Moving to a new town presents a whole host of exciting opportunities, but many people find the actual process of moving stressful and unpleasant. Understandably so. Moving is a physically draining and emotionally tiring event that often leads to short tempers and stress.
While your Richmond moving day will never be fun, there are a couple of things that you can do in advance to ensure an efficient and smooth process. Instead of worrying about the move, you can instead focus on the opportunities you’ll have living in Richmond.
Cost of Living in Richmond
Richmond is part of the Greater Vancouver area and shares plenty of the same atmosphere and weather as the main city. There are plenty of opportunities for shopping and eating out, as well as many hiking and biking trails for outdoor enthusiasts. Vancouver has a reputation for being one of the best places to live in Canada. However, the cost of living in the main city can be incredibly high, with some of the highest property prices in the country.
Prices in Richmond tend to be relatively lower than those in Vancouver, but they are still high when compared to the rest of the country. Utilities are on the low end of the scale, with apartments paying around $85/month for electricity, water, heating and cooling and garbage. Apartment rentals range from an average of $3,500/month in the city center for a three-bedroom apartment to $2,500 outside of the city center. Many locals save money by buying their fish and produce at Steveston and local farmers’ markets.
Moving Tips
The key to a successful move is planning. You should try to set up a schedule that sets aside time for packing as well as time for all the other administrative tasks that come with a change of address. Make sure that you’ve got the basic utilities connected to your new home in Richmond, and that you’ve canceled the utilities at your old place. By breaking these tasks down and doing them one at a time, you’ll find there’s not much for you to do when moving day comes around.
A key element that needs to be taken care of when moving is packing away your belongings. By taking the time to pack everything correctly, you can reduce the amount of time you’ll spend loading up and unpacking upon arrival. As you can imagine, this will drastically reduce your stress levels along the way. Here are some of our packing and moving tips that should make the process a little bit easier.
Get your packing supplies well in advance
Don’t buy your packing supplies on packing day. You’ll spend more time wondering why you don’t have enough boxes or tape instead of packing away your belongings. Before you start packing, do an estimate of how many boxes you’ll need, and add some extra just in case. Boxes aren’t heavy, so it’s always better to have more than you need.
Also, try to buy all the other packing materials at the same time, and also try to buy more than you expect you need. Bubble wrap and protective paper are essential to protect your fragile items, and specialist protective paper is a much better choice than newspaper. Consider buying a tape gun which will make sealing boxes a breeze.
Pack smart
How well you pack will determine how comfortable the unpacking process will be. Be sure to pack heavy items in their own, smaller boxes, rather than cramming many heavy items into one box. Even if you’re a powerlifter, you’ll struggle to lift and carry boxes that have multiple heavy belongings in them. Reserve your large boxes for lighter items that are difficult to carry on their own, like glassware, crockery, and bathroom toiletries.
Label each box clearly with both the items in the box and the room they were packed in. Doing so helps the unpacking process, as you’ll quickly know what items belong in which room of your new home. Be sure to pack necessary items such as basic toiletries, and medicine in their own specially marked box that you can quickly unpack before dealing with everything else.
