Did you ever face a situation when you had to do something in a hurry? If yes, perhaps you will understand how demanding and frustrating such situations can be. Moving to a new house under normal circumstances can be hard, lengthy, and stressful for you and if you have less time to move, the entire process will get more challenging for you.
Mostly, a person will have sufficient time to plan a move. However, there might be instances where you have an excellent job offer in a new state and you must move there at short notice or one of your parents suddenly falls sick and you must move immediately to take care of him or her. Many other reasons might compel you to move in a hurry that might make you feel overwhelmed and long for some more time.
Here we will discuss some fruitful ideas that will help you with packing and moving to a new house at short notice:
Ask moving companies for quotes as soon as possible
Once you get to know your moving day, we suggest you connect with a few local moving companies or long-distance movers and request them for quotes. Mostly, a moving company will get booked weeks or months before a move, so you must check their availability as well if you need to hire them at the last minute.
Summertime is the peak moving season, it would be difficult for you to hire movers in a hurry if you need to move around this time. Moreover, if you get plenty of options, you are incredibly lucky as such cases are rare. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you hire a moving company:
- Don't just depend on the moving cost for hiring professional movers.
- You can take recommendations from friends as well as relatives.
- Check the reviews of moving companies, ask them about their process of hiring, and get an idea if you are hiring quality movers or not.
Eliminate the house hunting process
If you are moving at short notice, time will be crucial for you. Avoid wasting your time hunting for your dream house, you may end up making the wrong choice. It would be an outstanding idea to rent a house for at least a year, near your workplace or your favorite shopping mall, until you find your dream house. Also, you can rent a storage unit, if you need to temporarily downsize and keep your belongings there safely.
Tips to declutter your house quickly
You can always declutter your items if you want to pack your boxes quickly and efficiently. However, you won’t have the time to organize a garage sale with the unwanted or excessive items you have in your house.
Here we have a few tricks that you must follow to declutter your house rapidly without wasting much time:
Donate items you don’t need anymore
- You can either plan a pickup service or quickly drop off any unwanted clothing and household items you have in the donation centers like Goodwill or Salvation Army. We suggest you take an invoice from them such that you can deduct these items from the taxes you need to pay.
- It would be a good idea to donate any canned food you have to a local food bank. You can check Feeding America to find the nearest food bank in your locality.
Give away items to your neighbors
Make sure you donate any partially used items you have, for example, gasoline, oil, cleaning supplies, fertilizers, insecticides, or other items you might need time to throw away properly.
Recycle or throw away unused items
If you have items that are either torn badly or broken, collect them and throw them away at a dump in your locality.
Purge out your books
You can declutter your huge book collection and use free and reasonable e-books instead. Here’s how you can purge through your books and reduce the weight you might need to move with quickly:
- You should gather books that you don’t read anymore and deposit them in a second-hand bookstore in your area, for example, Half Price Books. Though you will not make enough money by selling your books, you will save considerable space in your rental truck and will also need to spend less time packing your belongings properly.
- Another good option for you would be to deposit your books at a local library like the Austin Public Library and they would be glad to accept your books.
Give away any bulky furniture you have
You can list furniture like a couch that you don’t need any more on Craigslist or Freecycle Network and mention there that it should be picked within 24 hours.
Click images of your belongings before packing
Since you are moving in a rush, you might not get enough time to create an inventory of items. Here’s what you can do about it:
- Take pictures of all your items as this would help you track your belongings easily.
- If you have hired a moving company, clicking photos will help you keep a record of the number of items you have and the condition of each item before the move. This will serve as proof in case anything gets lost or damaged during the transit.
- You can use this photo to recreate the same decorations at your new house and reassemble your furniture. Also, you reconfigure your electronics like the TV at your new house easily if you have a record of its setup.
Pack your Essential Bag
In your hurry to move, you may miss a major step or simply get disorganized. This will make you juggle your bag for a toothbrush or toothpaste on the night you reach your new house. Here's what you need to pack in an essential bag for the first night at your new home:
- Toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, or other personal care items.
- Change clothes and Pajamas for each member of your family.
- Bedding and pillows for every family member moving with you.
- Sleeping bag or air mattress in case your furniture isn’t ready.
- Soap and toilet paper.
- All-purpose cleaner and paper towels for cleaning surfaces before you unpack your belongings.
- Coffeemaker, coffee, or other such supplies for a fast pick-me-up.
Tip: It would be a good idea to have all essential items near you, as you would be unpacking your belongings after a few weeks of the stress of the moving day.
Collect the moving supplies
You may not have enough time to search for used moving boxes or other packing supplies when you must move at short notice. Instead, you need to spend money and purchase your moving boxes from a nearby moving supply store.
Here are a few alternatives you can use to reduce your moving costs:
- If you already have a few containers with you, make sure you use them to pack your belongings quickly for the move.
- Laundry bags and suitcases can serve as a substitute for cardboard boxes and towels, or blankets can be an outstanding replacement for bubble wraps.
- Don’t waste your time taking out clothes from the hanger and folding them properly. Instead, you can put the clothes with their hangers inside a garbage bag and tie it firmly around the hooks of the hanger.
- If your drawers don’t contain any fragile items, you can pack them with a plastic wrap and load them into the moving truck. This will ensure that your drawers don’t fall apart and scatter your items during the move.
Don’t ignore the safety of your belongings
Learning how to pack your items in the last minutes implies knowing how to pack them safely. Moreover, you should avoid packing so quickly that it will risk the safety of your belongings as well as your safety.
- Invest time to protect your belongings from damage, especially those items that wouldn’t be possible for you to replace.
- Make sure you pack fragile items in an unprinted newsprint or bubble wrap.
- You must pack your books or dishes on their sides and cover your extravagant furniture to avoid stains or even tears.
- It would be a great idea to pack heavy items in small boxes and light items in large boxes. In case you overload the moving boxes, both you and the movers you have hired will require time lifting, moving, and sometimes even unpacking your items.
- We recommend you use your legs to lift heavy items and use a furniture dolly or search for partners to help you load items into the moving truck.
Label all the boxes correctly
You should consider labeling your boxes, even if you are moving in a hurry as it might just take a few minutes. If you don’t, you will face a lot of difficulties in unpacking your belongings after you reach your new house. Even if you have professionals to assist you, they might interrupt you each moment to ask where these belongings would go, this will distract you.
Seek assistance
Making a last-minute move isn’t an easy task, we suggest you ask for assistance in the weeks before the moving day. Here’s what you can do to reduce your stress to a considerable extent:
- Check with your friends if they can help you with disassembling your furniture and packing your boxes before the moving day.
- You can request your mother-in-law or other reliable family members to take care of your pets and kids. Otherwise, they might come into the path while you are moving heavy boxes and injure themselves.
- We advise you to take an additional one or two days off before the moving day and increase the speed of your packing process.
- If you have the budget, it would be best to hire professional movers who will help you with packing as well as other moving-related tasks. Since they are experienced, they can accomplish all your moving tasks faster than you.
Hire professional cleaners
Moving at short notice might not give you sufficient time to clean your house properly, we suggest you hire professional cleaners. You can continue to pack your belongings, while the professional cleaners are cleaning your house. This will reduce your burden to a certain level and let you concentrate on other important tasks and keep an eye on your belongings.
Final glance
In your rush to leave the house, don’t forget to have a final look at each room of your house, in case you have left anything behind, like shower curtains, rugs, or drawer organizers. Make sure you switch off the lights and fans before you move out of the house. Overall, moving in a hurry isn't a big deal, until you know what exactly needs to be done.
We have discussed enough moving tips and packing tips in this guide, that will surely help you move smoothly and efficiently, even if you are in a hurry.