How to Prepare for a Move: Your 2022 Moving Checklist

If you’ve recently sold your home or anticipate doing so in the near future, it probably means there’s a move on your horizon. Even folks who have gone through the process dozens of times sometimes still struggle knowing how to prepare for a move. There’s a lot to consider, and if you’re moving out of a big house, chances are it has been a while since you’ve gone through it. That’s why we put together a moving checklist — to help you navigate your transition and keep those cortisol levels down!

Ways to Sell Your Home

In case you’re struggling with selling, it’s good to know that there are more options than just listing on the market. Here are a few major ones.

Traditional Listing

You know the deal. Or, maybe you don’t… listing with a Realtor can be confusing to say the least. All of the repair costs, closing fees, commission models, etc. While often the best option, the traditional selling process shouldn’t always be the go-to for everyone. Especially if you need to sell quickly and don’t have or don’t want to spend extra money for upfront costs.

Zillow Offers

We went into depth on the Zillow instant offers program last week. In a lot of ways, it is a hybrid of selling with a traditional realtor, and the third option below.

Direct Home Buyers

Direct buyers purchase houses directly from homeowners. Instead of using a real estate agent, homeowners can sell directly to real estate investors. This lets folks avoid all of the extra bank fees, which can start to add up when it’s time to sell. Unlike a real estate agent, a direct home buyer’s goal is to help people sell their homes quickly. And with direct buyers, sellers get to skip the complications of listing the house for sale before slowly navigating the sale with a real estate agent.

How to Prepare For A Move

It can definitely feel like a lot, but moving preparation doesn’t have to be such a struggle. Here’s how to prepare for a move, regardless of your situation.

Box Items Ahead of Time

This is probably the #1 item on our entire moving checklist. The easiest way to cause move-day chaos is to wait until your movers arrive to start putting things in boxes. Chances are that if you’re reading this, though, you’re a preparer. The very thought of failing to box small items until your moving crew is actively loading the truck just literally sent a shiver up and down your spine.

Invest in Bubble Wrap

Next up on our moving checklist is buying some bubble wrap! I definitely recommend pre-wrapping any time your preparing to move. Your movers should have blankets and wrap themselves, but there are two really great reasons to do this yourself:

1. You can ensure items get wrapped as well as you want them.
2. You save time on the clock. Pre-wrapping can be somewhat time-consuming for movers, who are going back and forth and may have to re-locate the wrap each time they prepare to move a different piece of furniture. Just like boxing up your belongings, pre-wrapping can be a great cost-saving measure on your moving checklist.

Move Small, Fragile Items In Your Own Car

It’s worth taking extra precautions for things like artwork, lightbulbs, musical instruments, and TVs that you don’t have a box for. If possible, consider moving these items in your own car. If that’s not an option, then you’ll want to make sure you do a very good job pre-wrapping them. It also doesn’t hurt to point out to your movers those few items that are especially fragile and/or valuable to you.

Clear Pathways

This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how often folks don’t consider the accessibility of their homes. This can even become a hazard when moving big objects — a toy fire truck left on the staircase could mean the end of your entertainment system, a hospitalized mover, and a delayed exit of your home. All of this is, of course, easily avoidable. The primary strategy of our moving checklist is to make things as easy as possible on your movers. This is how to avoid stress, damage, and delay when preparing to move.

Say Goodbye Before Move Day

While this won’t be an issue for everyone who is preparing to move, you may be someone who gets a little emotional with goodbyes. That’s alright! After all, leaving your soon-to-be-old home is kind of a big deal. That’s why I recommend mentally preparing yourself ahead of time. Want to know how to prepare for a move? Do whatever you gotta do! That means honoring your own emotions too!

Provide Necessary Instructions

Your movers are professionals, but that doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily know how to dismantle your 600-pound, Amish-built office desk. If you want to make sure that A.) all of your furniture makes it to your new place and B.) you don’t pay for an extra hour of your moving crew’s time, go ahead and be prepared. It also doesn’t hurt to fish out any instruction manuals you think may be helpful — especially if you own unusual furniture that will need to be broken down into multiple pieces. In learning how to prepare for a move, we must always consider potential major obstacles — these often take the form of large belongings and tight spaces.

Keep Your Movers Hydrated

This is just a kind thing to do (which is reason enough), but it will also help energize your crew to work well. In my post-college days as a mover, we were always so grateful to customers who offered something as simple as a bottle of water. You could instantly tell who had taken the time to do basic moving preparation, and who needed a lesson on how to prepare for a move.

Upward Home Solutions

If you’re looking to sell your home in Columbus or Central Ohio and struggling to find a buyer, look no further! Upward Home Solutions offers a wide range of services to help you meet your goals and obligations, sell your home immediately, and hang on to your peace of mind throughout the moving process. 🤝

How to Prepare for a Move with Upward Home Solutions

Not every house can be sold on the retail market. For example, sometimes a house has structural problems or needs a whole lot of work. Other times, houses have liens or back taxes, which can get complicated. And then there are the houses stuffed with things (making it impossible to even think about how to prepare for a move with all that stuff). Additionally, we have experience working with landlords who are tired of dealing with problem tenants. Our business is set up so that we can even buy houses with renters still living in them.

Every situation is different, of course. There are people who have moved into nursing homes or senior care facilities and need to sell their homes. Similarly, we also work with people who have inherited homes. And some people just need to sell quickly because a sudden job transfer is taking them to another city.

But whatever the situation, one of the great things about selling to UHS is that you don’t need to stress as much about how to prepare for a move. Everything takes place on your schedule, and our team will help you through the whole process. If you have junk you don’t want, just leave it. We’ll pay you cash and take care of your trash. It’s what we do!

Call us today! 614-705-0866