Biggest of All? Not Properly Planning! 
Ah, yes: planning. No household move is smooth without it! If if it seems like we’re making that too much of a mantra in our blogs and web pages, you’re right! We are! After all, when you engage us to handle your move, we’ve got a vested interest in ensuring that it’s pulled off successfully. And if you’ve
hired a mover other than us? In that event, planning becomes absolutely mandatory! The more prepared you are up front for not only everything that should happen but also a few things that shouldn’t happen but could, the better your move will go. So, by all means, plan!
Missteps That Planning Can Help You Sidestep - Trying to accomplish too much yourself. Why run yourself down? Unless you’re Superman or Wonder Woman you can’t do it all. Ask friends and relatives to help you. Let the kids pack the personal stuff in their bedrooms. Split up the inventorying and packing of various rooms between yourself and your spouse. And employ a professional moving company to do the loading, shipping, and unloading – or whatever else you don’t have the time, the know-how40], or the inclination to tackle personally.
- Waiting until the last minute to take care of everything. Moving is done in stages. For example, there are timelines for ending services (gas, electric, phone, and the like) at your old address and turning them on at your new address before you arrive. Special arrangements must be made and care must be taken to pack and ship large or high-end possessions. When the movers get to your place, everything that’s got to go had best be ready to go if the move is to stay on schedule. Setbacks can cost you – and not only money. Racing around at the last minute is a sure way to ensure that things get lost or left behind. Or damaged.
- Failing to formulate a Moving Day plan for the kids and pets. Are the kids leaving with you or your spouse or staying with grandma until the move’s completed? Have plans been made regarding their school situation? Can you take Fido with you or is he better off being boarded until yougotten settled in}76} your new home? You know these things need to be considered. Don’t put off considering them!
- Not telling your moving company of changes in your schedule. Has the start date of your new job in your new city changed in a way that might necessitate postponing or advancing91 your move date? Can’t make the time initialy scheduled for the home survey that influences your move estimate? Need to have the movers show up a little later than planned on Move Day? Okay, sometimes changes are inescapable. They needn’t be an obstacle, though … if you alert your moving company to them well enough in advance!
- Not reading the paperwork from your mover attentively. What? You didn’t catch that added charge for the moving company’s packing services on page two of the contract? Or the cost of packing and transporting that big old grand piano of yours? Or that your moving insurance doesn’t truly cover the total valuation of your household goods? Of course, maybe none of that was actually in the contract – and should have been. If you didn’t read it, how would you know? Undoubtedly you’ve heard the old saying that you should never sign a contract you haven’t read. Heed it! Or you’ll undoubtedly get a bill you weren’t expecting!
Follow the guidelines above, start planning early, and you might discover that your household move has all the adventure you hoped for – and none of the agony you feared!
