When Craig of Aussiemove approached me with an idea for a guest post I wasn’t sure what my blog had to do with moving services. At the same time, we had just moved into our new home after two rounds of packing and transporting – once to a temporary apartment and once again to the home we’re currently in! Trust me – ALL our belongings is a lot of stuff…and when you’re moving a whole family’s worth of stuff it can get overwhelming. So today I’m thrilled to share Craig’s time tested knowledge here (23 years worth of it in fact!) in moving families both locally and internationally. If you’re planning to move in the near future or about to move, I hope you sail through the process using the tips below :).

The process of moving requires careful planning. You want to make sure that you will be bringing everything that is valuable to you. Likewise, it is imperative to protect the quality of your belongings — you are, after all, bringing them with you so you will not have to buy new ones. To protect the quality of your possessions, you need to know the best ways to pack and transport them. Big-ticket items such as furniture and appliances, particularly, are always tricky to move around — all the more if you need to get them out of the house and loaded in a truck.

That is why for big and bulky items, it is best to employ the help of a professional moving and packing service. Not only do they have proven effective packing and moving techniques, they also have the best equipment for the job — from lifting belts or straps, to trolleys and even rubber protectors to prevent dings and scrapes on your items.

But aside from relying on the expertise of remover services, there are other things that you can do to help pack and transport your bulky belongings. Provided below are five tips to help you with this task.

1) Disassemble big furniture/appliances

If you can make your big-ticket items smaller, do so. Disassemble big furniture and appliances so it's easier to pack and move rather than one big and bulky piece. Take off drawers, legs, handles, doorknobs, and other protruding details that can get caught on door frames and other things.

As you dismantle your big-ticket pieces, use your phone to take pictures or a video. This will help make re-assembling everything so much easier once you get to your destination. Additionally, place the small pieces of the dismantled items in labeled containers and make sure that the fragile pieces are wrapped properly with packing paper.

‍2) Use sliders for heavy items

Make the job of moving big and heavy pieces less physically straining by using sliders. These little devices will allow you to push and pull the heaviest furniture and appliance with greater ease. Plus, you can avoid scraping the floor and the bottoms of your furniture when you use the sliders.

 If you do not have sliders or you have too many pieces of huge furniture to move out and load into a truck, plastic container covers and old towels also make great alternatives.

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‍3) Cover your belongings with blankets

You can purchase moving blankets or use some of your own blankets that you do not mind getting quite dirty to cover your furniture and/or appliances. The blankets will protect the finish, as well as the nice edges of your valuable belongings as they are moved out of the house and transported into your new home.

To keep the blankets in place, use cling wrap. Cling wrap is better to use than tape because it has no sticky adhesive that may leave a mark on the blanket and furniture or appliance.

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4) Always use ramps

Do not reserve the ramps only for when you need to get your items into the truck, use them every time you need to “slide” your bulky things into a higher or lower spot. This will make moving each piece safer and easier. This way, you can avoid the risk of an enormous piece of furniture from teetering and falling over. 

Not only that, when you use ramps, you can avoid scratching the sides and bottoms of your possessions when tackling floor elevations and landings.

5) Determine the best exit points

Identify the windows and doors that will allow you to move the heavy items out more conveniently. Afterwards, clear them out. Get rid of obstacles to create a paved path for the items to be moved. This way, you will accomplish the job of moving your big-ticket items out of the house much faster.

These are just five easy tips to follow when moving big, valuable pieces during a home relocation. Of course, if you have professional removers available to do the job, they will have all the equipment, manpower and techniques necessary to handle big-ticket items efficiently.

As simple as these tips are, they have a great impact on ensuring the quality of your belongings and making the process safe for everyone.

AUTHOR BIO

Craig Jones is the Managing Director at Aussiemove, Australia’s largest independent moving alliance. Craig is a respected member of the removalist network in Australia, having served in senior positions, including the President of the removal industries governing body, the Australian Furniture Removals Association (AFRA). With 23 years of experience at Aussiemove, he has the skills and the highly trained team to move families safely and reliably, in Adelaide, across Australia and around the world.