Moving Tips

Moving In Summer Vs Winter

If you plan on moving eventually, then you might be wondering which time of year is the best to move. Is it summer? Or is it winter? You might have heard that the winter has slightly lower rates in terms of renting a van, truck, or lorry. However, each season as difficulties that you might encounter.

The peak moving season for many households typically runs from late spring until early fall. However, prices might be higher for the services and things you need. However, don’t base your decision entirely on saving money. Other primary factors going into cost include the distance traversed, storage requirements and needs, and how much weight is being hauled.

Wintertime is usually slower, which can mean savings of up to 15 percent, although the holidays might see a slight peak. Two downsides to the winter include it getting darker so much earlier and the weather. Travel plans can get interrupted, and the available daylight might mean a work crew has to split their labour over two days instead of one, which can run up your costs.

You also need to consider the nature of the items that you are going to move. If you have antiques, items with or made of glass, and musical instruments, or any other fragile items. They’re going to fare better in the warmth of summer. There will also be much less chance of anyone moving crates or boxes of slipping on ice or snow. Many movers will take great effort to protect your things from temperature changes, but cargo areas of vehicles are rarely environmentally controlled, and so the climate can affect your sensitive possessions. Ultimetly the choice is yours, if you’re moving in summer or winter, both have pros and cons.

Summer is a more popular time for many to move, because it might be easier to get time off from work and kids might be out of school. The warm temperatures and long hours of daylight also just make it physically easier and safer to move, as compared to the potential for treacherous weather in the middle of winter.

Still, since many are moving, it can be more expensive to get packing supplies and hire vehicles and labour to help you out.

Whether you let or own can make a difference about when it’s better to move. Summer and heading into the fall is the peak season for selling homes, so it’s more likely you’d get a better price, find more potential buyers, make your sale, and then have to move.

One thing you can do to save money in either season is to try and move around the middle of the month. Many families moving with children that are moving do so at the beginning or end of a month, so it can be cheaper if you’re not competing with them. For that matter, try and move during the middle of the week to make things even better, considering how many try and target the weekends.

So, the decision of which season to move really boils down to what flexibility you have and what factors are important to you. If you can move during the winter over the summer, you’re likely to save up to 15 per cent off the season alone, and even more, if you move on weekdays near the middle of the month.

The downsides of winter are going to be the cold temperatures affecting your sensitive or fragile possessions, wet ground putting people in jeopardy, and short days and inclement weather meaning you need a labour crew for extra days.

Summer means competing with the crowds that are also moving, and prices are higher. Having said that, the days are much longer, and you’re far more likely to get a better offer for your home if you are selling your previous residence.

Whenever you wind up moving, try and do as much as you can ahead of time, including packing things up as much as you can on your own, getting rid of anything that doesn’t need to move with you, and possibly carrying what you can in your own vehicles to minimise the services and assistance you need from professionals.

Having said all that, rain or shine, warm or cold, best of luck to you in your new home and congratulations, regardless of what time of year it is!

And it does not matter when you move. You still need to make sure you have a solid packing guide to go by and a good moving checklist.

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7 Helpful Moving Tips For Seniors

Moving is stressful enough for anyone, but it’s particularly difficult for seniors. There is a lot of stuff involved with moving, but there are a few tips seniors can keep in mind that can help them. Below are a few moving tips for seniors.

1. Create A Plan Of Action

You’ll want to create a plan of action before doing anything, which will involve deciding how much of the move you’ll handle yourself and whether or not you’ll hire a moving company to help with certain aspects of the move. Decide if any items you own will be put into storage and make a list of things that have to be done and when they should be done. A written out timeline from now to your moving date will come in handy.

2. Break Everything Down Into Smaller Tasks

Tackling large tasks on a daily basis or trying to do everything in a single day or weekend can make things even more overwhelming. Instead, break everything down into smaller tasks and split single large tasks into 2-3 tasks that you can do over the course of a few days. As a general rule of thumb, you should give yourself 4-8 weeks to complete all of your tasks or as long as necessary. The bottom line is doing a little something daily will eventually add up over time.

3. Visit The Property

Make sure you actually visit the property you plan on moving too, even if it’s a retirement community, assistant care community, apartment, condo or anything for that matter. You want to have a feel for the place, the location and the nearby attractions and neighbourhood in general. The more familiar you are with the location before you move, the better.

4. Prepare For The Big Day

You’ll want to prepare for the big day by getting suitcases, packing boxes, packing tape and things of that nature. Pack everything in suitcases and boxes, but do label them as essentials, non-essentials, appliances etc. . . Decide what items are important and pack them first, and think about getting rid of the items that aren’t that important and which items are kind of important and should be placed in storage.

A useful tip is to make a checklist of the most important things to do. The top of the list should be the most important things that need to be done. The bottom of the list are the things that can be done later on.

5. Pack Medications

Many seniors are on medications and you want to make sure any medications you take are packed first. Leading up to the day of the move, keep checking to make sure the medications are still in the spot you left them because it’s easy to take them and put them somewhere else, which can lead to you forgetting to bring them with you on the big day. In fact, you should set an alarm reminder to alert you about your medication. Set the alarm to go off the day before the big move.

6. Notify Contacts

Notify any of your contacts, and tell them when you are moving, where you’re moving too, who is helping you and things like that. Tell them both the small and big details of the move because it’s always better to be safe than sorry. As a general rule of thumb, you should tell the people who are the closest to you about the move.

7. Ask For Help

Finally, ask for help with any tasks you know you can’t handle yourself or for the things you would like help with. This includes packing, organising logistics, getting rid of belongings and so forth. Like your family, friends, co-workers and anyone else, you know if they can lend a helping hand. You might be surprised at how willing people are to help, but you need to ask.

As a senior citizen moving homes, it’s a good idea to ask for help and notify contacts of your move. Don’t forget to pack your medications, prepare for the big day and visit the actual property you’re moving too. Breaking everything down into smaller tasks and creating a plan of action can go a long way too. If you keep those things in mind, then your move should be easier.

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Globe

The Best Transport Ideas For Moving Internationally

If you are moving your home internationally, you need to consider what the transportation options are. Your options will vary depending on the number of items you want to move and where you are going to move to. The most common transport ideas will be sea freight, air freight and land transportation.

Why You Should Choose Sea Freight

If you are moving internationally, the first transportation idea you should consider is sea freight. This will involve placing your possessions in a shipping container and having it sail to your international destination. There are a number of reasons why you should look into this transport option with the primary one being the cost.

Sea freight is generally the cheapest transportation option when moving internationally. Of course, there is a downside to this that you need to be aware of. This is the fact that sea freight is also the slowest transportation option. The slower speed is one of the reasons why this transport method is much cheaper than the others.

The amount of time that it takes for your possessions to reach their destination will vary depending on a few factors. The first is where you are moving to. The farther the final destination, the longer the transportation is going to take.

Another factor is how often the sea freight company you use sails. There are some companies that only sail to certain destinations once a week while others will sail every few days. The more often they sail, the sooner you will generally be able to get your possessions.

Why You Should Choose Air Freight

Another transport idea will be air freight which is one of the faster methods of moving your possessions. Most moving experts would recommend that you choose sea freight instead of air freight for a number of reasons. The cost will generally be the most important because air freight is much more expensive than sea freight.

Another reason will be the fact that you cannot actually send as much with air freight. If you are moving your entire home, you would be spending several thousand on air freight for and some items may not be taken. Of course, there is one primary benefit that many people consider when looking at this transport option.

This is the speed with which you will get your possessions. Air freight can take a few days to reach your new home while sea freight could take up to a month. If you are willing to spend more to get your possessions as quickly as possible, this will be the best transport idea for you.

Why You Should Consider Land Transport

Land transport is not something you can always consider when moving internationally. This will only be a viable option if you are moving to a country that shares a land border with the one that you are leaving. If you are moving from the UK to continental Europe, you will be able to choose land transport via the channel tunnel.

There are a lot of moving companies that offer land transport when you move internationally. This is a good option when you want to get your possessions in a timely manner, but do not want to break your bank account. Land transport is faster than sea freight, but slower than air freight. It will also carry a cost that is in the middle of the other options.

Reduce Your Possessions

When you are moving internationally, you need to look at reducing the number of items that you want to take with you. This is important regardless of the transportation option you are going to choose. When you have fewer possessions, you will be able to save money and potentially time.

If you have a small consignment for sea freight, it can often be placed in a container with other freight. This could result in your possessions being shipped sooner. You will also pay less because you are not using as much space in the container or moving truck.

There are 3 ways that you can transport your possessions when you move internationally. The cheapest is sea freight, the most expensive is air freight and the middle option is land transport. However, it is important to note that land transport will not always be an option depending on where you are moving to.

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How to Move Homes With Kids – Without Going Crazy!

Moving home with kids can make one go crazy if not planned correctly. Today we are going to explore how to do it right. If you do it wrong you might get some new grey hairs by the time your move is done. If you do it right you’ll be loving life and your kids won’t be impacted too much by the move.

Before Moving Day

To get this right you need to start planning well before you move. Kids are, well, kids, right? Dropping something on a child like “honey we are moving today so say goodbye to your room… forever” is not a good idea. In fact, it’s very bad parenting. It’s best to let your kids know that you plan to move at least a month before.

Even sooner is better! Think back to being a child and having to leave your school if you were to move far away. That means leaving your friends. Leaving all your favourite spots you play at the local park and event daycare and all those friends. It’s not a fun thing to go through so you should prepare your kids for what will take place.

Look into all the new opportunities that you kids will have where you are moving. All the parks, the new daycare, the new school they will attend and start to reinforce how good it’s going to be.

During the Move

Like we mentioned above get the kids involved with the moving process. You will have a lot of organisation to do with de-cluttering before you start packing. So get them involved and then get them involved in packing also.

This is a great opportunity to teach your kids some life skills also. Basic things like packing their room together is also a good opportunity for some relationship building. Let them plan out how they will pack their room under your guidance.

Tip: Make sure their favourite toys are packed last. This way they have something to ‘hold on to’ from your now old home and there will be less emotional de-attachment for your kids.

Once the packing is done move them through what will happen on moving day.

Moving Day

The best advice for moving day with kids is to keep the kids out of the house. Drop them at the in-laws or a trusted friend after they say their final goodbyes. This way they are in a comfortable spot with people they are trust tehmselves instead of at daycare or somewhere that they have been dropped and have fellings of abandonment.

If you have the kids in the car with you during the move you can play their favourite songs to keep something familiar in their head.

Setting into the New Home

After the move is done the best thing you can do is make your kids their favourite home cooked meal the first night. Too once again, you guessed it, create familiarity.

Have your kids unpack their rooms and set things up how they want. But make sure you oversee it and once again create a familiar and safe space for them by making their room look the same as the old room.

Another thing you can do is to make sure the routine that takes place on a daily basis is routine and things are not chaso in the household so they adjust quicker. This is proven to work to help kids adjust faster.

If your kids behave differently during the move or even in the weeks after the move don’t be alarmed. To be blunt you might have just ripped their world apart if you pulled them out of school. So they need time to adjust, they will adjust eventually, but as kids, they need time, more than adults do.

To fast track their adjustment get them involved in daycare ASAP. Get them playing with their new friends on weekend. Get them going to the local park and so on. And of course there is school. The faster they get back to school the better as this is the easiest way for kids for make new friends.

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Avoid These Common Mistakes on Moving Day

If you have been reading our blog since the early days then you know moving can be a stressful experience. Or perhaps you have moved homes once or twice yourself and know first hand what we are talking about.

Below are a few things to keep in mind to keep those stress levels right down.

Don’t Leave Everything to Late!

Procrastination is a killer and you know what we are talking about.

Every soul on the planet is guilty of it. Don’t do it! It’s tempting to say you will deal with planning your move tomorrow and then repeat the same thing a week later but if you are not organised on moving day things will be a mess.

If possible start planning your move one month in advance. 2 weeks is the absolute latest you should be planning the move if you are really busy and pressed for time.

This means you should start packing one month before you plan on moving. This way you can slowly segment your move instead of cramming everything the day before moving.

DIY Is Not For Everyone

DIY moving is an option but it’s not for everyone. It’s actually not as cheap as you think it’s going to be as there are always several added costs that will come up like extra fuel and movers insurance. This is especially true if you are moving across the country.

It’s always better the hire a moving company that does full service moving. For example removals Swindon or at least go for a man and a van option. Unless of course your day job is in the transport industry already and you know you are going to have everything covered.

Don’t Forget Your Moving Day Survival Kit

When you move into your home you are going to have something like 100 boxes that are all taped up. It is foolish to try to rummage through everything to find things like your toiletries or your phone charger.

It’s much better to plan to pack a box or two that is going to have the first few days worth of essentials that you will need. Such as toiletries, electronics, maybe some kitchen equipment and utensils, makeup for the ladies and a week’s worth of clothes.

This way you know if you need something on the first or second day in your new home it’s going to be in your survival box. If you stick to these tips you will make your move much smoother!

You can also watch this video for some bonus moving house tips.

 

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Sea Freight

The Best Transport Ideas For Moving Internationally

If you are moving your home internationally, you need to consider what the transportation options are. Your options will vary depending on the number of items you want to move and where you are going to move to. The most common transport ideas will be sea freight, air freight and land transportation.

Why You Should Choose Sea Freight

If you are moving internationally, the first transportation idea you should consider is sea freight. This will involve placing your possessions in a shipping container and having it sail to your international destination. There are a number of reasons why you should look into this transport option with the primary one being the cost.

Sea freight is generally the cheapest transportation option when moving internationally. Of course, there is a downside to this that you need to be aware of. This is the fact that sea freight is also the slowest transportation option. The slower speed is one of the reasons why this transport method is much cheaper than the others.

The amount of time that it takes for your possessions to reach their destination will vary depending on a few factors. The first is where you are moving to. The farther the final destination, the longer the transportation is going to take.

Another factor is how often the sea freight company you use sails. There are some companies that only sail to certain destinations once a week while others will sail every few days. The more often they sail, the sooner you will generally be able to get your possessions.

Why You Should Choose Air Freight

Another transport idea will be air freight which is one of the faster methods of moving your possessions. Most moving experts would recommend that you choose sea freight instead of air freight for a number of reasons. The cost will generally be the most important because air freight is much more expensive than sea freight.

Another reason will be the fact that you cannot actually send as much with air freight. If you are moving your entire home, you would be spending several thousand on air freight for and some items may not be taken. Of course, there is one primary benefit that many people consider when looking at this transport option.

This is the speed with which you will get your possessions. Air freight can take a few days to reach your new home while sea freight could take up to a month. If you are willing to spend more to get your possessions as quickly as possible, this will be the best transport idea for you.

Why You Should Consider Land Transport

Land transport is not something you can always consider when moving internationally. This will only be a viable option if you are moving to a country that shares a land border with the one that you are leaving. If you are moving from the UK to continental Europe, you will be able to choose land transport via the channel tunnel.

There are a lot of moving companies that offer land transport when you move internationally. This is a good option when you want to get your possessions in a timely manner, but do not want to break your bank account. Land transport is faster than sea freight, but slower than air freight. It will also carry a cost that is in the middle of the other options.

Reduce Your Possessions

When you are moving internationally, you need to look at reducing the number of items that you want to take with you. This is important regardless of the transportation option you are going to choose. When you have fewer possessions, you will be able to save money and potentially time.

If you have a small consignment for sea freight, it can often be placed in a container with other freight. This could result in your possessions being shipped sooner. You will also pay less because you are not using as much space in the container or moving truck.

There are 3 ways that you can transport your possessions when you move internationally. The cheapest is sea freight, the most expensive is air freight and the middle option is land transport. However, it is important to note that land transport will not always be an option depending on where you are moving to.

The Best Transport Ideas For Moving Internationally Read More »

How To Cut Costs When Moving Homes

Moving house can be expensive! Just ask anyone who has moved a full family home across a city let alone across the country. Let dive into some tips to slash the cost of moving as every penny helps, right!

De-clutter, Then Pack

This is an easy one that will save you money. Organise before you move.

If you organise instead of just cramming everything into boxes you will use fewer boxes than you were planning to and this will lower your cost if you are planning to use a moving company. Or reduce the number of trips you will have to make if you do a DIY move.

In addition, you will have everything organised so you will be able to sell off things locally with a garage sale that you don’t need or if that is not you style then you can seel on eBay or Craigslist.

One more thing to add to this section is to weight up the cost of moving furniture if you are moving across the country. Moving furniture can cost you a lot of money so it can be worth it to actually sell your old furniture and buy new furniture when you move into your new home.

The Mid Week Move

Have you heard of the mid week move? Also known as the money saving move. If it’s not clicking for you here is a hint. Everyone is trying to move on the weekend. This is a perfect example of supply and demand. If everyone is trying to move on Saturday or Sunday then the moving companies are charging more for weekend moves.

If you can move midweek then do so and make sure you confirm the rate you are getting with your moving company is going to be a weekday rate.

Tip: Friday is also the weekend when it comes to moving. A lot of people take off a Friday to move and spend Saturday and Sunday unpacking. So when we say move midweek we mean from Monday to Thursday. Tip provided by Fox Removals Perth.

Free Boxes

Don’t pay a dime for boxes as you can get them for free. Think about all your friend who has moved in the past you could ask.

If that fails, go to the local supermarket and they will happily hand them over as it costs them money to pay staff to break them down and put them in the recycling bin. If you take them off their hands it’s free of charge. So don’t be shy and ask your local supermarket for their spare boxes, that will be thrown out anyhow.

Another option is to get boxes from the moving company that you are going to use for your move. Any good moving company should be supplying boxes for your move. If you are using their bottom tier budget service this might not be the case but the mid-range services and above should include moving boxes.

Food In Your New Home

When you move into your new home forget cooking for the first few days. You will be so busy unpacking that it will just stress you out.

In the day and age, we live in with food delivery apps like Uber Eats or just searching Google for something like ‘food delivery + city’ there is no need to add that extra stress. Just eat in.

Or better yet use the opportunity you have to explore the local food scene around your new home to find your new favourite go-to spot for dinner.

Hopefully, you found this article helpful. If you want more moving tips then look just below and you should see some more articles to dive right into.

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5 Things To Cross Off Before Moving Homes

When you are planning to move into a new home it can be very time consuming and stressful. And that is only the move itself. Just take a look at our two-part moving guide (read part 1 here – read part 2 here) and you will see what we mean!

What else do you need to deal with? How about redirecting mail? Storing your belongings if needed? Cancelling local services? These are just three of the many aspects of moving home.

Let get into it shall we. Here are our top five most missed points that you need to cross off before you move homes.

1. Mail Redirection

Have you given any thought to how much time and effort it’s going to take to call every company that sends you mail? A lot!

It’s almost impossible to cover all of them. And dot every ‘i’and and cross every single last darn ‘t’. A better approach is to use a mail redirections service in combination with the list below. This way any services that you miss who send you mail will still get to you and then you can call them and make the changes later on.

The List:

    • Bank Accounts / Credit Cards
    • Drives License
    • Insurance
    • Services (Phone & Internet)
    • Address Lodged with the Government

You should also let your boss know you’re moving and get your address updated at work.

The best thing to do is to speak to the post office about what services are offered for redirection. Each country is different and we have readers from all around the globe. The charge is generally very nominal and well worth it.

2. Book End of Tenancy Cleaning

This might not seem obvious but there are generally only a few instances that you need to move home:

  1. Lease has expired.
  2. You are selling your own home.
  3. You are moving out of your own home as you will rent the place.

Each one of these pretty much justifies having  professional end of tenancy cleaning done. If you rent it’s going to part of your contract that you can’t clean yourself in most circumstances. If you are moving out of your own home due to a sale to have new owners move in it’s very respectable to have professional cleaning done so the new people moving into a clean property.

Make sure you get your cleaning booked in ASAP and far ahead of schedule in case it’s hard to get a booking. It’s best to get the cleaning booked in on the same day and the move or the day after. This way you can have everything wrapped up and done with your now old home within a day of moving out.

3. Cancel Local Services

If there are any local services that you can’t transfer to your new home you need to cancel them. For example, your internet services provider does not cover the area you are moving to.

If you don’t do this you might not get a refund as the service company will turn around and simply say the service was provided and it doesn’t matter if you didn’t use it. And they are quite right from that perspective, that’s hard to dispute as harsh as that might sound. But they did supply you with a service and you did agree to pay.

So make sure you cancel anyhting you can take with you.

4. Parking Permits

Some properties need parking permits. If you are going to be living in a built-up area or close to the town centre for example.

The last thing you want is a welcome gift in the first week of living in your new home such as a towed car or a council parking fine. Speak to the estate agent you are dealing with or the owner if you are dealing directly about the parking situation on the street.

5. Book Time Off Work

This is something no one is going to tell you about. If you have a small apartment for one then sure you might be able to finish your move in a few hours on a Saturday morning. But if you have a full family home it’s best to take a good three days off work starting on Friday.

Friday can be the real moving day. Then you have Saturday to Tuesday night to fully finish your move with everything unpacked so you feel like your new home is actually a home, and not a hotel.

That’s it! If you follow these five steps before moving day then you will cover off what most people forget and you won’t be scrambling last minute to get things done.

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Our HUGE 2 Part House Moving & Packing Tips Collection [Part 2]

Welcome back! This is part two of our massive two-part moving and packing tips series. You can read part-one here that covered the packing side of things. Today’s blog posts is going to cover the moving side of things.

Moving Checklist

Below is our moving checklist. If you cover all the points on our checklist your are going to have your move covered. Don’t miss anything!

These tips are more for DIY moving vs hiring a moving company to help you move just so you know.

  • Van (or Truck) Hire – The first thing that should spring to you mind when doing a DIY move is van hire. It’s always a good option if you want to keep costs low and don’t have much to move. Or if you have an extra set of hands to help you move such as a partner or flat mates. But make sure you are insured for your self move!
  • Man and Van – Another good option to move is to hire a man and van as it’s called. This means you are hiring a driver for the van and depending on the company you hire will depend on the level of help you’ll get. So companies offer a hands-on service to help you pack the truck.  Some companies offer a more budget service with just a driver who only drives.Both are good options as you don’t have to worry about fuel or insurance costs.
  • Multiple Trips – Don’t pack a van so heavy that it’s uncomfortable for you to drive. Or if you are going really cheap and using your car and doing several trips do one or two more trips. You don’t want to block your view or have your things pushing against you as you drive. This can be dangerous!
  • Plan Ahead – It should be quite easy for you to figure out how much fuel you will need based on your cars mileage. It’s best to have a spare jerrycan of fuel in the car in case you run short as you will be burning more fuel with a fully loaded car.
  • Unloading Tips – This next tip ties into the packing tips from part-one of this series. Remember when you labelled all your boxes. As you unload at your new place make sure you carry the boxes right into the room they need to go in. So the bedroom boxes go right to the bedroom and so on. This will save you the trouble of moving all the boxes twice, from the door of your new home to where they need to go anyhow.
  • First-Night Box – The first box you should take into your new home should be your first-night supplies box and make sure to put it in the kitchen. This way you will know where you essentials for the first night are.
  • Hire Help for Furniture – You can hire a handyman by the hour or maybe agree on a special rate with a moving company to come to and help you re-build your furniture if you don’t have a friend who can help. This should be one of the first things you do before you unpack.
  • Unpack Routinely – Don’t just start randomly unpacking. You made you checklist of everything that is in each box so use it! Unpack boxes as they are needed and put everything away planed and accordingly.
  • Unpack Over Time – Don’t unpack over just an afternoon. Unpack over a few days or a week. This way your move is going to be a lot less stressful than doing everything in one day.

When you have finished your move don’t forget to change contact details with everyone who requires them such as your banks, the government, your phone provider and so on.

That is basically it! You’re done! Yay!

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