Unfortunately, the majority of moving companies can’t move plants. With all the heavy (and dangerous!) furniture and boxes they stuff into a truck, your plants would just get crushed. If a moving company will move your plants, chances are you’ll have to be charged extra since the process for plants is different and requires extra care.

If you’d like to avoid all this and move your plants from one home to the next yourself, look no further than right here. Second in the How to Move (to Austin) series, here is Real Men Moving’s guide on how to move different kinds of houseplants to a new place.

Outdoor Plants

Before we get into the process of how to move house plants (which is what we assume you’re here for) first, a note on outdoor plants. For the most part, we recommend leaving them behind, because they can be a tricky and expensive process to move and require a lot of preparation. However, if you’d really like your outdoor plants in your next home, here’s how to do it:

1. Trim the plants back. The great thing about plants is that they continue to grow, so if you’ve got a big one with too many leaves, you can trim them for the move. This might even help with regrowth when your plant is in new soil.
2. Water your plants well beforehand.
3. Dig up your plants. Make sure to leave plenty of dirt around the roots so they stay intact and are ready to sink into new ground.
4. Transport smaller plants in a paper bag, or bigger ones in burlap. Try to avoid using plastic, as this will make it harder for the plants to breathe.
5. Continue watering the plants daily as you move. You can choose to place your plants in the bag or burlap they will be transported in earlier as they can survive in them for a few weeks, as long as you continue to water them. Be sure to plan a way to keep your plants in a shady area (but not completely dark) and well-watered as you’re moving them.
6. Remember that your plants can be sensitive to temperature and climate changes if you’re moving to a very different place.

House Plants

Since most house plants live in pots, this process is much easier. If you choose to use a box and have multiple small plants to move, you can place all the plants in an open box (but not on top of each other!)

If you’re moving the plants just by carrying them with you in the car, then the process is simple. Just as you would any other day, make sure they’re well-watered and be prepared for any temperature changes the plants may have to get used to. You can wrap your plants in magazine or newspaper if the moving weather is cold to keep it from damaging.

Similar to the outdoor plant moving process, you can trim these plants before moving also if necessary. The key to moving plants to a new area is to make sure their surrounding environment changes as little as possible.

If you’re looking for a moving service to help you on your move around the central Texas area, you can contact us today at Real Men Moving here or view some of our local moving services here.

While moving is an exciting life event, it can also be chaotic and stressful. If you’re moving in Texas, you may notice it’s a little harder when having to move around such a big state. Seasoned movers like us have recognized these common moving mistakes people make in this state. Here are 3 of them so you can know what to avoid!

Not Remembering Safety

There is nothing more important to us than safety, which is why we usually recommend for small children and pets to not be extremely involved in the moving process. Moving large furniture is dangerous and does require a certain amount of strength, and people. Even just moving boxes can be dangerous if they aren’t handled properly and end up being dropped. While you may be able to move some boxes from one house to another yourself, make sure you have extra friends or hire some movers to help with the large furniture. Even if you’re Superman, there should always be at least two people lifting a couch!

Traffic Issues

The process of actually moving heavy items in a vehicle is dangerous, and this becomes tenfold when moving in busy traffic. While there’s not much you can do to prevent traffic conditions, some good advice is to look up routes before hand that would be less dangerous to move. Also be aware of parking availability in the place you are moving out of, and moving to, as this can make moving much more of a hassle.

Paperwork Difficulties

There are many things regarding paperwork that you need to take care of before move-in day. Here’s a list of things to do if you’re moving soon that you absolutely shouldn’t forget!

• Updating your drivers license and car registration
  • make sure to update these to reflect your current address, or you’ll be fined!
• Transferring your utilities
  • transfer all utilities such as water, gas, and electricity so that everything works smoothly when you move in
• Changing your address
  • Update your address wherever else it may be needed, such as on Amazon, to subscriptions services, doctors, and more

Moving can be tricky, especially moving in the state of Texas. If you’d like some help or someone to do the whole job for you, you can view our services here, or contact us at Real Men Moving today.

In our “How to Move (to Austin)” series, we’ll be making a blog post for the next few months on how to move certain items that might be tricky. For our first How to Move post, we’ll be talking about fish tanks and aquariums. Moving with pets can be difficult, especially with smaller pets such as fish, hamsters, or reptiles that can’t just sit in the car with you and have their own habitat that also needs moving. When it comes to fish, it can be especially worrisome since they need to be in water to live.

Fortunately, it’s not as difficult as it may sound. Here’s how to move a fish tank from one home to another, broken down into steps.

Step 1: Get supplies

Moving your fish tank from one home to another might require more supplies than your basic fish-care supplies, and general moving supplies. Here’s a good list of things to gather:

• fish net
• siphon hose
• large plastic bags
• large, NEW 5 gallon bucket (with lid)
• bubble wrap
• moving box
• packing/duct tape

Step 2: Stop feeding your fish

Don’t feed your fish 24 hours before you move so it won’t have any waste left. How long your fish can survive without food depends on what kind of fish it is, so research if you’re worried. However, common household fish can last up to a week without food.

Step 3: Transporting your fish

Depending on how many fish you have and how long your move is, there are different ways to transport your fish The first way, which should be used for individual fish with moves that will take less than an hour, is to tie them in a plastic bag, similar to the way they were sold to you in the pet store. If you have a beta fish and remember the container it was sold in, you can also use a container like that with a sealed lid.

For bigger, multiple fish, or longer moves– use a 5 gallon bucket. Fill the bucket with water from the tank and place your fish in it, making sure the lid is sealed. We highly recommend using a new bucket, as buckets that have not been completely cleaned could still contain leftover harsh chemicals that could kill your fish.

Step 4: Draining and Cleaning the tank

The easiest way to drain a big tank is to use a siphon hose. After that, clean out your tank and take out all the items in it to be moved separately.

Step 5: Packing aquarium items and tank

Your tank can be moved in a box that is insulated so it doesn’t break during transportation (if you find a big enough box). Aquarium items vary and can be moved by being covered in bubble wrap and placed in a box.

Step 6: Unpack the tank and items

Once you arrive at your new home, unpack your tank, its items, and set everything up perfectly before placing your fish back in.

Step 7: Welcome your fish to the new home

Once the aquarium is set up again, you can place your fish back and welcome them to your new home! Congratulations, you and your fish moved to Austin.

If you’re still looking for some people to help you move, Real Men Moving offers a wide variety of moving services in the central Texas area. Contact us today to get started.

Moving is a big step in everyone’s life, whether it’s your first or 50th time doing it. One of the biggest problems that movers face is simply having too many things to move. All Austin moving companies are going to charge you based off of how many things you have to move. If you’re being charged by the hour, moving 10 boxes is going to take less time, and therefore be cheaper, than moving 20. If you’re not getting charged by the hour, then you’re probably getting charged by the item. Simply put, the best way to save space, money, and time during your move is to get rid of things. We think the best way to do that is by hosting a garage sale.

While garage sales are normally recommended for people moving in or out together, or for people who have been in their previous location for multiple years, they can benefit anybody. If you know you’re a hoarder, are looking to free up some space, or wanting to make some extra cash, a garage sale could be perfect for you. Still not convinced? Here are some reasons why you should have a garage sale if you’re moving around the central Texas (Austin) area.

You definitely have stuff you don’t need.

Unless you’re a die-hard minimalist, or a big Marie Kondo fan, there’s a very good chance that you don’t need every single item in your possession. This could not be any more true than when you’re moving to a different place.

For most people, moving to a different place means starting a new era of their lives. And the things you used in an old era of your life, you won’t always need in your new one. For example, if you’re moving from work to retirement, you probably won’t need all your work equipment. If you’re graduating and moving to the working world, you probably won’t need many school supplies. Think about this as you decide on what you might want to leave behind or sell.

And of course, even though most of us don’t like to admit it, there are likely some things lying around the house you haven’t touched in years. Some things that are commonly barely used to consider selling are:

• as “as seen on TV” products
• cooking utensils
• some clothes
• stationary
• unopened cleaning, makeup, or hygiene products
• small pieces of decor (such as trinkets or action figures)

If you sold these things, it would make your move that much better. You can also get some big bucks if you have any video games or large pieces of technology (or even small, such as phones) that aren’t of much use to you anymore.

Even if you do have a sale, remember: It’s not very likely that all of the items you put up for sale will actually be sold. Be sure to have a plan in case certain items or a certain amount of items aren’t sold.

You can make money.

The truth is, moving costs money. We’re not just talking about the literal moving part with the moving company. When you move, you’ll need new supplies and food. Depending on the location you move to, you might also need new decor, items for repairs, items for adjusting to a different climate, and more. Even if you’ve got everything budgeted down to a T, there are plenty of things that can go wrong during the overall moving process. Having emergency savings money is always a great idea. Having extra money during a move is an even better one.

If you’ve been in your previous home for awhile, it will feel like you’re making profit no matter what you sell things for. This is the beauty of garage sales. You can sell things you’ve had for a long time at prices that are definitely going to make them sell because you probably won’t be aware of your profit margin. This makes everyone in the process happy!

You can contribute to the community.

Garage sales are an amazing way to give back to the community. Many people who are in need of items you are selling can now have them at a more reasonable price than they expected. Aside from the economy aspect of it all, garage sales bring the community together. Even though you’ll be moving out, it can double as a going-away-party, and you can appreciate the community you’re leaving one last time.

This is also a great opportunity to get the gang together. It’ll be nice for friends to help you out one last time before you go. Garage sales can be tricky, and shouldn’t be done alone. If you don’t have anyone moving with you, we suggest recruiting some help for this phase of the process.

Everyone can learn business and accounting skills.

If you have kids in the household, hosting a garage sale is a great way to teach them many things. For one, you might be able to get them interested in business. If they’re not interested, you can definitely teach them some lessons about how money is handled, which is great for anyone to learn. Even if you don’t have kids, garage sales are a great way to practice some general financial skills that might come in handy.

We’re not going to pretend like it’s easy: garage sales have a lot of moving parts. You need to be able to organize, count money, advertise, and many other things depending on your situation. If you have a friend who’s good at one of these things, ask them to help out. If you have kids, make different parts of the garage sale into a fun game. Garage sales, as tedious as they can be, can also be a fun experience for everyone.

Pro tip: check out a square reader, or some other kind of credit-card reading device to maximize your sales! (Having venmo, cashapp, and paypal accounts are also a good idea.)

It’s easy to have a garage sale in Texas!

Texas is known for friendliness and southern hospitality. Many communities in Texas, especially Austin, are big on garage sales. There are many ways you can advertise a garage sale, such as:

• Making informational signs and posting them around your community
• Advertising it in places such as the Facebook marketplace, craigslist, and more
• Making flyers, business cards, or emails and sending them to as many people as possible
• Having a lot of decorations (or just stuff, in general) out on the actual day(s) of the sale
• Asking friends to spread the word
• Contacting local newspapers or radio stations about advertising
• Having good sales tactics the actual day of the sale
• Talking about it as much as you can!

If there’s anywhere to have a garage sale, it’s in Texas. Garage sales happen all the time down here, and people love them. If you’re looking to save some money or space during your move, a garage sale can definitely help you with that.

If you’re still looking for some people to help you move, Real Men Moving offers a wide variety of moving services in the central Texas area. Contact us today to get started.

Here at Real Men Moving, we’ll always use and recommend the highest quality packing materials such as bubble wrap and cardboard. We offer packing services, but most people opt to pack themselves, and use professional movers later. Sometimes, when helping unpack boxes, we see that the strangest materials for packing actually work! If you’re looking to save money or ran out of bubble wrap in an emergency, there’s always another way to pack. Here are a few.

1. Popcorn

As crazy as it sounds, popped popcorn really has the same effect on packing materials as packing peanuts and can be useful for fragile items. Popcorn is a very versatile packing item as it can pad almost anything and fit into tiny empty spaces in packages. If you plan on using this, make sure your popcorn isn’t buttery or anything as it can stain your items. Popcorn shouldn’t be used for things that take a long time to move also, as it does get stale.

2. Ziploc Bags

Nowadays, many big companies such as amazon like to use big air bags for packing instead of a bunch of peanuts or bubble wrap to save money. If you want to use something like an air bag but don’t have one, you can take a sandwich sized resealable bag for the same effect. Just fill it up with as much air as possible before you seal it, and it should be as puffy as an air bag.

A problem you may have with this is that your bag might not have been built with the idea of being a packing agent in mind, and it can pop or tear easily. But of course, this all depends on the bag, and what you’re shipping with it.

3. Junk mail, wrapping paper, and any other old paper you might have lying around!

One big move that happens in people’s lives is moving out of college, or back home between semesters. One thing to keep in mind if this is you, is to keep all those homework papers if you have any. You can crumble up just about any type of paper and use it as packing for certain items. If you have a lot of junk mail, wrapping paper, office paper, newspaper, or magazines, it can probably be used to help you move!

If you’re moving soon and need help with any area of the process, whether you need help with packing, materials, just some extra, labor, or just a truck, Real Men Moving can help. We operate in the central Texas area and do both commercial and local moving. If you’re moving around central Texas soon, contact us here today.