Are you moving to a new home? What are the preparations to be done? When should you contact a Toronto moving company to take care of ferrying your belongings? Real Simple, a general information resource for different aspects of lifestyle, provides a nifty checklist for moving.

The list is divided into time periods leading up to the date of the move. First is two months before; this segment includes sorting and purging your belongings, creating a moving binder, and organizing your children’s school records. The next is six months before and includes ordering supplies for packing your things, consuming perishable or frozen food and cleaning supplies, and taking measurements of the new home.

A month before moving, you should start packing, labeling boxes, separating valuables, making a change-of-address at the post office, notifying important parties (e.g. banks, credit card companies, employers, and the like), and forwarding medical records. As the countdown goes to just a week before the move, you should already be refilling prescriptions and packing suitcases, leaving just enough clothes for the remaining days. On the last few days, you should be defrosting the freezer and polishing up the moving details. Finally, on the moving day itself, your last task is to take inventory.

Why Hire Movers?

The importance of hiring a qualified Toronto moving company, such as Hills Moving, is in ensuring the safety of your belongings and providing you with convenience. The average homeowner doesn’t own a big enough truck to fit in all the family’s belongings. Also, lifting numerous heavy items such as boxes and furniture is a time-consuming task; it might take you a whole day (or even longer) just lifting them up to the vehicle. There’s also the issue of sensitive items; for example, massive musical instruments like pianos require trained handling because of their delicate and sophisticated parts.

With these considerations, you can see that hiring professional movers is advantageous. In addition to that, moving things yourself has some hidden costs in the form of physical and mental stress, along with injury or damage risk. These may not be directly coming out of your pocket, but their long-term effects are definitely factors to think about.

Sources:

Moving Checklist, Real Simple

Movers: Hire Professionals or Do-It-Yourself?, AOL Real Estate