Mooving day is just around the corner and we can only imagine how anxious you are to get settled into your new home! In order to prepare for this transition, you and your family will probably be spending a lot of time doing things like packing boxes, cleaning walls, transferring utility accounts, filling holes in the wall from the T.V. mounting bracket you tried to install last year but ended up taking out a chunk of drywall instead… the usual stuff! While you know that most of the “big” stuff is going to be taken care of by your trusty bovine movers, you will probably end up doing some heavy lifting anyway to clear rooms or hallways of large items. What you may not realize is how susceptible to injury your body is when you are lifting heavy objects!
Follow these five simple tips to avoid that “Doh!” moment when you’re trying to dead-lift your refrigerator by yourself:
- Never lift with your back. What does that even mean? It means when you are bent over picking something up, keep your head up and your back straight, then lift with your legs. You can do some serious damage to your muscles and spine if you don’t use proper form when doing heavy lifting!
- Plan your route ahead of time. So you’re moving your 46” Flatscreen TV off of the entertainment center and into another room to make moving day easier. You grab the TV thinking, this thing isn’t too heavy, I should be fine. Wrong. Next thing you know you trip on the power cord because you forgot to wrap it around the TV and you land right in your cat’s kitty litter box… or worse, you try to open a door while you’re holding the TV and it crashes to the floor in a shockingly terrible “no more Monday night football” kind of way. Prevent these atrocities by planning out the details of your trip from the living room to the garage.
- Work smarter, not harder. So you notice the coffee table is in the way of where you are moving boxes through the living room. You think to yourself, “I’ll just throw it in the garage for now and get it out of my way.” Smart thinking. The table only weighs 15 lbs at most. (Come on! It’s from Ikea!) Here’s the problem: lifting 15 lbs is no sweat, but lifting a coffee table is incredibly awkward for one person! You just can’t get a proper grip on the thing because of its dimensions. Rather than going at it alone, just grab your buddy and have him help you move it. Yes, we know it’s only 15 lbs. No, we won’t question your masculinity or femininity if you ask for help.
- Wear gloves. This one is a must do if you want to keep those pretty hands nice and soft. Plus it helps if you have sweaty palms when you’re trying to move a stack of boxes to your car to keep things from slipping out of your grip.
- Keep your friends close. Pizza helps. Believe it or not, you aren’t superman. If you are, skip this tip. You’re going to want help during your move. You will inevitably forget things, and that’s what friends are for anyway. Have at least one person helping you, even if they are making sandwiches for the both of you, the good company will keep you motivated!