Moving to a new home can be exciting and unnerving at the same time. On one hand you are looking forward to a new experience, and on the other you are stressed about going through the exhausting process of shifting your base.
Everyone panics when they find their whole house in a mess – the boxes and the tapes lying around and all your stuff out in the open. Mistakes are bound to happen, especially if you have never moved on your own before.
If moving to a new place is on your cards, and you are worried about the mistakes you might make, here’s a list of some common ones to help you avoid them.
Not Having a Moving Strategy in Place
As with every other big event, moving to a new house requires strategizing beforehand. In this step, the first mistake that amateur movers make is not having a detailed and personalized calendar in place. Divide your moving process into smaller stages and allot appropriate time to each stage of the moving process. Failing to do this, you might end up not having enough time and squeezing in things at the last moment.
- Planning 8-10 weeks in advance is recommended.
- Keep the floor-plan of your new house handy and on the basis of that, decide what you want to carry or leave behind.
- Having an inventory of your belongings is a good idea. This helps the moving company estimate the budget and helps you figure out if anything is missing, lost or damaged.
- Decide whether you want to hire a moving company or not. Plan your moving budget in advance.
Not Hiring the Right Mover
A lot of first-time movers fail to do their research on moving companies before hiring them. Deciding on a moving company just because it quotes the lowest price without having detailed information about them is a bad, but common move.
Talk to about 3 to 5 of potential companies. Make sure they fall in your budget. Gather references, recommendations and first-hand experiences of people with them. Get more information on the company policies, tariffs, insurance details, equipment they use and any terms of the services they provide.
Not Getting the Facts Right
A lot of movers zero down on a moving company after having a vague discussion, only to find out that the expectations set earlier do not match.
Have the movers visit your house to have an accurate estimate of the inventory they need to move. They need to know the quantity of the inventory along with their size and weight to come up with an exact cost estimate.
It will give you the opportunity to get answers to all your questions and also your movers will understand your requirements better. Go through the paperwork. Be clear on extra expenses. Find out if your items are covered under an insurance. Get answers to questions related to delivery and shipment.
Not Carrying Valuable Possessions With You
Don’t make that mistake! It is strongly advised to take care of expensive and fragile belongings yourself and carry them personally.
Segregate items like jewelery, your laptop/desktop, cameras and important documents from the goods to be loaded in the mover’s truck.
Be sure not to mix them with the things to be loaded in the truck, have them tucked in a corner somewhere.
Not De-cluttering
We all have things stuffed at home that we never use. Relocating to a new house is a great opportunity to get rid of all the clutter. But a lot of people have difficulty letting go of the clutter and make the mistake of carrying all of it to their new place .
Donate them, sell them or just dump them. But make sure not to carry them with you to the new place. Plan well in advance and start segregating and getting rid of the clutter even before you start packing your stuff.
Not Labeling the Containers
This won’t really affect your moving process but will prove to be a blunder when you finally land up at your new place. Imagine all the unlabeled boxes and containers piled around you and you having no idea what their contents are. As a consequence, you have no idea where to place each of them in your new house.
Be generous with your labeling process. Have different colored-markers, stickers and labels and each color can represent a different room in your house. For instance, boxes to be placed in the kitchen can be labelled with one color while a different one can be chosen for those of the bedroom.
Not Taking Precautions While Packing
Don’t just stuff your belongings in the box. Think before you pack! No one likes finding out that their lotion ruined their expensive dress on the way. Item-wise packing helps avoid such problems.
Plan your packing in such a way so as to avoid problems like your nail polish spilling over and spoiling your other belongings. Compartmentalize your items or mix them up appropriately, whatever works for you.
Arrange for packing supplies in advance. Take extra precautions while packing the handle-with-care items like expensive china, glass items and so on. Use thermocol, old newspapers and pieces of old cloth generously. Don’t rely on moving companies to take care of such things rather take that responsibility yourself.
Not Having Your New House Ready for Your Arrival
Imagine coming to your new home all tired and exhausted and finding out there’s no electricity connection or running water. A common rookie mistake which can leave you frustrated after going through the ordeal of relocating.
To avoid such a situation, arrange for the connection of the most essential services in the new house, such as electricity, water and gas in advance. Make sure to include this in your moving calendar.
Keeping in mind the above points can definitely help you ease the difficult process of moving. Just make sure to start preparing in advance so that you have enough time for everything. Take help from friends and family as much as possible. After all, you cannot do everything yourself.
Though difficult, shifting to a brand new home is always a memorable experience which will stay with you for years to come. So just take a deep breath, begin your preparations and move forward to a new and fresh beginning.