Any long distance move is set to have its share of frustrations, especially when moving cross-country. The obstacles and frustrations that come in hand with a lengthy move like this cause both emotional and financial stress on a level few other life events can. Though most renters are moving cross country to create an exciting change in their lives, the move across the country is not exciting. It doesn’t have to be a disaster, though. You’ve done your job and scouted out the perfect apartment; our job as moving professionals at Oz Moving & Storage is to make this move as easy on the mind and the wallet as possible. These tips are what have allowed us to eliminate as much hassle when moving cross country as possible.
Getting There With Less Stress
Most of the battle in eliminating your long distance moving stress comes down to adequate preparation. This preparation primarily involves knowing what you need to do and when you need to do it. Long Distance moving isn’t something that people do very often, so naturally, not a lot of people will have experience with the process; that’s where we come in.
Create an inventory list
Though it’s tedious, it is tremendously helpful to have all your belongings catalogued for reference. This will give any moving companies or service providers an exact amount to use in price quotes for moving your inventory, and give you an idea of how many boxes you’ll need to fully pack the home up for moving.
Try Creating a Checklist
While not completely necessary, a checklist can help any cross country mover keep track of when they need to complete various tasks and their progress in doing so. This checklist can include moving related tasks like packing and contacting moving companies as well as updating important documents like a drivers’ license and voter registration. The Oz Moving checklist is a good place to start, though each move is different.
Keep the “essentials box”
The cross country moving process can be unpredictable, especially when it comes to the “delivery window”. Delays and unforeseen circumstances are all too commonplace. There’s always a chance the items on the truck will take longer than expected to arrive at their destination. Having everyday and emergency items on your person rather than on the truck is absolutely vital for surviving a cross country move. This could also help you prevent any emergency spending at the destination of your long distance move, which will keep the overall cost of the process lower. Make sure to pack these kinds of items, like hygiene products and certain clothing.
Ensuring Security on the Cross Country Move
Keeping your belongings secure and in yourself in good hands during the cross country moving process is an important step to assuaging your moving stress.
Use proper moving boxes
During a long distance move, items will be handled by multiple teams of workers and travel in a truck across a large stretch of miles and a long period of time. Using high-quality moving boxes instead of reusing cheap gas station boxes is key to ensuring your items’ security over their lengthy, arduous journey. If you wouldn’t pack a certain way for long term storage, don’t pack that way for a long distance move. Items need to be packed not only in the right boxes; they should also be secured inside the boxes with buffers like packing tape and bubble wrap. Special items have boxes engineered for their design, like mattresses and flat-screen TVs, that should only be used when packing these items.
Get Insurance
For anyone that feels extra anxiety about damage to or loss of their items during a cross country move, insurance can provide additional peace of mind. Moving companies offer only very basic insurance that won’t cover the full value of items being moved. “If you care about your household goods, then the alternative is to insure your goods with moving insurance from a commercial insurance company”, says Randy Weddle of Baker Insurance. “If an item is damaged by a professional mover the insurance company will repair, replace with alike kind and quality or pay you replacement cost at today’s cost. Same with missing or a catastrophic loss such as an act of God loss.”
Saving Money
A cross country moving process is an expensive process. Everyone likes to save here and there when they can, and there are a few ways to do so when moving a long distance.
Reduce your inventory
One of the keys to saving money while moving is traveling light. Cut down on the amount of items being moved, and you’ll start seeing the quotes from moving companies drop. Items like furniture, media (Books, CDs, DVDs, Video Games, etc.), and clothing can often be replaced. The items deemed unnecessary can be sold for extra spending money during the move, donated to charity, or simply tossed out, depending on the usefulness of the item.
Be Flexible
The moving industry is highly demand elastic, mostly because people cannot choose when they have to move or don’t give themselves wiggle room on when they have to move. Many people have to move around the same time per year: towards the end of each month, or any time during the summer. With more demand, supply becomes harder to find and price for part of that supply increases. Anything an individual can do to increase their flexibility when it comes to picking their moving date will likely give them an opportunity to take advantage of a lower price.
