Movers Guide: 2

Lighten Your Load & Taking Stock Of Your Belongings

Budget Car and Truck Rental has put together this home moving guide to help you plan a smooth, trouble-free move. Ideally, you should begin preparing for your move a month in advance. But you may have a lot less time to get out of one residence and into another. We've prepared this moving guide to give you some tips and suggestions that'll help you move easier, no matter how much or how little time you have. So let's get moving!

Lighten your load

Moving is the perfect excuse to get rid of all those odds and ends you should have thrown out years ago. Once you know you're moving, take an objective look at what's in every room, closet and drawer in your home.

Taking stock of your belongings

Now that you know what you're not going to take, it's time to determine how you're going to get everything else organized, packed, and loaded neatly into one truck. First we'll figure out how many cubic feet you have to move. Then we'll figure the number of boxes you'll need, and the right size truck to rent.

The big things

The big items in your home are the heavy solid pieces - the refrigerator, sofas, armchairs, bureaus, chests of drawers and TV sets. These items can not be boxed, but they will fit and stack nicely in the truck. Measure the length, width and height of each piece. Then multiply those three figures together to get the cubic feet.

For example: a sofa is 7 feet long, 4 feet wide and 4 feet 6 inches high. It totals 126 cubic feet (7x4x4.5 = 126).

Add all your big things up plus 15%.

The awkward things

Certain awkward items provide movers with the biggest headaches during the loading process. They include:

• The one-of-a-kind. You only have one lawn mower, one Japanese screen, or one gas grill.
• The odd-shaped. They are un-boxable and defy accurate measurement. A large bowling trophy, a table saw, a floor sculpture or an exercise bicycle are all good examples.
• Attic & garage things. Odd-shaped lamps and a baby crib stuffed in the attic. (Good yard sale items!) Greasy or grass-stained things like the motorcycle or the lawn mower. Be sure to drain all gasoline from engines before your move, and be alert for oil leaks.

These items are tough to measure, but compute their cubic feet as closely as possible.

The boxable things

Boxables are all glassware, dishes, kitchenware, books, records and bric-a-brac that must be boxed carefully to arrive safely.