Many common moving mistakes can be easily avoided. “Better safe than sorry” is especially true during the whole process and can save you a lot of pain, both physical and mental. In A&A Alliance Moving’s 20 plus years in the moving business, we have seen it all, and that has helped us learn a tremendous amount about what goes into a successful and stress-free move. We’ve taken all 7 of these tips from real-life moving customers of ours and their most common mishaps, and we hope you can learn from them to avoid a disaster on your moving day.
MISTAKE #1: OVERCONFIDENCE
A lot of people try and save money during their move by “doing it themselves.” In a lot of cases, this ends up being counterproductive. A&A Alliance Moving was once called by a trio of college students who had gotten their couch stuck in a staircase to help with a very-last minute move. Fortunately, none of the students had injured themselves, but this is a real possibility when moving huge, heavy pieces of furniture. If you’re not sure if you accomplish some part of your move without professional help, don’t try. Getting in over your head and having to call emergency help is not ideal, and costs more than paying up for qualified helpers.
MISTAKE #2: USING THE WRONG PACKING METHODS
The easiest way for people to save money when they move is to pack themselves. But oftentimes there are simple oversights these DIY packers make that can create unneeded problems on moving day. One of the most simple mistakes is heavy boxes. Movers can’t handle your box if you can’t lift it. Professional movers are good, but they aren’t supermen. Pack dense, heavy items like books in small boxes to make sure carrying them is manageable. Using the right boxes saves a lot of stress, too. Packing heavy stuff in a raggedy old box could break or cave in and damage your stuff. When packing malleable items like lamp shades, make sure to use sturdy boxes.
MISTAKE #3: NOT LABELLING CLEARLY
Packers can make sure attention and care is taken when handling fragile items by labelling boxes containing them with “Fragile” or other such warnings. Sometimes, mix-ups go well beyond this. A former A&A Alliance Moving client who hired TwoGuysAndaTruck PinebrookNJ to handle their full packing at the last minute realized they had left a small Chinese turtle in one of the bowls in the kitchen, and hadn’t warned the movers. Fortunately, our employee who was packing the boxes was pretty organized – so he knew which box the bowl was in and found it quickly. The lesson of the story – label clearly.
MISTAKE #4: BEING TOO OPEN
This mistake may be the most emotionally damaging. When someone hires a moving company or gets anyone to help them move, they should be cautious with overly personal items. Make sure to pack these potential embarrassments ahead of time, and take precautions to prevent an uncomfortable situation. A former TwoGuysAndaTruck PinebrookNJ Moving client moved in New Jersey, New York City, and our crew noticed lots of buzzing coming from one of the boxes. The buzzing never seemed to stop, adding to the mystery that made the crew speculate what was making the noise. When unpacking, the movers got their answer; the buzzing was being made by “adult” toys which had been left on. While the movers easily saw the humor here, the client might have felt a little embarrassed
MISTAKE #5: UNDERESTIMATING YOUR MOVE
Most moves are larger in scope than people realize. What seems like a 2 hour job to you could be a 4 hour job to us. Overall, the process is very extensive and time-consuming, which makes moving services more expensive than people realize. Customers commonly underreport or underestimate the size of their inventory, and thus assume their move will cost less than it ends up costing. When hiring movers, the most accurate price assesment will come from an on-site estimate, which TwoGuysAndaTruck PinebrookNJ provides to our customers free of charge.
MISTAKE #6: MISJUDGING INSURANCE NEEDS
Many people believe they don’t need to buy insurance because moving companies are obligated to compensate their clients for any damages incurred to their inventory during the move. That is only true to an extent. Others may think they need to ensure their items even though their deductible is likely near the cost of their cheap items. For inventories with fragile items worth a significant amount of money (antiques or artwork might be a good example) insurance is a good investment, both for the items and for your piece of mind. IKEA furniture probably isn’t worth insuring on the other hand.
MISTAKE #7: NOT BOOKING IN ADVANCE
Sometimes, moving companies are busy. Ever think about how many people move out on the 1st date of every month? (A lot.) These days and other high-demand dates often fill up for good moving companies. TwoGuysAndaTruck PinebrookNJ fields countless phone calls every year from customers trying to get schedule a move on a date where we’ve already filled our availability. Make sure to reach out to your preferred movers in advance once you know what day you’ll be needing their services.