Tips for Taking Inventory Before Your Move
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- 19 Oct, 2018
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If you’ll be relocating in the near future, it’s a wise idea to take inventory of your belongings before you move – especially items that have monetary or sentimental value. Whether you plan to hire a moving company for packing, or you’re just trying to be organized before you begin packing, it will help to have a list or photos of your belongings and the condition they are in.
If your items come up missing during a move, or get damaged, the process of proving the value of your loss will be easier if you can prove its existence and condition. Something to keep in mind is that a moving company is more likely to replace damaged goods if its trained staff did the packing.
When to Take Inventory
Start taking inventory of your belongings as soon as you decide you’re moving. This will cut down on the stress of last minute tasks. The items that are not used regularly can be packed during the inventory process, so you won’t have to touch them twice.
Go through your house room by room, packing and labeling boxes appropriately based on the room they need to go to in the new home. Take photos or video of the electronics, furniture and other important items in the room and pack the smaller items that are not used regularly. This will make it easier to find the photos on a disc or camera, as they will be grouped with other belongings that were in same room.
Photos or Videos Are Great Ways to Inventory Your Belongings
A picture is worth a thousand words, so having a disc full of photos or a video that shows your actual television set or gold necklace can help you get the actual value or an exact replacement item. There are some household items that are easily or frequently replaced anyway, so decide as you go which things are important enough to include.
What Should You Photograph?
You might drive yourself crazy trying to keep track of all the specifics about one item, but taking a photos or video is a great way to inventory your belongings and the condition they are in quickly.
- Take a photo of the brand logo, serial number and model number. There is no question about the age of the item and current pricing when you have these details.
- Photograph any unique features, custom add-ons or upgrades to your belongings. These things increase the value, so if there is loss or damage, it’s great to have proof that you spent the extra money on upgrades.
- Family heirlooms and jewelry should be photographed, but you may want to take special care in getting a value assessment as well. Antique furniture, jewelry and collectibles often increase in value over time, so ask an expert for valuation information. You can even photograph paper copies of the assessment, or save digital copies along with the rest of the photos.
- Table tops and other wood furniture are prone to scratches, so a clear picture of the areas that may get noticeably damaged can help prove its prior condition.
- If you have shelves of collectibles, you may be able to take shelf by shelf photos of the collection to save you from having so many pictures to go through. Make sure there is enough space between items and they can all be seen clearly.
Organization of Your Inventory
Save your inventory photos to a couple of CDs. You will not want to label each photo separately, but saving them in folders based on the room they were in will help you find the photos easily if you need them later.
Put one CD in a safe deposit box or have a trusted family member hang onto it, and keep the other one. This is a cheap way to make sure that if one gets lost or damaged, you still have the information you need. Most videos can be shot and stored on cards now so they’re easy to store, but also easy to lose, so keep the cards with the CDs.
Once you’ve packed all of your boxes, from the kitchen to the family room and the dining room , it’s time to load everything into a moving container. Make sure you’ve organized everything with your moving partner, so that the moving container is where you need it to be on moving day. There are certain times of year that are extremely busy for movers. If you’ll be moving during one of these periods, then you’ll want to arrange everything well in advance.
It’s easy to rush into loading the moving container in an attempt to expedite the process and get everything out of your old home. But it’s important to consider when to load items and where to place them in the container, so that you can fit as many items as possible into the container, maintain safe weight distribution and not have to re-pack the container because of a mistake.
You will have to exercise additional caution while packing your dining room, but overall, the process shouldn’t be as overwhelming as packing your kitchen or family room because it doesn’t require as much preparation. Since the dining room is a non-essential room, you’re also able to pack at your convenience and it’s always nice to finish what you can before the last minute.
Once the furniture is accounted for, silverware, dishes and other fragile items will remain. You should pack these items individually to ensure that they arrive at your new home in one piece, which can be time consuming, but it’s a straightforward process if you use good packing practices.
Your family room is likely the place where you spend most of your time, watching television, chatting with friends and even working on the computer. Make sure you pack your family room so all of your belongings still look great in your new home.
Start by gathering all of the moving supplies you will need. This includes:
- Sturdy Moving Boxes
- Packing Paper or Bubble Wrap
- Paper Pads
- Tissue Paper for Breakables
- Packing Tape
- Felt-tip Markers
Gather supplies, so you are prepared to pack your kitchen for a move completely uninterrupted. This is a room that you usually wait until last to pack, because after all, you need to eat. That makes it even more important to get the job done fast.
Preparing for an international move is a stressful and exciting time. You are nervous about adapting to your new surroundings, but packing your belongings and getting your house ready for sale puts more pressing demands on you.
You may need to think through how much of your household you want to move and which items are easier to replace or too expensive to move.
There are certainly some considerations when preparing for an international move.
Moving day is exciting and can be a stressful time, but you can alleviate some of the stress if you are prepared for the moving truck. Whether you are planning a long distance move or just moving across town, having your belongings organized and separating the items you will use right away will help. Take some advice from the professional movers at Lint United Van Lines and you will stress less.
There are some things you should have done before moving day and items that should be kept separate from the majority of the items that will be moved.
Your bedroom may have most of your heavier furniture, as well as multiple types of objects to be moved. If you’re prepared and organized, packing your bedroom will be fast and easy.
You can take the stress out your move with a few moving day tips that will ensure that everything gets placed in the right room, and all of your items are accounted for the same day of delivery.
The experts from Lint United Van Lines want to help make your relocation experience seamless by offering their advice.
A moving truck pulls into your driveway and out jumps the guy who will be handling all of your belongings. The employees of your moving company will have access to your home, kids and household goods while they are working for you, so finding a moving company that is reputable is imperative.