How to Prepare for a Move with a Professional Moving Company in Kenya
Moving involves a lot of preparation. When planning your relocation, it’s easy to forget to plan for the actual movers. However, moving day doesn’t have to be completely chaotic, either. All it takes is a little planning and forethought to make the day run smoothly. Come moving day, your moving company will be ready to get the show on the road. To start your move off on the right foot, make sure you’ve prepared for the movers ahead of time. Don’t wait until the last minute.
You’ve booked your moving company, set a move date, and you think you’re ready for the big day. Now what? Here are a few helpful hints on everything you need to prepare before your moving company arrives.
Check-in with your moving company.
Gather important paperwork… and keep it in a safe place!
Pre-pack All Your Small Valuables, & Move Them Yourself
Clear your schedule
Pack a “first night” box (moving essentials).
Have a plan for kids, keep kids entertained
Research New Rules and Regulations
Online Shopping Websites
Prep your appliances
Schedule your utilities
Make sure your furniture will fit through the door
Purge Your Home, Remove Unwanted or Useless Items
Downsizing
Mark Fragile or High-Value Items
Let the movers know where to park
Do A Quick Briefing with the movers
Know Where Everything Goes in the New Home & Clearly Convey To Movers
Secure personal data
Back-Up Your Files
Take Pictures & Inventory All Your Items
Dispose of Dangerous Items
Buy Large Garbage Bags
Have cash on hand
Mind the weather
Plan for your pets
Update Pet Identification Tags
Double-Check
Schedule Repairs
Stay Out of Their Way!
Don’t Disappear
Cold Water and Snacks
Maintain a sense of humor with the moving companies team
Check-in with your moving company.
Call your moving company to confirm that everything is on track for the date and time of your move. Make sure that both you and the agent in charge of your move have the correct moving date and any contact information that you’ll need to reach one another.
Nothing is worse than being stood up by your movers. Be sure to review the following:
- Start and end addresses
- Arrival time
- Necessary moving supplies
- Elevator reservations or restrictions
- Parking reservations or permits
- Building access limitations
- Heavy or difficult-to-move items
- Any changes to the original weight estimate.
Trust us – it’ll save you from last-minute moving days gone awry!
Gather important paperwork… and keep it in a safe place!
Most moving companies recommend that you keep important paperwork like your birth certificate or Passport directly on your person on moving day, rather than the back of the moving truck. Here are a few key items to keep an eye out for:
- Lease/mortgage documents for your new and old addresses/ Title Deeds
- Drivers licenses and passports
- Birth certificates and ID’s
- Vehicle registration log books and auto insurance information
- Medical records/kids’ doctor’s / office contact information
- Stock certificates
Pre-pack All Your Small Valuables, & Move Them Yourself
Even before you hire a moving company, it’s super important to gather all jewelry, cash, small electronics, coin collections, cash, photographs, and other valuable/irreplaceable items and put them in a safe place. These personal items shouldn’t be put on the moving van due to monetary or irreplaceable reasons.
Clear your schedule
Once you have your moving day picked out, be sure to clear your schedule from work. Even if you’re moving on a weekend, you might want to take a day or two off to handle moving-related errands.
Pack a “first night” box (moving essentials).
This box, will contain things that you’ll need to make your first night at your new home easy and comfortable. This may include keys, small gadgets, chargers, and medicines.
Your moving essentials box will be the first box you open when you arrive at your new home. You'll need these items along the way, so keep the container(s) handy at all times.
Before you begin packing your essentials box, here are a few quick tips to remember:
- Consider using a clear, easy-to-open bin for easy access.
- Keep your “open first” box with you. Don’t load it into the moving van.
- Pack liquid items in sealed plastic bags or containers to prevent leaks or stains.
- Keep valuables, keys, moving paperwork, and other important items with you at all times.
Have a plan for kids, keep kids entertained
Kids’ energy levels don’t mix well with a house full of movers. Juggling toddlers and moving boxes at the same time isn’t a great idea. With a crew of movers in your home, having to keep an eye on your child will only distract you from the tasks at hand. This is why, if you’re moving and you happen to have small children enlist help on moving day. Whether it’s a babysitter, family member or friend, you’ll need someone reliable who can watch your child. Not only will this keep the movers from accidentally tripping over your crawling toddler, but it will also keep your child’s daily schedule of feedings and naps on track. On moving day, make sure that you have a plan to keep your kids and pets out of the way of the movers. It’ll ensure that no one gets hurt, and that the movers can efficiently and effectively get the job done.
Research New Rules and Regulations
Before picking a moving day, familiarize yourself with and prepare for the regulations of your new space. Be sure to abide by any rules implemented by homeowners’ associations or landlords, parking spots, leash laws, pet ordinances, and/or pet licensing requirements. Some neighborhoods in Nairobi, Kenya even restrict which days you can relocate.
Online Shopping Websites
If you are a frequent shopper on many online shopping websites, save yourself the headache and update your device’s autofill settings with your new address or edit your account information. Be sure to triple-check your address when checking out in case the autofill setting doesn’t apply.
Prep your appliances
Your fridge needs to be defrosted at least a day earlier. Your washing machine, your oven, etc. should be turned off and emptied.
Schedule your utilities
You will need to have the utilities at the old address disconnected or transferred out of your name and all of them hooked up and turned on at the new address. Contact the Electricity, Water companies as well as your cable TV and Internet providers to organize all of this.
Make sure your furniture will fit through the door
Chances are, a professional moving company will be able to get your furniture out of your old home and into your new one without a problem. However, if doorways are particularly small or furniture particularly bulky and large, your movers may need to be notified. This way they can plan ahead and bring the right supplies for your move. Measure your couches, pianos and other large items to make sure they’ll be able to fit through your door or window.
Purge Your Home, Remove Unwanted or Useless Items
After staying in a house for a while, we tend to accumulate items we may never need in future. Instead of relocating them with you to your new home, organize and dispose of what you no longer need.
Scour one room at a time and toss useless or unused items you come across. Sort them into boxes labelled Donate, Sell and Trash.
Bear in mind that the weight and size of your shipment will be a major determinant of the total shipping cost. Making the effort to lighten the load and get rid of unnecessary stuff can help you save on the bill.
Downsizing
If, for instance, you’re moving from a large house into a smaller one, you might be wondering how to start downsizing. Parting with certain items is understandably difficult, but it’s almost inevitable when organizing for a move. Follow the downsizing tips below to make the process easier.
- Focus on items you use the most.
- Plan a garage sale or auction.
- Consider an appraisal for items of high value.
- Visit local consignment stores to sell furniture and other items.
- Donate to local charities.
- Rent a storage container or storage unit to hold cherished items.
Mark Fragile or High-Value Items
Doing so will indicate to the packing team to take utmost care of your vintage collection, precious glass, and objects with sentimental value.
Let the movers know where to park
Parking – this simple yet oh-so-important detail is often overlooked during the moving process. However, trust me when I say it will be at the forefront of your movers’ minds on moving day. More than likely, the driver will call you on the big day to let you know they are on the way and to ask where to park. If you haven’t already worked it out with a contact at the moving company, you’ll need to make sure the movers have a spot to park their large truck. If you live in an apartment building that does not have an obvious loading spot, talk to the property manager a few days before to get permission to have the moving truck park in front of the building.
Do A Quick Briefing with the movers
Make your expectations known beforehand and a quick walk-through your home.
Know Where Everything Goes in the New Home & Clearly Convey To Movers
If you really want to be organized and have the move go smoothly, you can create a simple floor plan of the new home and place all the furniture in the drawing. You can then make copies and hand them out to the moving company.
Movers may still have questions for certain items, but the floor plan gives them an idea of the obvious ones like the sofa, dining room table, etc.
Secure personal data
Make sure neither the movers nor anyone else has access to your personal information – keep credit cards and bank information securely locked, protect your computer with a password, shred any old documents and do whatever is necessary to protect your privacy.
Back-Up Your Files
Losing important work or personal information is the last thing you want to happen during a move. Back-up your computer and laptop files into a portable hard drive or on the cloud.
Take Pictures & Inventory All Your Items
It’s very easy nowadays to quickly take some pictures of your items and their condition pre-move. Doing so will give you the assuredness that you did, in fact, have that item or there wasn’t damaged before the move.
Dispose of Dangerous Items
Your moving company may provide a list of items that can’t be placed on the moving van for safety reasons. Generally, these include aerosol cans, liquid bleach, ammonia, ammunition, pool chemicals, acids, fire extinguishers, batteries, flammable, corrosive, flammable goods, propane tanks etc. For your safety and the moving crews' especially for long-distance moving, dispose of these items before moving day or pack them to take in your own vehicle.
Buy Large Garbage Bags
When it comes to Garbage, Moving is messy, messy, messy! Be ready for the enormous amount of trash you’re going to throw out. Spread out a few trash bags around your home so that no matter where you are, you will have somewhere to get rid of the trash. While this won’t eliminate the clutter packing and moving tends to create, it knocks it down a lot.
Have cash on hand
Having cash in hand is great for many reasons, one may be for tipping the movers. Do you have to tip your movers? No, of course not. But for movers who do an excellent job, what better way to show your appreciation than with a tip?
Mind the weather
Take precautionary measures according to the current atmospheric conditions – put on appropriate clothes, make sure your children and pets are inside on cold or rainy days, cover the floors with newspaper or old rugs to protect the floors from mud and dirt, cover all your belongings in plastic wrap to keep them from getting wet, etc.
Plan for your pets
Don’t forget your pets! Before the movers arrive, make sure to have a plan for your pet on moving day. Keep in mind that the movers will need to be able to leave the front door wide open while they load and unload their trucks. Unfortunately, this will make it especially easy for loose pets to escape outside. Trust us – the last thing you (or anyone) wants is for poor Fido or Fluffy to get lost in the shuffle of moving day. That’s why it’s so important to keep your dog or cat contained to one area during the move. I recommend either: utilizing a crate, enlisting someone to watch your pet, or confining them to one room using a gate in the doorframe. Not only will this keep your furball from escaping, but it will also keep your movers from tripping or stepping on your pet.
Update Pet Identification Tags
Make tags for your pet’s collar with your new address and phone number. Also, remember to update your contact information in the database if your pet has a microchip.
Double-Check
Even the most studious packers can overlook a few items here or there. Check through each room for things that may have gotten left behind. Common hiding spots are dishwashers, medicine cabinets, the drawer beneath the oven, and the attic. Now is also the time to make sure the fridge and freezer(s) are clean and empty. Your movers will not be able to transport any leftover food items for you, so if there is anything left, trash it or take it with you.
Right before everyone leaves, walk through the house to make sure doors and windows are closed and all lights are turned off. Because this is Florida, DON’T turn off the A/C. A warm, humid environment will cause mold growth, which is not something you want to be held responsible for.
Schedule Repairs
Your current and new home may need repairs or updates. Whether your old house is a rental or you own it, you’ll probably need to do “touch-ups” to the house before you sell or end your lease. Additionally, you also need to walk through your new home and find everything that needs to be fixed before you move in. It’s a lot easier to paint a room or replace the flooring before you move all of your furniture in.
Stay Out of Their Way!
While you should definitely point out things like fragile items or tricky staircases, there’s no need to hover over your crew telling them how to pack and move each box. Rely on their expertise and let them do things their way. If your movers have a question, they’ll come to find you.
Which brings up our next point…
Don’t Disappear
Your movers may have a question or a situation that requires your assistance, so don’t drag everyone off to Disney for the day. Leave at least one person on-site to oversee the move, handle tricky situations, and (at the very least) pay the movers.
Cold Water and Snacks
While not a requirement, it is courteous. A kind gesture for hard work by the Team from the moving company is always appreciated.
Maintain a sense of humor with the moving companies team
Adopt a positive approach and find a way around unexpected problems. A good joke and a friendly comment will help reduce the tension and if you don’t allow stress to build up, your relocation experience will be nothing short of gratifying success.
We wish you the best of luck with your move!
Thank you for reading, there you have it! With these tips, you should be well on your way toward preparing for your professional packers to arrive.
At the end of the day, planning, organizing and hiring professional movers will make the process as seamless as possible.
If you have not hired movers yet you can start by comparing quotations at movers.co.ke
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