First and Foremost? Failing to Plan Well! 
Ah, yes: planning. No household move is smooth without it! If if it seems like we’re overselling that point in our blogs and web pages, you’re right! We are! After all, when you call on us to perform 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 instance, 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!
Boo-Boos That Planning Can Help You Avoid - Taking on too much yourself. Be sensible! Unless you’re Superman or Wonder Woman you can’t do it all. Ask friends and relatives to help you. Let the kids pack whatthey call their own in their bedrooms. Divvy up the inventorying and packing of various rooms between yourself and your spouse. And employ a professional moving company to take care of the loading, shipping, and unloading – or whatever else you don’t have the time, the know-how40], or the impulse to attend to personally.
- Waiting until the last minute to take care of everything. Moving is done in stages. By way of illustration, there are timelines for ending services (gas, electric, phone, and so on) at your old address and turning them on at your new address before you get there. Special arrangements must be made and care must be taken to pack and transfer huge or priceless items. When the movers pull up in your drive, everything that’s got to go had better be ready to go if the move is to keep on schedule. Delays can cost you – and a lot more than money. Racing around at the last minute is a good way to ensure that things get lost or left behind. Or damaged.
- Not establishing a Moving Day plan for the kids and pets. Are the kids heading out with you or your spouse or staying with grandma until the move’s finished? Have plans been made regarding their school situation? Can you take Fido with you or would it be better to board him until you’re in^’ve arrived at in}76} your new home? You know these things need to be appraised. Don’t wait to appraise them!
- Not relaying changes in your schedule to your moving company. Has the start date of your new job in your new city changed in a way that could necessitate postponing or advancing91 your move date? Can’t make the time originally arranged for the home survey that influences your move estimate? Need to have the movers come a little later than planned on Move Day? Okay, sometimes changes are inescapable. There’s no reason for them to be a worry, though … if you alert your moving company to them well enough in advance!
- Not reading the paperwork from your mover carefully. What? You didn’t spot that additional 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 really cover the total valuation of your belongings? Of course, maybe none of those things were actually in the contract – and should have been. If you didn’t read it, how would you know? Surely you’ve heard the old adage that you shouldn’t ever sign a contract you haven’t read. Heed it! Or you’ll surely get a bill you weren’t banking on!
Follow the guidelines above, start planning early, and you might find that your household move has all the adventure you hoped for – and none of the headaches you feared!
