More and more Americans are choosing to rent a place with a roommate, rather than having to tackle monthly rent payments alone. In fact, studies show that almost one-third of all households are adults that have decided to move in with at least one roommate. At the end of your lease, you and your roommates may decide to both take on new opportunities and move to someplace new. If you're all planning on moving out of the rental unit on the same day, keep these 3 tips in mind to avoid confusing or switching your packed boxes with your roommates' packed boxes.
Keep Packed Boxes in Separate Rooms
If you share some living space with your roommates, you should consider packing all of the items that you keep in the shared living spaces, like lamp fixtures, kitchen appliances, utensils, picture frames, and other belongings, well ahead of time. Pack all of your valuables first to avoid losing them at a later time, and keep all of the packed boxes—or as many of the packed boxes as you can—in your own room. If your room is too cluttered, designate separate spaces between you and your roommates for storing packed boxes specifically. For example, you might want to store your packed boxes in the living room whereas your roommates might want to use the dining room, the laundry room, the attic, an empty room, or even the basement.
Keeping packed boxes in separate places will help keep both of you from getting confused and accidentally picking up a box that doesn't belong to you on the day of the move. It's generally best to keep the packed boxes as far away as possible from ones that don't belong to you. Let the movers know which rooms they should avoid entering and which rooms to access only.
Schedule Movers to Come at Different Times
Moving day can be very hectic. Depending on how many people are involved in the move, it's easy for the movers to get confused and accidentally pack items that don't belong to you in your moving truck. Your roommates' movers might also do the same. To prevent confusion, it's generally best to schedule the move at different times of the day if possible. Clean up as much of the rental unit as possible to avoid having to do more later. Each person should be responsible for cleaning their own room and the space they used to store their packed boxes.
When scheduling movers to come at different times, it's important to consider the amount of packed boxes and even furniture that you need to have moved. Take this into account with how long it will take to travel to your new place of residence and when you've agreed to arrive. It's best to have as little overlap with move times as possible with your roommates. This helps the movers better focus on what needs to be moved, and you can even monitor the move much more closely to make sure that only your items are being moved or that your items are not accidentally getting packed with your roommates' items.
Stick Labels with Your Name and New Place of Residence on All Packed Boxes
Make everyone's lives a lot easier by carefully and clearly labeling all of your packed boxes with your contact information. The labels should not only include the contents of each box, but should also include your name and your new place of residence. Include your cellphone number or your email address if possible, especially if you and your roommates haven't had that much time to get to know one another. By doing this, you and your roommates can contact one another if mistakes were made.
Another thing you can do is to use different colored paper to print your labels on. It's generally best to choose brightly colored labels that are a different color than your roommates'. This will make spotting mistakes a much easier task. It also helps the professional movers determine where the packed boxes should go.
Conclusion
Moving out on the same day as your roommates can be a lot of work and trouble. Make sure you're prepared by spending time to pack everything ahead of time, so that there's no rush on the day of the move. Talk to your roommates so that you can all coordinate the day of the move.
Share2 December 2016
Finding out you have to move again can bring on feelings of anxiety, panic and frustration. You may be tempted to put it off, packing and scrambling at the last minute, or waiting for your "help" to take a day off so they can help you pack. Then there's the friend or family member that always wants to help you by purging all of your stuff and dropping it curbside. Stop the insanity before it starts. Moving and storage companies understand the stress of moving and can help you get started before the move. Then they move all of your stuff without question and will not "purge" anything you do not want them to. It makes for a smoother, easier, less frustrating transition all around.
