Essential Contacts Before You Move

Moving house means a lot of things for you to do. There is a lot of planning involved, from clearing your clutter, to renting a self storage facility in Melbourne, and to engaging professional movers. You may be too involved in doing the major items that you tend to forget some intangible ones that are important, too, to ensure a seamless move. There is one item that you should not forget to put on your moving checklist and this involves changing addresses as well as organising services for your new home. This is very important so that you are ensured that your utility services are uninterrupted, and you do not miss important correspondences or mails.

Below is a list of service providers that you will need to notify of your change of address. It may not be comprehensive but this is a good start.

• Government - you will need to change your details with the Australian Tax Office, Medicare, Centrelink (if you are receiving benefits), transport authorities and the electoral commission.
• Service Providers - make sure your new address is on your banking, insurance, telephone and other regular bills. Do this even if you receive electronic statements because some documents, such as credit cards, still need to be mailed. You also don't want your important bank documents to be accidentally opened by the new occupants of your old home. This will pose a risk to your and your identity.
• Employment - this is very important, especially for emergency contact purposes. You will need to update your address with your employer. If you run your own business, make sure you update your address with the Australian Business Registry.
• Education Providers - if you have children, they may be moving schools but make sure to update your contact information if you are studying any correspondence courses, for example. Just like in the employment section, this is important for emergency contact purposes
• Close family members or relatives - this is just nice to let your family members and some close relatives (or even friends) to let them know of your whereabouts. In case there are important family decisions that needs your involvement, they can easily locate or contact you. Also, it is good to receive thoughtful mails to remember special occasions like birthday cards, etc

Thus, make it a habit to include changing addresses part of your moving checklist. This way, you are ensured that you won't have uninterrupted utility services and receive important correspondences.

Paint Your House Before Moving In

You may be keen to move straight into your new home, but it’s a good idea to get painting done before the rooms fill up with furniture and other personal bits and pieces, not afterwards when they will just be in the way and could even get splashed with paint!

To save time on painting major walls and woodwork and other interior design, consider putting some of your household items in temporary self storage. Having a house free from belongings helps:

• Avoid damaging furniture - if you are moving around a lot painting and renovating can damage furniture. Even just bumping it with ladders and other objects can cause marks and scratches.
• Cut painting costs - an empty home is much easier for contractors (or yourself) to paint. This will save you either a lot of money or a lot of time if you are doing it yourself.
• Give fresh ideas - if you are yet to buy all your furniture, adding the main house colours to the walls will help you see what items will fit.

A storage facility makes a lot of sense for homeowners in the process of moving or carrying out some serious renovations and redecorating work, as it offers a safe and secure place to keep valuable and personal items out of harm’s way. Storage is a very affordable option for most people and facilities are very modern these days. Most up-to-date storage services will actually provide portable storage units that are delivered to your location, so all you have to do on the day is pack up your things and load them into the unit. The service then comes and picks up the loaded module!

Now you can move into your new property that is clear of furniture, personal possessions, and moving boxes, and start to paint each room. The process will be much faster as there is plenty of space to move around and as long as you put your mind to it the job will be completed in next to no time. If you decide to employ professionals to do the work then even better as they have the experience and the equipment to complete the tasks quickly and efficiently.  

If you have to move your furniture and other belongings to your home and don’t want to use a storage facility for whatever reason then always make sure to keep the rooms as clear as possible before painting, and cover them with large old dust sheets for extra protection.

Once the house is all clean and freshly painted then you have a blank canvas that makes it much easier to see where items of furniture fit in and what other necessary items are still needed.