Customer's Moving Tips - February 9th 2016

GOBOXES are easy to move and easy to load. If you don't have time or just need a little help, we can load and unload your GOBOXES.

I just received a very kind message from one of our customers that has just finished moving his family in Kamloops.Torrey Hough and his brother Tyrel Hough work as real estate agents with Re/Max Kamloops.

Torrey has generously allowed GO BOX Storage to re-post his tips on how to reduce moving stress.

POST BY: Torrey and Tyrel Hough

Packing up and moving on – it’s an essential part of the buying process and it’s a topic that often gets swept under the rug until that unavoidable second you sign the “Subject Removal” form, making your offer unconditional (aka firm and binding). This is a beautiful thing because it means that you’ve checked off your purchasing wants and needs and satisfied all of your terms and conditions. You’ve just committed to one of the best investments most people will ever make in their entire lives.

Being in the industry of advising and assisting with this exciting process, we’ve recently discovered for ourselves why it’s so important not to take this part of the real estate transition lightly, pun intended. A week ago my wife and I packed up all of our personal belongs, pets, kids – and of course, things that we didn’t even know we had – and got ready to move into our new home in Dallas. In the interest of being completely candid, I learned first-hand that, unless you are A. a minimalist or B. willing to open your wallet and hire a moving team, you are about to engage in some gritty business.

It was roughly five years ago when we last embarked on this process, relocating from a small one-bedroom downtown Kamloops condo to a cozy South Kamloops three-bedroom utilitarian house. It only took five short years for us to forget about all the logistics of a big move… completely forget. On the opposite side of the transaction, my brother and I have helped hundreds of people purchase their homes, but I feel we’ve not truly understood the depth of the pain - in more places than one - that moving can be. Therefore, I felt it pertinent to point out some of the main things that I’ve learned in hopes that we can help make the transition into your new home a smoother and more enjoyable process.

To start off, your biggest and best resources are your friends and family. If you don’t have any friends or family, I suggest finding some ASAP because they are an excellent life line that you’ll need to help you tackle this huge packing and relocation project. Please note there’s an unwritten rule that says, “whoever assists you in this process has banked themselves the right to ask you for the same type of retribution in the future and it does not have an expiration date”.

Next, you need to do a walk-through to size up how many boxes you will need, write that number down, now double that number. In terms of acquiring moving boxes, you have some options. It's great to first send out a social media blast to see if anyone has recently moved and has some to spare. Purchase new boxes - it is worth shopping around if you require a lot because they can nearly triple in price from store to store.

Make sure you have markers to note what is generally in the packed up boxes, lots of packing tape, and make sure you get that little attachment that cuts and exposes the tape end so you don’t find yourself struggling, and losing patience quickly trying to find an unfindable end-piece every time it seals to the roll.

Lots of packing paper or newspaper for the fragile items is important to consider. I highly recommend a roll of packing wrap which we used for electronics and the furniture wrapped in towels and blankets. That industrial sized Saran-wrap made the larger items easy to seal up for the move.

Another important aspect you need to decide on is how you are going to transport all of your accumulated lifestyle upgrades and other junk you just cannot part with because of the nagging thought, “what if one day I will need this…” Your options are as follows: book a moving truck, trailer, flat deck, caravan of family and friends, truck boxes, or - the option I went with which was the best fit for us, booking a couple of large moving goboxes from GO BOX Storage in Kamloops.

This isn’t an ad, we are in no way affiliated with this company, however I preferred this option because it allowed us to get the bins dropped off at our property for reasonable monthly rates. I might add that they also allow you to take your time packing them up like a life-sized game of Tetris, then once full to your liking the company picks them up and transports them to your new home on the possession date.

Now, back the truck up so I can dump some gold (advice) in it before we move along here. Make sure you pack those large moving boxes well, literally fill the cracks with pillows and blankets because you don’t want your precious personals getting rattled around and broken during the move. Also, pack a couple of bins that you will take to the new property yourself that have all the necessities to get you through the next couple days of chaos while the majority of your things are packed away such as: things to eat with, clean with, clothes to wear, etc.

We found that getting some of the main furniture pieces in first was a good choice and that getting everything into the garage was a keen choice. Moving in a manageable amount of boxes from the garage saved us from getting overwhelmed and being lost in a maze of cardboard all over the house. It took us a few days, but it made the unpacking seem easier to organize.

Lastly, throughout this moving process I highly advise you take this opportunity to purge the items that have moved with you once before but have yet to be used. This also mitigates any name-calling of “Pack Rat” or “Hoarder” from your friends and family.

Here are some additional moving tips from the GO BOX Storage archives:
Making In-Town Moving Fun
Packing Your Gobox Photo Essay
How can I save on packing supplies?


Once your GOBOXES are packed they can be transferred directly to your new home or go back to our heated warehouse for storage until your new home is ready.