How to Make Your Move Easier

Moving can be a stressful time for many people.  This article will give you some tips to be prepared, avoid some of the stress, and save some money along the way.  The first thing to do is to answer some key questions before you can begin your preparations:

1)      Do you have sufficient time available to pack and load your belongings?

2)      Are you able to load your belongings without additional help?

3)      Do you need temporary storage for your belongings prior to moving to your new location?

If you determine that you do not have time to pack and load your belongings then there are a number of options you can take:

a)      Hire a moving company to handle the entire move

b)      Hire someone to only pack your belongings

c)      Hire someone to only load your belongings

d)     Hire someone to pack and load your belongings

If you plan to hire a moving company, then you want to be cautious about finding a reputable company.  Everyone has probably heard a horror story about a moving company that lost, broke, misplaced, or outright stole items.  This link from the American Moving and Storage Association (AMSA) has information about finding a “Certified Moving Consultant”.  This is one way to protect yourself and eliminate some of the risk associated with hiring a moving a company.

If you’ve ruled out hiring a moving company to move your belongings then you may want to consider hiring individuals to just pack, just load, or do both.  There are now ways to find to find individuals online that will do these activities for you.  These sites typically have rating systems similar to Ebay so you can see how the individuals are rated before you hire them.  I recently hired two individuals in the Houston area who helped me move.  They were two very capable gentlemen who helped me for 4 hours and charge me approximately $200.  They loaded and unloaded all my heavy and bulky furniture and even moved it upstairs in the new home.  I used eMove which is affiliated with U-Haul to find my moving helpers.  The one downside to hiring movers is that you will need to rent your own moving van.

If you are opposed to renting a moving van or need temporary storage for your belongings then there is another good option.  A number of companies will now rent you a storage container to store and move your belongings.  I used this option when we moved from an apartment to our first house.  It was an extremely easy and surprisingly inexpensive option.   Here’s how it works:

1)      You determine the size of the container you need

2)      The container company drops the container at your location

3)      You load your belongings in the container

4)      The container company picks up the container and brings it to their storage location

5)      When you are ready for the container they drop it at your new location

This process has several key advantages over renting a storage unit.  The first and most important for me was that I did not have to unload and reload my belongings at the store unit.  Secondly, the cost to store a container was significantly less than the comparable cost to rent a storage unit.  Lastly, I did not have to rent any type of moving van to have my belongings moved.

I was very surprised at how little the items moved around in the container during the entire process.  Also, during the storage period I needed access to some of my belongings.  The process to get access to my belongings only required that I call them the day before so they could make my container available in the warehouse.  I then went to the warehouse and found what I needed and afterwards they put it back in storage.  If you are considering using a storage container company, here are some key questions you may want to ask:

a)      What is the charge to drop a container at your starting location?

b)      What is the size of the container that will be dropped?

c)      What is the daily charge for having the container at your location?

d)     Is there an additional charge to pick up the container at your starting location?

e)      What is the daily storage rate while being stored at their facility?

f)       Do they offer insurance for you belongings?  What does the insurance cover?

g)      Will they store the container inside or outside?  Is the inside storage climate-controlled?

h)     What is the charge to drop a container at your destination?

There are several companies that offer storage containers such as PODS or Door to Door.  You should use the questions above as a starting point for finding a good fit for you.

Well, I hope these tips help make your move a little easier and I wish you good luck!

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