How to move across townMoving house is seldom an event that can go fairly unnoticed for anyone who’s planning to or has already scheduled to move to another home. The news of moving, whether surprising or expected, always stirs things up and causes at least a slight turmoil of worries, anxiety, and stress among family members. The good news here is that there’s usually a silver lining in every cloud, including during a residential move. In other words, regardless of the type of move you’re about to perform and the time frame you’re supposed to fit into, there are always good solutions available.

If you’re a bit lucky, you’ll be preparing to move across town as opposed to getting ready for a long distance move to another part of the country. As a rule of thumb, in-town moves are easier to execute simply because the factor distance works greatly in your favour. Also, because of the upcoming short distance move, the other two essential factors when moving house – Time and Money, will also prove to be advantageous for you.

So, at first glance, moving across town seems easy enough – you probably know your neighbourhood like the palm of your own hand, you are most likely well familiar with the place you’re living in, and besides you’re moving only within the limits of your own city. How hard can that be?

Learn the true worth of second glances and why the success of your seemingly easy relocation depends on how you have organized your short distance move. Read on to find out how to organize a move across town with the help of proven moving across town tips.

How to plan a move across town

Why careful planning is the key to a successful in-town move?

The distance to your new home is a major factor that determines how your entire relocation will be approached and played out. You can be moving to another house or apartment within the same neighbourhood, or you can be moving to another much farther part of our own town or city – in both cases the distance will be much less than the one to an entirely different city in the country. And the good news is that the shorter distance influences favourably the time you will spend on the road and the money you will pay for the transportation itself.

Moving across town is never that easy
Moving across town seems easy enough because, after all, it’s still your own city.
Still, in-town moves are never a walk in the park.

Thus said, it does look like you’re in a very advantageous position to pull off a quick, affordable and problem-free in-town move. If only it were that simple! The genuine catch to moving across town is that the preparation stage of your fast approaching relocation requires the same amount of energy, time and financial readiness as a long distance move, or maybe even more if you accidentally underestimate the whole situation.

Yes, planning a move across town will still require your utmost attention, and only meticulous preparations can ensure that you won’t face any major setbacks along the way. The time for important decisions is now – don’t wait too long to take care of the essential pre-move tasks and never underestimate their significance.

Follow our moving across town checklist to organize your local short distance move in the best possible way.

  • Moving calendar. Don’t make the rookie moving mistake of thinking that you don’t need a relocation calendar simply because your new home is just a few miles away. The moving timeline you will create on your own and populate with customized tasks is all about optimizing the remainder of your pre-move time.
  • Moving budget. A realistic moving budget will inform you about the status of your current finances and therefore give you a good idea of what you can and cannot afford. Also, a working relocation budget is designed to signal you whenever a cross town moving task exceeds its pre-set parameters.
  • DIY or local removals? You need to decide whether you yourself will organize and perform the actual transportation of your belongings to your new home, or whether the better course of action is to hire a local removal company and pay them per hour for the moving labour you will need. Read on to find more information about this important decision.
  • Start packing for your local move. Learn the best practices and ways to pack for a move across town below. For now, be mindful that you are advised to start the packing process as early in your preparations as possible.
  • Change your postal address. For better or worse, the name of your city will remain the same, but the rest of the new home address will be different. Make sure you notify close friends and important institutions of your new address – either telling them in person or using the convenience of e-mails and social media posts.
  • Cancel your subscriptions. Since your postal address is changing very soon, now you’re going to need to cancel all your subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, and paid services, and to redirect them to your new home if you still need them. Ask a neighbor or the new owners to keep your mail safe and make sure you go and collect it regularly until the address change takes effect.
  • Transfer your child to a new school. If you have a school-age child or children, this is the time to decide if it’s best to transfer them to a closer school or leave them at their current one. There are pluses and minuses in both scenarios, so sit down with your son or daughter and discuss the issue at length.
  • Find a new family physician. If you’re happy with your health care providers /family physician, specialized doctor, dentist, veterinarian/, you don’t really need to find new ones closer to your new home. Hopefully, you won’t need to visit them too often, right?
  • Get to know your new home. Well, you’ll have plenty of time to get to know your new house or apartment after the in-town move, but a few pre-move visits are necessary so that you can be sure your new home is perfectly ready for occupation. The utilities should be up and running while you make notes of potential renovations, repair works, or upgrades.

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How to pack for a move across town

Optimize your belongings
Inventory your home and move only what you will really need and use in the future.

Now that you have a much better idea of what your in-town move organization involves, here are some special packing tips for moving across town that will make your packing experience much quicker and safer at the same time. In reality, packing for a short distance move is not a lot different than packing for a cross country move – your personal possessions and household items still need to be protected during the actual relocation no matter how short it is.

Optimize your belongings

Your move across town is an excellent opportunity for you to get rid of any belongings you no longer need and don’t intend to use in the near future. After all, why should you pay for the transportation of items that you don’t value anymore for one reason or another? Make a complete house inventory and reduce the number of your possessions to their absolute minimum. This way, not only will you save on the transportation charges, but you will also gain more valuable time when packing your house for a move.

Besides, you can help your moving budget by selling some of the things you’re not taking with you either online or at a car boot sale, or you can get the satisfaction of giving some still worthy items to friends or charitable organizations.

Find appropriate packing materials

While planning a move across town, you can’t do without providing proper and sufficient packing supplies for the packing marathon you’re about to start soon. Of course, you need the KING of all packing materials /cardboard boxes/, but the good thing here is that you don’t have to purchase all of them brand new. Your boxed up items won’t travel too long anyway, so you can easily look for good ways to save money on your packing supplies.

Try to find free or very cheap moving boxes from friends who live nearby and who have moved recently – they surely won’t mind lending you some containers if they don’t currently need them. Another free/cheap alternative is to take a tour around the local supermarkets and see if they have boxes of different sizes you can have just for the asking. Also, save money by using various moving containers and wrapping/cushioning materials you already own in your house – after all, it’s only a move within the same city and therefore you should take advantage of the short distance to go easy on your moving budget. Alternative packing materials already found in your home include but are not limited to: baskets, buckets, suitcases, vacuum bags, blankets, bed sheets, towels, rugs, socks, or any other piece of clothing.

Special packing tips for moving across town

  • Get help disassembling or assembling your furniture
    Get experienced help whenever your large furniture pieces need to be disassembled or re-assembled in your new home.

    First and foremost, initiate the process of packing for a move across town as soon as your in-town move is confirmed.

  • If you don’t plan on transporting your belongings between the two homes in one go, you can do it in smaller steps in a way that makes sense to you. This way, you can easily use the same moving containers multiple times and save money on packing supplies.
  • You can easily leave some of your clothes on their hangers and inside drawers to speed up the packing task. Insert clean trash bags over the hangers as your clothes are in the wardrobe and place stretch tape over the clothes-filled drawers to keep the garments in place.
  • How to move furniture across town? Because of the short distance your household items will be subjected to, you may choose to leave some of your bulkier furniture pieces as they are or only disassemble them partially – something that is usually out of the question if you were moving long distance. Either way, you should measure up your large items and make sure they will fit in your new residence and match the new home décor.
  • As you know well, removal companies won’t usually agree to transport plants and pets for you due to safety reasons. When packing for moving across town, the great thing is that you can take all of your plants without worrying whether they will survive the relocation trip, and your pets should be perfectly fine too as long as you’re the one in charge of their same city relocation.

How to move across town

What are the easiest ways to move across town? In reality, the best way to move across town is to get adequate and timely assistance, either from good friends of yours or from hired professional labourers. Both cross town moving scenarios have their strengths and weaknesses and it’s up to you to choose the moving method that best suits your budget, needs, and requirements.

Moving across town by yourself

Moving across town on your own is a perfectly viable option because of the short distance you will have to travel before you reach your new home. You can transport the smaller household items with your own vehicle during several short trips at a convenient time and day. Later, in order to transport the heavier and larger items found in your home such as furniture pieces and household appliances, you can borrow an appropriate vehicle /a pickup truck or a freight van/ from a friend or colleague, or rent a moving van from a local car rental company.

Moving across town by yourself
When moving across town, you will have the unique opportunity to move all your plants problem-free – something that would be (almost) impossible if you were moving long distance across the country.

However, you can’t possible do all the heavy lifting, carrying, loading and unloading by yourself. Reach out to your friends early enough so that you have the highest chance of positive responses, and make sure you have taken care of the most pre-move details before they arrive so that you don’t waste their time unnecessarily. In contrast to a move to another part of the country, the same team of reliable friends will be able to help you unload when you reach the new address within the same city.

Hiring cross town movers

Under specific circumstances, you’ll be better off hiring a professional cross town removal company to give you a hand with your same city relocation. Such circumstances include but are not limited to failure to gather up a bunch of good friends, unfortunate lack of sufficient time, presence of too many heavy and bulky items in your home that will also require disassembly and reassembly. Your potential relocation partner will be properly insured so you won’t have to worry about damaged, broken or lost goods regardless of the shorter distance.

How much does it cost to move across town? The cost to move across town depends on a number of important factors and if you’re moving on your own, only a well-planned and detailed moving budget can give you the approximated final relocation costs. On the other hand, if you’ve decided to use the services of a reputable local removal company, then it’s much easier to know how much your in-town move will cost you in the end. Simply request a price estimate from a licensed and insured local mover and compare the relocation offer with your DIY moving budget to take the best decision in your case. In general, when it comes to using cross town movers, expect to be charged for the moving labour by the hour.

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