Shifting your home is something you are likely to do at least once in your lifetime. Relocating from a place where you have developed a sense of familiarity and bonding is difficult. The reasons to change must be compelling enough for you. Here are a few practical reasons you can consider for moving to a new place.

Reduce Commute to Job

You should consider moving to a new place closer to your workplace. This is more important when your daily commute exceeds an hour and a half each side. Shifting your home will reduce cost of transport and save your time. Reduced travel time will also translate into you staying more energetic throughout the day.

A Good Opportunity in a New City

This is something which most salaried employees have experienced. As you keep looking for a better opportunity in your professional life, you may get one in another city. If you see this as a golden chance worthwhile to be explored, you will end up shifting your home to this new city.

You can Afford Better

As you start doing better for yourself, you want it to reflect it in your home as well. Better economic condition means you would prefer shifting your home from a sparse studio-flat to furnished apartment. As you move up in life, you will also need space for all your purchases, like TV and wardrobe.

Change in Family Size

After marriage, you will certainly need to change your house. You will need adequate place for your partner, yourself and your future kids. You may also have to relocate to a place more convenient to both your workplaces. There are also special cases where some people may have to make a permanent provision for a dependent relative like a parent.

Choosing a Kid-Friendly Neighborhood

With all the reasons listed above, this is the reason which surpasses everything else for a married couple. Once you have kids, they become the priority. You would prefer to move to a place where your kids can have a better growth opportunity. A longer commute time to your job is acceptable if this criterion is fulfilled.

Shifting your home is something you are likely to remember for a long time. Even if you have moved several times, you may remember all the places you have lived in. When moving to a new place, we hope it is fun and exciting for you.

Selecting a team of good packers and movers is a big question. Since shifting home is an infrequent activity, the knowledge needed in this regard seems more like an obscure solution to a tough mathematics problem. However, this is not the case. Here are the simple ways to understand whether the people you want to select are good.

Your Convenience

The first sign that should be evident is how convenient it is for you. From the start, do you have to wait for a surveyor for your estimate or can you do it yourself using technology like apps. If you try to connect to them over the phone, how quick is their response time? At this point, you can estimate if you will have a smooth move or if you will face issues throughout.

Knowledge of the Packers and Movers

The second obvious sign is the knowledge of your prospective vendor. This can be estimated very easily even if you do not know anything of this industry. When they ask you about your items, do they ask for details? This includes nuances like is your bed a king size or queen size? Or, is your fridge a two-door or single? If single-door, is it above 300 liters? Do they check if the access road to your home is wide or narrow? If you hear questions like this, you can be assured that they are professionals who know what they are doing.

Packing Material Quality

Before you actually commit to the packers and movers in question, inquire about their packing material. Ask them what will they use to protect your wooden wardrobe and your crockery? If the answers to such questions is an offhand one like a simple wrap with newspapers as cushions, you may want to back out. A professional team will know how each item is differently packed and how to avoid breaking them. They will use items like bubble wraps, crates, good quality cartons etc.

Additional Protection

Good packers and movers will always offer an option for insurance. This seems like an added cost initially, especially when you have taken care in the packing quality. What you must always remember, however, is that there is always a slight chance of things not going smoothly. You don’t want to end up arguing if there is a damage. Most insurance companies will work only with those teams who don’t have to make a lot of claims. Hence, it is a very good sign if your prospective choice offers you this option.

Your belongings are dear to you; hence every care is needed when you select the team who will handle them from one place to another. With the details mentioned above, it is possible to arrive at a set of few good movers and packers who can take good care of your valuables.

Marriage is universally considered as settling down. The reason is simple – once you get married, you tend to stay in one place for long. This becomes truer in an age of the working couple, where both spouses are bread earners. The purpose, then, for changing cities is very often a huge career opportunity for either of the spouse. This entails some important issues which should be addressed before the decision to move is made.

Job for the Second Partner

The biggest concern is ensuring that the second partner gets either a transfer or a new job. Otherwise this results in one member of the working couple having to take a big sabbatical or resign without a job. Even if they get a transfer within the same company, their quarterly/ yearly review may be affected. Properly addressing this concern will ensure there is no dent in the household finances. Look for contacts and old friends living in the city. They will help you in setting up both professionally as well as personally.

Office Distance and Commute Options

The location of their home selected should be at a commutable distance from both offices. If personal vehicle is not an option, then availability of public transport to both offices should be checked. The best-case scenario happens if the offices of both members of the working couple are in the same area.

Family and Vehicle Concerns

After the concern of career opportunity, getting a good school for the children comes in next. Their education and daily travel must be planned well in advance. Changing cities also means taking in consideration the change in your vehicle registration. Moving to a different state may mean different laws in this regard.

Managing the Move

Packing and moving requires a lot of attention and planning. Since both partners are working, it is possible that either of them alone will not be able to devote the required time. The best solution is to choose a good packer and mover who will ensure stress-free shifting while both partners take turns in supervising the move.

Changing cities essentially means uprooting the eco-system for both people. Both spouses will feel the impact of this change acutely. Properly addressing the concerns will keep your settled life from being hit by the turmoil of change. So, believe that the best lies ahead and look for the big career opportunity to move ahead in life.

You planned well for shifting to your new home. The move was also relatively stress free. Now you are going to start a new life. The vital question is – how do you go about it? Just follow these points and your new life will begin in a relaxed and easy way.

Check Your Items

Ensure that the total number of items you marked before the move have arrived and are in good condition. Check if your electronics are working and there are no damages on any other items. If this is not the case, you need to immediately bring this to the notice of the packers and movers.

Look at the Security and Facilities

After shifting to your new home, you need to check it thoroughly. This includes replacing all the locks and inspecting the fire alarms. You also need to see if the lights, power outlets and water sources are properly working. If not, consider calling a handyman before you put your items in place.

Unpack and Organize

Now you are ready to customize your home in your way. If you marked your boxes before moving, you will find it easy to unpack the proper boxes in the correct rooms and arrange them faster. This will also help you avoid the chaotic feeling associated with shifting.

Clean Up Your New Home

After your items are placed properly and your new home starts looking livable, it is time to clean up. By this time, you may be tired, but it is better to complete things now and here. Shifting to your new home is not complete until you get rid of all the boxes, dust and grime accumulated from the move. You will definitely feel better once this is done thoroughly.

Mentally Map the Neighborhood

Get familiar with your new neighborhood. The sooner you get a hang of everything around your new home, the more you will acclimatize to it. The more acclimatized you get, the faster you feel at home. You also will have a better idea of what services are available around you.

Shifting to a new place means a restart to your life. It is a new chapter, so just smile. Even if you are not able to do everything mentioned in one go, don’t worry. You will figure it out, just relax and keep it chill.

We are applying the DIY approach to almost all aspects of our lives. When shifting to a new home, the energetic millennial think of doing the move themselves. Relying on packers and movers seems almost irrelevant when you can complete it by yourself and save some cost. Although a good line of thinking, there are still very valid reasons to use professional packers and movers.

Avoid the Tiring Experience

Shifting home is an extremely tiring process. You cannot compare it to the most tiring session in the gym. It is mentally and physically taxing. Let the professional packers and movers work on it while you can take over the supervising role and ensure things are being done to your satisfaction.

Professional Packers and Movers Pack Better

Even with packing material available at the supermarket, it is advisable to let the experts decide how each item should be packed. They will do it faster, effectively and ensure safety. Additionally, you won’t have either excess or a shortage of material at your hand.

Risk Mitigation

Moving things between two places always involves an element of risk. Even with the best precautions, there is a minuscule chance that something might break on way. Professional packers and movers will provide you with insurance options. If there is any damage, you will be compensated for it. When moving the items yourself, there is no risk coverage.

Moving Heavier Items

Let’s be honest, moving beds, wardrobes etc. cannot be done by one person. Getting your friends to help may work if you can manage. The best option is to let people who have been doing this regularly for a living do it. They can foresee the nuances of moving such items without lifts, around corners and narrow areas.

Stress Free Moving

Moving household items on a vehicle usually involves legal requirements. These include permits, tolls etc. Anticipating and getting these compliance involves time consuming leg work. Best to let professional packers and movers to deal with these. You get to remain stress free.

Though DIY proves rewarding in most cases, moving to a new home needs a professional touch. All in all, getting professionals to do it is much easier on you. The convenience and risk coverage you receive offsets any increase in cost. While the move takes place, you can ask your friends who offered to help you move to instead help you in your housewarming party.

Moving to a new city gives you a mixed feel. You leave behind the old and familiar, and move to a new and unfamiliar place. It is usually a result of a life-changing decision like marriage or a new job. Once the decision and the city are finalized, there are a few things you need to look at carefully for a happy transition.

The House Selected

Well before moving in, you need to be sure of the place you are going to call home for the next few years. Check how old it is and if it has any problems like leaks, breakages etc. Above all, make sure that the paperwork for the house is done impeccably by your realtor – including your lease, police verification and other government clearances.

The Locality Around

Based on your budget, do give regards to the area you will stay in. Is the locality a gated community? If you are moving to an independent house, are there other houses in proximity? Even within a city, different localities have different safety and socio-economic levels. You may have to visit prospective areas more than once before moving.

The Commute Options

You may have to rethink your first choice for home if the commute will be an issue. Use online maps to see how far the offices of you and your spouse are. Is public commute easily available? This includes metro, taxi and buses. If applicable, you must also think how easily your kids will get to school.

The Nearby Facilities

Facilities near your new home include nearest emergency service, shops and convenience stores. Facilities also include handyman services, car repair stations etc. The thumb rule suggests that the closer you are to such amenities, the costlier the locality becomes. However, it also indicates a less remote area.

The Moving Itself

When you actually start the moving process, you have to check which movers and packers you choose. Selecting a good partner will make your transition smooth and setting up at your new home will be easy. If your moving partner does not turn out to be good, you are looking at broken or missing valuables, insurance claims and in worst cases, a lengthy legal battle.

Whatever the reason be for you to change cities, you are in essence, moving your entire world. You will go through a mélange of emotions during and after the move. Do adequate planning and you will come out smiling after the whole ordeal.

Moving to new home is a tedious process, involving more than just packing and stowing things. Without a structured approach, it is a mind-numbing and resource draining affair. Just the mere thought of moving to a new place, especially to a different city, is enough to deter decisions like a job change. However, there are many things which you can do to alleviate your relocation burden. Take a deep breath before you decide to move, and try using the following checklist. It should help lessening your burden and make your moving stress free.

Select a Reliable Moving Service

Don’t look for the cheapest, but the most reliable home relocating service. A good vendor will definitely have a third-party insurance company as partner. This means that this mover has a good service record. An insurance company ties up only if they feel the vendor is reliable has done lots of moves. This is one of the biggest factors to make your moving stress free.

Start Selling Your Old Stuff

You know that your cupboards and top-shelves have old junk stored there from eons ago. If they haven’t come in use till now, there is no way they will ever be used. Get over the nostalgia factor and put them up for sale. Do this using online marketplace, and your clutter will turn into cash without much running around.

Tell Everyone Your New Address

Before you move, update your new address everywhere, including at your bank, investment sites, postpaid bills and of course at your company. You should do this as soon as your new address is confirmed, not after the moving.

Relocate Home Services

If the services at your current location cannot relocate to your new home, make sure you pay their bills and end their services. This includes domestic staff, home delivery etc. This also needs to be confirmed before you move.

Cover Your Risks for Moving Stress Free

Once on the move, your belongings face risks of breakage on the way. This is true even though you choose the most reliable mover and packer company. Use the money you get from selling old stuff and get a good insurance without hurting your pockets.

Mark Your Boxes

When the packing begins, all your stuff start going in boxes. Just take out a felt-tip pen and start putting your address, box numbers and your name on all of them. Otherwise, you cannot remember how many boxes were moved out and which box will go in which room. At your new home, this will make your life simple. For example, boxes 1 to 5 go in kitchen, boxes 6 to 9 in the bedroom and the rest in the drawing room.

Moving your home is not something which you do on a regular basis. As a result, you may need to revisit these basic points even though you knew them earlier. Make sure you are thorough and structured in approach, and you will be moving stress free.

Shifting to a new place demands a lot of involvement. You may not be able to devote the time needed in preparing for it with a busy schedule on hand. This may lead to some pitfalls that you need to avoid. A few of these common mistakes are outlined below to help you out –

What You Should Watch Out for –

1. Making an Unsuitable Estimate

Shifting is a high involvement activity with considerable money, time and effort needed. You can properly estimate of all these three factors only when you put effort in it. Talk to people who have recently moved. Spend time on the phone talking to more than one mover and packer companies. Get some info off the net. Make sure you have enough data before you move.

2. Shifting the Valuables with Everything Else

You need to take care when it comes to items like jewelry, electronics and similar costly items. You should avoid packing them in with the rest of the items which will be boxed. Loss or damage to them is hard on the wallet and on the sentimental value attached. You should always pack them separately and move with yourself. They can easily fit in a suitcase or two to tag along.

3. Forgetting to Announce Your Address

People need to be told that you are moving to a new address. This includes your work organization, friends, family and other affiliated places. Missing a bill or anything similarly important can have a huge negative impact. Avoid it by making a list of essentially every place where you have previously provided your address.

4. Selecting a Poor Mover and Packer

Don’t select a shifting partner based solely on price. Try to find out the various options available around you. Research their previous work, reviews and ratings provided on neutral sites. There is a reason that reputed shifting companies are not cheap. They use better packing material to ensure your belongings stay safe. Their personnel can handle heavy loads professionally, without damaging them.

5. Not Making a Proper Inventory List

When the move starts, keep a list of which items go in which container or box. Additionally, total up the number of boxes used in shifting. This can avoid problems ranging from hunting for your phone charger after unpacking to missing a box altogether.

Take a Deep Breath

Even the best of us can make a mistake occasionally. Therefore, you should keep a checklist ready to ensure that the time and effort put in are not wasted. Above all, keep a cool mind and your shifting will go error-free.

The difference between packing for touring and for moving

A friend of mine, a frequent traveler, decided to move to a new home quite recently. My first impression was – It will be easy for you. I said so for two reasons – one, he was used to living in different places and two, he knew how to pack quick and fast. This was unlike regular people like me, who need time when packing for a tour, and are liable to forget to pack a couple of things. My reasoning was, however, not true.

What I hadn’t realized was that packing or moving about as a traveler is immensely different than shifting homes. When you travel, it is for a short duration and you always know you are coming back to your same home. Shifting homes is a different ballpark altogether and being a traveler of any sort doesn’t make it any easier. When you have decided to shift homes, you must pack everything including fragile crockery, cumbersome almirahs, bookshelves and valuable items. It is a time taking process which is best left to professional packers and movers.

Ensuring it is done properly

You need to keep just a couple of things in mind for your move. This will ensure your goods are packed properly when moving.

Type of Packing Material

In my experience, packing material is more than using cardboards borrowed from neighbors and stuffing newspapers as cushioning. Your refrigerator and glass-door book shelves need wooden crates to prevent dents and breakages. Bubble wraps need to go around crockery and other breakable show pieces. When you choose your packing and moving vendor, make sure they are competent to take care of these things.

Quality of Packing Material

If you want your precious belonging to be safe over a long-distance move, don’t skimp on the packing cost. Ask the moving and packing team to get good material. You don’t need to be an expert to know the difference between good and bad. A simple visual inspection is sufficient in most cases. Otherwise just touch and feel to be sure.

Skill of the Packing Team

All good material is useless if the person handling it has no idea what he is doing. Ensure that you have checked the service record of the packers and movers. Thanks to the internet, this should be easy.

Taking Care of the Unknown

Even if you do everything correctly, there is a minuscule chance that something may be damaged en route. Do take care that you have insured your belongings. Almost all reputed movers have a tie-up with one or more insurance companies. You can, in all cases, negotiate for better rates.

Knowing You Have Mastered the Art

You may wonder if you to have mastered this art with the steps mentioned. The real answer to this is simple – If your belongings arrive safely to your new home, you have done it! It makes the pain you took over packing it properly so worthwhile.

Moving houses can really be a hassle but it is something that most of us will do several times, if not dozens of times in our lives so it’s important to make these occasions as stress free as possible. Finding a new place is wonderful and exciting until you start to think how much crap you have but don’t worry these simple tips can ease your shifting.

Change the locks after shifting

Make sure to change the locks of your new home because someone might have access to your old locks. After moving, it’s always a better option to change the locks just to be on the safe side unless you want strangers showing up at your home in the middle of the night.

Check for plumbing leaks

You don’t want clogged sinks, tubs or toilets as a memory of your first day in your new home. Always make sure to inspect plumbing fixtures in your bathroom and Kitchen.

Get rid of pests

Having guests can be fun unless they are six legged or eight legged crawling creatures. They can be a real nightmare for you, You can’t let those nasty pests contaminate your new home. Call up the pest control and quickly get rid of them.

Steam the Carpets

Smell of your house represents your lifestyle and can either leave a good or a bad impression on your guests. Make sure to get rid of that foul smell and dirt hidden in your carpets by steaming your carpets.

Find the shutoff valve

Safety always comes first. After shifting, locate your Shutoff valves which provides you with a safety function to stop the flow of gas quickly and positively.

Locate the Breaker box

You don’t need to be the person who searches for the breaker box when the power goes out just locate the breaker box in your home and learn the electric circuits in advance.