Moving to a new apartment should be exciting. However, what makes the whole experience stressful, is being unprepared.
Organizing and preparing can help you remove the anxiety. The following tips might help you to make the move easier.
- Read your current lease to discover proper protocol for informing your landlord about the move. Most landlords require written notice one month before you leave to avoid additional penalty charge.
- Arrange dates to cancel or transfer utilities (electricity, water, natural gas, etc.) and services (phone, cable, subscriptions, etc.) at your current home; arrange start dates for utilities and services at your new home.
- Contact insurance broker to transfer or apply for home insurance. Discover Mainstreet's tenant home insurance opportunity at a very minimum cost.
- Decide whether your move will be DIY or if you want to seek professional help. Whether you have friends to help you move or decide to hire professionals, make your arrangements several weeks before the moving day.
- Evaluate your stuff. Moving into a new space is a great opportunity to evaluate every single thing you own and decide whether it comes or goes. Putting rarely used items on Kijiji or a garage sale and making donations to your favorite charity can help you not only with less to move, but more extra cash in hand.
- Save on packing. Bubble wrap could be expensive. However, using your clothes to wrap dishes or other breakables will help you to save on a tight budget. Believe it or not, moving boxes is one moving expense that can be had for free, as many places (grocery store, liquor stores, etc.) would have free boxes for you to pick up.
- Design your space. Get access to your new space as soon as possible and measure your new space and have a plan so that you know where you stuff is going in the new place. Although larger apartment units can provide you with more space, they generally cost you more as well. Simply applying some tips for furnishing small apartments can create more space, without shrinking you wallet.
If you are a hyper-organized person, Kerry Taylor, who writes the Squawkfox.com blog, has posted "Moving Checklist and Planner" to help people navigate this exciting and potentially confusing moving time.
Mainstreet Equity Corp. is a publicly-traded (TSX: MEQ) residential real estate company in Canada. Mainstreet currently owns and operates properties in Surrey, BC; New Westminster, BC; Abbotsford, BC; Calgary, AB; Cochrane, AB; Lethbridge, AB; Edmonton, AB; Fort Saskatchewan, AB; and Saskatoon, SK.
Mainstreet provides affordable, renovated apartment suites to Canadians, and is committed to creating real value without diluting shareholder interests.