Shiply’s Top Tips For Moving Home

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Louis Watton

Moving home is often quoted as one of the most stressful life events you can go through. Even finding somewhere to move in the first place is difficult these days, and moving your belongings, updating all of your information and getting to grips with a whole new area is a big undertaking. We can’t help with everything, but we have facilitated a few house moves in our time, so here are our top tips for making your house move as stress-free as possible:

Find A Great Delivery Company

The first and most important step to organising the logistics of a house move (besides actually finding a house to move into) is finding the right moving company for you. Moving companies come in many shapes and sizes, from what is essentially just a man and a van to ‘white-glove’ full-service packing and unpacking where you will barely have to lift a finger. Which service you go for will depend on your requirements, so before contacting any companies you should have a good idea of the timings of your move, the size of vehicle you will likely need and how many pairs of hands you will need to help you. Of course, Shiply can help you with finding a removals company for up to 75% less than standard rates!

Organise Your Packing

If you are doing the packing by yourself then the best method is to pack room by room, ensuring that each box is labelled for the room it will go into in your new home. This makes unpacking a lot easier on the other side as you can move boxes straight into the rooms they will stay in, minimising the amount of heavy lifting you need to do.

boxes being loaded into vehicle for house move

In terms of packing materials, you can buy cardboard boxes and bubble wrap/newspaper at most post offices or DIY shops, but if you want to try and get some for free (and reduce waste) then try asking local shops if they have any spare – they are often thrown out at the end of the day. You should ensure that each box is packed carefully and sensibly – think of it as a game of Tetris, the more you can fit in, the fewer boxes there are to move in total, and tightly packed boxes also mean that there is less space for items to move around and break.

With regards to fragile items such as crockery, we always recommend wrapping them individually in something like newspaper before putting them in a box as this greatly reduces the chances of breaks or scratches.

For furniture, if it can be disassembled then doing so is a good choice – not only does this reduce the size of the piece of furniture but it also reduces the risk of damage.

We also always recommend photographing the condition of valuable items prior to the move as this should help should any issues arise with damaged items.

Overnight Bag

One crucial piece of advice is to pack an overnight bag. Unpacking almost always takes longer than accounted for, and you can often find that it will take a few days to fully unpack everything in your new home. Further, the moving day itself can be highly stressful and you may want to just sit back and relax in your new home on the night. You should always pack an overnight bag when moving – something that contains everything you need for day-to-day living. Think phone chargers, underwear, and toiletries. You want access to these whatever state your house move is in.

Let People Know

You need to make sure that you let everyone who needs to know that you have moved. This will range from family members and friends to your work, bank, and utility companies. We recommend making a list of everyone who needs to know and setting aside an afternoon to just go through and get it done all in one go.

Check For Damage

You should always make sure to check for damage once your house moving company has dropped your items off. The sooner issues are raised the better, and you can use the photos you took before packing to help your case, although we hope it does not come to this!

We hope these tips can help to make your move a little easier, and remember, you can find movers who fit your exact needs for up to 75% less than standard rates on Shiply.

The 5 R’s That Can Help Save The Planet

Posted on September 24, 2021 by Louis Watton

As a company, we are nearing one of our landmark goals in our fight against climate change, having saved nearly 200 Million KG/CO2, but whilst we approach our target, we wanted to share some tips for how you can help with your own efforts to save the planet.

Since our inception in 2008, reducing the eco-waste in the transport industry has always been one of our founding principles, and we could not be more proud of the ongoing success we see with regards to this goal. With the Paris Climate agreement being debated at the moment, and Extinction Rebellion protesting their cause in increasingly public ways, climate change is very much at the forefront of people’s minds, and for good reason – it is something that we all need to be making an effort with, no matter how big or small.

We want to take this opportunity to share 5 great tips that you can use in everyday life to cut down on your carbon footprint, with a great way to remember them too! So here they are, the 5 R’s of waste reduction:

Refuse – Don’t need that plastic bag? Refuse it! One of the simplest changes we can make to our daily lives that can have a big effect on unnecessary waste is simply refusing things we don’t need. This can also save you cash as plastic bags, for example, will cost you anywhere from 5p – 30p depending on the store. Get yourself a tote bag or packable shoulder bag and never have to pay for plastic bags again! The same is true of things like straws and packaging, just be conscious of things you take that will most likely end up in the bin by the end of the day.

Reduce – Do you really need to take a bus if you could just as easily cycle (or even scoot)? Finding alternate methods of transport is a great way of cutting down on unnecessary emissions, and with considerable efforts being made to encourage this through the construction of cycle superhighways and the introduction of numerous rental transport methods, from Santander Cycles to Lime Scooters, getting from A to B in an eco-conscious way has never been easier or more convenient.

Re-use – Quite a straightforward one, if you don’t need to throw something away, don’t! Upcycling is a skill, but one that is worth learning as it can save your wallet and the planet if done correctly. Sew your jeans up, try and fix that phone, take your broken furniture to a carpenter – whatever it is, you will find that some things are easier and cheaper to fix than you would think.

Rot – Food waste is probably the least talked about method on this list, despite being one of the easiest to do. When food waste goes into the bin it will end up in a landfill where it takes up unnecessary space, or in an incinerator that uses energy to destroy it. Instead, you can actually turn your food waste into energy for your garden! Just start a compost bin in your garden where you put all of your food scraps and wait until it breaks down and it should be the best natural fertiliser you can find. If you don’t have a garden, food waste is still collected by many councils so they can make compost themselves, so make sure you are at least collecting it in a separate bag to your normal bin – food waste bags are available everywhere.

Recycle – Do we even have to tell you about this one? We shouldn’t, but we will anyway. You can recycle plastic, paper, cardboard and even metal and glass if you find the right place. It may take a tiny bit more effort than just chucking it in the bin, but just think how great you can feel about yourself knowing you are doing your part in the fight against climate change! Just do some quick research in your local area to find the best spots to recycle.

And there we have it, 5 super simple ways you can help to save our environment. Of course, as a sneaky sixth tip, if you do need to ship any items, use Shiply to find a driver who is going there anyway, knowing that your delivery has not caused any extra emissions into the atmosphere!

Shiply’s Recycling Tips for Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2019December 24, 2019 by Louis Watton

Whether it was the very public demonstrations of Extinction Rebellion or the passionate appeals of Greta Thunberg, there is no doubt that climate change and the current ecological state of our planet has been a hot topic of 2019 (and so it should be).

With one of the most notoriously excessive holidays just around the corner, we wanted to share some of our best suggestions on how to combat unnecessary waste this Christmas and make sure that you can enjoy the festivities in planet-saving style:

Food Waste

When it comes to Christmas dinner our eyes are always bigger than our stomachs. No matter how tasty your roast is there are always inevitably leftovers, and to make sure you are getting the most out of your food you should do one of two things:

Save them for another meal – remember Ross’ Christmas sandwich from Friends? You could recreate your very own ‘moist maker’, and believe me they are as good as they sound! Keeping leftovers means you can get multiple meals out of your food and keep the unnecessary waste at bay.

Use Food waste bins – if there are not enough leftovers to make a meal of, make sure you are disposing of the food in food waste bins. When food is disposed of improperly and ends up in a landfill it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas, whereas if it goes in the food waste bin it ends up as plant fertiliser!

Wrapping

Unwrapping presents can be one of the best parts of the day, but it certainly does leave behind a lot of rubbish. According to gov.uk, the amount of wrapping paper thrown away after Christmas would stretch to the moon! When all the gift-giving is finished, make sure you collect all the paper and cardboard up and put it in the recycling bin to ensure it is put to good use in the future.

Unwanted Presents

We all love receiving gifts at Christmas, but a lot of the time we receive things we don’t necessarily want. ‘Stocking fillers’ are the biggest culprit, and you may be wondering what to do with your seventh pack of Lynx Africa if you really don’t need it – here are some options:

Give them to charity – there are always people who need something more than you do and giving unwanted gifts to charity is an excellent way of guaranteeing the gift will be used and appreciated by someone in need.

Return it for something else, or even just for store credit – keep those receipts! Although it may ‘spoil’ the fun by revealing how much you have spent, supplying receipts with gifts means that they can always be returned for something else or for store credit rather than ending up unused or in the bin.

Sell them on – if you don’t have a receipt but don’t want to throw the gift away you can always sell it on sites like eBay and Gumtree, ensuring that it is still going to be used by someone and not put to waste. As an extra eco-bonus, use Shiply to deliver the sold items for up to 75% less than usual rates and to stop unnecessary traffic on the road by using someone who is already going there.

Merry Christmas from the team at Shiply!

Money saving ideas to cut the cost of your wedding

Posted on May 4, 2018 by admin

Image source: huffingtonpost.com

Wedding season has officially started. If you’re in the midst of planning yours, it can feel like every you breath you take you’re adding another extortionate cost to your big day. If you’re like most people (not Prince Harry and Meghan Markle), you probably have an eye constantly watching your budget, so here are some suggestions for keeping costs down by asking for a favour (or ten) and taking a creative approach to your wedding spending.

Decorations

Once you’ve decided on a theme/style, it can be tempting to go on Etsy or NotOnTheHighStreet.com and want to buy tons of hand-made individual pieces for every table, room and guest in that colour palette, but what you could do instead is browse for inspiration and make your own. eBay is also a great place to find craft materials and buying in bulk could save you a lot of money. Of course this tactic requires more time to get the work done, but with a few extra pairs of hands from the wedding party you could get the jobs done a lot faster.

Enlist help

If you have a friend that’s been on a calligraphy course, or just has lovely handwriting, get them to do the table names (or assess if you even need them). If you’ve got a family member that’s a graphic designer, see if they can design the invitations.

Wedding planning is the perfect time to ask for favours, and there’s something in it for them as they can swap their help rather than give a wedding present – so don’t be shy when asking your friend if you can hire their classic car or asking them to play the piano during the reception.

If you’re part of a local forum or community organisation, feel free to ask around there, too. You might find a local discount or friend of a friend that’s more than happy to help.

Dress

These days it’s not hard to find a great, low-cost wedding dress. Many high street stores have their own bridal collections, including Debenhams and Whistles, and ASOS have recently brought out a wedding collection, too.

If you don’t necessarily want to own a dress, consider hiring one, particularly if you can’t see yourself wearing it again. You can hire wedding dresses from designer rental sites like Girl Meets Dress or even from other people in your area online using apps like FatLama.com.

Bend the rules

On your day, you can bypass or stick with the traditions how you see fit, so if something is going to cost a lot of money and you don’t see the point of it, go ahead and leave it out. Whether it’s getting rid of favours, forgetting the veil or mixing up the day completely, just go for it!