I am listing things in what I've found to be the vital order. (Scary, hey?)
- First: Buy yourself a notebook and some post-it flags like the ones you find at this website: http://www.post-it.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Post_It/Global/ . You can also get them at any office supply store or Walmart, Target, etc. I like to use theme books (they're about $3 at Walgreens or CVS.) http://carolinapad.com/ You will use this notebook for lots of stuff having to do with your move. Please believe me - having everything in writing and in one place will save you time and the headache of frantically searching for information that you once had. Use this book to write down every phone number, date, address, person, item of interest, things to do that you come across. You will have to have the information at some point. Put post-it flags on the pages you find yourself looking for most often.
- Second: Now that you have your notebook and your post-it flags, walk through every room in your house (don't forget the garage, attic and storage shed) and mark down the biggish items you want to take with you when you move. I like to write down the name of the room and under that list the stuff I'm taking. To save time, use a separate page and mark down the biggish items that you will want to get rid of (more about this later).
- Next: You will need to know an approximate number of boxes you will be filling. There are some very good calculators to help you figure this out at http://www.moving.com/moving-boxes/packing-calculator.asp I would overestimate if I were you. Just some guidelines (from my past) - figure you will want one wardrobe box per closet (2 if you have a big walk-in closet full of clothes). Figure a box each for your dishes, glasses, bake ware, pots and pans, tupperware and then however many small appliances you have. I generally go with about 40 boxes and 5 wardrobe boxes. It varies according to how much stuff you have to take.
- Third: Something to think about is whether you will have to transport a car or other vehicle. Keep in mind that if you have more than one vehicle and one of you will be driving a moving truck, and you don't trust your 5-year old to drive, you will need to get that vehicle to its destination somehow! (Oh, how often I've wished for teleportation devices.) There are businesses that move autos, trucks, motorcycles, ATV's, etc. You can get an online quote at a place like http://www.weshipyourcar.com/. Some moving companies will also just put it on the truck with your other stuff (for a price). Another option is renting a trailer to pull behind the moving truck. Sigh, we did that once and we couldn't hardly park the thing! Imagine how long the whole mess is - the truck, the trailer. I wouldn't do it again if you paid me.
- Fourth: You now have all of the information you need to do some research so that you can reserve your move. There are several ways to move your stuff:
- Company paid moves (this is, of course, the easiest and leaves you with very little to decide other than how much junk you want to take with you.)
- Movers such as Mayflower, Atlas, Allied, etc. http://www.mayflower.com/moving/, http://www.atlasvanlines.com/ , http://www.allied.com/ who will come to your home and give you a written estimate on what they will charge to pack, load, truck your stuff, and unload as well as unpack (if you like) on the other end. I would recommend that you get 3 different estimates and choose the least expensive one as the amount you are willing to fork over. The other movers will usually meet that estimate. I ran across a good site http://www.123movers.com/ that gives you comparisons of different movers. You do have choices when you hire professional movers. You can choose to pack your own stuff and you can choose to unpack at the other end. Professional movers don't recommend it because they want to make more money. These types of moves usually require some money down and the rest upon delivery (or they keep your stuff...hold it ransom).
- Self Move. This is where you rent a truck from a place like Ryder, U-Haul, Penske or Budget. http://www.pensketruckrental.com/ , http://www.ryder.com/ , http://www.uhaul.com/ , http://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/home/home.ex . You have a choice of a few different sizes (bigger doesn't cost that much more). The price is determined by size of truck, dates of move (summertime and weekend moves are more expensive), and one-way or not. When we moved from Wisconsin to Florida, we left all of our stuff in storage up there. We found it was a lot cheaper to rent a truck in Florida, drive it all the way to Wisconsin, get our stuff, and bring it back to Florida. That's because more people are moving to Florida than to Wisconsin (odd). With this method, you pay when you pick up the truck.
- You pack and load - they drive. (I don't know what else to call it.) I have used ABF three times in the past and I adore them. You can use them or not, but they do have nice online calculators to help you know how much you're moving http://www.abfs.com/default.asp and what it would cost with them. At any rate with this method of moving, they drop off a trailer or pods and you have like 3 days to load. For a trailer drop: The pricing goes according to how much space you use but there is a minimum. For a pod drop: The price is according to how many pods you want. You call them when the load is ready (you don't even have to be there) and they pick it up and deliver it (usually within a week) to your new address. The delivery time varies according to how far away you will be. You pay when your stuff is delivered.
- Fifth: Schedule the estimates, the moving truck or pods or whatever you are going to use. (If you don't do this, you may end up not being able to get the size you want on the day you want. You can always cancel by giving them 24 hours notice so you are out nothing.)
So this list gets you through the very beginning of moving. There IS a lot to it but if you stick with me, you won't go start raving mad by the time this is through. What an endorsement, huh? MORE TO COME
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