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Moving With Fragile Possessions: Tips For Packing Glass

What Not To Take During Your Next Move

30 June 2018

Abigail Holland

Moving cross country is both exciting and stressful. It can also be costly if you have a whole home full of possessions to move. Whittling down your possessions before a big move can help save both effort and money. The following are a few things that may not be worth the cost of moving.

Paperwork

Do you tend to save every receipt and official-looking document that comes your way? If so, whittling down the saved paperwork can drastically decreases the number of boxes you need to move. Most receipts and bill copies can be discarded once the payment finalizes. You can trash them immediately if you have electronic copies. The only exception are receipts you need to file your taxes -- these need to be kept for a year but you can scan them to store electronically and save packing space. Policy and loan paperwork is similar -- save scanned copies as opposed to cluttering up your move with paper documents. Tax returns and supporting documents need to be saved for seven years, but an electronic record is fine. The only paperwork you need to keep for ever are identification papers, like birth certificates, as well as military papers, divorce decrees, marriage certificates, and any estate planning documents.

Replaceable, low-value items

Some things cost more to move than they do to replace. For example, if you have some cheap furniture you are particularly smitten with, then replacing it after you move may be more cost effective than moving it. In fact, you may even be able to upgrade to higher quality items for less than the cost of moving shoddy, broken down furniture by shopping the second hand market. Other items to consider leaving behind that are easily replaceable are "just in case items," like baby clothes and items you are hanging onto in case you have another child.

Garbage

It may seem common sense, but a lot of people end up moving garbage items without realizing it -- particularly if they use a packing service. This is because a service will pack everything, including bags of trash if they aren't clearly labeled as such. Make sure to go through everything in the house before you pack and get rid of anything you don't want to move. This means emptying trash cans and removing excess packaging from items. You should also open and sort through any boxes you haven't opened in awhile. Often, the contents aren't going to be items you want to keep anyway -- that's why they were boxed up in the first place.

For more help, contact full service residential movers in your area.

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