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The act of moving, whether it’s to an auction house, storage, or your new home, can end up being a huge cost and really eat into any returns you make from sales. If you’re doing it yourself, you can cut down on the distance, time, and number of stops you can reduce the time spent driving considerably, and avoid the risk of having to carry into a second day.

Here are a few tips to make your move more efficient

1.) Call Ahead

This seems obvious, but make sure that wherever you’re headed, you call ahead to make sure you can be accommodated.

If you’re heading to an auction house, make an appointment for your delivery.

If you’re going to deliver donations, make sure they’re able to take them when you turn up. This one can be a little tricky as there can be lots of different staff with different standards of what they can and can’t accept. Try to find one person who will confirm that they’ll take what you’re bringing, and be sure they will be there when you arrive.

Even when tipping it’s best to call ahead. Each tip charges differently, and will accept different items. Make sure you know whether the tip you intend to go to charge by weight or volume. It can make a huge difference in cost; a small truck load can be over $1000 if charged my volume, but be under $300 if charged by weight. If you’re using a truck, be sure to check that the tip you’re heading to will even let you in; some suburban transfer stations will not allow non commercial trucks to dump there.

2.) Plan Your Route

Once you’ve worked out where you can take everything, it’s best to plan your route to ensure you end up with an empty truck. If you’re planning a day to remove everything you’re not keeping, start with saleable items going to action, then donates, then tipping. No matter what assurances you’ve had from auction houses and charities that they’ll take what you have there’s nothing to stop them from seeing it and knocking it back. It may have a stain you didn’t notice, or be heavier than they want to deal with, or it could just be that someone else dropped off similar items and they don’t want to over stock. Whatever the reason, it’s best to have a route that ends at the tip, so if all else fails you can still end the day with an empty truck.

A little planning goes a long way, and with any project it’s best to reduce the number of assumptions. By calling ahead you reduce the risk of your items not being accepted or tipping fees being higher than they should, and by planning your route appropriately you can make sure you get the most out of your time.