Prevention is always better than correction. Read on to learn how to keep really big moving mistakes away from your house move.
The inspirational quote that mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom can have a calming effect on all of us humans who happen to err on a daily basis. Luckily, most of our errors turn out to be minor misjudgements with no serious negative effects in the long run.
However, if you’re “lucky” enough to be facing one of life’s most stressful and traumatic experiences (aka moving to a new home), then it’s fair to say that the side effects of careless mistakes can be easily amplified due to the seriousness of the matter.
Yes, to every home mover’s regret, even a single slip-up can bring about highly undesirable loss of time, money, and nerves.
Making mistakes is never fun. So, to keep things running smoothly and error-free during your move, read on to learn the top 15 house moving mistakes to avoid at all costs.
1. Saying yes to a removal company a bit too fast
Choosing to trust the relocation assistance of a good quality removal company is a smart choice that will guarantee you, in most cases, a smooth relocation from start to finish. However, don’t make the mistake of going with the very first removals firm that contacts you. As a buyer of an expensive service like a professional relocation service, you must do your share of “shopping around” and compare the different conditions, terms, and most importantly – rates.
Don’t say yes unless you are absolutely sure that a removal company fulfills your requirements as a shipper of household goods and fits your preliminary moving budget.
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It is more than vital to have a good idea of how much your professional partner will charge you for their moving services. And in order to learn that relocation price, you will be given an estimate where all move related costs should be indicated in a clear and unambiguous way.
One of the most common moving mistakes to avoid is to settle for a moving estimate done over the phone as such remote quotes can never be even remotely accurate. Be mindful that the only way to get a precise estimate is to have your home visited by a company representative (a surveyor) who will inspect and review your particular relocation case in person.
3. Hitting the panic button prematurely
Make sure you wear this badge from Day 1 of your moving preparations.
In the best case scenario, you will have enough time (at least 2 months) to schedule your move on a perfectly convenient date and to also take care of the most essential moving tasks. Sadly, that is not always the case, so if an emergency move should appear out of the blue, it would be a clear mistake to let pre-move panic control your thoughts and actions.
Take a few deep breaths to calm down your nerves and create a moving calendar to help you use wisely whatever amount of time you have left until moving day. Remember that every minute counts!
It’s important to understand that a badly scheduled move will only bring about a chaotic loss of valuable time, but it can also hurt your budget. A common mistake to avoid when moving house is to choose your move date randomly instead of schedule it after careful consideration (unless you are forced by circumstances, of course).
For example, opting to move out in the middle of your school-aged child’s academic year can easily prove to be a bad and unnecessarily disruptive decision. Similarly, reserving your date in the very peak of the moving season will usually be unforgiving to your hard earned savings.
5. Managing your finances poorly
Speaking of negative effects on your finances, it’s a serious moving error not to monitor closely how your money is distributed among the various move related tasks. The thing is that if you have no idea just how “greedy” each individual job has become, then you may easily, and without even realizing it, spend much more money for its completion than you have planned.
Not being in full control of your finances is a big mistake to avoid when moving to a new home. Act proactively and set a moving budget to respond quickly and adequately to the financial dynamics of your residential move.
6. Refusing to accept house moving help
It’ll be a clear mistake to turn down friendly offered help when moving house.
It’s hard to disprove the fact that moving out of a home is definitely not a task suited for a single person. The sheer number of tasks waiting to be completed one by one makes it simply impossible to be handled by a single pair of hands, and we’re not even counting the most arduous job of them all (packing) and the heaviest job of them all (heaving lifting).
So, considering the magnitude of the house moving endeavour, it would clearly be a moving error to refuse readily offered assistance, professional or non-professional, during this tough period.
In fact, you should welcome any help that will let you reach your relocation goal easier and faster.
Even if you’re an improvisation maestro, organizing an entire house move is something entirely different, no matter how you look at it. The main issue stems from the fact that there are too many things happening at the same time, and many of them are labelled as high priority tasks too. It’s important to know that effective organization alone can guarantee the overall success of the operation just like a poor organization strategy can ruin your chances of a problem-free local or long distance move.
As mentioned above in section 3, impeccable organization is only attainable through a well-structured personal moving planner where each job is uniquely prioritized to match your preferences. No more randomly wasted time, right?
8. Initiating the packing process the wrong way
Speaking of randomly wasted time, another major common mistake when moving house is to start packing up your home without a clear packing strategy. Think about it – packing is already the most time consuming process in a residential move, so what will happen if you do it wrongly and lose even more precious time?
No packing rules are set in stone, but it’s highly recommendable that you first pack up your storage areas (garages, basements, attics, sheds) before tackling the rooms that are generally easier to pack. Also, your house packing pattern should be from bigger to smaller, from heavier to lighter, and from essential to less essential.
Sorting your items in advance will let you sell what you no longer need at a moving sale.
Most moving experts agree that there is one major moving mistake that will hurt a home mover’s budget like no other error, and that is the poor decision to move absolutely all of their possessions to “save” time, so that they can sort them out later in peace at their new home.
In practice, this seemingly “quick” solution is the classic case of a recipe for disaster. Not only will you lose more time to pack your entire household, but you will also throw away much of your savings in order to have the heavier shipment transported to your new residence.
Be wise and sort out your belongings way before moving day in order to pack only what you really need.
Safety is one of your top priorities when moving house, including when you prepare your items for shipping. Packing safety is often overlooked by home movers and that alone can cause a world of headaches later on. Yes, it’s true that safety is crucial on moving day, but you shouldn’t let your guard down when packing up your home either.
One of the most common mistakes to avoid when moving is to get packing supplies of poor quality just to save a bit more. Don’t do it, especially when it comes to cardboard boxes. If a moving container breaks, the items inside it will most certainly be damaged, so be proactive and make sure the boxes you have at your disposal are strong, dry, and clean both inside and outside. Also, use plenty of packing paper and bubble wrap to protect your valuables items during transport.
One thing is clear – the moment your professional removal company loads your goods on their moving van, you will lose the convenient access to your possessions and you won’t regain it until your shipment is delivered to your new home. In the meanwhile, you’re still going to need some of your items to survive the downtime, right?
The solution to this move related phenomenon is to prepare a few boxes in advance and fill them up with absolute essentials that will guarantee your normal functioning. Known as essentials boxes or open-first boxes, such survival kits usually contain medications, non-perishable food, clothes, kitchen utensils, towels, toiletries, hand tools, games for children and/or pets, and so on. To avoid moving day mistakes, take a black marker and write on your essentials box or boxes: DO NOT LOAD ON VAN.
12. Thinking that labelling boxes is a waste of time
Labelling your packed boxes is more important than you might think.
Anyone who believes that labelling the already packed cardboard boxes is nothing but a waste of time soon finds out how wrong they have been. Practice shows that spending 1-2 minutes of writing the contents, destination room and special handling instructions on a single box can save a crazy amount of time at the start of the unpacking process once the moving containers have been delivered. Trust us, rummaging through piles of unnamed boxes to find your coffee maker is not how you want to initiate the most time-consuming post relocation task.
While you can make things even speedier by using a proven colour code system to mark your boxes and categorize them by destination room, a water-proof black marker is still an efficient tool to avoid another frequent mistake when moving house.
13. Planning to hand your valuables over to your removals
If, for whatever reason, you choose to hand over your valuable items to your removals company, then that action may turn out to be a house moving mistake that can haunt you long after the move is over and done with. Remember that no matter how reputable and trustworthy a relocation partner you have managed to find, your personal valuables should stay with you through all stages of your move.
Such items of high value include but are definitely not limited to: personal documents which will be best protected in a briefcase (IDs, passports, driving licenses, certificates, contracts, deeds, receipts, etc.), expensive electronic gadgets (smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc.), banks cards, keys, jewellery pieces, and so on. Speak with your removal company about adequate insurance for the valuables that are too big to take with you by yourself, such as antique furniture, art pieces, family heirlooms, and so on.
It’s a common moving mistake to get caught in the present time and fail to think a few steps ahead in the future. Do you realize that you will surely need electricity, water, gas and probably Internet access the moment you step inside your new home? Yes, you’re the one who’s going to have to take care of that pre-move task as well.
Get in touch with your current municipal service providers to arrange for the timely disconnection of your utilities, and then contact your new utility companies to have them connected there a few days prior to your arrival. Take care of the most essential services first and think about the rest later when you have ample time to think things through. Oh, and don’t forget to record your utility readings early on moving day so that you don’t end up paying for services you haven’t used.
15. Forgetting to do the final house check
When taking the final walk around your home, pretend to be the greatest detective ever.
Finally, another one of the most common mistakes to avoid when moving house is to fail to do one last check around your home before you leave. Move out knowing that the new chapter of your new life is waiting for you without having anything really important left behind.
Go through each room, each drawer, and each hiding place in search of forgotten items. Make sure all windows and doors are closed securely, turn out the lights, turn off the water, and finally – walk out the front door and lock it.
Can you think of another house moving mistake that can haunt you long after the move is over?
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