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Move-it Yourself
By Sharon Hurley Hall, Fri Dec 9th
I have lived in five countries and have moved house nearly 20times. It may be more, but I'm not counting the ones I can'tremember from my childhood. Most of those moves I've done myself(with the help of a few friends) and over the last 25 years,I've learned a thing or two about moving that considerablystreamlines the process. So here, for my money, are five stepsto can take to make sure you are adequately prepared for the bigday. 1. Start early Although you love those photos of friends and family, they canbe the first to come off the walls when you've decided on a movedate. The more you've packed before move week, the less you'llhave to do then. 2. The best investment If you're hiring a van, you may be tempted to go for somethingcheap. This is almost always a mistake. You will tire yourselfout lifting stuff onto and off the van, so why not get a vanthat will help you? Spend a bit more and get one with atail-lift. This will be invaluable, especially for the largerfurniture items. If you can get power steering as well, someoneup there likes you. Those vans can be difficult to manoeuvre. Buy or borrow a heavy duty trolley of some kind and you'll havealmost all the bases covered. When booking a van, look for acompany that will allow you to either pick it up the nightbefore the move or return it the day after. (If you can find onethat will let you do both for a reasonable price, let me know).The night before will let you get a head start on the loading;the morning after means you can collapse into bed at nightwithout watching the clock and you may be able to take anotherload the next morning. 3. Other transport Make sure you make full use of your car (s). These are great fortransporting the delicate items (the laptop or the DVD playerfor example) and the items you don't want to lose (money,jewellery, credit cards). The back seat is a great place to putyour hanging clothes (why add ironing
to the list of choresyou'll have to do in the new place?). Before the move, you canpack these in a box labelled 'car only'. The trunk and footwellsof a car are also the ideal place to put your house plants fortransportation. If you stack them close together, they shouldarrive intact. Remember to line the area with black rubbish bagsso that you don't have to clean your car afterwards. 4. Box clever There's a theory that bigger is better when it comes to boxesfor packing your stuff. Not so. In fact, the reverse is true.You need to keep boxes small and manageable. Those boxes thatyour reams of paper come in (you can get a few from your office)are perfect for packing books, CDs, DVDs, tapes, records (ifyou've still got them) and other small items. The ones withhandles are best. Check out your local shop and ask them to save the boxes thatsnacks and chocolates are delivered in. They'll need to bereinforced but they're a good size as well. For all the mums out there, the Pampers multipack boxes arestrong and solid (and they have handles). Finally, book boxes (the smaller ones, of course) from yourlocal bookshop. These are difficult to get hold of but when youuse them you can be sure that your stuff won't fall out mid-move. 5. Tape talk When it comes to tape, the wider the better. Your packing tapeshould be at least two inches wide and very strong. The brownrolls are best (again, you'll need one for each of the mainpackers), but masking tape (good for labelling) and Duck tape(strong but expensive) are other alternatives. You can also usethe tape to label anything stored in a garbage bag (you'll needplenty of those as well and not just for rubbish). Last words If you do all this, you should be primed for a successful move.Happy moving! About the author:Sharon Hurley Hall is a freelance writer, ghostwriter andeditor. Sharon worked in publishing for 18 years and has alsolectured on journalism. For more information or to contactSharon, visit doublehdesign.com
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