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When moving house, most people want to get rid of all items that they do not need anymore, to reduce the transportation costs. By having a garage sale, you can do this quickly and put some money in your pocket.

A successful garage sale requires some preparation.

Team up with family members or friends and combine together several garage sales. This way, you will get better visibility and attract more potential buyers. Think about ways to advertise your sale, otherwise, people will not know your host such an event. You can create a Facebook event and share it, by asking people to spread the word, or use specialized sites and local newspapers for advertising.

Additionally, create some street signs and posters and place them strategically, in your neighborhood, to guide people to your yard sale. However, instead of simply writing your address, you should use arrowed signs, to help potential customers follow the route to your home.

Arrange the items in your yard by grouping them properly in categories and make sure you label and price them, because most people will be reluctant about digging in piles of disorganized junk. If you sell clothes, hang them instead of piling them.

Finally yet importantly, make sure you do not price your items too high; you will never get the money you have spent to purchase them.  The less you and the Denver movers have to move will make everyone happy.

Moving is a tough job - and not one that you want to go alone. Hiring a moving company can alleviate many stressors around a big move. But how do you choose the right one?

You want quality movers. Someone you can trust. After all, they will be moving all your possessions, and the last thing you want is something going missing or something getting broken. You want them to take the same care as they would with their own things.

Here is how you can choose the best moving company in Boulder, CO:

Check Their Reviews

Reviews often don’t lie. Are they reliable? Did past customers have good things to say about them? Doing your research before hiring a company is a must. Compare companies and shop around a bit. It’s worth it - especially when it comes to the items you hold near and dear to your heart. Recommendations from family or friends is also a good way to go. They will have had a first-hand experience with them which is the best referral you can get.

Assess How They Determine Their Estimate

For a large home, the good companies will have an estimator will come to your home. They will ask questions about what you want to be moved or what you will be leaving. They will likely take into account a fairly full inventory (and when you do move, they should most definitely take a full inventory of all items). They will also do a run-through with you. Show them any hard to reach spots, involving stairs or narrow doorways. This helps them determine the price by how long it will take and how much needs to be moved.

And Get Multiple Estimates

Have you moved before? Do you know how much it may cost? Getting various estimates and quotes can help you come up with a general idea. It can also help you get the best price.

Are They Licensed? Are They Insured?

Find out before you hire them. Make sure you’re protected. You don’t need your move to be more stressful than it has to be. Give yourself that extra peace of mind that you are choosing the right company for your move by checking them out on the BBB, the USDOT, and the CDOT websites.

If They Ask For a Large Deposit Upfront, Run.

Most reputable companies have a pay-on-delivery policy. Paying in advance means you’ve just given your items and money away. Where is the guarantee that they will show up? Occasionally, you may have to pay a small deposit, but it should be the majority of the payment.

Pack Your Items Yourself

You can save a ton of money here. And also save yourself headaches later on. Plus, movers aren’t normally held responsible for any damage that occurs during. Do it right and do it yourself. Sometimes, the good moving companies even offer this as an option - in other words, they might be able to supply you with the packing materials. Find out!

If the Company Has Recently Switched Names, It Might be Best to Avoid

A name switch could indicate a previous bad reputation. It also may be a sign that they aren’t licensed or insured - be careful of this!

Get a Copy of Your Inventory List

Have a copy for your records, then you know exactly what they are moving for you. It can also serve as a way for you to double-check everything once you are unpacked and moved into your new place.

Make the right decision! Use the above outline to help you choose the right mover.

If you live in and around Denver or Boulder, Colorado, choose American Moving & Storage. They are trusted, reliable, and ready to help your move go as smoothly as possible!

Packing moving boxes surely isn’t rocket science but you may be surprised to learn that there are ways you can pack certain items that will help make the job easier.

Below are a few of our pro tips for people who are packing up a Boulder, CO home.

Bundle up

When you begin packing your home, you’ll want to do this room by room. If you pack your kids’ toys with your toiletries and the stuff that’s currently loaded on your desk, unpacking is going to be a special kind of complicated.

No one has time for that.

Sort things room by room. Not only will this save your sanity, but it will also save you a lot of time when you start to unpack.

Now that we’ve gotten that item out of the way when you are going room by room, you should start by packing items of a similar size and weight in the same box.

Pro tip for fragile things

If you have some packaging peanuts, great. If you don’t, you may want to go out and buy some. Once you have them on hand, you’ll want to pour a layer into the bottom of the boxes you’ll be using to pack fragile items.

From there, you’ll want to wrap the heaviest fragile things in bubble wrap and place those items into the bottom of the box. Once that's done, add a layer of cushion foam, and load in a layer of lighter, bubble-wrapped fragile items.

When the box is full, add more cushioning (ie: packing peanuts, crumpled packing paper, etc.) in the unfilled spaces. This will help prevent the items from shifting during transport.

Lastly, consider buying a roll of brightly colored duct tape to seal the boxes that contain fragile things, so they can be easily identified.

Make sure that heavy boxes aren’t too heavy

First, we’d like to say that you shouldn’t use large boxes to pack many heavy things. When you do this, moving those boxes becomes extremely difficult.

Second, you should make sure that boxes that do contain heavy things shouldn’t weigh more than 30 lbs. Not only will this make them easier to lift, but it will also make the boxes less likely to rupture during transport. Again, the goal is to make sure that all of your household items arrive at your new home in the same condition they were in when you packed them.

Consider having the Vail, CO movers pack for you

If you need help packing and moving a household, the experts at American Moving are here to help. Our company specializes in both local and long-distance moves, and if you’re not looking forward to packing up every room in your home, we can help you with that.

For more information on our rates, or for more information on our professional packing and unpacking services, call American Moving today at 970-949-4949 to get started. If you’d prefer to contact us by email, we can be reached at moveme@americanmoving.com.

In our previous blog post, we talked about the types of things you may be able to downsize during a move. And while some things, like old and unused clothing and shoes, can be donated to local charities, there are other things, such as still-working but unused electronics, that can be sold during a pre-move sale.

Below are a few of our pro-tips for Denver residents who are wanting to hold a successful moving sale.

Ask your family members to gather items they no longer want

If you go through your teenage kids’ stuff and decide what they will and won’t be taking to your new home, that’s likely to cause a mutiny.

The best thing to do is to ask your family members to gather items that they wish to sell. Once you’ve gathered the items you’d like to showcase during the pre-move sale, you’ll want to work on picking a date.

Weekends tend to be best

Saturdays and Sundays are ideal for holding yard or garage sales. However, you’ll want to make sure you don’t schedule something over a holiday weekend. You may also want to check with your neighbors to see if they’d like to participate, as well. A neighborhood sale tends to get more foot traffic than an individual yard sale.

Publicity is key

Ask the local coffee shops, your church, your kids’ school, and the market you shop at if you can put up flyers that advertise the date and time of your sale. Depending on the neighborhood you live in, you may be able to post advertisement flyers on light posts.

If you can list some of the more popular items you’ll be selling (electronics, power tools, appliances, furniture, etc.), all the better. Some people find that putting their phone number on the flyer, so would-be-shoppers can call in advance to inquire about the sale, works well.

Free online portals, such as Craigslist, can also be helpful in terms of getting the word out.

Pre-sort selling items

If you’re combining your yard sale with another family, be sure to color-code the selling items so you know which money goes where.

Hang clothing items on a makeshift clothesline and organize appliances, kitchen utensils, games, and electronics so they’re easy for shoppers to browse. Make sure you stock a cash box with plenty of change. Or, if you’re especially savvy, you can use a Square or PayPal debit card attachment with your cell phone.

Lastly, you’ll want to be prepared for the weather to change at any given moment. Have tarps or large sheets of plastic handy to cover your for-sale items, just in case.

An expert moving company in Denver

American Moving Company has years of experience in helping people in Denver and its surrounding areas coordinate successful moves for years.

For more tips on how to hold a successful moving sale, or to schedule a time for one of our team members to come to your home to provide you with a free moving estimate, call us today at 303-469-6683 to get started.

Moving can be both stressful and exciting. At the same time, if you’ve already started packing, you’ve likely realized that you don’t fully understand how much stuff you have until you need to put it all in boxes.

If you’ve been in your home for several years (or longer), chances are, you’ve accumulated more than a few things that you won’t be taking with you.

Below you’ll find our top list of things to toss before you load everything into the moving truck.

Are you really planning on wearing those parachute pants again?

We didn’t think so.

Go through your closet—do you have clothes that no longer fit? (Ie: clothes that will never fit again. If you’ve had it since college and you haven’t worn it in you-can’t-remember-how-long, it’s probably time to part ways.) Do you have things that were super cool to wear years ago but you won’t ever, ever wear again? (Ie: shirts with shoulder-pads, stirrup pants, parachute pants, and anything else that the 90s might want back)

You can toss all of that into the “donate” bin.

Shoes shoes and more shoes

Do you have a tendency to buy new sneakers without throwing out the previous pair? Do you have heels, dress shoes, or kids’ shoes that haven’t seen the light of day in more than 12 months? If you figure there’s less than a 20 percent chance those shoes will ever make it out of your closet again, tag it and donate it.

Old electronics and video game consoles

You’d be surprised how many people have a hard time getting rid of old electronics. When kids no longer use video game consoles, they tend to get shoved in a basement, closet or in attic. If you have a Nintendo 64 or a first-generation Play Station and neither of those consoles has been touched since well before your adult children went off to college, these can be tagged and donated (or sold in a moving sale).

Do an inventory of your cups, plates and dishes

We once had a client who mentioned that at the time she started to pack, she realized she’d collected about three dozen cups and glasses over the years (a lot of it had been brought by and left behind by former roommates.)

Suffice to say, she didn’t need all of that glassware.

Go through your kitchen and do an inventory of your cups, mugs, dishes, and pots and pans. You may be surprised to find that you have quite a bit of excess inventory.

Have questions? Call American Moving Company today

For more information on the types of things you may be able to get rid of or donate before a move, we can help.

American Moving Company has been the top-rated moving company in Denver, the top-rated moving company in Boulder, and the top-ranked moving company in Vail/Summit County for years.

For more information on our company or to schedule a free in-home moving estimate, call us today at 877-433-0100 to get started.

If you’ve never hired professional movers before, it can be hard to determine what the proper etiquette is on moving day.

For this blog, we wanted to take a moment to address several key things your movers might want you to know.

First things first

The way you can be most helpful to your movers on moving day is to let them do their job! When you hire professional movers, you’ve agreed to work with trained professionals who have many, many moves under their belt. This isn’t their first rodeo! As long as your fragile items are marked, you should be good to go. Take a step back and take a deep breath. There’s no need to micromanage this process.

Make sure you’re packed and ready to go

When the movers arrive, they’ll be focused on loading your household items into the truck. If you haven’t hired a full-service company, which basically means you aren’t paying an additional fee for the workers to pack your items for you, you’ll want to make sure the packing is done by the time they get there. This will make their job infinitely easier.

Keep valuable items, cash and prescription drugs with you

The best way to make sure that important things don’t get lost in the move is to keep those items on you. If you have loose cash, valuable items (such as jewelry), and/or prescription medication, it’s best to keep those items with you.

Label your boxes

When you start the process of packing, be sure to clearly label your boxes. If your home has more than one bedroom, be sure to label the boxes bedroom 1, bedroom 2, and so on. This will make it much easier for your movers to get the right boxes to the right places in your new home.

If you’re able to color-code your boxes, or you’re able to mark the boxes that contain fragile items with colored labels or tape, this will help provide a valuable visual cue for the people who’ve been hired to move your household.

Pack heavy items in smaller boxes

If you own a lot of cast-iron kitchen items, don’t load everything into one, jumbo-sized box. Pack heavy items in smaller boxes—if a large box looks like it’s awkward and too heavy to carry, it probably is.

Don’t go MIA

Yes, your movers will want you to stay out of their way, but they don’t want you to disappear entirely.  You should make sure you’re available to answer questions or to help them address concerns as they might arise.

Tipping isn’t mandatory, but it’s appreciated

The standard tip for professional movers spans between 10 percent and 15 percent of the cost of your move. A lot of this will depend on how long the move takes and how many flights of stairs they have to navigate. If you’re very pleased with the services they’ve provided, you should plan to tip.

Professional movers you can trust

If you have additional questions on proper moving day etiquette or you’d like to schedule a  time for one of our estimators to come out to your home to provide you with a quote.

Call our American Moving today at 303-402-0100.