Nothing beats the thrill of moving into a new home. By doing so, you can get a fresh start and enjoy more of what life has to offer.
However, things may get chaotic and stressful during a house move. Given the volume of work you must accomplish, it’s easy to make mistakes.
Although making mistakes is normal, house-moving mistakes will, unfortunately, cost you time, energy, and money. To ensure the success of your house move, you’ll need to do your best to keep it error-free from start to finish.
Fortunately, this post contains the most common mistakes that homeowners make when planning a house move. By becoming aware of them, you can devise an effective strategy to avoid them. Continue reading below.
1. Refusing To Hire Professional Movers
Hiring professional movers is an affordable option if you want to avoid the strain that typically sets in around the middle of your moving day. These companies have the necessary equipment, supplies, and training to ensure a safe and smooth move. Besides that, they finish the job much more quickly.
So, whether you need help packing everything up or just want someone to come in and help you load and transfer your boxes and furniture to your new house, it might be a mistake not to hire professional moving companies.
2. Not Keeping A Moving Inventory List
If you have plenty of things in your home, it would be a mistake to neglect keeping track of all of them.
Keeping track of your belongings during a house move will grant you a lot of benefits. Doing so will help you pack and unpack more efficiently, protect your belongings when moving, declutter your home, and assist you in remembering what you have.
Making an inventory list is ultimately a great way to make your house move smooth sailing, simple, and less stressful.
3. Not Choosing Movers That Conduct Visual Estimates
Sometimes, moving companies provide quotations over the phone or via email, even when they haven’t physically inspected the items you wish to move.
Remember that it’s usually ideal to request cost estimates from movers after they’ve had a chance to see your belongings in person. In this manner, you wouldn’t be caught off guard by the fees you must pay.
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4. Failing To Consider Cost-Cutting Options
One of the most common mistakes made while relocating is failing to investigate all options for minimizing moving costs. After all, relocating is not cheap, so you should look for ways to save money during the process.
To save money, you can do a number of different things such as the following:
- Decluttering: To avoid packing items you might no longer need, you should consider decluttering. This will help keep your moving costs down and ensure that you only carry the essentials.
- Utilizing old boxes: Instead of purchasing new boxes, you can reuse the ones that you already have. Make sure they’re still in good shape and can transport large or fragile items. This is a low-cost, eco-friendly method of packing your belongings.
- Pack everything yourself: While packing services are convenient, they may raise your costs. So, if it’s possible, do the packing yourself. Don’t forget to label your boxes with a permanent marker for easy item identification and use bubble wraps to protect your breakables. It’s important to note, however, that packing high-value items may necessitate special care. So, unless you have the appropriate packing materials, it is advisable to hire a professional.
5. Overlooking Safety On Moving Day
Although relocating can be exciting, it can also come with risks. A minor slip can quickly escalate into a catastrophic incident. So, on moving day, you need to be proactive and take safety precautions to avoid expensive property damage or even injuries of any kind.
To guarantee your safety and that of your loved ones on the day you move, keep the following things in mind:
- Always use the proper moving tools to protect yourself and your belongings. When moving your appliances, a soft-wheeled dolly should be utilized.
- Get rid of anything that could cause a hazard in your home, and make sure that the doors and windows are secure.
- On moving day, ask a trusted friend or family member to watch your children or pets so you can focus on getting everything packed and ready to go.
- Use straps to support your back and shoulders while lifting heavy objects or use a pair of durable gloves to avoid getting splinters or nails in your hands.
6. Not Prioritizing Your Utilities
Before relocating, you’ll want to make sure that the utilities in your new home have already been set up. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to move around easily or settle down if you don’t have electricity or water.
So, contact your service providers at least a month before your move because it’s crucial to ascertain whether your utilities can be moved with you; if not, you’ll need to get in touch with the providers near your new location.
Additionally, it would be beneficial to create a list of the utilities you’ll require so that you can make preparations in advance.
7. Packing At The Last Minute
Putting off the packing process is one of the worst things you can do when moving. If you have a lot of belongings, packing them can take much longer than you anticipate.
So, start packing as early as you can because doing so at the last minute will result in delays and errors that could have been avoided. Keep in mind that you should no longer be packing on the day you move.
8. Failing To Ensure The Security Of Your New Home
If you fail to secure your new home, you may endanger yourself and your loved ones. Successful break-ins frequently occur in residences without installed security systems.
Therefore, it would be advisable to invest in security equipment such as motion sensors, burglar alarms, and surveillance cameras.
You may also replace the locks on all outside doors to ensure that only those with the keys can enter.
It’s also wise to double-check the locks on all the windows and doors, and have fully functional fire extinguishers and smoke detectors that are properly positioned on every level of your home.
9. Scheduling Your Move On Rush Hour
Moving is already a stressful event, but you may reduce the stress by scheduling it at the right time. Relocating during rush hour is not only difficult, but it can also be very inconvenient. Traffic congestion also wastes time and fuel, raising your overall cost.
Take a day or two off from work so you can oversee the move and look for the best routes that have little to no traffic.
Additionally, you can have the moving companies come early so you can start relocating before rush hour begins. You can also plan your move during off-peak hours. This way, there will be more movers available, and prices may also be lower.
10. Packing In An Unorganized Way
You don’t have to be an expert at packing, but you do need to have things neat and organized. Avoid putting items of different classifications in the same box. For example, you should keep fragile things away from anything dangerous.
Another useful packing trick is to sort your things into groups based on the rooms they’ll be going to. You can begin with the items in the bedroom and move on to the next when you’re finished.
This will allow you to check off each item on your list and ensure that nothing is left behind. Lastly, try to be as clean as you can so you don’t feel frustrated when you unpack and see a messy box.
11. Not Inquiring About Non-Transportable Items
In case you are unaware, there are a few items that professional movers can’t move for you.
Although they would love to assist you with your relocation, they are not permitted to transport the following items: firearms or ammunition, chemicals, livestock, plants, heat-sensitive items, and perishables.
Due to safety and legal considerations, they are unable to transport such items. Hence, it may be beneficial to inquire with your moving company about which items they will not move.
12. Not Keeping A Backup Of Your Computer
Do you plan on taking your desktop computer with you when you relocate? You have to keep in mind that anything can happen to your computer while it’s in transit. You could lose some valuable data on your PC and some parts of the hardware could get damaged.
Therefore, you should back up your important files and store them on an external hard drive or flash drive. You can also utilize cloud storage like Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, or other file hosting services.
Suppose you plan on entrusting your computer to moving companies. In that case, you should disconnect and transport the hard drive yourself to protect any confidential information you might have on your computer.
Final Thoughts
Planning a house move is a complex thing to do—the smallest oversight could have serious consequences. If you want to spare yourself the hassle and anxiety associated with moving, it’s important to plan and avoid making the above mistakes.
Don’t be in a hurry as you might end up forgetting things or overlooking important matters. Avoiding the typical house move hiccups can ensure that everything goes well.