Tag: moving process

Categories
Storage

4 Reasons You Should Consider a Storage Solution for Your Next Move

4 Reasons You Should Consider a Storage Solution for Your Next Move

Regardless of the size of your house, if you have lived there for several years you have accumulated a lot of stuff. Most people don’t realize how much they have until they need to move, that’s why downsizing is such a huge part of the moving process. However, it’s not always easy to let go of items you’ve had for a long time. Doubly so if you’re moving to a much smaller space or just don’t have the time to go through everything you own. You don’t want to accidentally throw out your late grandmother’s quilt!

While you can find your own storage units, many moving companies (like Great Movers) provide storage options for customers. The best part is that the movers will help bring your belongings to your storage unit and then to your new home once you’re ready, saving you a lot of time. There are many reasons a storage unit can be beneficial to the moving process so it might be worth it to consider it for the future.

Declutter Your House

Once you’ve decided to move out of your house, you will want to attract as many buyers as possible. For best results, you should declutter your house as much as possible as a tidy home will showcase the space in the best possible light. Even if your house is large, a cluttered garage, full closet, or large stack of boxes strewn about the house can turn off potential buyers.

While it might be easier to start packing up when you know your closing date, it’s not always possible. In many cases, even if you do know the closing date, your move-out and move-in dates might not overlap.

Whatever the case is, the idea is to get as much non-essential stuff out of your house and somewhere else. If you’re not able to move into your new place yet, you will have to put your boxes into storage for a few months. Luckily, most reputable movers offer safe and secure short-term storage solutions. Plus, they don’t necessarily need to have exact dates. When you’re ready to move your boxes into your new place, all you need to do is give them a call and let them know your plans. They’ll deliver the items to you with zero hassle.

Plus, putting your stuff in storage early on allows you to also take a second look at what you own. With so much going on from finding a new house, closing on the new house, finding a buyer, packing, and all the dozens of other tasks you’ll probably be overwhelmed. Chances are you might throw out something accidentally and/or bring too many items to your new place that you don’t need. You might even bring bulky items like furniture that won’t even fit in your new place!

With everything in storage, you can spend a bit more time sorting through your belongings. If you can, wait to declutter the storage unit until after you’ve moved in. There’s nothing quite like living in a new place to give you a clearer picture of where you want to put things and whether your old aesthetic matches your new house. Plus, you’ll have a clean, empty space when you move so you can easily paint the walls without worrying about dirtying up your stuff.

Reduce Moving Costs

It might sound counterintuitive, but renting a storage unit could save you moving costs. The smaller units can often cost as little as $100 and many places offer a discount on the first month. Many CT moving companies might even offer discounts on your move if you also use their storage solutions. Of course, you shouldn’t assume that you’ll get these discounts so make sure that you ask about any promotions when you talk to the movers over the phone.

Even if you don’t get a discount, moving might still be cheaper if you put some things in storage. With less stuff to load and unload, the movers will take less time, which means a lower price tag. Of course, it also means you will need to move your own boxes into and out of storage yourself for maximum cost savings.

Alleviate Stress

While you can reduce stress by planning ahead, sometimes you’ll still run into some hiccups. Maybe your new house isn’t ready in time or maybe the people who want to purchase your home need to move in faster than expected. There are so many things that can happen that it can be overwhelming. The last thing you need is not having a safe place to store your belongings.

Even if everything goes according to plan, it can still be tricky to try and pack and move everything in a short amount of time. Thai is especially true if you’re making a long-distance move. That’s why renting a storage unit can be a great option. You can start packing even before you put your house on the market and store your stuff as early as possible. Plus, you can keep adding to the unit as the selling and buying process gets underway.

Find the Right Buyer for Items

Yard sales might be great for selling the basic knick knacks you don’t want to bring with you, but they might not be the best for more valuable items. Of course, anything could be considered ‘valuable’ so it really comes down to your knowledge of what you own and how well you know the pricing. Things that can sell for a lot include:

  • Collectible toys
  • Comic books
  • Trading cards
  • Camera lenses
  • Vintage clothes
  • Designer purses and shoes
  • Scientific equipment

Of course, to make money on things like collectibles, they need to be in almost pristine condition. For toys, most are only worth money if they are still in the box so make sure to do some research and price accordingly. There are a lot of places online where you can list your items for sale, but the most popular remains eBay. Depending on the quality and rarity of the item you’re selling, you might even be able to sell it at a profit. In order to do this, you can’t have a deadline where you need to get rid of your items. That’s why a storage unit is so useful. You can simply pack them away and spend some time doing your research and finding the right buyer.

Consider Storage Solutions for Your Next Move

Moving is both an exciting and stressful endeavor, but you can lighten the burden by adding on either long or short term storage options. That way, you will have most of your things packed already weeks before your move. And if worse comes to worst and you have to move out before you can move into your new place, you will already have your belongings in storage. It’s a win win.

If you are interested in storage solutions, make sure to ask the professional movers what they offer.

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!

Categories
General

5 Exciting and Fun Things to Do Before Moving

5 Exciting and Fun Things to Do Before Moving

Even when you’re moving into your dream house, the actual moving process can be grueling and emotional. The months before a move are busy, even when you hire professional movers and are super organized. While moving can be stressful, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun to make the process a bit easier. If you need a break, the following activities can help refresh your batteries so you can get back to moving with gusto.

Throw a Party Before Moving to a New City

Whether you’re moving to a new city or a new state, organizing a going away party can be a nice distraction from all the packing and planning. Sure, it’s not particularly fun to say goodbye to good friends and neighbors, but a party is a great opportunity to see everyone in one place and spend time with the people who matter.

You don’t need additional stress during your move, so plan to make this party very informal. Reach out to your closest friends and neighbors and have a laid-back get together on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Make sure you have some drinks and snacks, but you can also ask guests to bring something as well. At the end of the party, make sure you exchange your new contact information. Heck, you can even mix business with pleasure and have the moving-away part after your friends have helped you pack for the day. If you’re hiring movers, you can encourage your guests to take some items that you don’t plan on bringing with you.

Visit Your New and Old Places

Unless you really hated your area, chances are there are a few spots in town that you love. Maybe it’s a cozy diner, a small museum, or a quiet green area in a park. Wherever it is, take some time out of your hectic moving plans to enjoy your neighborhood for the last time. Don’t rush yourself either! Take your time and truly relish the experience. That might mean clearing up a day or two in your busy moving schedule, but it will be worth it!

If your schedules align, take one or two friends on a greatest hits ‘tour’ and visit your favorite places. You could even take a walk down memory lane and revisit some of your old haunts. If that’s not your style, why not be a tourist in your town for the day? If you live somewhere like NYC, chances are you probably avoid tourist locations like the plague. Now is the time to take in all the attractions and enjoy them! It’s a great way to recharge your battery for the tough relocation ahead.

Capture Beautiful Memories Before You Leave

Leaving your old home can be an emotional experience, especially if you have a lot of good memories in it. It’s hard on everyone, but doubly so for children as they have come to associate the house with comfort, love, and warmth. Fortunately, your upcoming move doesn’t have to be a somber affair as long as you believe your new home will be even better.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to forget all about your old house. If anything, to make the transition easier, you should capture some memories before you leave. Maybe that means making a farewell video where each member of the family tells their favorite story or memory linked to a particular room. Avoid scripted takes as you want authenticity!

If you’re not into video, take some time to take some pictures as you move out. Later on, you can arrange these pictures, along with others you have taken during your stay at your old house, into a photo album. If you have kids, let them contribute to the album as well so everyone will have fond memories to look back on.

Speaking of memories, if you can bring a memento from your old place to your new one. This might be a bit harder if you live in a rental as you could be charged for not leaving the apartment in good condition. Choose something that is meaningful and either add it to the photo album/scrapbook or add it to your new home. This way, every time you look at the memento, you’ll be reminded of good memories.

Reward Yourself  in a Way You Choose

If you hire trustworthy movers, hopefully your residential move will be perfect from start to finish. Many people will wait until after the move to treat themselves, but there’s no rule saying you can’t take a much needed pre-move break. In fact, it’s a great way to keep your motivation high, especially during the height of moving.

It might be tempting to try and push through all the tedious packing and organizing, but take some time to relax. Maybe that means catching a movie with some friends, going out for romantic dinner with your significant other, or attending a concert. If you’re moving alone, it could be as simple as taking a luxurious bath or relaxing in bed watching your favorite show. Whatever it is, you want to choose an activity that will recharge your batteries. The point is to do something you love and enjoy. You’ll be less stressed the next day and you might even be able to get everything done faster by taking a break.

Create a Proven Floor Plan to Avoid Mistakes

When moving into a new place, you have the opportunity to truly transform it into the home of your dreams. Sure, there might be some limitations, especially if you decide to move into an apartment. However, there are still plenty of ways you can unleash your creativity and create a cozy dwelling that reflects your personality while also guaranteeing maximum comfort. And you can start planning all of this out before you even move! In fact, you should create a floor plan before you move, that way you can avoid costly mistakes such as:

  • Incorrect furniture size – there’s no point in spending money moving heavy furniture if it won’t fit in your new home. A detailed floor plan will tell you which pieces you can keep and which ones you can donate or throw away.
  • Poor furniture placement – you’ll have to know the exact dimensions of your house and furniture for this, but it’s well worth the effort as you can figure out where to place each item to maximize open areas and traffic flow
  • Rearranging furniture after move in – why spend time rearranging furniture after you move in when you can simply have the movers place items exactly where you want it? With a floor plan, you can tell the movers exactly where you want each item to go. Not only does this save you time, it also reduces the chances of you or loved ones getting injured because you’re trying to move heavy items.

In order for the floor plan to work as intended, you need exact measurements of everything. Make sure to include quirky wall layouts such as round sections or slanted walls. Also make sure to note the location of all windows, doors, and doorways as you don’t want to block any of these areas with furniture. While you’re at it, you should also look for the location of electric outlets, ceiling lights, and heating vents on your floor plan. When you have all the information, draw the rooms to scale. It usually works best when you use graph paper and represent one foot with two squares on the graph paper.

Once that’s done, measure all of your furniture and decide which ones you want to move into your new home and see whether they will fit. Draw the outlines of your furniture onto another piece of graph paper using the same scaling method as you did for the actual house/apartment. From there, cut the furniture shapes from the paper and start arranging on your floor plan. Pay special attention to the flow of traffic and how you can break up a large room into different ‘sections.’ Sure, you can always rearrange furniture later on, but a good floor plan can save you time and reduce unnecessary stress. Plus, you can keep the plan for future use if you ever replace your old furniture.

Hire the Best Professional NJ Movers

The moving process can be grueling and stress-full, but these tips can hopefully help make it a little more bearable. Another great way to reduce stress is to hire professional movers who can help load and unload your belongings and even arrange your furniture based on your specifications. Working with the pros means you don’t have to worry about broken items or injuries. And that’s a great way to start a new chapter in your life!