Moving involves a lot of work. Your work is cut out for you if your final destination is across the country. Whether you’re moving on your own or with a family in tow, you’ll need planning, especially when it comes to finding the right movers and other services. If you’re unsure what to do when moving out of state, read on for more insight.
Research Moving Services
It’s never too early to begin researching household moving and storage services. When you’re moving across country, you may think about trying to save money doing it on your own, but that’s not a good idea. You have to think about all the boxes, furniture, and other personal items that you have to take safely through several states. You must maneuver those items on a rented truck or car, which could be very difficult if you’re not trained.
What to do when moving out of state and need a referral? If there’s anyone in your inner circle of friends, family, or neighbors who have gone across country move, they may be able to help you narrow down your initial set of choices. After all, it may feel better getting an initial referral from someone that you trust. Of course, you shouldn’t leave it there, as you can also look at online reviews to check up on any potential moving companies that you’re interested in. Check Safelite, Trustpilot, Google reviews, Reddit, Yelp, and Angie’s list to see what other formal clients think about any moving contractors or considering. After all, you want to make sure that your mover is someone who has experience, someone you can trust with your items, and who has a good track record.
Decide What Type of Moving Services You Need
These days, when you call upon local moving companies, they can do more for you than just move your boxes out of your home onto a truck. While loading and unloading are often part of their standard services, they may also be able to help you earlier in the game. What to do when moving out of state and need help packing? Some local moving companies also offer packing services. That’s right, local movers can let you sit back while they carefully pack all of your items, large and small, into boxes. They’re also trained on how to handle fragile items like glass, dishes, and artwork.
Do you have extra large furniture? If so, you may need local movers who can take items such as bed postings apart and further reattach them after they arrive at the new location. If you know that’s a type of service you may need, it can give you peace of mind when you arrive at your new home, that it’s not something you’ll have to spend hours trying to do if you’re not comfortable working with furniture like that.
Create a Budget
One of the worst things you can do as you make such a journey is not having a budget. After all, moving is an expensive feat, and it’s easy to go overboard if you’re not careful. Plus, you may have to tap into some emergency expenses if things go wrong. Save yourself the hassle by creating a moving budget that includes what you’ll pay for moving businesses, supplies, your travel expenses, things you’ll have to buy when you arrive at your new location, and more.
Have you never created a travel budget before? Start by using something as simple as a Google Spreadsheet. If you’re a little more comfortable with travel or budgeting, you may want to download a tool like QuickBooks. Don’t be afraid to ask other people who have made a cross-country journey how they began making a travel budget as well. You may also want to create a savings account just for your travel expenses. That way, it’ll make things easier knowing that you have a designated amount of money set aside in a specific location. So you won’t make the mistake of confusing your travel money with your current household expenses or other necessities.
Gather Supplies
As you look for an affordable moving company, you can begin gathering the necessary supplies. You are going with a company that supplies your packing supplies for you. Then try to get those ahead of time from them. However, if you need to get the packet supplies on your own, the sooner you get them the better. After all, you’re going to need packing supplies not just for what you plan to move, but what you may plan to store and things that you may want to give away to charity or other people.
Ideal moving supplies should include boxes, bubble tape, packing peanuts, packing tape, rope, and scissors. You want to use blankets to help cushion. Items inside of your boxes as well as to cushion the space between the boxes. If you have items like artwork. You may need crates to hold them instead of regular boxes. Items that do require boxes may also need special type of boxes. For example, some boxes are meant just for books.
If you’re not relying on your local moving company to do all your packing for you, have your supplies as early as possible. If you wait until the last minute, you may be in a situation where you’ll run out of supplies before the movers arrive. You don’t want to have to rush to get everything together, especially for a cross-country move.
Start Packing and Decluttering
Now that you have your supplies, you can begin packing as well as decluttering your home. To make your packing easier, you may want to declutter first. If you’ve been in the same home for years, you likely have several items that you’re ready to get rid of, clothes that you probably haven’t worn in years or at all, and items that are that just simply won’t suit you in your new home. With that said, you probably have many things that other people can benefit from, whether there are people who are needy or friends and family in the area who could take good care of such items.
What to do when moving out of state, and you want to help the less fortunate with your excessive items? If you want to use your move to help the needy, donate your items to charities such as the Salvation Army or your local church. Check specific local charities that may be helping people transition from being homeless into the workplace. You could also sell your items with an estate sale. If movers are going to pack for you, having your home as organized as possible will make the job easier for them.
Sell Items
What to do when moving out of state, and you need to sell things you don’t want residential movers to handle? Make use of online auctions like Craigslist to see if there are people who can use your items, especially college students. If you have some electronics, you want to get rid of, trade those back into the original manufacturer and get money back or exchange for a new item before you move.
Not only can you donate items on Craigslist, but you can also sell them through that site as well. Facebook Marketplace is a good online site to sell your items quickly. If you have time, you can also list items on eBay, but be prepared to ship those items to people. The money you gather from an estate sale could also go toward your moving budget and cut down on your costs.
Assess Your Furniture
What to do when moving out of state but have really big furniture? As you look around your home, make a list of all the oversized furniture items you have. Are there several big beds that need to be taken down and reassembled at the new home? Do you have oversized couches that may also need to be moved in segments? How about your large dining table? Compare your furniture to how you feel in your budget. Think about if there are some items that will simply be too expensive and large to move across country. Would it be easier to simply sell these items where you’re at now and replace them when you get to your new home? After all, you can buy furniture anywhere.
The good thing about having furniture movers available is they can handle such large items if you want to keep them with you on your journey. Just make sure that you hire movers who specialize in moving oversized items without any problems. After all, it would be a shame if your old cherry wood table that’s been in the family for 100 years got scratched up or damaged along the way.
Consider Storage
As you prepare for this move, don’t forget about the possibility of using storage facilities. As you assess your home, think about the items that you must have with you right away versus things that can come at a later time. Also, think about how long you’ll be moving. Is this move cross country for a temporary job that’ll last a few months or a year? What to do when moving out of state for a year or two or less? It may be worth only taking some items with you and putting the rest away. If you have a family with you, everybody should sit down and assess what they must have with them and what can be left behind.
Prep for Storage
What to do when moving out of state and don’t have enough space in your new home? If you’ve decided to go ahead and use storage, you may have made a good decision, especially if you have several items or are only doing a temporary cross country move. In some cases, your local movers may provide storage service. In other words, you won’t have to hire a separate storage service in addition to your residential mover. Mobile storage is especially popular these days because the containers can come to your home where you load up your belongings. Then the storage contractor will take the containers to a secure facility or move them to another location for you. In other words, you won’t have to worry about packing your items up and moving them to storage on your own.
Consider Vehicle Transport
Moving doesn’t just involve the items inside your home. If you’re wondering what to do when moving out of state with vehicles, consider tow services. If you have one or two cars, you have a few options to consider. You and another member of your family can drive one or two cars across country if you don’t mind taking the scenic route while movers move your stuff. Depending on the type of cars you have, you can also tow them. There are trailers you can rent to tow your motorcycles, motorbikes, ATVs, and other smaller vehicles. Some movers also specialize in moving vehicles for you. Depending on how far you’re moving, it may be easier to have the professionals do it for you instead of hitching the car to a rented trailer on your own.
If you were worried about what to do when moving out of state, you should feel better with this helpful list of useful information in this article. So many services are available from local movers. Check your inner circle to see if anyone can give you a helpful referral. Don’t forget about those useful online reviews. You don’t have to do a cross country trip on your own where you have to worry about all the packing, sorting, and maneuvering on the interstate highway. Some professionals understand how to make such an intense move and can manage this moving project for you. With the right help and planning, you’ll be in your new home across the country in no time, with all of your items intact.
