Moving out of a house is a long process that takes more than a few steps. Even when you've packed everything up and loaded the boxes into a truck, there are always one or two forgotten things on high shelves, behind doors, in the attic, or in spaces you've become blind to over the years. One of the most important steps in getting a home move-in ready for the next resident is to empty out all those secret caches of stored stuff.
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6 Places to check for Hidden Stuff Before Moving Out of Your Rental Home
Wednesday, October 14, 2020 - 08:00AM
Topics: moving tips, move out inspection
Moving into an apartment usually requires a little more planning and courtesy than moving into a house. With a house move-in, you have the entire curb and driveway to park the truck. And you can spend all day carrying boxes around, if you want to.
Read MoreWhether you are moving into your first apartment or moving from one to another, moving is never an easy task. You may have no idea how much you actually own until you start packing it all up! For this reason, you should always start with a plan and give yourself more time than you think that you need.
Read MoreTopics: Leasing tips, moving tips, relocation
Relocating, either to a new city or even state, can be challenging. It can be even worse if you have to relocate across the country. It is never easy, even if you have to do it more than once. It takes time and patience so that is less stressful.
Read MoreTopics: Leasing tips, moving tips, relocation
Changing homes, no matter how close they may be to each other, is always an expensive and somewhat difficult task. Not only do you have to worry about closing out your interests with the original home and buying or leasing a new one, you also have to change your address on every online account, order new checks, and pay to have all your items moved from one location to the next. If you didn't have a huge moving budget to start with, you might be surprised just how quickly that financial cushion can deflate and there's still the moving service to worry about. Fortunately, you're looking to pinch pennies and save the most possible money on your next move, we have a few tips.
1) Pick Up Second-Hand Boxes and Packing Material
The first and perhaps most repeated tip for saving money on a move is not shelling out for sturdy boxes. There are plenty of places to get free boxes and packing paper like schools, the U-haul exchange, and almost any retail store as they get shipments in sturdy boxes on a daily or weekly basis and usually have to throw them out. This can save you a significant amount in moving costs and result in some pretty well-reinforced boxes.
2) Use Extra Padding on Delicate Items
While it may be tempting to go light on the packing paper when you're trying to be frugal, your delicate items are worth a lot more than a few sheets of brown crinkly paper. Take the time to wrap every dish, knickknack. lightbulb, and lamp carefully. Stuff open breakables with paper to make sure they don't impact, compress, and crack. Stuff wadded paper into the spaces between breakables in the box to keep unevenly shaped items from rattling about and don't be shy about wrapping your nice furniture so that bumps while moving don't cause scrapes.
3) Pack Your Own Items and Sort Boxes into Easily Accessible Categories
It's important to understand when saving money on a local move that most mover charge by the hour for any move that requires less than a two-hour drive. This means that the faster you work with the movers, the less you have to pay and the best way to make your move more efficient is to make it easier for the movers when they arrive. While packing your own things to save on packing costs is a no-brainer, another great way to speed up your moving services is to pile all the boxes in the living room sorted by category (or room assignment), weight, and delicacy. If they are clearly labeled, your packers will be able to quickly and easily load everything in the right order and unload it into the correct rooms at your destination without any time wasted.
4) Plot the Fastest Truck-Friendly Route Between Homes
For a local move, your time on the road between your current home and your new one also counts against the hourly costs so you'll want to minimize your drive time as well. While the movers are more than capable of finding their own route, you can make sure things are going as efficiently as possible by coordinating with the drivers to take the fastest truck-friendly route between the two locations.
5) Know Where Boxes Go in the New House
Finally, dithering about where you want boxes and furniture as the movers bring things in burns your own time and money. If you want to wrap up your moving service efficiently and in a way that is friendly to the movers, prepare by knowing exactly where each category and box label should be placed. You can even tape up a few construction paper signs that match your box labels to ensure that everything is done smoothly with or without a successful explanation.
Sooner or later, everyone moves, whether or not you have a huge budget for the task. If you've been worrying about how to afford a professional moving service, with these time and money saving techniques, you can reduce the cost of working with movers and relax both your mind and your moving budget.
Topics: Leasing, moving tips
Renting a new apartment or house, there's always a few days where everything is in boxes and you're taking the unpacking one box at a time. All your stuff, including your kitchen, closet, and entertainment gear are still wrapped up in mountains of packing material that will soon litter your floor. On the first day, just getting all the boxes inside seems like a victory and vaguely kicking them into the right rooms is going into overtime. As you sit on the floor or a throne of boxes satisfied with the day's efforts, your stomach finally reminds you that just because your dishes are still packed doesn't mean you can skip supper and chances are you don't have an instant quirky neighbor coming over with a casserole and two bowls. Time to rustle up some grub. Depending on your budget and personal preferences, you have a few options for meals that don't require pans, dishes, or your own silverware.
Read MoreTopics: Leasing tips, moving tips
Moving is never easy. It doesn’t matter if you are moving into your first apartment or moving from one to another, it can be quite difficult. Many times, you never realize how many things you own until you start putting them into boxes. When you plan to relocate,you should always make a plan and start as soon as you possibly can.
Read MoreTopics: Tips for tenants, Rental Tips, moving tips
There are times in life when you need to relocate and move to another city or even state. You may even have to move all of the way across the country. Relocation is never easy, no matter how often you have to do it.
Read MoreTopics: moving tips, relocation
So you've found your ideal rental property, talked to the owners, done the walk-through, signed the lease and paid your security deposit. While you may be congratulating yourself on finding such a gem, it's now time to cover your bases and make sure that security deposit comes back to you whenever you decide to move out. As the tenant, you have also become the active caretaker and will be considered responsible for any damage taken on by the property during your stay. Whether or not you had a full inspection done before signing the lease, it's time to do a little inspection of your own with full documentation in order to prove the starting state of your new home. If you have a property manager, you can contact them to inspect with you.
Read MoreTopics: Tips for new tenants, moving tips