As a foreign student studying in Singapore, most of us typically are not fortunate enough to purchase our own property (or rather, have our parents purchase the home for us). As such, we need to rent either HDB flats (government housing in Singapore) or higher end condos.

The thing about renting is that you don’t tend to stay in one place for too long and will move from one location to another. Since I recently moved home not too long ago, I think it’s a good time to share my experiences with it while it is still fresh in my mind.

Do Your Research by Reading Articles on Moving

I’m quite methodical on how I do things and it was no different when I decided to move homes. I researched quite a few interesting moving articles before my move (such as this and this) and they proved to be quite useful. I hope that this article will also add value to people who are in the midst of moving homes.

Create a List of Things You Want Moved

I love creating lists, so this came easy to me. In fact, I wished that I had done it sooner! Keeping a running lists of things that you have will make it so much easier when you tend to move homes quite frequently. Of course, I the list only contains the items that are most important to me, as well as their prices.

Work with Trusted Moving Companies

I have to say that it was tempting to try to move on my own, especially since I did not have that many large items to bring with me. I have a lot of strong, helpful friends who I’m sure would not have minded to help me move in return for some lunch. But in the end, I engaged a professional moving company (A Star Transportation) to  help me move house. I’m quite glad that I did as it turned out that there was more work than I anticipated and it would have been so much harder without the help of professional movers.

Do Your Own Packing

If you’re a perpetually broke student like me, then you want to try to save as much money as possible. Did you know that your moving company will charge you for packing and packing materials? I did not know that, and was a bit surprised when my movers told me this. But it does make sense though. This means that you should do your own packing if you are looking to save a buck (which I am, of course). Packing your own stuff also makes it easier for you once you reach your new home as you will know where your stuff is.

Submit Your Moving Form with Your Condo Management

If you are living in a condo, then there are additional steps that you need to take. You can’t just show up on some random Saturday morning and hope to be allowed to move into your new home.

Instead, you need to check with your condo on their rules when it comes to moving in and moving out. Some condos do not allow anyone to move during the weekends while others may only let people move in or out of the condo during the weekend mornings. The last thing you want happen is that you are stuck arguing with the security guards with all your stuff in the moving lorry and the condo management won’t allow you to move in.

Thankfully, I submitted my moving forms much early. But I didn’t know about this until it happened to one of my friends and she had a horrible time moving. Mine wasn’t so bad, and I hope this article will make yours much easier as well.