12 Mistakes People Make With Long Distance Moves

12 Mistakes People Make With Long Distance Moves

Planning to move to a new city or cross country is not usually a perfect process as we imagine. With potential challenges across the journey, it is so much important to make plans for each step of your moving on time. This will help you avoid the popular mistakes people make with their long-distance moves.

You should think in advance of the possible problems you will have to handle. This is why your priority will be to get a long-distance moving company to assist you with your relocation.

If you want to avoid popular long-distance moving mistakes, you will need to first know what the challenges are. And you will obtain help with this article.

The good news is, we are available to help.

We give you simple strategies and ideas for preventing these moving mistakes in your next move.

Here are eleven popular moving mistakes that happen while moving to a new location.

1. Not Packing an Overnight Bag

Many things can happen while you are performing long distance moves, as moving companies are not perfect. Occasionally, there can be unprecedented delays during a move. Or, also, everything can be delivered as scheduled, and you might not want to unpack all your stuff just to find a toothbrush.

Pack a weekend bad with you, and necessities for your family, to sustain you over a night or two is essential. Toiletries, flashlights, Pajamas, toys for the kids, and so on are some of the vital items to include in your overnight kit. It is better to be well-prepared with necessities than to be with none for many days.  

Read our Best Packing Checklist When Moving

2. Ordering Insufficient Packing Supplies or Buying the Wrong Ones

Based on the nature of your move, you could make use of different kinds of packing supplies. When relocating from one home to another, you could often make use of standard moving boxes or plastic containers.

You can safeguard your delicate items with the use of some plastic or bubble wrap as well as packing peanuts in the moving boxes and get going.

However, packing alone can be tricky, especially when you are moving in a rush. It is better to have excess supplies than to have insufficient ones. On the contrary, more concentration and special requirements are required to move unusual items like a piano, artwork, and furniture.

If you have no plan to hire movers, be sure to obtain all the information and prevent any possible moving injuries.

3. Overconfidence

One can easily make the mistake of being too confident. When you are planning to move, it is so much easy to overestimate your abilities and to set an impossible timeline for yourself. Avoid this, try to be more objective.

Try to ask around about the duration that people often need to finish the entire task necessary for the state to state or overseas move. Then, if you own an item that those people do not, make sure you add it to your calculations.

But do not think it will be a walk in the pack, without even considering the task at hand. Many moves will fail just because the people involved thought that everything will go smoothly. You will need to consider the long list of belongings for your move.

You can easily forget something, which can consume your time later. If possible, you should be less confident and allow enough time for tasks than be too confident and have less. Even though it is good to have confidence, it can so much affect your success if you rely on it too much.

4. Forgetting to take Inventory

There are a lot of things to consider in your home, from jewelry to books and kitchen appliances. If care is not taken when packing your items, you possibly may not know where they are. Do not make the mistake of not taking a home inventory.

Grab a paper and pen and note down all the items you plan to keep. Repeat this for each room in the home. When the time is right, and you want to pack, you will know the type of belongings to gather into boxes.

If you are hiring an interstate moving company to take care of your moving, taking inventory will make sure you can monitor your goods. And in case anything gets misplaced while moving to another state, you will know the missing items.

5. Not Hiring a Babysitter

It is not easy to move with small children and pets at all. If you forget to hire a babysitter or a pet sitter, you could spend most of your time taking care of your kids or pets instead of handling the move. This will greatly reduce your productivity and make your moving day a long one.

We suggest you save yourself the stress and hire someone to watch your babies all through the moving process. If you need a helper last minute, we recommend you ask a friend or family member to keep an eye on them, so that you can focus on completing the move as fast and efficient as possible.

6. Hiring an Unreliable Moving Company

Regardless of the good planning, you make for your moving process, hiring an unreliable moving company can lead to more trouble for you.

One of the highly popular long-distance moving mistakes is to hire an unreliable moving company, or worse, a fraudulent company. These companies often provide much cheaper quotes.

On a moving day, unprofessional moving service can lead to delays, misunderstandings, and other problems.

For you to avoid one of these mistakes of long-distance moves, you should carefully select your moving company. You should check the background of the company and read reviews on the internet. Also, be sure to check if the company is well-experienced to perform your moving. 

7. Not Remembering Items the Movers Don’t Move

Some things will be transported by your movers; others are in the care of the homeowner. For items like firearms, wine collections, or BBQ, confirm with your moving company who will be moving it. After all, driving those items long distance may not be convenient.

8. Not Labeling Your Boxes the Right Way

One other popular mistake is from labeling the boxes. You want to categorize your boxes by room and contents. Delicate items require large, visible signs. You want to be able to identify the box that contains each item and where it belongs even at a glance. If you are keeping your goods in a storage unit, you may want to take it a step further.

In this situation, the best action even as you are possibly piling moving boxes on top of others, is to come up with an ordering scheme. This will be of great help when determining how to stack boxes.

However, if you are hiring a full-service moving company to pack and label your entire moving boxes, you should know that you are paying extra for it. And this can also prevent your belongings from unnecessary damage.

Indeed, there is no excuse for skipping this part of moving. Just the thought of labeling is often enough. Use common sense and you will get everything done.

9. Forgetting Mover’s Insurance

Before moving, checking your moving company’s insurance is so essential. Based on your mover, it may cover part of your move or everything or none at all. You don’t want to know of this when it is too late. Or, your move may be covered partly by your homeowner’s insurance.

Some policies don’t cover items when on the move, so that is so much important to check. Regardless, a lot of movers offer various packages for insurance; just try to figure out what is available.

10. Packing by Yourself Might be Difficult

You made a budget checklist and saw that you don’t have enough. Maybe that is why you opt for a DIY move. Some tasks involve more than one person for perfect completion. Just imagine picking up that huge refrigerator from your kitchen, or having to move that large bed from your room on your own.

Ask for help from friends. You may throw a small moving party for them. Having an extra hand will save you from being hurt by heavy items and the pulling of bulky objects. 

11. Losing Furniture Hardware

If you have IKEA in your home, there is every possibility that those items will need disassembly so that you can move easily. Fortunately, most of these items can move without being disassembled, but if they are, find out where the hardware is kept.

It is not unusual for the different brackets and screws to be lost, so it is important to communicate during a move. Offer your movers where they can keep these small components so everyone knows where to find them.

12. Forgetting to Get Storage

A lot of people when changing homes usually forget to look for extra storage space. You might find yourself in need of storage space for some of your belongings in the moving box as you don’t plan to unpack straight away.

We recommend you find the right storage before the move than overcrowd your destination space. You have numerous storage solutions to choose from.

Temporary (short-term) and long-term storage units, facilities with 24-hrs surveillance, and controlled climates are just some of the many available options. Based on the item you are storing, you should speak with a local mover and get their recommendations. Moving companies usually offer storage solutions together with their moving service.

Hire the Perfect Company to Assist with your Moving Anxiety

Feeling nervous when moving is a normal thing, especially when moving across the country. It is one huge step in the life of an individual. But, you can get over moving anxiety just by having reliable help.

Begin by looking up ‘long distance moving companies around me’. When you research all that a professional moving company has to offer, choose an outstanding moving company to provide professional long-distance moving service to you while you are familiarizing yourself with the new home.

Relax and devote your time to finding a job or bidding farewell to old friends while you leave the packing of your items to professional packers.

Adam Palme - Author
Adam Palme

Adam grew up in military family, which meant he moved more than 20 times before he graduated high school. The experience taught him a lot about adaptability (and loading boxes), which he leveraged into a career in the moving and storage industry 7 years ago. He’s been working in sales and customer service management for 20 years, and he uses his own experiences to write content about moving, storage, leadership, and teamwork. Outside of work, Adam enjoys coaching youth football in Miami and enjoying some beach time with his dog. Go Dolphins!

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