While it is often exciting and joyful, moving is stressful and a pain. A new adventure awaits—but you have a lot of packing and probably some serious heavy lifting to do before you get there.

It’s no doubt that mattresses are one of the bigger, literally, items to move. It is essential to have the very first night and yet one of the heaviest, bulkiest and most annoying to carry. They instantly incite dread into every mover.

We’ve helped thousands of new and existing customers with how to move a mattress and want to share our favourite tips to help make things a bit easier.

Before You Start Before you get started, you’ll want to take off your bedding and mattress protector and washthem (Also a great time to wash your pillows!) before you leave your old place. We recommend folding it and placing it in a clean bag with the toiletries and clothes that you’ve set aside for your first night in the new place. This will make it simple and easy to make your bed after a long, stressful day of moving.

Grab A Friend The buddy system is key to a lot of things in life, but especially to moving your mattress. Even if it is a Twin, having at least one other person carry the other end of the mattress is safer for you (and your back) and will prevent you from having to drag it along the ground, which is not sanitary and could potentially damage the mattress.

Get a Mattress Bag—With Handles No matter how careful you are, you are moving something that you spend a third of your life on. Spending approx. $20 on a mattress cover for moving to try to keep your mattress as clean as possible is worth it. These mattress bags act as a mattress protector for moving and are easy to slip on, easy to cut off and could make moving your mattress easier.

How do they make it easier? Handles. Some mattresses have handles, others do not. They are one of those things that really comes in handy when you need to move your mattress, and then not at all during the rest of the time. Mattress bags with handles just makes sense.

Use Your Arms Another great alternative to a mattress bag with handles are these Forearm Forklift Straps. These will make gripping your mattress a worry of the past and help to distribute the weight well. The plus side is that they can be used to lift and carry other large items, too.

Pancake It Apart from doorways and narrow hallways, carrying your mattress flat with one person on either end (or side depending on where the handles are) is easily the best way. Depending on how far you have to carry your mattress, preserving your arm strength (and saving your arms to move the rest of your items) will be key. By carrying it lower, at your hips, you’re able to save your arms, while also preventing the mattress from tripping up your feet.

OR Have Your Mattress Meet You There Sometimes a move is the perfect reason to buy a new mattress. Are you not sure whether or not you should invest in renting a truck big enough to fit a mattress or simply invest in a new mattress? Here are some criteria to tell you whether or not it’s worth looking for a new bed:

• Is your mattress seven or more years old? 
• Have you noticed that you have gotten increasingly uncomfortable on your mattress over the last year? 
• Does sleeping at a hotel make you feel less back pain? 
• Are you get better sleep on the mattress at your in-law’s house?
• Have you outgrown your full or queen-sized mattress?
• Have you gained a significant other or had a kiddo or two that could be waking you up and joining you in bed at 5:30 AM every day?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should consider whether you are ready, or it is in your budget, to purchase a new mattress for your new place.

No matter the route you take to your new place, rest assured you’ve got this. Moving certainly isn’t one of life’s most fun tasks, but the excitement of your next adventure will pull you through! Use these tips and please don’t hesitate to reach out to the team here at T&N if you have any questions!