Tips for Helping Your Kids Settle into the New Chicago Home
Moving is quite a difficult event for children. After all the moving and packing are done, they have to deal with settling into their new space and it can be the toughest adjustment for them. They have experienced the difficulties of saying goodbye to good friends in the old neighborhood and school; however, there is also the excitement of meeting new neighbors, friends and exploring the new place. To help make the transition easier for them, you can follow the following tips and suggestions which you can employ during the first few weeks after the move.
Take a tour. – It’s good to take a tour around the house and neighborhood, even if your family has already seen the place before the move. Allow your kids to get familiar to the spaces in your new home, especially the bathroom as your little ones may find it a bit hesitant to go the bathroom in the middle of the night, knowing that it’s a whole new place for them. Walk your family through each space and tell them the purpose of the room and what activities will take place there. Ask for their opinions about how to organize the space. Visit each and every room, including the garage and the yard. You can then allow them to explore the new space on their own. Make the exploration a fun activity. Play games, such as hide and seek to encourage your children to explore and have fun.
Ensure that each family member has their own essentials box. – Everyone in your family should pack an essentials box, including your kids or teens. They can put their favorite stuff, including entertainment things like games, music, books, etc. The essentials box is the very first thing to get unpacked once you arrive at your new home.
Unpack your children’s rooms first. – Well, essentially, the kitchen is the very first room that should get unpacked. You can unpack basic stuff and necessities, especially those utensils and kitchenware that you’ll need for the next few days. After unpacking those important kitchen items, you can then start unpacking the kids’ rooms. Allow your children to unpack their own things, while assisting them once in a while. Let them express their opinions about how they want their room to be organized. Let them take part in the decision-making process so they can feel that they own the new space. This will help them settle into the new room more easily.
Get back into your family’s usual routine as soon as possible. – You can let your kids stay up a little longer on the first night of the move since it’s a special day for everyone. However, you should try to establish a daily routine after that. Stick to your usual mealtimes, playtimes and bedtime hours. This way, everyone in the family can feel more settled. Disrupting the daily schedule is a big no-no and it can be quite stressful. If you used to take your children to the nearest park on weekends, then find a local park in the neighborhood and incorporate the activity into your schedule. It can be tough to balance a lot of things, but settling is a very important part of the moving process so you should try to make time. Additionally, as a parent, you also need to enjoy your new home and know the neighborhood.
If possible, it’s best to hire professional unpackers to help you in the unpacking procedure. What may take you several weeks or months to unpack may only take expert unpackers a day or two to finish. This can surely save you plenty of time and effort.
Moving Concerns – Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft
Every time you change your address, you become susceptible to identity theft. You need to know why it’s possible for thieves to steal your information and use it to their benefit. By getting yourself properly informed, you can make sure that all vulnerabilities are dealt with before moving to a new home.
Identity theft generally occurs when a person gains access to your personal information and use it to use your credit cards, gain access to your bank account or even create fake documents using your name. When people move, it often becomes easier for identity thieves to attack since people mostly leave valuable information behind that others can possibly use. Identity theft is highly likely if you fail to reroute mail to your new address, shred important papers which are just left in the garbage can, or if you happen to hire rogue movers.
To avoid identity theft, make sure to do the following things:
Create a Checklist of Change of Address – Before moving day, ensure that you spare enough time to list all companies and subscriptions you receive via postal system. Mail theft is one of the most common and easiest methods that somebody can acquire your personal identity. This does not necessarily mean though that those people who are going to live in your old home after you move out are not trustworthy enough; it’s just that people often throw out mails that don’t belong to them. Thus, don’t forget to make a list. Try to imagine every possible situation and who might contact you through mail, including your former employers, school of your children, banks, real estate agents, lawyer offices, magazine and newspaper subscriptions and credit card companies.
Destroy Records and Files Properly – Get rid of those files and records you don’t need any more. However, be sure to do so properly. Shred documents well and if there are any vulnerable information like bank statements or credit card applications, you can bring those to professional shredding companies who can dispose of the materials properly. Alternatively, you can buy a home paper shredder that can shred things like old credit cards.
Take Important Documents With You – If you’re going to move important documents, don’t pack them along with your other household belongings that will be moved through the moving truck. Instead, pack them very carefully and take them with you in the car. If you must stop by a hotel, don’t forget to take the documents into the room. Never leave them in your car, just to be safe.
Hire Reliable Chicago Movers – Hiring trustworthy Chicago movers is the best way to make sure that your possessions reach your home in the safest way possible. It’s quite a difficult task but you need to take some time to do your research and shortlist companies in order to select the best one that fits your needs. Ask the right questions and be wary of rogue movers.
Make a Complete Home Inventory – If you’re thoroughly aware of which stuff you’ve packed and what things the movers will move, then it would be quicker to find out what could be missing. Keep track of your household belongings by taking a home inventory. It’s also necessary in case you need to make a claim or report the moving company.
Check Up the Address Changes After Moving – After the move, check your change of address list again and contact those that could pose a risk in security like credit card companies, banks, etc. Inquire if they have your new address and if they have rerouted the mail.
Hiring trustworthy movers like New City Moving will help to ease the stress of moving, and make sure you have the best experience possible. For a free moving estimate give us a call toll free at 800-733-6644.
Moving Tips – Maintaining Safety
Moving is quite stressful, both physically and emotionally. Your body can experience much stress and possible injuries along the way. Ensure that you keep your home safety-proofed, even if you’re hiring movers for the moving process.
Box Weight – All of your boxes should weigh not more than 50 pounds. If you’re not certain about the weight of a box, try to lift it. You must not experience too much strain when lifting it and you should also feel steady while standing. You may have to carry the boxes over a long distance to the truck or up and down the stairs so consider the accessibility issues of both your old and new home. Also, take note of the proper way to lift things; avoid bending over when picking up an item. You can just squat down; then lift the box with your whole lower body.
Proper Equipment – Rent the right equipment to save yourself from back strain. Having proper equipment will also help you move and stack bigger, heavier pieces more easily. A dolly can help you in carrying boxes. You may also want to use straps to secure boxes to the dolly or to help you in lifting big items.
Examine the Property and Check for Any Dangerous Areas – Before moving day, try to check areas around your old and new home. Find the nearest spot where the moving truck can park safely. It might be necessary to reserve the spot prior to the move. Check if there are any uneven walkway or sidewalk spots. Make sure that steps in the front walkway of your house are clearly visible. You can mark the steps with chalk, if necessary, and highlight where the step is situated. People get easily distracted during a move and those helping you with the move may not see the steps, especially if they are not familiar with your home.
Rent a traction mat if the entrance to your house tends to become slippery when wet. You can rent it from mat rental outlets and moving companies. Additionally, mats are useful in making sure that movers don’t accidentally step on fragile areas.
Take note of other dangerous areas such as tree branches, poles, posts or anything that could potentially pose a problem for movers. Remove low hanging obstacles or mark them.
How to Protect Your Carpets on Moving Day
Sorting through stuff and packing them carefully are undoubtedly top priorities in a moving preparation process. In addition, another important task you may want to plan is how to protect your carpets effectively. Your carpets will probably get soiled and dirty with all the hustle and bustle during a moving process, especially if it rains on your moving day. You and your movers will have to enter and go out many times so bringing in some dirt will be inevitable. Here are a few useful tips to help you preserve the cleanliness of your carpets.
When protecting your carpet, the most significant thing you need to remember is that there will be two sets of carpets that need protection – one in your new home and of course the other one in your old home. Be sure to plan ahead in time on protecting your carpet at both places.
Before you decide upon which method will be best to use, contact your selected Chicago Moving Companies first to find out which measures they will employ to protect your carpet. Generally, there aren’t any standard procedures in protecting carpets, but your movers may prevent carpet damage by having runners or drop clothes laid out during the moving process. In any case, you should know in advance what the situation will be and what extra fees you need to pay.
A great way to avoid any damages to your carpet is using Carpet Shield which is a plastic, self-adhesive film that can be applied to carpets. Through this product, you can cloak your carpet conveniently with a non-slip, tear-free surface. It’s available in various sizes and it typically doesn’t leave any adhesive residue on carpets. To lay the film out more easily, you can buy a paint roller-like applicator. However, since it’s such a great product to use, it’s also very expensive.
If by any chance you haven’t been able to find Carpet Shield, or you’re too thrift and refuse to spend any more dimes on any moving material, there are still other good alternatives available.
Collect some towels, blankets, bed sheets, or even drop cloths and place them on top of your carpet. You can also use old rolls of carpet by cutting them into strips and putting them over your carpet. Although these materials are a cheap means to protect carpets, they can bunch up on you easily. To avoid this, use masking tape and tape them down. Just be sure to take extra care and caution when stepping on these things. Tell your movers to be careful too.
If these materials are not available in your house at the moment of the move, you still have one probable alternative – cover your feet. You may want to buy cloth, paper, or plastic boot covers and request your movers to put them on during the move.
With the help of these tips, hopefully you can ensure the cleanliness of your carpet and have it free from mud, water, or dirt even after the moving process. Make sure to hire a reliable Chicago Moving Company like New City Moving to assist you with all your moving needs.
Moving for Seniors and Deciding if its Time to Move
Senior citizens may want to move for a number of reasons such as retirement, health changes, and lifestyle changes. Sometimes, seniors want to live closer to their family members so they decide to move.
There are a few factors to consider when deciding whether it’s time to move. You may want to think about health care access, social and recreational activities, and practical concerns including the climate, grocery shops, etc. Compare the ease of getting around and convenience offered by amenities which are important to a better quality of life. If you know somebody who needs family closeness or amenities, then it might be the right time to consider moving.
Access to Quality Health Care – This is one of the top reasons for moving. Seniors who experience health decline often consider moving to an area with better health care. Consider long-term options, like what could possibly happen a couple of years from now. Assess your options carefully and determine whether moving closer to one of your family members who can assist you whenever necessary or perhaps seeking for drop-in help is possible. Mostly, retirement communities have a wide selection of choices, from supportive assistance to entirely independent living. If you don’t like moving frequently, you can select this type of facility.
Community Services – It’s highly important to investigate the type of services as well as recreational activities offered by the new community. Try accessing a senior’s network to find out about helpful services like cleaning services, homecare, transportation, house repair, and snow removal. Some seniors may prefer having access to a nice volunteer organization where they can possibly apply their abilities and skills as they like. Access to recreational facilities and outdoor pursuits depends on individual preferences. Find out early on if there are recreational programs for older people in the new community and if there are also some clubs or groups that accept new seniors members.
Support Groups – Moving is definitely a difficult period in one’s life, and it can even be harder for older people. Moving in to a new neighborhood where you’ll meet new faces is a challenging transition for seniors, especially those with physical disability which may hamper a person from searching for companionship outside home. It’s necessary to make sure that there are several local groups available for an older adult to relate and connect with. These groups can be any sort of club, a church group, or a non-profit organization wherein members support seniors. Common activities may include meetings in a home setting and regular home visits for group bonding. Through these networking situations, an old family member can better adjust to the new surroundings.
Steps in Moving a Mattress
Compared to old standard mattresses, the newer, thicker ones are more comfortable to use; however, in terms of moving, they’re actually more difficult to handle. If you’re baffled about how to move your pillow top mattress, here are some effective tips and suggestions to help you out.
How you should prepare your mattress will be dependent on your method of moving it. If you plan to secure it to your vehicle’s roof, store it for a certain length of time, or have it shipped by a mover along with the rest of your belongings, then you should wrap it in thick plastic in order to provide sufficient protection from any damages. Alternatively, you can also buy a mattress bag from a moving company. Moving a mattress by placing it on your car’s roof is actually possible, but it depends on the size of your mattress and the surface area of the vehicle’s roof.
Things You Need:
• Thick mattress or plastic bag
• Ropes
• Strong packing tape or duct tape
• Sharp scissors
• Work gloves
For this process, you’ll need an extra pair of hands to help you out. To secure the mattress, the first step is wrapping it in plastic. Make sure to tape down any extra plastic since the wind may rip it easily if not secured well.
For the next step, you need to prepare enough rope. Wrap the rope around the mattress’ length for at least three times (first long piece). Then, wrap the rope around the width of the mattress for about three times (second long piece). This should provide you with sufficient rope to tie the ends.
Put the mattress on the center of the roof. The rope’s first long piece should then be tossed over the length of the mattress. Make sure that there’s enough for securing one end under your vehicle’s front and for securing the second end under the back of your vehicle. The rope should be tied tightly and the knots on both ends should be secure.
Open all windows of your car, except for the one at the driver’s side. Toss the second piece of rope’s one end over the width of the mattress, and then loop it back by passing it through the open windows. After doing this a couple of times, you can tie the two ends of the rope together inside your car. The driver’s side should be left free of rope to allow the car’s passengers to escape in case of an emergency.
Please view our website for more bedroom packing tips.
How to Clean Your New Home Easily
When planning to move in to a new home, one of the most important things that probably comes to mind is getting it cleaned and ready before you live there. There can never be a better opportunity to clean every nook and corner of your new home than the time before all of your things arrive. In some cases, the house is already cleaned before you get there, but in other times you should do the cleaning yourself. Here are some useful tips for making your house all tidied up and shiny before your Chicago Movers arrive!
Prepare the Right Supplies
Be sure to gather and prepare in advance all of the things you will need for the cleaning process. Listed below are some important supplies you can use:
• Rubber gloves
• Spray and dusting cloths
• Paper towels
• Sponges
• Antibacterial cleaner
• Glass cleaner
• Bucket, mop, and floor cleaner
• Vacuum
• Trash bags
• Grease remover
Start From the Top
This is probably an obvious thing to do when cleaning but just to remind you, it’s better to start cleaning with the highest things on the top floor before cleaning the lower sections. Basically, the reason for this is that the dust will fall on your clean floor, if you start cleaning the floor before dusting.
Start From Dry Cleaning Before Wet Cleaning
Start with dry cleaning such as vacuuming and dusting to take care of the larger debris. You could probably smear dirt around if you mop before sweeping or vacuuming. Afterwards, you can start using spray cleaners and mops.
Tunage
Bring some nice groovy music to keep yourself entertained while cleaning. This can definitely help you slide around on floors energetically. Think of it as an enjoyable dance or exercise routine. Do anything creative that will liven you up during the cleaning process.
Also check out Yelp.com when considering a cleaning service. You can read other people’s reviews, so you will know what to expect before the cleaners arrive.
Quick Tips on Moving while Pregnant
Moving while pregnant is one thing nobody wouldn’t really want to do, especially if you’re nearing your labor month. But if it’s completely unavoidable, then you have to be extra careful! Here are some useful, quick tips to help you move safely.
• First off, avoid it as much as possible and wait until your baby is born. Or, you could try and get the moving process done before you get too far along in your pregnancy. It would be dangerous at some point for you to be on your feet most of the time, and getting busy preparing for the move is not a safe thing for you. Just be sure to consult your doctor about the do’s and don’ts! Perhaps it would be okay to do a bit of exercise like arranging stuff and pushing lightweight items.
• Upon moving in to the new house, try to set up the baby’s room early on. Through this, if your baby arrives earlier than expected, then you’ll be ready.
• Avoid lifting anything heavy! Hopefully, you’ve already heard this from your OB/GYN. Don’t push yourself beyond your limit and never let the temptation of lifting boxes overtake you.
• Since you are most certainly not available to provide help with the physical move, you can choose to hire a moving company to give you extra assistance. Well, actually professional movers can do every step of the moving process for you.
Moving to your new home can be challenging enough,even more so if you’re carrying a baby. Always remember to let others help you and take care of those things that you cannot do yourself. If you’re longing to do some housework, you can surely have plenty of work to do once you have your new baby in your new home. When you hire a professional Chicago Moving Company like New City Moving, you can rest assured our Chicago Movers will create a completely stress free move for you and the new member of your family.
Five Tips to Help You Move with Small Animals Properly
Pets are precious animals for most of us who consider them to be a part of the family already. Albeit dogs and cats are the most popular and highly cherished animals today, small pets like hamsters, mice, rats, gerbils, rabbits, and guinea pigs equally deserve special treatment. If you’re about to move out to a new home, you’ll never want to leave them behind. Here are some useful tips that you can consider before loading up your tiny pets into the car:
• Typically, you can simply put your pet in its normal cage and you’re good to go. However, if the cage is really big, disassemble it first and transfer the animal into a smaller cage. This will help you save more space in the car for other important items. If you have a rabbit or ferret which usually needs bigger cages, you can purchase small cat or dog’s carrier so that your pet can fit comfortably inside the car.
• To avoid any spillage during the trip, remove the animal’s dish from the cage in case your pet drinks water from a water dish. A good way to keep your precious pet dehydrated is to make a few stops along the way and give it some water. If your pet drinks from a water bottle inside the cage, this could stay but be sure that it is attached to the cage securely.
• The previous tip applies to food bowls. Try to keep the bowl away from the cage to avoid food spillage. As mentioned earlier, you can stop several times along the way to feed your pet.
• Small pets are generally vulnerable even to slight temperature changes. To protect your pet from unnecessary illnesses, keep the heat or air conditioning turned on. Additionally, put a towel over the cage for protection against drafts. This also serves as a covering from intense sunlight to keep your pet comfortable and calm throughout the ride.
• Your pet may not like it if the car stereo is turned on at a blasting volume. Animals easily get startled as they have more sensitive senses than humans so you should be considerate enough and try to keep the volume low.
Once you arrive at your new house, place the animal’s cage in a safe area where it will not be disturbed. You can then go back to your routine activities with your pet such as cleaning, feeding, and playing with it. Before you know it, you and your pet will be settled happily in the new house.
For more information about moving pets please view our online guide.
Tips on Disconnecting and Connecting Utilities
Here at New City Moving, it is important to advise you of the importance of making sure your utilities are disconnected at your old residence and reconnected at your new residence in a timely manner. This is because you want electricity, telephone, and heating or cooling while the Chicago moving company is loading you up. However, you want those exact things when you are in your new place unpacking.
The most important thing you want to do before the Chicago moving services show up at your door is go to the websites of your utility companies or give them a call to find out what the disconnection rules are. It is ideal to contact your utility companies 2 to 4 weeks before you move so that you don’t leave yourself in the dark, without communication, or too cold or too hot. This advance notice also gives the utility companies time to get a last reading, allowing you a chance to take care of that last bill.
If you have any bills that are late or unpaid, it is important that you get that taken care of before the Chicago movers come to your door. This is so you can get your new service connected. Utility companies will not connect services until any outstanding bills are taken care of.
Now you want to make sure on moving day that your utilities are active to the very last minute because you don’t want to be in a bad situation in case an emergency strikes. It is important for both you and your Chicago moving services that electricity, heat, or cool air is available, as well as a telephone for emergency reasons.
Here are some helpful tips you can use during your move:
#1 Let your appliances return to room temperature before you plug them back in.
#2 Know where the cable and phone jacks are located, as well as electrical outlets in the new home.
#3 Tape doors shut such as on microwaves and even your refrigerator. Remove any glass plates or shelving.
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