If you’re in the process of getting ready to move, then you will want to know what materials you need to move out. It’s easy to miss all items needed to move out so I’ve compiled a small checklist on what materials you should have ready before you start packing and moving. As someone who’s moved more than 6 times, I’ve made sure to include the most important materials you will need for the moving process.
Checklist of materials you need to move out:
- Liquid cleaning spray
- Brush
- Broom or vacuum
- Trash bags
- Roll of durable napkins
- Moving boxes/crates
- moving tape
- markers or labels
- dolly cart
- Rope
- Vehicle/Truck
Of course, there may be more items that you will need depending on the furniture or items you own. Nevertheless, these are the essential materials that everyone will at one point need to conduct a move efficient.
Materials you need to move out – cleaning supplies
First and foremost, you will need to have cleaning supplies ready before a move. You need to know that you will have to clean out both apartments you’re moving from and moving into.
It is essential that you clean out the apartment you’re moving out from so you can get your deposit back. I always make sure that the unit I’m returning to the landlord is in pristine condition, so they have no excuse to deduct from my deposit.
Therefore, you should have at least the basic supplies like a brush, liquid cleaning solution, broom, vacuum, and trash bags.
Additionally, you will need all these items to clean the apartment you’re moving into as well. I’ve written a detailed article on this subject on what to clean when you move into a new apartment.
Alternatively, if you don’t have the time or energy to clean your unit, you can pay a cleaning service. Depending on where you live and how big your apartment is, it can be up to as much as $200. If you have a rug, it will be much higher.
Moving boxes or crates
The single most important item you will need is moving boxes or crates to put in your personal belongings in. Without them, your move will take forever and become unorganized.
My suggestion for obtaining boxes would be to ask around. Now adays, everyone seems to have empty amazon boxes in their home. If you want to score free moving boxes, go online, and make a simple post on IG or Facebook to see who can give you free boxes. Alternatively, you can purchase boxes or crates from any local hardware store.
The boxes should be used to organize your belongings that belong in the same room. For example, all your restroom items should be packed in the same box. Same goes for all the kitchen items and the bedroom. Therefore, it will keep your moving strategy organized and maintained so you keep track of everything that is being moved.
A tip I would suggest is to keep a box for essential items only that you know you will need or require immediately.
Tape and marker
Even though boxes are the most important, you will need tape and makers to keep the safe and organized.
Try to purchase moving tape instead of scotch clear tape. Moving tape is usually brown and works well with cardboard surface and its cheaper. You can get away with using scotch tape, but it will be annoying because its harder to remove and will require a knife. Either way, you will need tape to make sure your belongings stay inside the box during the moving process.
Besides tape, you will need a marker or label-er to label all your boxes. This is extremely important to keep your boxes organized and in order. All kitchen boxes should have marked “Kitchen” on the box. This will make it efficient when packing and unboxing the items.
What I tend to do is write Kitchen on about 4-5 boxes, but on each box, I would add another line saying exactly what It is. For example, Kitchen – Pots and Pans, Kitchen – Cups and plates, Kitchen – Utensils.
This will make it easier to know where everything is at when you start reorganizing your new apartment.
Move out Materials – Dolly/Cart and rope
If you have heavy furniture that needs to be moved, you will need a dolly or cart to move them. You can also use sliders to move heavy furniture, but this will only work inside the apartment floor and not outside.
When I moved out, I had to move my 9-month-old fridge to my new apartment, and I had to get it onto a truck. There was no way I could do this without a dolly. Additionally, I had to use a rope to tie down the fridge onto the dolly so it would not shimmy off it. If you have washer/dryers or a stove oven, they will require a dolly to be moved efficiently as well. The dolly will also allow easier maneuvering which will lower the risk of potential damage to the items. Lastly, because the dolly’s wheel takes most of the load, you will eliminate accidental injury while moving.
Bigger Items like a fridge or stove oven will still require at least 2 people to move onto a truck or downstairs even if its on a dolly. You must keep this in mind if you’re planning to use a dolly.
Vehicle or truck
Finally, you will need some form of transportation to move all your items that have been packed. I’ve been able to move myself with just a sedan, but it took more trips. Its not impossible to do it and many people that I know have done it as well.
If you have bulky items like a couch, then you will want to rent a truck or make a call to a friend who owns one.
If you have a bed, purchase mattress vacuum bags that will suppress the mattress to save space. I’ve used this all the time and it saves me so much space and allows me to transport it in the back seat of my sedan. Additionally, I don’t have a mattress box because it’s hard to move and most construct-able bed frames don’t require them anymore.
All in all, make sure you have some way of getting your items from your old apartment to the new one.