10 Signs You Must Have Been a Professional Mover in a Previous Life

Have you ever wondered how you get to know specific things and possess certain skills that you are 100% sure that you never learned in your life?

At least not in this life, that is.

And did you know that a house move provides the perfect setting for your innate ability to surprise yourself? Super-useful things you never thought you knew. Crazy-practical skills you never suspected you had.

And there’s just no way you may have forgotten that you’ve worked as a professional mover, right? Right.

But here’s the best part: you may have worked as a professional mover in a previous life.

Now, how crazy is that?!?

Here are the 10 signs that you must have been a professional mover in your previous life.

1. You rely on a detailed moving checklist, BIG time

One good hint that you must have been a professional mover in your previous life is that you take pride in your exceptional organizational skills and you always follow a moving checklist down to a T.

Professional movers do understand that proper organization can be the difference between a hugely successful house move and a fairly disastrous one. And somehow you too seem to have grasped the moving checklist concept. Who told you that amazing house moving tactic?

You refuse to start working on your move-related tasks before you have a super-detailed moving checklist in your hands that will

• guide you throughout the entire house moving process,
• help you manage your time in the best possible way by hinting you what your next task should be,
• manage the build-up of moving stress by assuring you that you’ll ready for Moving day,
• speed up your preparation, especially when it comes to the arduous job of packing for a move.

It can be really useful to be able to remember all the lessons you’ve learned from past lives, don’t you think?

The greatest moving checklist of all time

2. You pack fragile items with plenty of padding materials

Packing for a move is a serious task that should be taken seriously. After all, nobody wants to find some or most of their valuable possessions damaged and broken beyond repair after the move is over.

You look at all the extra-fragile and super-delicate items in your home – kitchen plates and various pieces of chinaware, glasses and cups, pictures and mirrors, lamps, jewelry pieces, sensitive electronic devices (TV, desktop computer, monitor, printer) – and you’re sure that there is no way you can protect those breakables for a move.

And yet, before you know it, you’re

• strengthening and securing the cardboard boxes with packing tape,
• wrapping all fragile items in soft packing paper as a first protective layer, then
• wrapping those breakables in sheets of bubble wrap as the outer layer of protection,
• filling up all empty gaps inside the boxes with crumpled paper and bubble wrap to make sure those breakables are not shifting during transport,
• using thick furniture blankets to protect large items that are susceptible to damage.

Seriously though, who taught you the best way to pack fragile items for moving?

How to pack fragile items for moving

3. You instinctively take up a marker and label each moving box

Even without any move-related experience, you still manage to surprise yourself by taking a black marker and labeling each moving box the minute you pack it up.

You realize that you label those cardboard boxes by instinct, without even thinking about it. Strangely, your hands seem to know exactly what to write on those packing containers as if they had done it countless times before.

And then it hits you – you must have been a professional packer in one of your previous lives. That’s right, it can be the only explanation as to why you’re labeling box after box with the flawless technique of a person who has been trained rigorously in the art of packing.

You realize you have a long-term muscle memory for labeling boxes when packing for a move, and that’s really odd because you don’t remember doing it before that moment:

• You write down the content of the box you’ve just packed;
• You mark down the destination room for each box for easier identification after the move;
• You add important handling instructions in black or red letters for whoever will be moving the box: FRAGILE, HANDLE WITH CARE, THIS SIDE UP.

How to label boxes for moving

4. You navigate that moving dolly like a pro dolly driver

You’re moving out for the first time and yet you do exactly what an experienced professional mover would do. What’s going on?

Not only do you know the main difference between a furniture dolly and an appliance dolly, but you also seem to know perfectly well how to use a moving dolly to move heavy and large items out of the home and then load them onto the moving truck.

Professional movers rely heavily on moving dollies, and apparently, so do you. Just out of nowhere, you are well aware

• which type of moving dolly to use for the different types of household items,
• how to load heavy furniture and appliances onto the specialized piece of moving equipment using gravity as a helper,
• how to secure the heavy loads onto the moving dolly with the help of straps and rope,
• how to navigate the loaded dolly through small doorways, narrow hallways, and even up and down the stairs.

Moving Dolly Handling used to be a secret skill mastered and shared only among top professional movers. Not anymore.

Moving equipment you must have when moving

5. You’re a big believer in Many hands make light work

Have you noticed how professional movers always work in teams? Even if there are only a couple of movers working on your move, they are a team and will be handling the majority of strenuous tasks together.

And even though you’ve never worked as a professional mover, you also seem to understand the notion that many hands will not only make light work, but will also make the work safer.

As a result, you decide to reach out to your friends for assistance rather than run the risk of injuring yourself or inflicting property damage when you try to handle it all by yourself.

So, with all the house moving experience you’ve gained from a past life, you

• ask your friends to help you pack and move as early as you can in order to minimize the unavoidable disruption of their own plans,
• don’t get mad at friends who refuse to lend you a hand but try to understand and respect their motives,
• show that you value their time by being ready for their arrival,
• prepare thank-you gifts for your pals to show your gratitude for their willingness to help you out.

Still want proof that you were a relocation expert in a previous life? You do understand the power of teamwork!

How to get friends to help you move

6. You’ve mastered the proper lifting techniques

One of the top secrets of professional movers is how they are able to lift and carry heavy items day in and day out without getting injured. And strangely enough, you also seem to know that well-kept secret even though you don’t remember anyone teaching you the proper lifting techniques.   

Without a doubt, getting injured in any way is the worst thing that can happen during a house move… but not to you, not when you know these special techniques for moving heavy objects.

That’s right, you must have been an experienced mover in a previous life because you

• keep a stable base with your feet before you lift a heavy item – feet that are shoulder-width apart with one foot slightly forward,
• have a proper back posture – keeping your back straight and your shoulders back,
• bend your knees, never your back as you know that leg muscles are much more powerful than back muscles,
• keep a good grip by wearing high-quality work gloves for improved safety,
• keep the heavy items close to your body to maintain your stability;
• move slowly and smoothly, without any abrupt movements that can overload a specific part of your body.

Unless you’ve been trained as a moving professional, there’s just no way you can be familiar with all those safety tips when moving heavy items. And yet you are.

7. You know exactly what it takes to maintain safety on Moving day

Moving day is the most chaotic and unpredictable period during a move. And unless strict safety measures are taken, the day of the move tends to come with a number of both obvious and hidden dangers for everyone involved.

At first, you appear to be genuinely worried about everyone’s safety and wellbeing, but on the morning of the Big day, you suddenly start showing a deep understanding of what Moving day safety is all about.

You have no idea how you may have acquired that safety expert knowledge but your timely actions do succeed in keeping you, your family and even your pets perfectly protected against injuries and accidents of any kind.

• You convince everyone to wear comfortable clothes and closed shoes with ankle support and anti-slip soles.
• You inspect the exit routes out of the house and make sure those paths are clean and obstacle-free, with no dust, mud, water or snow on them.
• You make sure no young children or pets are present near the packing and moving epicenters.
• You use proper lifting techniques to prevent injuries on the day of the move.
• You use the right type of moving equipment – aka a moving dolly – to wheel out large and heavy household items.

Tips to avoid injuries during a move

8. Efficiency has become a second nature for you

As soon as you start working on your move-related tasks, one thing that you notice is that you keep finishing those tasks way too fast, without compromising safety in any way. And you begin to feel more and more perplexed as you keep tackling a job after job, for such uncanny efficiency is only displayed by reputable movers with many years of relocation experience, not from a person who has little to zero moving experience (hint: you).

Yes, you feel genuinely baffled as to why, all of a sudden, you are able to work efficiently like a professional mover. And there’s only one logical explanation to the mystery: you really must have been a pro movers in your previous life.

• You start packing immediately because you know that project is the most time-consuming one in your moving checklist.
• You inventory your possessions and pare them down so that you pack and move only the ones you’ll need in the new home.
• You prepare all necessary packing supplies in advance so that the packing process does not get interrupted too often.
• You start packing from the storage areas as those are the most difficult rooms to sort and pack.
• You pack hanging clothes as they are, straight from the dresser to save time.
• You leave dressers and chests of drawers full as long as they contain soft goods that cannot get damaged.

Whoever thought that a non-professional could ever match the practical efficiency of professional movers?

9. You recognize and reward hard work by tipping movers

The mere fact that you recognize the hard work by your moving team may be a sign that you were a professional mover a few lifetimes back and you know exactly how the hired laborers feel when they put maximum effort into your house move.

Some people can get seriously stressed out whether they should tip their movers or not. However, you know perfectly well that there isn’t any dilemma to solve because

• you choose to tip movers if they did a great job packing and moving your prized possessions and you’re really happy with their professional attitude and how they handled the move from start to finish,
• you choose NOT to tip movers at all if they did a lousy job protecting your things for the road, if they were rude and disrespectful on Moving day, or if they were seriously late, forcing you to wait for them for hours without proper explanation.

Tipping movers is a personal choice that will depend on many variables. Now, how much to tip movers? Well, that’s easy because you should remember that very well.

How much to tip movers: Be smart when tipping movers

10. You know packing and moving hacks that only the pros know

If there was any doubts whether or not you had been a mover in a previous life, those doubts will be put to rest end the minute you show your rich repertoire of packing and moving tricks that only true professionals can possess. 

How could you else know any of the following movers’ tricks and hacks?

• Placing sliders under heavy furniture and appliances will enable you to slide those big and heavy items effortlessly across the room, without any risk of floor damage too.
• Wrapping a drawer completely in stretch wrap will help you move that drawer safely together with its content in order to speed up the packing task.
• Taking a door off its hinges (temporarily) will give you a few extra inches of space, hopefully enough to get a large piece of furniture through the doorway without having to disassemble the unit first.
• Placing clean and strong garbage bags over hanging clothes will let you speed-pack those clothes directly from the dresser, together with their hangers.
• Filling all gaps inside a cardboard box with wads of paper will immobilize the fragile items packed inside the moving container and will keep them protected.

Clearly, it’s impossible to know the above packing and moving tricks… unless you were either a professional mover in one of your previous lives or you’re a regular visitor to our Moving Blog.