Moving Home? Make Your Move As Stress Free As Possible
| by Jeanette Wharfe | October 08, 2008
It is said that on average most people move home about every seven years. It’s also said that moving home is one of the most stressful things we ever do. Apparently it’s ranked right up there with losing a close relative and divorce. If you’ve already gone through the process of home removal once or twice you’ll probably agree with the quoted findings. If you haven’t then you have it all to look forward to!
Does it have to be the nightmare of stress and angst as people say it is? No, not if you go about it in the right way. Forward planning is the key as it is in so much else in life. First you need to sit back and look at what you want to do. That’s called determining your objective.
Nine times out of ten your objective will be to pack up the contents of your house or flat, load it into a van and take it to your new abode. There you expect to unload the van into the new home and place everything, undamaged, more or less where you’ll want it to be. That’s how it should be and that’s how it will be, or pretty close anyway, if you plan it right.
Is yours a direct move from house to house or are you moving out of one house to aremovals storage facility and then moving from there to another house at a later date? If it’s the latter, that’s really two moves you have to plan. One from your original home to the removals storage facility and another from the storage facility to your new home.
If there’s the remotest chance that you might want access to any particular items while they’re in storage talk to the contractors about it before the moving day and visit the removals storage facility to make yourself familiar with the layout.
Whichever kind of move yours is you’ll start off by getting quotes from several removal companies. Prices can vary considerably but remember, so can standards of service and customer care. It’s highly unlikely that the cheapest quote you can find will be the best. It’s worth asking a lot of questions and finding out as much about the companies as you can. After all it’s your prized possessions they’re going to be handling at least twice, maybe four times if you are using removals storage, and carting about the country in a van.
When it’s a direct move and you know where you’re going, it’s worth visiting the new place as often as you need to get a good picture in your head or even better on paper of where you want everything to go. It may be a bit of a nuisance to the present occupiers but they’re probably doing the same thing somewhere else, or they should be. The same advice applies when you’re moving from removals storage once you know where your new home is to be.
Once you’ve chosen your home removals contractor they may offer you the choice of either leaving all the packing up to them on moving day or being supplied with packing cases in advance for you to pack everything yourself. It’s up to you of course but remember the home removal company’s people are likely to make a better job of it than you will. Also if they do it you know their insurance will cover everything. That may not be the case if you’ve done your own packing.
Shifting your worldly goods from one dwelling to another or into removals storage and out again isn’t the only thing you need to plan for when you move home. Back to that plan again! There are a number of people and organisations you need to contact to tell them what you’re doing.
You need to make a list. There’s your gas and electricity suppliers who need to make final meter readings when you leave and with whom you’ll need to set up new contracts for the new home, and arrange for both to be turned on when you move in. You need to make the necessary arrangements with the telephone company for both ends.
It doesn’t end there, the water company will need to know and it might not be the same one where you’re going to. If you’re reading this then presumably you have a computer with internet access. You’ll need to contact your internet service provider and make the necessary arrangements. Don’t forget Royal Mail for redirection of post and of course all those friends and family that you want to know where you’ve gone.
With careful planning, well ahead, your move should go relatively smoothly. You won’t eliminate all stress but you will make your move as stress free as possible.
Does it have to be the nightmare of stress and angst as people say it is? No, not if you go about it in the right way. Forward planning is the key as it is in so much else in life. First you need to sit back and look at what you want to do. That’s called determining your objective.
Nine times out of ten your objective will be to pack up the contents of your house or flat, load it into a van and take it to your new abode. There you expect to unload the van into the new home and place everything, undamaged, more or less where you’ll want it to be. That’s how it should be and that’s how it will be, or pretty close anyway, if you plan it right.
Is yours a direct move from house to house or are you moving out of one house to aremovals storage facility and then moving from there to another house at a later date? If it’s the latter, that’s really two moves you have to plan. One from your original home to the removals storage facility and another from the storage facility to your new home.
If there’s the remotest chance that you might want access to any particular items while they’re in storage talk to the contractors about it before the moving day and visit the removals storage facility to make yourself familiar with the layout.
Whichever kind of move yours is you’ll start off by getting quotes from several removal companies. Prices can vary considerably but remember, so can standards of service and customer care. It’s highly unlikely that the cheapest quote you can find will be the best. It’s worth asking a lot of questions and finding out as much about the companies as you can. After all it’s your prized possessions they’re going to be handling at least twice, maybe four times if you are using removals storage, and carting about the country in a van.
When it’s a direct move and you know where you’re going, it’s worth visiting the new place as often as you need to get a good picture in your head or even better on paper of where you want everything to go. It may be a bit of a nuisance to the present occupiers but they’re probably doing the same thing somewhere else, or they should be. The same advice applies when you’re moving from removals storage once you know where your new home is to be.
Once you’ve chosen your home removals contractor they may offer you the choice of either leaving all the packing up to them on moving day or being supplied with packing cases in advance for you to pack everything yourself. It’s up to you of course but remember the home removal company’s people are likely to make a better job of it than you will. Also if they do it you know their insurance will cover everything. That may not be the case if you’ve done your own packing.
Shifting your worldly goods from one dwelling to another or into removals storage and out again isn’t the only thing you need to plan for when you move home. Back to that plan again! There are a number of people and organisations you need to contact to tell them what you’re doing.
You need to make a list. There’s your gas and electricity suppliers who need to make final meter readings when you leave and with whom you’ll need to set up new contracts for the new home, and arrange for both to be turned on when you move in. You need to make the necessary arrangements with the telephone company for both ends.
It doesn’t end there, the water company will need to know and it might not be the same one where you’re going to. If you’re reading this then presumably you have a computer with internet access. You’ll need to contact your internet service provider and make the necessary arrangements. Don’t forget Royal Mail for redirection of post and of course all those friends and family that you want to know where you’ve gone.
With careful planning, well ahead, your move should go relatively smoothly. You won’t eliminate all stress but you will make your move as stress free as possible.
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