Moving 101
- Finding a Good Deal on Your Utilities
- Moving School Information
- Too Much to Move?
- Packing Smart
- Preparing Your House to be Sold
- Keep Records of Cancellations
- Helping Your Kids to Adjust
Finding a Good Deal on Your Utilities
It is important to shop around for your utilities to ensure you get the best deal. Several companies offer introductory deals or may or may not require deposits, so it is necessary for you to check out all your options to make sure that you are getting the best deal. At WhiteFence, you can compare and connect your utilities at one place, freeing up the hours you would have spent on the phone connecting your utilities and giving you more time to do all your other move-related tasks.Moving School Information
If you are moving with children, one of your big concerns will be where to send your children to school. A great tool to help you find out what schools are in your area is The School Report. This free service allows you to find out all you need to know about possible schools in your new area, including how many kids attend the schools, awards and honors the schools have received and even the average SAT scores of each school.Too Much to Move?
Two months before you move, take an inventory of your belongings. If you find you have a good number of items that you believe will just be gathering dust in your new home, plan a garage sale to avoiding throwing away things at the last minute. If you do not have the time or the space to have a moving sale, you can call a local charity to arrange a drop-off or pick-up so the items that you do not need any longer will be used for a good purpose.Packing Smart
We all know that packing at the last moment is not your best course of action when moving, but what should you pack first?To have a truly organized move, you should start packing about two months in advance of your move date, beginning with clothes that you will not need in the current season (if you are moving in the winter, pack your summer clothes). Another set of items you can pack early is books, knickknacks and other items on display.
Instead of trying to write a contents list on each and every box, try color coding the boxes with stickers to alert either you or your movers which rooms the boxes belong in. Not only will this save time and ink, it will also prevent movers or anyone passing by from seeing an interesting label on your boxes and deciding to rifle through your belongings.
As you get closer to your move date and you begin to pack everyday items, there are some items that you should make sure stay unpacked, namely a change of clothing, pet food, snacks, can opener, corkscrew, towels, toiletries, shower curtain and cleaning supplies. Make sure you have room to pack these items with you in your car to make sure they are unpacked first as well.
Preparing Your House to be Sold
When moving, you first have to deal with what you are leaving behind. One of the biggest things that you will be leaving behind is, obviously, your house. There are several ways that you can make your house ready to be sold. Little things, like cleaning well, can even boost the price buyers are willing to pay for your home. Read the article Preparing Your House for Sale in Better Homes and Gardens to find out more tips for preparing your house.Keep Records of Cancellations
You're moving, so you disconnect or cancel your services at your current residence. You think you are free and clear until a few months later when you receive a bill for the past three months of service at a house that you no longer live in. Unless you have records, you may have to pay these bills.As this happened to me not too long ago, I know that this does happen upon occasion. I got charged $300 for six months of phone service for an apartment that I no longer lived in. Thankfully, I had kept records of when I called to discontinue my service. Because of my records, the phone provider prorated the bill and I did not have to pay a cent.
When you call to cancel or disconnect a service when you are moving or just changing your provider, be sure to keep a record of your phone call. Get the name of the customer service representative you speak to and get the confirmation number. Put all this information in a safe place for six months at least to make sure you do not need it.
