The Night Before the Move: A Checklist

This might sound familiar: it is probably the night before you finally move and everyone is fast asleep, but for some unknown reason you are up all night and sweating bullets. You have this eerie feeling that you’re forgetting something, but you just can’t figure out what. You know you’ve done everything you needed to do for the entire moving and storage process, you know you’ve also kept the last minute items to just pick and go when the time comes, but there’s still something worrying you. Want to know why you feel that way? You probably forgot to do one of the most important things of the three top golden tips of moving – creating a “night before the move” checklist.

Creating a moving list is easy, but the best part about having one is the guarantee of having a peaceful nights sleep without that eerie feeling. At least, it will save you the stress of racking your brain to remember what you feel you’ve forgotten.

Your Checklist
There’s a huge difference between the checklist you’ll create during the months and weeks leading to the move. And of course, the checklist for the night before the move will look the most different. You must be wondering why you need to have so many checklists. The truth is, it is really your choice to have as many checklists as you want. Sometimes, people just prefer working with one or two lists and successfully accomplish all what they’d planned for. But in some cases, people need to have more lists right from a few months before the move. No matter how many lists you decide to have, be sure to have a checklist for the night before the move, in order to ensure smooth sailing on the moving day. Here is a list of a few things you should be concerned about on the night before the movers arrive to help you move your belongings to your new home:

- Make sure you’ve contacted your moving and storage company to check if everything is in place for the next day.

- Confirm that you’ve contacted your local utility services and scheduled for the phone, gas, water and electricity to be shut off once you’ve moved out.

- You must’ve submitted a change in address form to the Post Office by now. If you haven’t crossed it off your list, give it more priority.

- If you are moving your refrigerator on the moving day, make sure that you’ve defrosted its freezer at least 24 hours in advance.

- Double check the arrival time of the movers with the rental or moving and storage company you’ve hired.

- Check to see if you’ve completed your packing. Separate the boxes containing the fragile items. Keep everything where you can easily point them out to the movers on the moving day. If the moving and storage company is going to do the packing for you, make sure you’ve grouped everything separately the way you’ll want it packed.

Have the money ready for the moving and storage services whether you’re paying through credit card, money order or check. Do the same if you’re going by the DIY route or renting a truck on your own.

Confirm all lodging and travel reservations.

Are you moving soon or in the near future? Moving the traditional way puts an unbelievable amount of trash and other waste into our landfills which are harmful to the planet. Why waste time and money on cardboard boxes and tape that you’re just going throw away when you move into your new place? Instead, consider getting green plastic moving boxes from us at Rentabox. We’ll deliver them to you and pick them up from your new address so you don’t have to worry about it. With Rentabox, moving can be a streamlined, pleasant experience all the way around!

Top 10 Ways to Conserve Water at Home

Water conservation is an important way to lower the demand for water, as well the added benefit of saving on your water bill. Water conservation is easier than you may think. There are a few simple ways that will rev up your water conservation without making too many changes in your normal daily routine. Take a minute to follow these steps and you’ll be doing your part to ensure that clean water will be available to future generations.

1. Watering the lawn. Curb appeal is definitely important, but here’s something most homeowners aren’t aware of. Most individuals water their lawn up to 30% more than is actually necessary to achieve a healthy, green lawn. How do you determine how much water your lawn needs? I’m glad you asked. First, step onto your lawn to see just how moist the soil is. If the ground seems wet, or the grass springs back after being stepped on, then it is getting more than enough water. If you have an automatic, timed watering system, reset the timers so that you are watering few days, instead of daily. Here’s another tip. Landscape your yard with plants that are native to your area. You’ll be surprised at how much less work and water they will require for survival.
2. Leaky taps and pipes. That annoying little drip can be a lot more serious than you may think. Even a slow leak can cause an excess of up to 600 litres of water to be. If you find a leak on the connection of two pipes, try replacing the washer for a quick fix. Be sure to fix any leaks immediately. Checking pipes and plumbing on a regular basis only takes a few minutes and can play a big part in water conservation. Another trick for checking leaks is to read your outdoor meter, then turn off all water in your home. Recheck the meter after a few hours. If the meter has changed, you have a leak somewhere.
3. Washing the car. When using water outside, remember to turn the hose on only when you need it. If you are washing your car, fill the bucket up only half way, instead of to the top. Only turn the hose on when you need to rinse the car off, instead of letting it run the entire time. If you are watering plants, try filling a watering can instead of dragging a hose from planter to planter. When finished, turn the water of at the house. Those nifty gun type nozzles attached to your hose aren’t leak proof and can drip a large amount of water over time.
4. Showers. We all love our hot morning shower, but conservation can happen there as well. Invest in water saving shower heads. Your shower will still flow at a comfortable level, but you’ll be reducing the amount of water you use by almost half! Another quick way to conserve water in the bathroom is to only turn the tap on when rinsing your toothbrush. Don’t keep the water running while brushing your teeth.
5. Washing Clothes. Only run the washing machine when you have a full load. Running the washing machine for a half load or just a few pieces of clothing can waste a lot of water. At the very least, set your washer to “small load” if you must wash only a few items.
6. Waiting for the hot water. You may not have thought of this one. Don’t waste the water out of your tap while you wait for the hot water to start flowing. Instead, try capturing the water in a watering can to use on your indoor plants, or into a pot for the noodles you’ll be cooking later in the day.
7. Washing the dishes. When washing your dishes by hand, fill each side of a two sided sink. Use one side for soapy water and the other for clean water. This is a much better choice than to just let the water using running water to rinse each of your dishes.
8. Bathroom tips. Toilets aren’t the most fun to talk about, but a low flow toilet can greatly reduce the amount of water used with every flush. If you don’t have a low flow toilet installed, check for leaks. You can do this by adding food coloring to the tank. If there is a leak anywhere on the toilet, color will appear within 30 minutes. Remember to flush after 30 minutes as the food coloring can stain the toilet.
9. Kitchen sink disposal. Try and use the kitchen sink disposal less, and think about creating a mulch pile. The kitchen sink disposal uses a ton of water every time it is ran, so use the garbage can more, and try creating a mulch pile for your plants.
10. In the kitchen. Try keeping cool drinking water in the fridge instead of running the tap and waiting for the cool water to run. Don’t let the tap run to rinse vegetables, instead use a pan or bowl of water to do so. Also, try and fill a bowl of water if defrosting meat, or plan ahead and set it out so you don’t have to run water over frozen meat to help the defrosting process.

Are you moving soon or in the near future? Moving the traditional way puts an unbelievable amount of trash and other waste into our landfills which are harmful to the planet. Why waste time and money on cardboard boxes and tape that you’re just going throw away when you move into your new place? Instead, consider getting green plastic moving boxes from us at Rentabox. We’ll deliver them to you and pick them up from your new address so you don’t have to worry about it. With Rentabox, moving can be a streamlined, pleasant experience all the way around!