Month: July 2022

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Moving Tips

How to Save Money on Your Next NJ Move

4 Tips to Save Money on Your Next NJ Move

Moving to a new home can be exciting, but it’s also expensive. In addition to the money you spent securing your new home, moving comes with its own set of costs. Luckily, there are ways you can bring down the cost of moving, but it will take a bit more planning and effort on your side. Is it worth it? That’s up to you and how much time and energy you have. With that said, the money saved during the move might mean you can splurge on new decor or a nice dinner out once you’re settled in.

If you’re looking to save some money, try out the methods below for your next NJ move.

Declutter and Sell Your Less Useful Old Items

Decluttering is one of the best ways to save money on your move especially if you’re using professional NJ movers. After all, the less boxes and furniture you have, the less time it will take them to load and unload your belongings from the truck. It also means less time you need to spend packing and wrapping.

Of course, deciding what to get rid of can be difficult especially if you have an emotional connection to certain items. However, moving is the perfect time to unburden yourself. Take some time to look at everything you own and think about the last time you used that item. If you haven’t used it in the past year, chances are you don’t need it, but there’s someone out there who might get great use out of it.

One of the best ways to make a little extra cash is to have a garage or yard sale. While you won’t recoup the original cost of the item, whatever money you do make from it you can put towards your moving expenses. If you have items like camera lenses or vintage clothes, you might be able to put these up on eBay for a decent profit.

Of course, there will be items you might not be able to sell. If they’re still in decent condition, you can donate them to your local Goodwill store. While you won’t get any upfront payment, you can write off your donations in your taxes at the end of the year. So make sure you get an itemized receipt after donating! Otherwise, you can post on your local neighborhood Facebook group letting people know they can take the items away for free. Either way, the goal is to reduce the amount of stuff you need to move.

Avoid Buying New Supplies Right Now

The cost of moving supplies adds up quickly – some tape here, bubble wrap there, and all of sudden you’ve spent a couple hundred dollars and you still need more for the rest of your stuff. While there might be times where you have to buy supplies, there are plenty of ways you can avoid it with a little planning.

Besides hiring movers, the biggest moving expense is the boxes. Thanks to online shopping, almost everyone likely has some empty boxes lying around. Consider asking neighbors, friends, and family members for any boxes they might have. You can also go to your local grocery store or liquor store and see if they have any.

If you work in an office, check with the mailroom to see if they have any empty boxes that they plan on tossing. Chances are, you’ll end up with more boxes than you need. If you don’t have any luck with friends and family, you might be able to find some options online via Facebook, Nextdoor, or Freecycle.

You can also reuse some of your own items for packing. Instead of using bubble wrap, why not wrap fragile items in t-shirts, towels, newspaper, or sheets? They’re an excellent option as they will still protect your valuables without costing any extra money. Just make sure that the movers are extra careful as you don’t want to deal with broken glass in your clothes!

Consider Self-Packing Everything to Save Money

Sure, hiring professional packers might make your job easier, but it comes at a pretty hefty cost especially if you do full-service packing. While it might be a time-consuming task, it’s a lot cheaper to pack everything yourself. If the money you save isn’t enough motivation,  then consider this: you can pack your boxes in the way that makes sense to you.

While professional packers will generally do a good job, sometimes they’ll group items together that don’t necessarily make sense. You have complete control over what item goes into which box. That will make it a lot easier when you need to unpack as you’ll know exactly where everything is.

If you need the extra help, instead of springing for the full-service packing consider a partial packing option. This allows you to pack the majority of your items while leaving certain rooms to the pros. So maybe you don’t want to deal with packing all the fragile items in the kitchen.

Hire the pros! It’ll save you some time and, while more expensive than packing yourself, will still be cheaper than if they packed everything. Just make sure to ask the movers how much they charge and how long the packing services will take before you agree to this option.

Hire the Most Affordable NJ Movers

Yes, you can go the DIY move, but doing everything yourself is not just stressful, but can be dangerous! Even if you’ve moved multiple times in your life, you won’t have as much experience as professional movers who move almost every day of the week.

The pros know exactly how to stack the boxes in a truck to avoid damage, navigate tight corridors and corners, and lift heavy items properly. Many people have injured themselves trying to move furniture or even heavy boxes and there’s nothing worse than having to move with a strained back or ankle.

There are plenty of NJ movers to choose from, but that doesn’t mean they’re all equal. While it might be tempting to go with the cheapest option, chances are they won’t be very professional and could end up damaging your belongings during transport. In the worst case scenario, they might be a scam and hold your belongings for ransom until you pay a higher fee.

To avoid this, you’ll need to do plenty of research online and by directly calling each company. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and always look up their Department of Transportation number to make sure they are properly licensed. You should also look up online reviews to see what their customers think. Once you’ve done all that, you should be able to find movers NJ residents trust.

Once you’ve found the right movers, make sure to read the contract carefully. Are there any fees you weren’t expecting? Most local movers charge an hourly rate, which ends up being cheaper than volume pricing. However, if there’s inclement weather or you haven’t finished packing yet, your final price might end up higher than what you expected.

Also, don’t forget to check what kind of insurance and liability options they offer. If you own a lot of valuable items, you might want to get full liability coverage. If the company doesn’t offer it, you can always get a third-party option.

Easily Save Money on Your Next NJ Move

By following these tips, you should be able to save yourself a few hundred dollars. What you do with that money is up to you! These tips only work if you start planning your move at least a month in advance, so make sure to start as soon as possible. When it comes to finding reliable NJ movers, you can always give NJ Great Movers a call for a free quote.

Categories
Moving Tips

The Most Useful Guide for NJ Movers

The Essential Tipping Guide for NJ Movers

Moving day is here and you’re all packed up and ready to go. Hopefully, the moving crew has done their job and made the moving process as smooth as possible. While you’ve likely spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on your move, you might be wondering whether you should tip your movers, especially if they did a good job. The fact is, moving companies don’t factor or take gratuities into account in their overall estimate. And while it’s not required, tipping is common in the moving industry and your NJ movers will certainly appreciate the gesture.

Figuring out what’s fair depends on a variety of factors including:

  • Difficulty of move
  • Quality of service
  • Size of move
  • Number of movers

When hiring professional movers, you should set aside some money for tipping that fits comfortably in your overall moving budget. This tipping guide can help you create a ballpark estimate of how much you should tip.

General Tipping Guide: What You Need to Know

You’re probably familiar with tipping at restaurants. There, you tip a portion of the total and increase the tip amount based on the service. If you try to carry over that concept to moving, it will cost hundreds of dollars. An excellent place to start is to tip movers at $4-5 per person for every hour they work. Here’s an easy breakdown of how to tip movers:

  • Half-day move (generally 4 hours) – $20/person
  • Full day (8 hours) – $40/person
  • 12 hours or more – $50-60/person

While this is a baseline, you should also factor in the complexity of the move into the price. For example, if your movers are also packing all your things and moving bulky furniture like a pool table or piano, you might want to increase the rate.

Tipping on Moving Day: Should You Tip?

Most movers NJ residents trust should provide a decent baseline level of service. Most companies offer consistent training to ensure all crew members know best practices when it comes to moving things as efficiently as possible. Some factors to consider regarding the success of your move include:

  • Punctuality – did the movers show up on time and communicate their arrival beforehand?
  • Efficient – was your move completed on time or even faster than expected?
  • Helpful – did the movers answer your questions? Did they help with packing, uninstalling, and basic disassembly of furniture?
  • Friendly – while you don’t want your movers to be chatterboxes, you do want them to be friendly and respectful of you, your family, and your neighbors
  • Excellent work ethic – they didn’t dawdle when they go on-site and performed work without any complaints including navigating tight halls and stairs
  • Careful – Did all of your items arrive in the same condition as they left your old home? Did they damage anything including the walls or floors of your new or old place?

Of course, there might be times when you will need to adjust the tip downwards. Some things to look out for include:

  • Poor attitude and tardiness
  • Rude and loud during the move, shouting profanities around children and neighbors
  • Lack of regard for your instructions, especially with fragile items
  • Damaged belongings
  • Threatening or demanding a certain amount of cash as a tip

Since tips are meant to show movers appreciation for their hard work, you can withhold a tip if the crew you had were particularly egregious. In these cases, you should also call the company directly and make a report. In many cases, you might be refunded a portion of your moving fee as an apology.

When and How to Tip Movers

As with any other service provider, you should only tip after the job is done. That way you can pay attention to their attitude, how they treat your belongings, and their professionalism throughout the entire process. The exception to this is for long-distance moves as these are often handled by multiple crews. You should provide a tip to the crew loading your items and to the crew unloading them at the destination.

With that said, you can let the workers know beforehand that you intend to tip them for their hard work. That might motivate them to get the job done faster! When figuring out how much you owe, don’t forget to count non-monetary contributions that you provide during the move such as lunch, water bottles, coffee, etc. Something like a water bottle shouldn’t decrease the tip amount dramatically, but a lunch might replace a tip in its entirety.

Once the relocation is complete, put the cash tip for each mover in a separate envelope and hand them out individually instead of giving out the total amount to the foreman. It will limit confusion and prevent potential dishonesty where some movers take a higher cut than others. Also, by handing out the tip individually, you are showing that you are recognizing everyone’s effort. And while it’s customary to give each mover the same amount, you can give a higher one to someone who went above and beyond.

Other Common Ways to Show Your Appreciation

Yes, cash is king, but there are plenty of other ways you can thank your movers. While not necessary, these can go a long way and help future moves go smoothly if you choose to use the same company. Some ideas include:

  • Leaving a good online review using their names
  • Provide refreshing cold or hot drinks (depending on the time of year). Just make sure these are non-alcoholic drinks!
  • Offer small snacks or food to help keep their energy levels up!
  • Write a thank you letter after they have completed the relocation and include it with their cash tip
  • Offer a meal. This might not work for very busy movers, but you can always offer a quick meal of pizza, sandwich, etc. that they can take to go. Also, make sure to check if they have any dietary restrictions before putting in the order!
  • If you have items like furniture or decor you no longer need, offer it to the movers in case they want it. Many will gladly take it off your hands either to keep in their own home or sell

How to Improve Moving Efficiency

While you’ve hired the NJ movers to load and unload your items, you can make the job go a lot faster by making sure you’ve fully packed everything. Some movers will recommend you leave large and/or expensive items like glass tabletops, TVs, etc. to them as they know how to wrap them up properly.

While they will disassemble and dismount your AC units and furniture, it’s always a good idea to do it yourself. That way, you know exactly where all the screws, brackets, and nails are. Also, make sure to empty all your drawers and shelves. It will reduce the weight of these items and the movers don’t have to worry about your belongings flying out of the shelves during the drive to your new home.

Another step you can take to make your and your mover’s life easy is to label each box appropriately. A well-labeled box includes the room name and a basic inventory of what’s in the box. You should make sure any boxes containing fragile items are labeled accordingly. That way the movers will know to handle them with care.

Moving is a tough job and any action you can take to make it easier helps your assigned crew out alot. Once the NJ movers have completed their job, show your appreciation by giving them a well-deserved tip and great review!