How to Plan a Long Distance Move
When you are moving over a long distance, this can throw up even more challenges and tribulations than if you are just going up the road. Therefore, you need to make sure that you are fully prepared and you have done all the proper planning. Otherwise, it can end up being a much more stressful situation than you had originally intended. Here are a few pointers that can help you to plan a long distance move.
Fully declutter your house
Before you start organizing moving companies or planning other logistical details, it is worth fully decluttering your house. The more stuff you have to move, the more time-consuming and costly it is all going to become. This is the perfect opportunity to get rid of anything you are not going to keep. There is no point in packing it all up, only to find that you want to throw it away the moment you get to the other side.
Tell everyone that needs to know
There are plenty of people that you need to alert to your move at both sides. To begin with, you need to cancel all of your utility providers, but you should also think about anyone else that needs to know including schools, workplaces, local authorities – not to mention neighbors, friends and family. As well as ensuring that you have fewer headaches when you reach your new place, you may also be able to enlist some help by telling people. At this stage, just as you are canceling contracts with other service providers, you can start to make contracts with new ones.
Book your moving company
When you are making a move over such a significant distance, it is almost inevitable that you are going to need to enlist the help of the professionals. So, this is the perfect opportunity to book a removal company. If you can find one that specializes in long distance moving, this will make your life an awful lot easier as you know that they are experienced. Make sure that you open the lines of communication with them early and ensure that they are fully aware of any specific requirements that you have of them.
Pack in a smart way
Once you have done all the rest of these steps, it is going to be time to start packing. The way that you pack can help to save you a significant amount of time at the other side. Make sure that you do so in a strategic way that follows a room-by-room approach. You should also take the time to label up all boxes. This way, when it comes to the job of unpacking, you know exactly where everything needs to go. Also, you need to follow the basic rules of packing heavier items on the bottom and anything delicate should be packed separately in plenty of protective material to reduce the chances that it is going to break along the way.
Create a schedule
For people who are especially organized and like to know exactly what is going on, an inventory can be enormously useful in ensuring that you are staying on track. You also have the satisfaction of being able to tick each item off the list as it happens. The more detail that you have in your itinerary or schedule, the less likely it is that anything is going to get overlooked.
Plan for the journey
You can then start to plan for the journey itself. This will depend on whether you are planning a big road trip or you have entrusted your stuff with the moving company and you are going to take a flight to join them. Make sure that you have plenty of food, drink and entertainment – particularly if you are traveling with young kids. This is also an opportunity to get excited about the move. After all, so much of the previous weeks and months will have been taken up by all the logistical plans, but at this stage, you can start to look forward to the opportunities that the move is going to provide you with.
Moving house is said to be one of the most stressful events that a person can go through and if you add the element of distance, this can make it even more challenging. These are just a few of the ways that you can make it that little bit easier, but it all comes down to proper planning and preparation to reduce the difficult surprises that may otherwise crop up.
