Cutting Down On Clutter Before a Move

 

When planning to move to a new home, sometimes it is hard to take everything that you own with you and you probably don’t need everything that you have. Moving can be a great opportunity to go through your belongings and get rid of everything that you no longer use, want, or need. After all, the fewer items you have to pack and transport the easier it will be to work with the best Florida moving companies.

A great way to get rid of clutter while also earning a few bucks is by hosting a garage sale. Get great tips on how to declutter before your move from a helpful moving company Gainesville, FL — UF Mover Guys.

Pre-Move Garage Sale

Planning the Sale

The first step in organizing a garage sale is planning all the details and ensuring that there aren’t any restrictions that you could be violating. Check with local authorities to see if you will need a special permit for the sale, need to pay a fee, or have to collect taxes. You will also need to check whether sign advertising is allowed in your neighborhood. Determine where you want to host the sale, and the date and times. Weekends during the warmer months often work best. Also, check that your homeowner’s policy covers any liability for injuries.

Determining What to Sell

Walk through your home and sort through your belongings with a notebook and pen in hand. Write down everything that you no longer need that could be sold. If you have fewer than 100 items, consider hosting a joint sale with a neighbor or grab a box of forgotten junk from your parents’ attic.

Preparing the Items for Sale

Once you have gathered all the items you plan to sell, clean them and make any necessary repairs so they are in good shape and will appeal to the buyer. When it comes to clothes, wash them and hang or fold them neatly. For toys and plastic items, gently wipe them down with a warm, soapy cloth. Group similar objects together for bundle sales (such as dinnerware) and keep pairs, such as shoes, together. When pricing items, keep in mind that they are used items — charge approximately 20 percent to 30 percent of the original price for items in proper working order. You can always lower prices but resist the urge to raise them. Also, be open to bargaining — after all, these are items that you want to get rid of!

The Day of the Sale

Before the sale, make sure that everything is well organized, clearly priced, and that you have enough packing supplies for the customers. Also keep a pen, a notepad, and a calculator nearby. Be sure that you have enough change, especially rolls of coins and singles. During the sale, always have at least two people present for security purposes and keep the money in a money bag rather than a box separate from you. Keep an inventory of all the items for sale and mark them off immediately after they are sold. Be sure to have a firm cash-only policy and, most importantly, have fun!

Movers in Gainesville, FL

When you need to reduce clutter before a move, a garage sale can help you dispose of the items you don’t need while making a profit. If you’re looking for Gainesville moving companies for your next move, look no further. At UF Mover Guys, we provide Florida moving services you can trust; contact us today.

 

How to Move “Ready to Assemble” Furniture

Make Moving “Ready to Assemble” Furniture Easy

Buying furniture can become expensive and can be difficult to assemble. “Ready to assemble” furniture is an easy and cheap alternative to other types of furniture and it looks nice too! However, before your Gainesville movers come, you should consider necessary extra steps you will need to take with any “ready to assemble” furniture.

Disassemble Furniture

Furniture from Ikea and equivalent stores may be useful but they can be easily damaged during the Gainesville moving process. In fact, it is often more expensive to repair pieces than replacing them completely. Therefore, it is best to take furniture apart before you move.

Store Hardware

These pieces of furniture use various small types of hardware that can easily become lost. Be sure to remove all of the fasteners, dowels, handles, pins, screws and cams completely. Place them in an individual plastic bag for each furniture unit and label it with a marker so you will be able to sort it easily when you are unpacking without losing any critical fragment.

Load Pieces into Moving Truck

If you have multiple types of “ready to assemble” furniture, you will want to keep track of them properly. Worst case scenario, you arrive at your new home and you are left with a variety of planks of wood and tons of small hardware pieces without a clue of what goes together. Avoid this complication by sorting your wood into the sections that go together and then wrap them in a large towel or blanket. This will keep the parts from getting mixed up and it will also prevent any scratches or marks while they are in the moving truck.

Choose a Superior Moving Company in Florida

If you are looking for a Gainesville moving company who will take care of your disassembled furniture to prevent it from getting damaged, choose UF Mover Guys. Our team strives to provide you with the best service possible with our attention to detail. In the unlikely event that something is damaged, we are licensed and insured so you can remain stress free. When you decide to move, call UF Mover Guys.

How to Pack and Move a China Cabinet

China cabinets are filled with expensive and fragile glass dishes and heirlooms. Image is from diningfurnituremart.com.

Homeowners take pride in their china cabinets. Surprisingly, however, they often handle their collection recklessly when moving.

China cabinets are among the items that require the most caution to move. These furniture sets are filled with expensive and fragile glass dishes and heirlooms.

Consequently, moving a china cabinet is one of the biggest challenges for movers. Pack incorrectly, and you can destroy several hundred dollars in collectibles.

Fortunately, UF Mover Guys has years of experience in this area. Here are some effective strategies we use to pack china cabinets.

Secure your investments by packing everything inside the china cabinet into boxes. This way you can at least ensure all of your actual china is safe.

Once the cabinet is empty, start wrapping and boxing the loose parts. Wrap glass shelves in bubble wrap. Then remove the brackets holding the shelves in place.

Anything you can disassemble by hand will fall off during transit. You need to remove and carefully box these parts to prevent damage.

See if you can fit smaller boxes into the lower cabinets while moving. Doing so will make them easier to find when you unpack.

Most china cabinets come in two parts. The easiest thing to do is separate the top section from the bottom section.

The bottom section usually contains draws and shelving made of finely crafted wood. Wrap the bottom in several thick blankets. Go around the blankets with packing tape to secure it in place.

The additional padding will ensure the cabinet is not scratched. When UF Mover Guys arrives, all we will have to do is carry the piece into the truck.

The top part of the cabinet contains the most glass. Thus, this part is the most fragile and requires the most caution.

Cut open some cardboard boxes. Begin wrapping the cardboard panels around the glass exterior of the cabinet.

Hold the panels in place with packing tape. Continue adding cardboard until the entire upper section is covered.

If you have plenty of extra cardboard, you can run a second layer over the piece. You never know whether the moving truck will hit a speed bump.

Once the cardboard is in place, wrap heavy duty blankets around it. Secure with more tape.

From here, UF Mover Guys can finish packing the cabinet into the truck. If you do not want to have to worry about scratching or damaging your glass cabinet, you could always hire us to pack for you as well.

Homeowners take pride in their china cabinets. Surprisingly, however, they often handle their collection recklessly when moving.

China cabinets are among the items that require the most caution to move. These furniture sets are filled with expensive and fragile glass dishes and heirlooms.

Consequently, moving a china cabinet is one of the biggest challenges for movers.  Pack incorrectly, and you can destroy several hundred dollars in collectibles.

Fortunately, UF Mover Guys has years of experience in this area. Here are some effective strategies we use to pack china cabinets.

Secure your investments by packing everything inside the china cabinet into boxes. This way you can at least ensure all of your actual china is safe.

Once the cabinet is empty, start wrapping and boxing the loose parts. Wrap glass shelves in bubble wrap. Then remove the brackets holding the shelves in place.

Anything you can disassemble by hand will fall off during transit. You need to remove and carefully box these parts to prevent damage.

See if you can fit smaller boxes into the lower cabinets while moving. Doing so will make them easier to find when you unpack.

Most china cabinets come in two parts. The easiest thing to do is separate the top section from the bottom section.

The bottom section usually contains draws and shelving made of finely crafted wood. Wrap the bottom in several thick blankets. Go around the blankets with packing tape to secure it in place.

The additional padding will ensure the cabinet is not scratched. When UF Mover Guys arrives, all we will have to do is carry the piece into the truck.

The top part of the cabinet contains the most glass. Thus, this part is the most fragile and requires the most caution.

Cut open some cardboard boxes. Begin wrapping the cardboard panels around the glass exterior of the cabinet.

Hold the panels in place with packing tape. Continue adding cardboard until the entire upper section is covered.

If you have plenty of extra cardboard, you can run a second layer over the piece. You never know whether the moving truck will hit a speed bump.

Once the cardboard is in place, wrap heavy duty blankets around it. Secure with more tape.

From here, UF Mover Guys can finish packing the cabinet into the truck. If you do not want to have to worry about scratching or damaging your glass cabinet, you could always hire us to pack for you as well.

How To Properly Wrap And Pad Furniture

The No. 1 rule to remember is that all of the items should be carefully wrapped and padded. Image is from customstoragesystem.com.

Few people look forward to the work, preparation and planning involved in moving. You can make the day less stressful if you approach it in a thoughtful and strategic way.

The first step is to hire a reputable company. UF Mover Guys is one of the most respected moving companies in Gainesville.

Our company is a full service company that will take care of all your needs. One service that we take pride in is offering tips and advice for our customers.

In this article, we will give you a short but thorough overview about how best to protect your furniture during your move. Furniture and heavy items should be properly padded and protected before being moved in a truck, trailer or automobile.

The No. 1 rule to remember is that all of the items should be carefully wrapped and padded. This is the best way to prevent injury or damage to the item as it is being moved from your old home to your new one.

All furniture should be wrapped with blankets and plastic stretch wrap. Bubble wrap, pads and blankets provide the best protection.

Moving blankets are expensive, which tempts some people to use regular home blankets and towels. While these are better than nothing, ordinary home towels much less protection than moving blankets.

Professional quality blankets can be rented, and they are worth the money. You want to make sure that you have enough blankets to fully cover and wrap all of your furniture.

The number of blankets obviously depends upon the number and size of the items. At Gainesville Moving, we have found that the typical customer usually requires 30 to 100 blankets.

As a general rule of thumb, 30 blankets are usually sufficient for a small one-bedroom apartment. Most items require two to five blankets for full coverage.

The first step in padding and wrapping furniture is to secure any movable parts such as drawers, doors and the legs if they move back and forth.  We suggest that you should always stop at the top of the furniture item and work downwards when covering it with furniture pads.

The pads should completely cover the furniture. Make sure that no part of the furniture is exposed. Any exposed area is at risk during the moving process.

Coverage also makes loading the furniture quicker and more efficient for the movers. They do not have to worry about nicks, scratches or other injuries to the furniture as they carry and load it onto the truck or trailer.

Wrapping the covered furniture with stretch wrap provides additional security and protection.  The plastic should be tight as you wrap it.  Avoid leaving any space between the wrap and the item you are wrapping.

Inspect all the items once they are wrapped.  Make sure that all the surface areas are covered and protected.

Take your time and do not rush. Properly covering and wrapping all of the furniture takes a little additional time to, but you can move it with much more security and confidence.

If you have any additional questions about heavy furniture contact us. UF Mover Guys will be happy to answer all your questions.