Adventures in Cross Country Moving

Moving across country is an adventure no matter how prepared one may be. Packing up years of accumulated stuff, along with planning your route across the country is more stress than one finds in a typical move. There are ways to make these parts of the move a little easier to swallow and ease up on the stress a bit. Plan ahead, start packing early, clearly label all your boxes, make a list, and decide on if you’re going to rent moving trucks to move yourself or hire cross country movers to do it for you.

If you chose to rent moving trucks and make the move yourself your planning is going to include a few more things. You have to account for gas, map out the best route even if you have a GPS just in case something happens. Let’s not forget planning for the financial portions of the move. Hotels, gas, tolls, and food are all important items that cannot be avoided on the trip to your new home.

Hiring professional cross country movers can take some of the stress out of the trip. You are still on the hook for the packing and labeling of your stuff, but the financials are easier to plan for. Most movers will give you an upfront estimate of the cost of the move, and any additional fees that may arise. Any reputable company will also give you an itinerary along with a time frame about how many days it will take for them to arrive at your new home. The only travel plans you need to make for yourself are a plane reservation, and a hotel to stay at because usually you will be without furniture for a day or so before and sometimes after your arrival at your new home.

Now let’s take a little peak into a plan one should have when making their move. Lists are important, and knowing where you packed everything is even more important if you know you won’t have time to unpack everything after your move. One easy way to help keep track of where everything is to use a spreadsheet and labeling system that is well documented. If you label boxes with numbers, and then list everything packed in that box under the corresponding number on a spreadsheet you will know exactly where to look for that pair of shoes you need for work after you make your move. Don’t forget to label boxes so that the movers know where each box goes when they get to the new house to alleviate any confusion that may arise slowing down the moving process.

So here is a quick check list of things you can do to ease the stress of a cross country trip:

• Plan ahead and write down that plan so it is easy to follow.
• Make all hotel reservation ahead of time if you are making the move yourself. Double check plane and hotel reservations if you have hired professionals do the heavy lifting for you.
• Label all your boxes using a spreadsheet that can be printed out so you know what is in each box.
• Label all boxes as to where they are to be put in your new house so the movers can get the job done as quickly as possible and get back to their family and friends.