Planning a home move in the near future? The process can easily cause a great deal of stress – especially if you’re moving to a distant part of the world. You’ll have a choice between old homes, which tend to offer a sense of history, as well as more space, and new builds, which offer a fresh and modern look.
Once you’ve made the decision, your legal issues have been sorted, and you have the keys to your new home in your hand, you’ll still be left with the problem of how to actually transport your belongings from the old place to the new one.
Let’s take a look at three important strategies for making the process as simple and straightforward as possible.
Plan for Hidden Costs
Costs can easily spiral when you’re moving house. If you’ve failed to account for extra costs, then you could easily be caught off-guard by them.
You can usually solve this problem by giving yourself a little bit of wriggle room. An extra 10% of your budget might be kept free so that you can cope with surprise expenses. The more detailed your budget, and the more thoroughly you’ve researched your costs, the less likely those surprises will be.
Compare Moving Options
When you’re planning a move, you’ll generally be choosing between two options. You can hiring a professional moving company to deal with the entire move, or you can hire (or borrow) a van, and take care of everything yourself.
Whichever option you choose, it’s worth getting multiple quotes from different companies. Compare both the price and the reputation of the provider. Online reviews can be a valuable source of information, here. Moving at off-peak times of day and year will often give you room to negotiate a discount.
If you’re thinking of hiring a van, then it might be worth checking with friends and family. It might be that you can borrow one – and even secure the services of a willing driver.
Declutter Before Packing
The less stuff you have to transport, the easier the move will be. It’s therefore a good idea to declutter before you start the ball rolling. Throw out, donate, or sell the items you don’t need. In the process, you might get a little bit of extra cash to cover your moving expenses.
The best way to declutter is usually to go on a room-by-room basis, over the course of several weeks. Split your items into three piles: one for items to sell, one for items to keep, and one for items to throw away. Be ruthless. Ask yourself in each case when the last time you used the item was, and when the next time you’ll use it will be. If you know in your heart that you aren’t going to get any use from a specific item, then it’s time to get rid of it!
