I just finished moving for the 18th time in just 6 years so I am starting to think that I know a little bit about it. There are many ways to move and lots to go with it, depending on where you are moving of course. Whether you are moving to another home in the same neighbourhood or city, or if you’re moving a time zone away, there are things you have to consider. How are you going to move? And what needs to be done before and after I move?
The more I moved, the more stuff I seemed to have, being the youngest of 4 boys in the family, I was the lucky recipient of all the stuff they didn’t want such as furniture. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the fact that I didn’t spend a cent to furnish my home, it’s just that it’s hard to move it all when you’re by yourself so you have to expand your moving plans, as well as your methods of moving. Here are some moving tips to help you along.
How are you going to move?
- I started out by moving myself, since everything I owned could practically fit in a car, it took a while, but it was relatively easy to do and stress free. The benefit to this was it was the cheapest option, although it did take all day and is sometimes frustrating.
- By tricking your friends into helping you is a great plan if you can pull it off. If there are 5-6 of you moving stuff it can actually be pretty fun, at least when you’re almost done. The benefits are getting help and speeding up the move, and with the extra vehicles, it can make a long distance moves with less trips back and forth. Pizza and beer are usually acceptable methods of payment.
- Renting a U-Haul can make things easy, providing you are comfortable driving a big truck around. Depending on what you drive you could also rent a trailer. Renting a trailer is much cheaper than renting a box truck. Where these guys make all of their money is when you buy boxes and rent their moving equipment from them. So save your boxes, or ask grocery stores for some boxes, they always are looking to get rid of them.
- A few years ago my company needed me to relocate, and they would compensate for the costs involved for the move. I used a small company that works under Allied Moving which works all throughout North America, they were called Jays Moving. I couldn’t have been happier with my choice. They came to do an estimate, than on the day of the move they came and packed everything for me. They document everything, including the little scratches so that if something were to break in the move, they would cover the cost of whatever broke. They were very professional and made everything easy. The only thing I had to do was unpack. The downside to this is that it costs quite a bit to do, but if you are moving for work than you might be able to get them to pay for it.
What Needs To Get Done Before And After You Move?
First thing you want to do is get the address to your new place, than you can forward your mail starting at the date you actually move in. This costs around $90 for 12 months of mail forwarding. What happens is when your old post office receives your mail, they scan it, then the computer tells them that you are no longer there and the mail should be forwarded to your new address. Be sure to switch your utilities and cancel services such as cable. When you move it’s a good opportunity to go over your telephone, internet, cable/satellite providers and work out a deal. They always have specials going on, or if you like your current providers, they usually have moving programs that let them set up the service in your new home before you even get there.
Once you are all settled in take a drive around and familiarize yourself with your new neighbourhood. Meet the neighbours and start settling in.
Does anyone else have any other moving tips?