Moving homes are likely to be high up there on the list of domestic things that most people dread. Apart from the fear of settling into a new neighborhood with entirely new people, the process of gathering all your possessions, packing them and getting them over to your new home can be very stressful.

It doesn’t have to be so, however. With the right strategies in place, you can have a moving experience that’ll go against the grain and actually be convenient and fun. Here are five tips to help you achieve that:

1. Choose the Right Company

No other factor is going to be more important than this. The experience and efficiency of the moving team will largely determine the speed of the process, the safety of your items and how well you’ll be able to manage space in the moving vehicle. Choose company by relying on referrals from friends and family or extensively researching the company’s reviews online to see how well they’re regarded by former clients.

2. Give the Movers All Essential Info

Do you have some furniture in the upper floors that won’t come down the stairwell easily due to their size? Do you have some exceptionally heavy or fragile items? You should let the movers know this in advance so they can make the plans they need to, bring the extra manpower or the tools necessary to get your items into the vehicle and out into your new home. Ideally, they’ll come for a pre-inspection, so you should take that opportunity to show them all the potential trouble spots, as well as to discuss the possibility of moving discounts.

3. Label Everything

The easiest way for your precious inherited china to get broken while you’re moving is for the box to be handled without the knowledge that it contains fragile items. Avoid such incidences by labeling every single box you have, detailing the contents and whether or not it’s fragile. After doing that, be sure to inform the movers about the labels and the explanations of any uncommon terms you’ve used. Beyond the packing, labeling the boxes will help when it comes to unpacking and moving your stuff into the new house since you’ll already know what’s inside which box.

4. Plan the Loading Sequence Beforehand

A lot of time can be wasted when you’re packing and moving stuff into the moving van, and then having to remove because there’s no space and you want to rearrange the boxes or items. You can easily avoid that by asking for the dimensions of the moving van that’s coming and then working with one of the movers to visualize how exactly all your boxes and items will fit. There’ll likely be a need for some improvisation anyway, but it’s far better than just trying to cram everything in.

5. Get Things Ready at The New Place

You should scope the place you’re moving to thoroughly to see if there are any features that’ll make it difficult to move your things in. In some places, you might also need to book the service elevator in advance so be sure to find out the policies where you’re moving to so you don’t have your things outside for too long while your sort any issue out.