DIY Moving Tips: Loading and Unloading the Truck

This is the fifth installment of my DIY Moving Tips! I asked my amazing husband, Greg, for his advice on this post because he's the one who loaded all of our moving trucks—except for our move to Colorado. Besides paid movers, I have no doubt that Greg is the best moving truck loader/packer on the planet! :)

So you've packed your house or apartment, and you're ready to load the truck! Besides finding out you're moving, loading the moving truck is the most exciting part because it makes your move absolutely real. There's no going back now! Ha ha.

Loading the Truck

• If you're loading the moving truck by yourself, make sure you leave two-and-a-half days to get the job done.
• If possible, use a hand truck (a.k.a., moving dolly).
• Call or text your scheduled movers to make sure they will show up on time.
• Get yummy food ready for your movers—if they are volunteer movers. If you have paid movers, there's no need to feed them.
• Load all of the heavy items into the front of the truck first. For example: fridge/freezer, piano, couches, desks, dressers, etc.
• Wrap your furniture that you don't want scratched or dented/dinged, in blankets or moving pads.
• Your goal is to create flat spaces, from bottom to top, so you can continue to stack things all the way to the top of the moving truck. *Think of this as the largest game of Tetris that you've ever played! :)
• Load like boxes/items together as tightly as possible.
• Pack each area of the truck with the heavy boxes on the bottom first, then add the lighter boxes on top.
• Don't leave any dead-space in the truck. Realistically, you'll have a little dead-space at the top of the truck, but that should be the only place.
• Pack odd-shaped items at the top of the truck—things like bicycles and plastic storage bins.
• Pack mattresses on the top or side of the truck. Try not to squish them too much. Make sure your mattresses are covered in mattress bags!
• Practice makes perfect! My husband says that you sometimes have to re-pack areas of the truck to make everything fit. Don't feel badly if that happens to you. :)

Unloading the Truck

• Use a hand truck to take multiple boxes off the truck at the same time. The hand truck also helps with heavy/large items. It will definitely increase your unloading speed! :)
• Move boxes to a central place in your new home. That way, you'll be able to unload the truck quickly and return it to the moving-truck company.
• Move furniture directly into each room they belong in. Don't let furniture pile up, or it will congest your house and make it hard to unload everything else.
• Move each box to the room it belongs to—refer to the box's label.
• Resist the temptation to start opening and unpacking boxes before all of the boxes are moved into their correct rooms. If you start unpacking too soon, you'll only become more frustrated!

You're now ready for my next post, "DIY Moving Tips: Unpacking Your New Home"!