Moving interstate requires lots of planning and organising – and the last thing you’ll want is to damage any of your furniture during the relocation.
1. Deciding What to Take
You may not want to take all of your furniture with you when you relocate. If you’re undecided:
- Think about what you really need or want to take with you and what you could easily buy in your new location; for instance, is now a good time to leave behind your old dining suite and get a new one?
- If you’re only moving temporarily, compare the cost of moving your furniture with the cost of keeping it in local storage – which is more affordable in the long term?
- Consider selling some of your excess furniture; this can clear up your clutter and will also help with your moving expenses
2. Organising Insurance
In most cases, your home contents insurance and your removalists’ insurance won’t cover furniture or valuable belongings while they’re on the road, so investing in your own transit or moving insurance is highly recommended.
Moving insurance gives peace of mind should something happen to your furniture during the move; it will also save you lots of money in having to replace items or repair damages if something goes wrong.
3. Packing and Preparing Your Furniture
In addition to covering your furniture with insurance, you should:
- Ensure you use good quality packing materials – like moving pads and strong bubble wrap – that will fully protect your items from breakages, scratches, dents and dampness or mould.
- Consider how you will wrap and prepare fragile items, like glass tables, glassware and mirrors. Using coverings like foam or bubble wrap will be much more protective than newspaper or a blanket
- If you are packing smaller furniture items inside boxes, ensure you use lots of padding so the item can’t move around and label the box accordingly (see below)
- When preparing drawers and wardrobes, empty the contents; otherwise your items might be too heavy and their contents can be damaged, just from normal vehicle movement
4. Labelling Items
Whether you have a removalist truck all to yourself or you are sharing a vehicle with others, labelling is important for any interstate move. To save time and frustration when unpacking:
- Label each of your wrapped and packed items clearly with your name, address and full contact details
- Include the full contact details of your moving company on each label as well
- Use labels to indicate if any items they need to be kept the ‘right way up’ (using arrows is helpful)
- Mark fragile or valuable items with a visibly noticeable ‘FRAGILE’ sticker or similar
- It can also be a good idea to label your items or boxes with the room they should be delivered to at your new home (e.g. kitchen, bedroom)
5. Keeping Costs Down
Moving interstate will always involve certain expenses, but you can keep your furniture moving costs down by:
- Researching professional moving companies thoroughly before committing to one – find out what they offer as standard and what are extra charges (e.g. special handling, long haul costs)
- Selecting a relocation company with experience organising and carrying out interstate moves; inexperienced businesses can end up costing you more in hassle, damage and risk
- Planning the packing and moving of your furniture items carefully in advance so you only buy enough packing materials for your needs
- Selling or giving away any excess furniture; this will lighten your load by reducing handling time to help keep moving costs down
- Ensuring your new home is vacant and ready to occupy so you can eliminate in-transit storage costs
Did you know that Chess Moving can manage every step of your interstate move? Contact us on 13 14 69 to learn more.