more than willing to do so.

Safe moving!

When you plan to move, you may want to keep memories of the place you’re leaving or maybe even from the moving process itself. You can have fun posting some of the photos on your preferred social media or arranging the pictures in an album after the move is over.

Always date-stamp your photos to be able to counter false claims by proving the date those photographs were taken. Turn on the date-stamp function of your (smartphone) camera or, if that’s not possible, e-mail those photos to yourself.
Also, make sure the time and date are correct in the settings of your digital camera or smartphone before you start snapping away.

Finally, keep the photos on the memory card, right between other pictures you took at that time to counter “smart” suggestions that you may have changed the time/date setting on your camera prior to taking the photos in question.

Most importantly, have fun to keep your memories alive in your previous home!

Safe moving!

In reality, specialty boxes can be extremely useful because the design and purpose of each box are different. For example, wardrobe boxes are used to hold and protect hanging clothes just like a tiny wardrobe,
dish barrel boxes are used to guard and transport fragile and breakable chinaware thanks to their extra thickness, and
mirror and picture boxes are great for packing and moving framed pictures, paintings and mirrors of various sizes simply because those cardboard containers can be re-sized and fitted around the individual framed art pieces.

Of course, it’s important to keep track of the packing expenses as well. While specialty boxes add extra security that your valuable items will stay perfectly safe during the physical transportation between the two homes, the additional cost of these special-purpose cardboard boxes may not always be worth the investment.

How much do specialty boxes cost? A dish barrel box costs around $6, a mirror/picture box is around $5-$7 per box, while a wardrobe box can cost between $10 and $14 depending on its exact size – small, medium or large.

In comparison, a standard-sized moving box costs anywhere from around $1 (small) to approximately $2.50 (extra-large). Therefore, the question of whether you really need specialty packing boxes when packing for a move remains on the packing table. Maybe you can manage it with standard-sized packing boxes by adding more wrapping and cushioning materials.

Specialty boxes are important for your clothes and other items. Go online or make sure to ask your mover about them.

Safe moving!