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Posts Tagged ‘moving tips’

More than three million individuals move every month for either individual or professional reasons when exploring a new avenue for their career.

Moving Industry Early Development:

Moving can be traced to a very early age, and the relocation services in the U.S., those days of the horse carriages can be traced to the days of early settlers. At that time, there was only one way to move around the newly settled country.

Immigrants often arrived in the East Coast of the USA with only the bare basic requirements in easy to carry hold-alls. However, once these people had lived in a city for a few years and decided to relocate they needed to do so with all their newly acquired furniture and belongings. The birth of the relocation industry was born out of this trend – the need to move in search of a better way of life.

Horse drawn carriages soon gave way to motorized trucks that helped people move across the states with their entire belongings. As the people from the East Coast began to move inlands to the midwest and to the central states, an entire network of moving services sprung up to help this sector of the market.

Then we saw the birth of climate-controlled transport to help take perishable items to these families. We were able to watch as breakables items were transported via separate transporters, too.

As the population of the country grew, and more and more people needed to be relocated, so did the movers and packers industry grow with this change. Before long, quite a few enterprises were vying for the consumer dollar in this market.

In a bid to win more clients, the junior firms proposed one bonus over another. A few offered worldwide back-to-back services for their elite customers, and some others gave budget-wise moving options to regular people. Many of the moving companies even began giving connected services like real estate sales and purchases for those who needed to sell their homes and buy new ones in their new states.

This trend led to many new job opportunities in remote parts of the nation. As the job market attracted more workers to various parts of the country, this gave a fertile ground to these relocation companies to flourish.

The moving industry has mushroomed across the nation nowadays. A few moving companies have moved into specialized areas in the market, for instance, moving grand pianos or simply moving your car or truck to your new home.

It isn’t that difficult to locate the best moving company for you if you have a phone or a computer. It is certain that these businesses have taken on a predominant position in the creation of the country in its diversity starting from the beginning.

The whole moving industry grew so much that the need soon arose to have to break up the industry to facilitate any other company to enter this service market and also to help consumers find the right relocation company depending on where and how they wanted to move.

The Moving Industry Is Regulated In Three Areas:

Depending on the move, there are three (3) basic types of move, a relocation company can provide assistance to the consumer:

1. Intrastate Relocations:

Within the boundaries of a given state moves which are regulated by the state’s own regulating bodies themselves.

2. Interstate Relocations:

These are moves that take place while crossing state boundary lines and are governed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association – a division of the Department of Transportation.

3. International Relocations:

Foreign moves – these involves international commerce between two nations.

If you are using the assistance of a relocation business you need to know what category you are in so that if you ever need to file a complaint, you know where, who, or where to call.

The more you understand about the moving industry, the better you can deal with movers and avoid being scammed out of your money because you just didn’t know any better.

Get help from a moving company if you want a trouble-free move to your new house and the correct information that will allow you to speak their language and understand what is expected.

More than three million individuals move every month for either individual or professional reasons when exploring a new avenue for their career.

Moving Industry Early Development:

Moving can be traced to a very early age, and the relocation services in the U.S., those days of the horse carriages can be traced to the days of early settlers. At that time, there was only one way to move around the newly settled country.

A lot of the time, immigrants arrived on the East Coast of the United States of America with only the bare necessities in easily carried on bags. After the initial period of migrating, if they wanted to relocate long distance, they wanted to do so with all their new possessions This triggered the need of the initial relocation service providers.

Horse drawn carriages soon gave way to motorized trucks that helped people move across the states with their entire belongings. As the people from the East Coast began to move inlands to the midwest and to the central states, an entire network of moving services sprung up to help this sector of the market.

Temperature-controlled means of transporting food to these people was born out of the need to help these new comers settled in their new homes. We were able to watch as breakables items were transported via separate transporters, too.

As people moved deep into the country, a lot more people needed to be moved, so the moving and the moving supplies businesses grew as a result of this trend. In no time at all, there were multiple moving companies vying for business and trying to position themselves as leaders in this industry.

During a bid to win additional clients, the new firms offered one bonus on top of another. Higher end customers were offered A to Z solutions to their moving needs, while other moving companies offered affordable relocation to the every day individual. Other moving companies began to offer more complete services like helping sell their customers’ home and offer to help find a suitable home at their destinations with all of the moving services included.

This trend led to many new job opportunities in remote parts of the nation. As a result, more and more people wanted to relocate to cities with more business opportunities, again providing ground for relocating companies to flourish.

Today, the relocation services industry has grown to immense proportions in the country. Some relocation providers have catered to a small piece of the moving pie and are only focused on certain specialized area of the moving industry, for example, local moves within the boundaries of a city.

It isn’t that difficult to locate the best moving company for you if you have a phone or a computer. Without a doubt, these movers have taken a rather significant role since the early days in the development of the country regarding its geosocial make up.

The whole moving industry grew so much that the need soon arose to have to break up the industry to facilitate any other company to enter this service market and also to help consumers find the right relocation company depending on where and how they wanted to move.

The Moving Industry Is Regulated In Three Areas:

To help the relocation customer and to help regulate the market, moving can be thought of three (3) main branches:

1. Intrastate Relocations:

These occur within a state, these refer to moves that happen within the confines of a particular state and fall under the rules of the state itself.

2. Interstate Relocations:

These types of moves occur across state lines and fall under the rules of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association – part of the Department of Transportation of the US’ government.

3. International Relocations:

Overseas moves which take place between two countries are under the auspice of each individual country at each point of the moves.

Knowing that type your moves falls in, it is essential for you so that you seek the right type of resources to help you and if there is ever a problem, you’d know where to focus your energies to deal with that matter.

Furthermore it is important that you understand these basic elements of the moving industry to avoid being taken advantage of and be able to negotiate a better rate for your move.

Seek the services of a relocation company to have a hassle-free move to your brand new home coupled with the right knowledge to speak their lingo and understand what to expect.

Tips for Handling Your Next Move

Whether you are packing up an apartment or an entire home, there are several ways to make the job more fun and less stressful. Here is a helpful collection of tips for surviving a future move.

Before you even begin to get organized, it is helpful to gather supplies first. Gather boxes for moving at either a local retail moving supply store or set out to find free boxes from your local grocery or mall. Asking workers when their food or clothing shipments come in is helpful to figure out when the most boxes will be available. You can also buy rubber bins with lids for easy storage and reusability. Be sure to buy packing tape, markers/labels, bubble wrap, and packing paper. Definitely stay away from normal newsprint as the ink can bleed onto your posessions. Whatever route you take, make sure to gather more supplies and boxes for moving than you think you will need to avoid extra errands later.

when feasible, try to keep or find garment bags in the weeks before your move date. These are typically used to hold dresses, suits, etc. and remember you can quickly locate all these things at big box store. The garment bags are perfect for transporting hanging clothes and keep them safe from damage, liquids, wrinkles, etc.

Make sure to label each box as you pack with either a permanent marker or a colored label. It will save time to create a colored tag system to mark the rooms in your your new house or apartment.e. Green goes in the living room, blue in the kitchen, etc.) This makes it easier on you or the movers upon arrival at your new destination.

Try and pack as much as you can before the actual day of the move. Gather the items you know you will not need during the last week before moving day and pack those first. Another way to not become too overwhelmed is to pack room by room. Begin with the smallest spaces first then move to the bigger rooms that have more things that need to be packed, after you become used to your packing style.

Movers get booked early especially in Summer, so start early to get your moving quote and your mover reserved. Go to the Better Business Bureau at bbb.org and look for movers with a clean history. When making your reservation, movers will often ask you to supply a detailed listing of your items. In your mind's eye think about all you want to move. Also, make sure to be familiar with any additional fees the mover may charge for moving blankets, tape, transportation costs, etc.

When the moving truck finally pulls you will want to have a few important items with you and not packed, including insurance documents, you will, and jewelry.

Overall, a well orchestrated and executed plan can be a satisfying experience.

You can save a great deal of three key assets by organizing: time, money, and peace of mind.  Following a few simple steps can eliminate a lot of stress later on.

1. Start Early

The biggest problem with organizing a move is not allowing enough time.  On average, it takes a college student approximately 5 hours to pack up a dorm room when moving out.Keep in mind that's a single room where often only half the items belong to the student moving.Calculating those hours times the number of rooms you have in your current place, you'll quickly realize that the amount of time you'll need just for packing is substantial.

Starting early gives you a huge advantage.  While most people wait until just a few days prior to the move date for the majority of their packing hours, you can eliminate much of your moving stress by getting a jump on your moving tasks.  People who follow this advice often have much smoother moves and lower stress levels for the entire process.

2. Have a Plan For Your Move

There’s a huge temptation to just start the packing process with little or no planning.  Unfortunately, it’s also a huge mistake.  You wouldn’t start building a house without blueprints, and you shouldn’t start your move without a basic plan.  The plan doesn’t need to be complicated, but it should include the following:

• Number of days between now and your move date
• Tasks required for your move, including getting moving supplies, changing your address, and packing
• Number of rooms that need to be packed
• Amount of help you’ll have available from friends, family, and professional movers
• Quantity of items you have in each room
• Amount of time you have available each day between now and the move

If you assign tasks by day and closely monitor your progress as you go, you’re much less likely to be surprised by running out of time.

3. Use a Moving Checklist

One of the reasons moving is so stressful is the fact that there are so many details to track.Your belongings and most of your peace of mind are suddenly in chaos." Most of the usual landmarks are about to change, from where to get groceries to what your new address and phone number are going to be.

This is where the moving checklist comes in.One of the great things about moving is that you're not alone- about 1 of every 8 American households move in any given year.  That’s more than 30 million people!Many of those folks have provided input to several moving checklists in books and on websites.  Use these checklists both as a source for your plan and a set of reminders for what needs to be done.  Some of the items may not apply to your situation, but they should give you an excellent starting point.

4. Create a Moving Kit Organizer

Moving involves a great deal of paper.  Leases and mortgages, moving estimates, new addresses and perhaps employers, checklists- it all adds up to a lot to track.  It's a good idea to have a central place for all that information.  We recommend using a binder with pockets for the papers to be kept, with dividers to keep key information separate.

5. Create “Open Me First” Boxes

It’s not unusual for a move to involve over a hundred boxes.For each of the rooms of your home, there are some items that just seem more important on your first morning than others (for me, the coffee maker comes to mind).  If you reserve one or two boxes for each room as Priority Boxes (also known as "Open Me First" boxes), you'll have a much easier time on the other end of your move.Mark each of these boxes with an "Open Me First" in red on the side or with special labels that they'll be easy to find after the move.

One word of caution- don’t fall victim to the temptation of having more than two Priority Boxes per room.  If more than 2 boxes are Priority Boxes, the whole concept starts to lose its meaning, and it will end up causing more confusion instead of reducing stress.

These few steps can lead to a much more organized moving experience, and should do wonders to lower your stress level on the big day and after.

For additional, FREE moving tips, please visit us at Movers-Edge.com.  Two of the most popular articles are:

• Moving tips: 101 Best Moving Tips.
• Moving checklist: The Ultimate Moving Checklist.

I wish you the best of luck on your upcoming move!

Moving Box Question:

Is there anything special about moving boxes vs. any other kind of boxes?

Moving Box Answer:

Yes. There are two main differences between moving boxes and many other boxes:

1. Because of the purpose moving boxes are designed for, they are constructed to be much sturdier than an ordinary cardboard box. Cardboard boxes are usually measured using two different scales: one is called the ECT, or Edge Crush Test, and the other is called the Burst Strength test. The Edge Crush Test measures the degree to which a box will hold its form and how well the boxes can be stacked one upon another. Under stress, the Burst Strength Test, or BST, identifies how well the box will hold together. What separates moving boxes from others is that they usually carry a higher score on the Burst Strength Test (a value of 200 pounds or higher) and the ECT scale (meaning a score of 32 or higher), indicating that they are better alternatives for the demands of a household move. This allows moving boxes to hold more weight (about 65 pounds) while resisting tearing or crushing.

2. Moving boxes come in specific designs to help solve specific problems associated with moving:

· Wardrobe boxes. These boxes are unique because they're set up to resemble mini-closets, with built-in bars for hangers are ideal for transporting clothes from closets without causing wrinkling or damage. They are also extremely easy to use. This box design makes it possible to lift clothes straight from your closet hanger bar directly onto the hanger bar of the wardrobe box. Tip: You can use the bottom section of wardrobe boxes to transport shoes, which will cut down on the total number of boxes you’ll need. Recommendation: We recommend these boxes.

· Dish packs. Also known as "cell boxes," these units use internal dividers to separate and protect dishes and glassware. These boxes do a great job of keeping kitchen items organized. Tip: Dishes should be packed on their edges, as if they were in a dish drying rack, and stemware should be packed standing up, not on its sides. Recommendation: These boxes are very helpful, but not absolutely necessary.

· File boxes. These boxes often come with interlocking tops, and are specifically designed for transporting papers in file folders. Tip: You might wonder why you would need file boxes if you already have your files neatly stored in your file cabinets. The main reason is that files are incredibly heavy, and that file cabinets were never designed to be moved with files inside them. This combination of factors can lead to real moving disasters, where file cabinets break apart and/or spill their contents. Even if the cabinets and files survive intact, the people who move them can end up with serious injuries. Recommendation: We strongly recommend file boxes.

· Picture frame boxes. Picture frame boxes are designed to protect and transport large pictures and mirrors during your move, and are often quite long, wide and flat. And other than trying to flatten other boxes and tape them together, they are one of very few options available. Tip: It’s tempting to try to put multiple pictures together in the same box; however, they often get scratched or damaged if your do. Recommendation: We recommend picture frame boxes.

These two differences separate moving boxes from most other boxes. You should keep your eyes open for the specialty moving boxes, and check the bottom box stamps to see that they meet the standards for strength. This should prepare you well for your move.

For more FREE moving tips, articles and advice, please visit the following resources:

• Moving checklist: The Ultimate Free Moving Checklist
• Tips on moving: 101 Best Moving Tips
• Finding great movers and moving companies