By Relocation.com Staff
You've picked a moving company and started to plan your move. Here are the major mistakes people make when getting ready to relocate.
1. No Plan: Moving involves many tasks that need to be coordinated. Without a plan, you will not have a full sense of what you need to accomplish, what things you should accomplish at each point along the way, and how to track what you've accomplished and what remains to be done. (Print out the Relocation.com moving checklist, or see our moving 'to do' lists.)
2. Not Budgeting: Don't lose track of the little expenses when planning your move, and understand how these costs fit into your overall budget. Some of these costs include travel to your new home, auto transport, temporary living expenses, insurance, and fees to set up your new utilities. Our Relocation.com moving calculator can help you plan for all these expenses.
3. Buried in Paper: As you plan your move, you should aware of the special lingo used by moving companies. These include your order for service, which your moving company will give you after you hire them to do your move; a bill of landing, which you sign after the moving company loads your items in the moving van; and the mover's inventory, which details all the things the moving company has loaded on the van -- it is very important for you to check this list before signing it at the beginning and end of your move. For more on these terms, see this story on moving paperwork.
4. Panicking at Packing: Most people panic at the idea of packing, and end up throwing everything together quickly. It's no surprise people get stressed when packing -- they have no plan. So get one. A simple plan includes having all your supplies well before your move and putting them in the right rooms, and labeling your boxes in a way that identifies what's a priority to unpack at your new home. This article will give you a packing plan in 10 minutes.
5. Changing Your Move Plan but Not Telling Anyone: It's fine to change some things about your move, whether it's the move-out date, or deciding you actually DO want to bring the appliances with you. However, you must tell your moving company. In fact, you can never tell them TOO much. Some things might affect your estimate, and it's better to work that out now rather than do it during the stress of moving.
6. Not Taking Care of the Pets or the Kids: Pets and kids get in the way during a move, so see if neighbors or friends can watch them during the move. If not, identify a room at your old house and your new house where they can stay while the movers do their job.
7. Misunderstanding Your Insurance Options: During a move, things can go wrong, and your household items often won't be covered under your homeowners or renters policy. You're covered minimally by your moving company, so you can either accept this coverage, opt for higher coverage through your mover, or seek out companies that sell moving insurance.
8. Not Taking Care of Things in Advance: There are many things you can do before your move day. Do them. Change your address, switch your utilities, transfer all medical and dental records, etc. You'll feel glad to get them out of the way so you can concentrate on the other details of your move.
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