Tips for moving house and how Service Central can help
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Moving house is right up there with life's most stressful things - marriage, death, and exams. Here's a checklist to follow for each stage of the move and some tips on how Service Central can help along the way to make at least organising some of it a little easier.
First things first is to ascertain what date you'll be moving. Until you know this, you can organise but not finalise - which is in itself a cause of stress because although you're doing things, nothing gets DONE!
Moving house can be an expensive time but throwing money at the move to make it go more smoothly is often worth it in the end. We've popped some tips in along the way on companies that can help your move go more smoothly and where possible an indication of costs.
Six to eight weeks before your move(or when you're waiting to confirm dates)
- Consider your furniture removal, and which pieces are the largest - will they fit through doorways? What level is the new home on, and will you be able to get all your existing furniture through? Sometimes it's a good idea to sell anything that's really difficult to move - especially if you don't like it much anyway!
- Start being nicer to friends with vans. Cake, coffee and nice dinners go a long way to the goodwill that tells them they need to offer to help you move. If that doesn't work, bribery usually does. Otherwise, a removalist is a fabulous way to decrease stress - they have insurance, are skilled at navigating small spaces, and are paid to do the heavy lifting. You can usually do a small quick move for around $70, which goes upwards to around $250 for a 1-2 bedroom flat and above for bigger. Get quotes for removalists.
- Redirect your mail
- Change your address with many Australian organisations and remember to check that you've got everyone!
- Do an initial de-clutter. Evaluate your possessions critically and get rid of everything that you don't care about enough to move. Charity bins are at many train stations. Sell stuff on eBay or get it collected for free via OzRecycle. Give it away to friends. (You'll do another round of this later but be as harsh as you can!). If you've got lots and recycling or redistributing isn't an option, organise a mini skip or rubbish removal - you can organise it for after you move to grab all those last bits of rubbish too!
- Eat food in the freezer and avoid buying heavy groceries like cans or a year's supply of flour.
2 weeks before you move
- Switch your utility accounts (ConnectNow is a great service that will switch your accounts for you, as well as getting the best deal from your new property's service providers).
- Check newspaper subscriptions, regular trades visits eg gardening services etc.
- Depending on how far you're moving, get your medical records from your doctor, your contact lens and glasses prescription from your optometrist and switch medication prescriptions to a new branch.
- Book the professionals to do a complete clean of your home or just clean carpets (ConnectNow can also do this at the same time as switching your utilities). Carpets cleaned at around $60 for two standard rooms and $20 per room thereafter. Home cleaning varies drastically depending on how dirty it is!
- Confirm dates and book removalists.
- Do another 'cull' of stuff as you pack. Always have a pile of stuff to take to the charity bins or redistribute.
- Defrost your freezer (as close as possible to moving day if prone to icing up).
- Check for a free Wireless connection around your new area in case you need it while the new internet is organised (usually this takes at least a few days no matter how well it's organised).
Moving day
- Get an early start, and avoid exceptionally hot or rainy days if possible
- Organise keys - drop off and collection
- Pack a bag for the first couple days in the new place. Toilet paper, two changes of clothes, plasters and aspirin!
- Organise snacks for the move. Low blood sugar causes erratic emotions so have a good supply of sugar and MSG on hand (or dried fruit and nuts, lots of water and an emergency coffee delivery partway through the morning)
- Turn off electricity and water at the meter
- Unpack bedding and make beds asap - you'll want to collapse!
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