When You and the Family Need to Move at a Moment’s Notice

If you find yourself needing to move in a hurry, you’re far from alone. In fact, more than half of all people in the United States move every year, on average. Many of these are local moves, taking people to a new house or a different apartment in the same metro area. Others cross long distances, and sometimes these moves need to happen without much warning.

There are countless reasons you may have to pack up and move without a lot of notice. If you’re a member of the U.S. military, you might find yourself changing stations or even being deployed overseas. Those who work in tech, healthcare, financial services, and the sciences are all too familiar with sudden moves due to their career, while others may move for school or a new job or because there’s an unexpected family need.

Some people move because they need to downsize quickly, while others may find themselves in dire financial straits, confronted with the decision to pack up and move or face eviction. It’s unfortunate and heartbreaking, but it does happen, so it’s better to be prepared and ready to act if the worst should happen.

Not all of these situations are equally stressful but moving suddenly always is. Fortunately, there are ways to make an unexpected move easier on yourself and your family. We’ve dug through dozens of articles on how to plan and execute a move on short notice, and we pulled out some of the best tips and tricks. The first piece of advice is probably the most significant.

Be Prepared. A moving job is almost always going to be bigger than you anticipate, so plan for more of everything than you think you’ll need. That goes for moving help, timelines, the size of the truck, and how many packing supplies you get. It’s easy to forget things in the heat of the moment, too, so do what you can in advance. That means letting the landlord know, calling the utility companies, forwarding the mail, contacting your HOA, and so on.

Hire a Moving Truck. It can be tempting to try to save money by piling all your stuff into vehicles you already have available and/or calling up friends and family with pickups and SUVs. That may be a viable option for some stuff, but if you really need to move in a hurry, your best bet is to get a rental truck that’s big enough haul just about everything you need, especially the big furniture items. A rental truck will definitely save you a lot of time and hassles and eliminate a lot of trips back and forth. Contact a local moving truck rental representative such as Storage ‘R’ Us ahead of time to get an idea of what size vehicle you’ll need.

Load Up with Packing Supplies. Until you’re ready to move, boxes are nothing more than clutter around the house, and you’ve probably thrown out dozens of Amazon boxes in recent months. Now, though, you’ll need all the cardboard boxes you can get, along with other packing materials such as labels, markers, bubble wrap, and tape. It’s best to use new cardboard boxes rather than recycling old ones, and avoid using garbage bags or other plastic sacks that can rip easily. Fortunately, you can find all the packing and moving supplies you need if there’s a self storage facility such as Storage ‘R’ Us near you!

Decide What Goes and What Doesn’t. You’ve probably heard folks say that the trick to reducing the amount of stuff you move from one house to the next is to sort everything into one of three categories: keep, donate, and toss. This is the time to do that, but you don’t have to do it all on its own. You can purge while you pack! Speaking of packing …

Pack Like the Wind. As you go from room to room, you might want to take photos of the rooms as they are and of the contents of boxes as you pack them. It’s faster than making lists if you need to pack in a hurry. You can also give boxes simple labels. For example, assign each room a number and mark that number on the side of the box so the people helping you move know where to put it.

Make a Junk Pile and Arrange for Pickup. Whatever you aren’t keeping you’ll want to get out of your way as quickly and efficiently as possible. That may mean arranging a special pickup for bulk trash, or it may mean contacting a local thrift store, charity, or nonprofit that will pick up donations at your home. Some companies will haul off unwanted junk for a small fee. Call around to get the most competitive rates.

Get Help from Friends and Family. If you’re moving in a hurry, those who already live in the house with you are your best source of help. Everyone gets a job. Break out the tasks that need to be done and assign them to each family member. If you’ve got friends or family who’re willing to help, enlist their aid in packing boxes, loading trucks, and moving furniture. Professional movers are expensive; pizza is cheap.

Set Aside a Go Bag. Each member of the family should have a duffle bag, suitcase, or backpack where they’ll keep essentials that ride with them on moving day. These include everything from a change of clothes to maintenance medications, wallet and ID, phone, tablet, laptops, toiletries, important documents, valuables, and even water, food, and snacks. Put items in your go bags as you think of them. Don’t forget that your pets count as members of the family, and they need their own supplies, too!

Stage Your Moving Boxes as You Pack. While you’re putting things into boxes, be thinking about the order in which things need to go into the truck. Remember that whatever gets put in first is unpacked last. Stage your boxes as you pack them so that it’ll be quick and easy to load them into the truck when moving day arrives.

Take Advantage of Self Storage. Self storage can be a lifesaver when you have to move in a hurry. It can provide an easy, out-of-the-way staging area when you don’t have enough room or act as a home away from home for any stuff that won’t fit into your new place. Just do a search for “self storage units near me” or call your friendly neighborhood self storage provider for recommendations.

Here at Storage ‘R’ Us, we’ve helped countless people move into new homes or store the stuff they don’t have room for in their old ones. Whether you’re a military service member looking for military self storage in Oklahoma or a family looking to downsize after the kids head off to college, we’ve got the self storage solutions that you need, with handy locations in Lawton, Norman, Newcastle, Duncan, Chickasha, and Moore.