Sunday 20 July 2014

Minimalistic Living in Melbourne

Immediate moves often mean taking the bare minimum and leaving behind non-essential items you’ve accumulated over time. Reducing your load is a great opportunity to minimise the cost of budget removalists Melbourne, but it’s also a good opportunity to experiment with minimalistic interior design. Based on the principle that less is more, these design ideas will help you create simple yet effective styling with minimal effort for maximum effect.


Set the scene with walls, rugs and furniture by keeping the colour range to a minimum - black, grey and white is a winning combination. Once you’ve created the palette for each room, inject personality with texture, accents and patterns. While lounge sets were traditionally limited to one solid colour, throwing in an accent chair can add a highlight to an otherwise plain living area. When deciding which artworks to take, opt for larger, frameless pieces - think big, bold and raw!

Immediate moves mean ridding yourself of all those old couch and bedroom pillows too. With minimalism in mind, choose your favourite 2 or 3 cushions that compliment the décor in your new home and donate the rest to a friend. The bedroom in particular should be a place to clear your head at the end of the day; removing and replacing decorative cushions every morning and night becomes a tedious task!

When deciding which furniture to take, focus on effective storage solutions rather than aesthetically alluring and impractical pieces; hiding clutter behind doors and in shelves will assist in achieving a minimalistic feel. Symmetry is also synonymous with minimalism, so matching lamps, photo frames and vases should be top of the ‘to pack’ list.

Once you’ve decided on the essentials for the big move and ordered the budget removalists Melbourne, there’s one final step you can take in ensuring your home stays as clutter-free as possible. When you arrive in Melbourne, unpack each box at a time - if you find that an item no longer serves a purpose or fits with the room’s new colour scheme, leave it in the box. If after the entire house has been unpacked and there’s still no place for the object, it might be time to reactivate your eBay account!

Tuesday 8 July 2014

Running a Garage Sale for Urgent Moves

Life is unpredictable. You never know when you’ll need to move across town or even interstate at short notice. Urgent moves can be unsettling, with unexpected expenses and an entire house to move in a hurry. There is something you can do however to ease the stress of ASAP moves: hold a garage sale. Getting rid of unwanted items will reduce your load and removalist costs, and you’ll actually make money from having other people remove goods from your property. Follow these tips for urgent moves garage sale success:

Preparation
ASAP moves don’t allow much time for preparation, but there are a few things you can do the day before to save time and energy, like pricing. You’ll also want support on the day, so ensure your partner is available, or call in a favour from a friend - offer them an item free of change in return for their time. Remember to have a wet weather plan. Holding it inside a garage is ideal, but if braving the elements, have a tarpaulin on hand for backup…You’ve only got one shot at this when urgent moves are concerned! 

Presentation
How your items are presented will effect how much stock actually sells. If you’ve got hoards of clothes and no rack, borrow a friend’s for the day. Neatly hung clothes will have a better chance of selling than a sea of mismatched materials - make it easy for the buyer! And you can never have enough tables. Don’t force people down on the ground to read book spines and inspect bric-a-brac. Use an outdoor setting, or ask to borrow a neighbour’s.

Promotion
Street signs are a great way to attract passing traffic for an ASAP moves garage sale, but there may be council laws dictating how and where you can display signs. Check with your local council first, as they may even provide signage that you can legally display.

Follow these tips for urgent moves garages sales to minimise your load – and your stress – for your big move. When you’re down to the minimum, create an inventory of your load and call an interstate removalist for a quote. You’ll be there before you know it! 

Friday 4 July 2014

The Ultimate Moving Soundtrack

Packing your life into cardboard boxes and disassembling furniture to be shipped off by removalists interstate Melbourne can be a daunting task requiring much motivation. To help combat the moving blues, we’ve come up with a list of Top 5 Moving Songs. A great packing song is something you can sing along to with an even balance of fun and melancholy: 

1. Keep On Moving - Five

It’s fun, it’s easy to get the words right, and we’re working up a toe tap just thinking about it! This song is bursting with energy and whenever you suspect a tingle of nerves or start to feel sad about leaving a place you love, this 90s classic will have the excitement bubbling over again faster than you can say, “Get on up, when you’re down!” 

2. Moving Out – Billie Joel

It’s an oldie but a goodie. It has an up-beat but melancholic tone, which is perfect for packing and reminiscing about all the good times you had in your old house. It’s great for belting out a few lyrics to, and because the tone is happy it will maintain the excitement for the move ahead. 

3. To Build A Home – The Cinematic Orchestra

Change up the tempo here with a much more nostalgic and wistful tune. Get the photos ready; you’ll want some time for quiet reflection. Invite your friends around and reminisce about bygone times of fun and frivolity. It’s a beautiful song and a good opportunity to belt out a few lines. The notion of building a home with someone is an appropriate theme for the move.   

4. I Like to Move It – Reel 2 Real

Who doesn’t love a bit of a boogie to this one? It is fun to move and groove to and you can just imagine little lemurs running around everywhere *Madagascar Movie Reference*. This song keeps the vibe upbeat and happy, helping you approach the relocation with a light-hearted outlook. And if you’ve still got the TV connected, the 1994 video clip is an entertaining flashback. 

5. Lost – Frank Ocean

You can’t go past that dulcet voice and catchy chorus. This song has some funky beats making it easy to sing along. It creates a good atmosphere and is great to work with while moving your feet (*not recommended for carrying heavy items). We also like the relevance of being “lost in the thrill of it all,” which can be a reminder to ground yourself as well as enjoy the journey of moving house.

When you listen to these songs in the future, you’ll be taken back to the time you spent planning your move and packing your belongings to travel with removalists interstate Melbourne. Stay tuned for the sequel series, “Best Driving Songs for an Interstate Relocation”.

Wednesday 14 May 2014

Preparing For An Interstate Relocation

According to research, the only two things more stressful than moving house are death and divorce – yikes! Unlike these two life-changing events, moving house can be extremely exciting and marks the beginning of a new chapter in life. At the same time, moving house does temporarily disrupt the order of your life, and can impose a large amount of stress on family relationships and even pets. This is why it’s so important to approach this venture in an organized and per-planned fashion.

If you are moving interstate to Melbourne, the first essential part of planning is to organize cheap furniture removalists interstate Melbourne. It is advisable to organize this well in advance, so as to take a load of stress off and allow you to spend more of your time immediately before the move saying goodbye to people and your soon-to-be old house and neighborhood. 

There are a number of other tasks that can be organized in advance to reduce additional stress during the move, like organizing to change the registration of your car and home insurance. There are also accounts to be closed and new accounts to be opened, such as Internet and telephone connections, energy and water bills, newspaper subscriptions and redirecting the family’s mail. It is easy to forget the little things - like picking up all your dry-cleaning - unless you have organized yourself ahead of time.

It can be daunting moving to a new state or location. A good way to stop the move from becoming too overwhelming is to research your new neighborhood ahead of time. Get a membership to the local gym and look up the local breakfast haunts and daytime activities. If you’re moving with children, organize interviews with a few of the local schools to hit the ground running. All these things can make it easier to imagine a future in your new home.

Saying goodbye to life in your old house can be hard. That is why going through your belongings and DE-cluttering can be releasing and cathartic as well as a nice way to take a walk down memory lane. These things can be hard to let go of but it is all in order to make room for the next phase of your life. It also creates a great excuse (and necessity) to buy new toys for yourself and the family!

On move day you will be thankful for this pre-preparation when you finally see all the elements of your move slide smoothly together for a seamless transition. If you have invested time finding the right furniture removalists interstate Melbourne, you can feel comfortable and relaxed knowing that all your belongings will reach your new abode safely, and all you will have to do is get yourself there and start your exciting new interstate journey.