We help people move every single day, so moving is pretty routine for us. However, we’ve never met a single family who didn’t ultimately find moving to be stressful. Upheaval is never fun.

Here are some things to consider when you begin planning a move.

A good move begins even before the move begins

Everybody knows that it’s important to be careful about choosing a new place. Most people think about neighborhood quality, school quality, the aesthetic appearance and general upkeep of the home, and many other factors.

However, most people do not think about their furniture, and this can lead to some heartache later on.

We recommend that you consider every piece of furniture in your home, and where you want it to go in your new place. For any pieces that are over sized, like couches or dressers for example, you should verify that they are going to fit where you want them to go. We’ve seen people reduced to tears because a beloved couch won’t fit down the stairs into the new man-cave, simply because they didn’t notice that turn on the staircase, or the low ceiling clearance.

Of course you might really like your chosen spot, and like it enough to get rid of the pieces that won’t work. This way, at least, you get to make a decision rather than be caught by surprise after you’ve already given notice and paid deposits on the new place. This gives you time to sell pieces that won’t work or to give them away. It also allows you to budget for new furniture pieces that will work. The key is to avoid being taken by surprise.

By purging your current place of all unwanted or unnecessary items, it saves a lot of time on your move, and most importantly, reduces the cost.

Every move is a big deal, even if you’re just going down the block

Moving around the corner? Don’t assume that this move is going to be a snap. It can be, but you need to take an organized and systematic approach or it will quickly deteriorate into a chaotic mess.

For example, failing to pack carefully and properly can result in damages despite the short distance. Also, one of the key things that will save you money on your move is to ensure have everything ready to go before the movers arrive. Try and obtain proper moving boxes that are uniform sizes. Saving money by picking up free liquor store boxes will be easily wasted when the move takes an extra hour or two. Not only do small, randomly sized boxes take longer for you to pack, it results in two to three times as many boxes, and thus two to three times as many trips from the house to the truck for the movers.

Staying organized means that stuff doesn’t get left behind, and prevents the accumulation of random piles of things, which take extra time for movers to deal with. The means you won’t end up having to make multiple trips from the new place to the old place to pick up things the movers just couldn’t take because they weren’t packed properly.

Taking advantage of our professional packing service can significantly reduce confusion and disorder on moving day.

If you are going to pack yourself, start as early as possible. Pack it all up. Start with the non-essential items, then move on to things that you use every day. Try to work room by room, so that once an area is complete you can shut the door and you don’t have to keep back to it. This makes it less overwhelming, as you can visually see that progress is being made.

Don’t be in a hurry—move out the right way

Most people just want their move to be over with as quickly as possible. It’s easy to get really frustrated, and it’s easy to just charge out of the old place without attending to details like the end-of-tenancy cleaning or the walkthrough with the landlord.

Many people express a lot of cynicism that they’ll get their deposit back. Some customers say that the landlord is going to charge them for cleaning services anyway so they may as well not bother. However, you may need a good relationship with that landlord again in the future—and it’s hard to feel good about leaving a mess for someone else to clean up.

Besides, that final walkthrough might be the key to getting the deposit back, especially if you take plenty of pictures. Look, moving is expensive—even when you use a moving crew like ours, a crew that works hard to keep prices reasonable. There are a thousand tiny, unexpected expenses and hassles that pop up throughout the process. You aren’t thinking about it now, but there’s going to be stuff you need at the new place, too—stuff you’ll probably throw out or avoid taking with you. Doesn’t it make sense to try to recoup every dollar that you can, while ensuring that you’re psychologically ready to move into the new place?

Not sure if this paragraph is necessary

Make sure you’re giving your movers adequate information

We can’t give you an accurate quote without accurate information. We recommend that you go through your home writing down every piece of furniture that you see. Estimate 4-6 medium sized boxes per room—more if the room is particularly large, or if you have a lot of nick knacks. For the most part, you can leave any clothing or linens in dressers, but don’t forget about the closets, where there tends to be lots of stuff that needs to go in boxes. Be honest with yourself and think about how many boxes it took on your last move, and whether you’ve accumulated more stuff since then. Remember, the kitchen tends to be the most surprising as the amount of stuff crammed in the cupboards can be deceiving. The average kitchen has at least 10-15 medium sized boxes. Also, those storage rooms in the basement and all that stuff under the stairs that you forgot about? That stuff can take a while to clear out, even for us, so that is crucial information for us to have.

If you can compile an itemized list of furniture before you get on the phone with us, or include it in your online estimate request, along with what type of dwelling you’re in, and what type your moving in to, we can give a pretty accurate idea of how much it will cost to move it.

Know that calling the pros saves time, money, and friendships

Do you remember the last time your friend called and asked you to help them move? What excuse did you give? Ok, we’re kidding, but in all seriousness, when you add up the time and effort you will spend trying to do everything yourself, and the number of favors you will be calling in for your friends and family to come and help, quite often it’s worth it to just hire movers.

Think about it in terms of how you would like to spend your time: your vacation time at work, quality time with your family, or beautiful summer days that you could be having a BBQ or walking in the river valley. Do you really want to be furiously packing up all your belongings, and then hunting all over the city for an available uHaul, or making 30 trips in your friend’s pickup truck? And why risk a few weeks (or more) with a sore back trying to physically carry all your heavy boxes, dressers and couches yourself? Never mind the possibility of inflicting wall damage, or scratching/breaking some of your cherished belongings. When you see how we handle your furniture with the care and attention it deserves, and witness the skill with which we maneuver your larger items up the stairs and around corners, you’ll never go back to moving yourself.

At the very least, just contact us for a free quote before calling in all of those favors. You’ll be surprised at what we can come up with to make it cost effective, and reducing the amount of work for you and your family.