Tips for Removing the Stress from Long-distance Moves

Planning for and carrying out a move to a new home can be a large undertaking when you try to complete it on your own. But hiring a professional moving company along with some other tips can help the process go more smoothly. Here are some recommendations to help you make your move go a bit more smoothly.

Declutter Your Home

One of the first steps to making your move go more smoothly and easily is to declutter your home before the move, which reduces the number of boxes less you will need to move. If you are hiring professional movers, start decluttering before the movers arrive to begin packing. If you are packing up your items yourself, you can declutter as you pack.

Moving is a good time to go through all your possessions and get rid of things you have been holding onto unnecessarily. For example, if you are holding onto a gift you don't really like that someone gave you, let it go. Don't feel you have to hold onto the item any longer because you feel obligated to do so. The item has already served its purpose when it was give to you as a gift and you can pass it along to someone else by donating it to a donation service. Let go of items you have not used in a year, for example.

Begin Packing Early

If you are handling the packing part of your move by yourself and hiring professional movers to handle the physical move, it can be helpful to begin the packing process early. There are many items within your home that you can pack into boxes several days or even a week before you plan to move. And some items, such as holiday decor and food storage can be boxed up weeks before your move.

Begin by packing such things as books, dvds, dishes you don't use regularly, extra linens, and out-of-season clothing first. Also pack up home decor and other decorative items. If you don't use an item regularly, then pack it up for moving.

By starting to pack up your home as early as possible helps you get a large amount of your household items ready a bit early for your moving day. Then, as you see progress toward packing up your entire house, it can reduce the stress on you as moving day nears.

Hire a Cleaning Service

To help you save time and energy during your move to the new place, it can be helpful to hire a professional cleaning service. The home you are moving from will need to be cleaned once you are completely moved out of it to prepare it for its new homeowners or renters.

If you are moving across town or across the country, the last thing you want to do after all your household items are packed up is to clean your old place. Most of the time, your cleaning supplies, including vacuum cleaner and mop, are already in the moving truck headed to your new place or already at your new place. And cleaning an entire home can take you some time, especially if you have small children or pets who add to the cleaning requirements.

Depending on the size of your home and how many rooms it contains, to hire a cleaning service for a one-time cleaning, it can cost you anywhere from $200 to $300. But if you have a cleaning service you have been using regularly, you may expect to pay less for the final thorough cleaning of your old place. You may also be able to get a better deal hiring an independent cleaning contractor, versus a professional maid service company. You may be able to hire an independent contractor for approximately $10 per hour and a professional maid service may charge from $25 to $35 per hour.