6 Steps to Prepare for a Long Distance Move

Moving to a new house often an exciting experience. However, moving over a long distance requires a significant amount of preparation.

We’ve put together a guide that details everything that you need to consider before you make a long distance move. Let’s get started.

1. Establish a Detailed Plan

Before you do anything else, it’s essential that you establish a detailed plan for your move. This can include information like the date you leave, the day you will finish moving, how you plan to transport your belongings, etc.

In general, a plan with more detail will make your move go far more smoothly. So, it’s in your best interest to allocate the necessary time in order to do so.

It’s also in your best interest to begin planning as soon as possible in order to give yourself the most time possible to prepare.

2. Consider Hiring Movers

More often than not, it can be exceedingly difficult to move all of your belongings on your own. This is especially true for those who own particularly heavy objects, such as a piano, an armoire, etc.

Even common household furniture like beds, couches, and dressers can be fairly difficult to transport. Working with a reputable moving company can drastically limit complications they experience in this regard.

However, it’s essential to properly research them before hiring one. Unfortunately, it’s not impossible for a group of people with the truck to call themselves a moving company without having the proper insurance, agreements, etc.

This could easily result in your possessions becoming lost, stolen, or damaged.

You can visit this resource about Moving Ahead Services in order to learn more about what you should look for in a potential moving company.

3. Understand the Costs

Interestingly, many people tend to overlook the costs associated with a long-distance move. In reality, however, this can quickly add up to be a significant amount.

For instance, you may need to make multiple trips if you’re choosing to transfer your belongings in a vehicle. This means that you will need to budget for gas, food during your trip, and perhaps even accommodation overnight.

If you are driving a moving vehicle that you rented, these costs will be exponentially higher.

If you don’t have a comprehensive budget for what you can expect to pay throughout your move, you may find yourself requiring far more cash than you anticipated.

In extreme scenarios, you might also have to put extra money on a credit card in order to accommodate your move. As you begin developing a thorough budget early on, you can avoid the above financial inconveniences.

4. Ensure You Don’t Leave Important Belongings Behind

A common issue that movers face is leaving behind important objects or belongings in their previous homes. Oftentimes, these positions can be replaced.

However, the situation can easily become more serious than that.

For instance, let’s assume that you forgot to take a family heirloom from your previous house. There’s no guarantee that you will be able to reacquire this item — even if nobody else has moved into the house yet.

You can even find yourself dealing with legal complications if you misplace government documents, such as your Social Security card or original birth certificate.

In general, that’s highly recommended that you place all of your essential belongings within a single container. This will ensure that you are easily able to remain aware of your most important valuables.

Otherwise, you might find yourself in a situation that is impossible to easily recover from.

5. Get Rid Of Items You Don’t Need

Preparing for a long-distance move is the perfect time to begin getting rid of items that you no longer need. Not only will this help your trip go easier, but you can also donate certain possessions to other people.

This could be canned food, clothing, or even children’s toys. More often than not, you can easily accomplish this during packing since you will have to sort through your belongings anyway.

Keep this in mind before you begin packing so that you can make this process as easy as possible. You might even find that you’re drastically able to reduce the number of items that you need to transport to your new home.

If this ends up allowing you to use a smaller vehicle for transportation or make a fewer number of trips, you will likely save a significant amount of money.

6. Label Everything

Unless you properly label your moving boxes or storage containers, you will likely have to dig through a large number of your possessions in order to find a specific item. If the item you’re looking for is small (such as a necklace), this endeavor can easily become frustrating.

Labeling everything that you pack will allow you to instantly narrow down your potential options when searching for a specific object. In the above scenario, you would most likely keep a necklace within a box that contains jewelry or miscellaneous valuable items.

So, it’s unlikely that you would have trouble finding this possession.

Handling a Long Distance Move Might Seem Difficult

It’s not as complicated as you may believe, though. The above information will ensure that your long distance move goes as smoothly as possible.

Want to learn more useful info that can help you out in the future? Be sure to check out the rest of our blog.