The do’s and don’ts of moving and storing documents

Moving documents is not as simple as it might seem. Sure, they are not hard to pack. But, the biggest problem with moving documents is that they can’t be easily replaced. For example, if you tear an old family photo, you won’t be able to replace it unless you have a backup somewhere. Moving documents overseas can be especially tricky. Additionally, you have an entire relocation to prepare which means moving all your belonging internationally. For this reason, you should consider hiring an overseas removalist for your international relocation. This way, you will have more time to focus on packing your documents while professional movers take care of the rest of your items. It’s a win-win situation, so don’t hesitate to seek help from professional movers. Additionally, professional movers can tell you the do’s and don’ts of moving and storing documents.

What are the do’s and don’ts of moving and storing documents?

There are documents you need to prepare for your relocation and documents you will move with the rest of your belongings. As preparing for an international relocation is much harder than preparing for a local one, you will need to hire a moving company. However, when searching for a moving company to hire, you need to find one that has overseas moving services. Don’t hire a moving company that only works locally or sometimes long-distance. While the packing process is similar, transportation is completely different. Therefore, you need a moving company that has experience and knowledge in overseas relocations. As for moving documents or storing them, there are a couple of things you should and shouldn’t do. Things you should do when moving and storing your documents are the following:

• Make backups or copies
• Get proper packing supplies
• Choose the right storage option
• Pack the right way

Why should you make copies first?

Moving is often unpredictable and mistakes happen. Documents such as pictures or personal documents can be easily damaged during relocation. It’s enough something to spill over documents and they will be ruined. For example, you spent a lot of time getting all the required documents for international car transportation, just to damage them in a second. Luckily, if you have copies of them, you won’t have to spend another day or two getting them again. Therefore, you should make copies of your important documents. There are a couple of ways to do it. You can scan and back up documents electronically or make photocopies. As you can’t possibly make copies of all of your documents in the home, you should make photocopies of only the most important documents such as your passport, social security cards, birth certificates, insurance papers, etc.

What kind of packing supplies should you get?

Moving internationally comes with many challenges, especially if you are moving from the USA to Europe. For example, moving from USA to Belgium takes a lot of time to prepare and organize everything from hiring a moving company to choosing a way to ship your items. There are two ways how you can ship your belongings to Belgium from the USA: sea freight or air freight. Usually, shipping your items by sea is much cheaper than doing it with air freight. However, it only takes about 3 days for your cargo to arrive by air while container ship usually takes around a month. So, you need to decide which one is the better option for you. As your items will be put into a container, you need to get better and sturdier packing supplies. The best ones for documents are file boxes or plastic containers.

What shouldn’t you do when moving your documents?

Now, that you know what you should do when moving your documents, now you must know what you must avoid doing. First, you can’t keep your documents in extreme temperatures and high humidity. High humidity with temperature changes will create moisture that will damage many items including documents. For this reason, when you are choosing the container for your items, you need to pick one that offers protection from water and wind. Also, there are ways to protect paper documents and keep them safe for a long time. The best way to protect your documents is to scan and digitize them. If you still decide to move your documents in physical form, you should choose sturdier packing supplies such as file boxes or plastic boxes with a lid. Additionally, you must pack a document box almost completely full.

Some documents keep near you all the time

When you think about the do’s and don’ts of moving and storing documents, you need to understand that not all documents have the same importance. Documents that have personal information shouldn’t be moved with the rest of your items. You never know what can happen. Someone can either steal your personal information or documents can be lost. For this reason, pack these types of documents in your essential bag. These documents usually are social security cards, financial statements, medical records, etc. Every document that has personal information about you, your family members, and your home and finance keep with you. Also, while professional movers are trustworthy people, you should still take care of these types of documents. Additionally, you shouldn’t label boxes with signs such as business documents or school documents. Instead, you should just write office items or kids’ belongings. This way, you will be the only one to know the true content of the box.

Moving documents is not very hard

While there are a couple of the do’s and don’ts of moving and storing documents, the actual process is not terribly hard. The important step is to hire professional movers to pack the rest of your items while you pack your documents. Also, you need to pick the right packing supplies. As for packing the documents, the process is pretty simple. You only have to put documents in the right moving box and fill it up to the top. This way, the document won’t have space to move around and the box will be much stronger and won’t crush under the weight.