There is no denying the fact that moving can be an extremely stressful ordeal. There are a lot of people in the United States who do not want to move into a new home, simply because they want to save themselves the trouble of packing, transporting, and unpacking their numerous belongings. People have very busy lives, these days, and the time for moving is just not there for most people, especially when you consider how tired and exhausted it leaves you at the end of the day. Most people need three or four days of good sleep and rest to recover from the effects of a hectic move.
When you are moving, you have to complete dozens of tasks and make an even greater number of important decisions in a very short amount of time. This is why there is a high potential for making mistakes when moving. These mistakes slow you down and make the job of moving even more troublesome. In other words, they cost you time, money, and energy, three of the most important things you need in your life.
If you could only minimize the mistakes, then the moving experience ought to be a lot better than what you initially expected, but, in order to prevent yourself from making the crucial mistakes, you need to know what those mistakes are. These mistakes can have severe long- term implications that you do not even want to learn about. Here are three of the worst moving mistakes that you should avoid at all costs:
1) Not Having a Plan or a Checklist
Not having a plan or a checklist during moving is like heading into the Superbowl final without a picture-perfect strategy for your team. You will be left in a state of utter disarray if you choose to not create a plan in advance. Also, if you are going to try to muddle through tasks without having a checklist, you will end up sitting on your couch, with your hands on your head and tears in your eyes. Moving can be extremely frustrating, and a lack of preparation can make your life extremely difficult.
You could be very good at improvisation, and you might be one of those individuals who are better off working in an impromptu kind of way, but it is advisable to not count on your instincts when you are moving. Over the years, a number of studies have proved that having a written plan enhances your productivity significantly. Similar logic demonstrates that using a moving checklist can help you keep tabs on what has been done and what remains to be done.
If you make the mistake of not having a plan or a checklist, you will end up creating more stress for yourself, losing time, and forgetting extremely important tasks that you might dearly regret at the end.
2) Allotting Little Time for Packing
A lot of people who are moving tend to underestimate the amount of time that is required to pack their belongings. How long would it take to get all your clothes stuffed inside boxes and sealed? Well, you can never know the answer to that question unless you start packing your clothes. An early start will give you enough time to know how fast you are at packing things and boxing them up for transport.
The longer you delay the packing, the more inefficient you will become. If you start packing a day before moving, you will be in a mad rush to get everything done on time. This will make the pressure mount on you, and you might eventually crumble under the pressure. Delaying and procrastinating is a recipe for disaster and an endless stream of stress. It also leads to sloppy packing, which puts your belongings at risk of being damaged while being transported.
The simple and easy solution to this problem is to allot at least 6 hours of packing per room. The 3 most cluttered rooms should be packed first, because they will eat up the majority of your time. If you think that doing all the packing is too much of a task for any one individual, then you can always resort to the help of the professional moving service that you have hired. The movers at Atlanta Peach Movers will gladly help you pack your belongings.
3) Getting the Wrong Volunteer on Board
You can always ask your friends and family to help you move out of your house. Their presence makes the task of moving much more enjoyable and fun. However, you need to be careful about getting the right kind of volunteers on board. Moving is not all fun and games. If the person who is helping you out is not good at performing the particular task that you have assigned them, then they might slow you down in the long run.
When friends and family are pulling their weight and helping you out the way you need them to, you can become extremely frustrated with yourself and your decision to get them onboard. At the end of the day, you will be left to mop up their mess and carry out the work that they left undone.
As bizarre as this may sound, you should only recruit friends and family if they fulfil the characteristics of a great volunteer. For instance, they should be willing to work hard and put in the extra mile. They should also have some degree of expertise in packing, lifting heavy furniture, or watching over the kids while you work with the professional movers.
As long as you can steer clear of these simple—but costly—mistakes, you will be able to shift your location without having to break your back.
Special thanks to our Moving Insurance affiliate Ron Burg at ATL Peach Movers for sharing this post with us!