5 Ways to Make Your Next Move Easier with Technology

Technology has infiltrated almost every aspect of our lives, and that includes moving! While there aren’t any robots (yet) to handle your move, modern technology has helped streamline the business and give customers more control over the entire process. Plus, technology also makes it much easier to find movers in Connecticut and beyond. If you’re planning to move in the next few months, the following technology can make your move a lot smoother.

Scheduling/Planning Apps

While some people might prefer having a physical planner, most people use their phone’s to pretty much manage their entire life. After all, if you’re like everyone else, you probably always have your phone on you and you check it at least 96 times per day. Even if you don’t check that frequently, your phone is still an amazing resource for planning. Most phones come pre-installed with a basic calendar app so you can schedule everything in your to-do list without even downloading anything from the app store. Some important dates to add to your calendar are:

  • Moving day
  • Packing day(s)
  • Finalizing your CT movers
  • Shopping for packing supplies
  • Decluttering your house
  • Selling/donating anything you won’t bring with you
  • Calling utilities to shut down in your old house and turn on in your new place
  • Farewell party
  • Completing school transfer for kids
  • Getting doctor and vet records

In order to properly pace your move, it’s important to break it up into as many small parts as possible. That way, you won’t be completely overwhelmed when moving day comes and will have everything in order.

You should start planning your move at least a month before your move out date, but ideally more if you can. This is especially true if you plan on hiring professional movers as most will want at least a month’s notice so they can ensure they will have availability on your preferred date and time. While the movers can help pack some of your things, if you spring the packing on them last minute, you’ll have to deal with a very high packing fee. That means everything should be packed up and ready to go the night before. Depending on how much stuff you have, you should start packing at least two weeks before your move date. From there, everything else can fall into place. You’ll obviously need packing supplies before you start packing, but you’ll want to declutter your house before buying supplies so you don’t end up with too many boxes.

If calendars aren’t your thing, there are plenty of planning apps, like Trello, that allow you to create to-do lists and set deadlines for these items. You can even assign tasks to different people, making it a perfect option if you’re moving with roommates or family members. Many of these apps can also sync with your calendar so you don’t accidentally schedule something else when you had already planned to pack on a particular day.

Government Websites and Online Reviews

Before the internet, people had to depend on word-of-mouth and looking through ads and the yellow pages to find professional movers. Today, you have all that information at your fingertips and more options than ever before. It’s easier than ever to find quality movers that offer a variety of additional services such as packing or storage.

However, it has also become a lot easier for scammers to create fake moving businesses as all they need to do is create a semi-professional website. In fact, around 1,300 moving scams take place every year with Americans losing a total of $2.1 million. In order to protect yourself, you will still need to do some legwork and research the companies before even making a phone call. That means:

  • Finding their US Department of Transportation number (registered movers are required to put this on their website) and looking them up on the Federal Motor Carriers site. Make sure they are authorized to work and that the listed name matches the name on the website
  • Checking the BBB, Google, and Yelp reviews for any issues from previous customers
  • Looking for their contact information including address, email address, and phone number on their site. All professional movers will list these so you can easily contact them

Once you have confirmed that all the information is correct and present, you can then reach out to a few different movers for estimates. Thankfully, it’s even easier to get an estimate as all you need to do is fill out an online form detailing the specifics of your move and additional services. Well-known movers have been in the business for years so they can give you an estimate via email that will be very close to the actual quote. Or you can use apps like Unpakt to easily get detailed quotes from multiple moving companies at once. You can even narrow your search based on your budget and required services.

If you’re looking for movers on your own, first ask friends and family for their recommendations. Word-of-mouth is still king. If they haven’t moved in a while, check out the company’s online Google, Yelp, and Better Business Bureau review. If they all seem good, you’re probably safe!

Online Marketplaces

Decluttering is an important step in the moving process. Not only does it reduce the amount of stuff you need to pack, it can also lead to some extra money in your moving budget. If you have some high value items that you can’t or won’t bring with you, consider listing them online on places such as Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, eBay, Craigslist, etc.

Do some research on the items beforehand to find a good price point for the items. For example, a vintage leather jacket that is in good condition can still sell for a few hundred dollars. Certain vintage camera lenses can also net you a tidy $100-200 or more depending on the condition. Even some old comic books can go sell for a decent amount! Keep things local for larger items such as furniture. That way the buyer can pick it up themselves or you can offer to drop the item off if you have the necessary vehicle and/or equipment.

For everything else, a good old yard/garage sale can help you get rid of the majority of small items. While you can still post about the sale in the local papers, utilize the power of the internet to get more customers. Advertise the sale on Facebook within a 25-30 mile radius and see how many people show up! Just make sure to specify the time you open as there are dedicated garage sale shoppers that might show up at 6am!

Speaking of online marketplaces, they are also a great place to find affordable packing supplies. Chances are someone in your neighborhood (or nearby town) is probably moving. So why not use that opportunity to take some stuff off their hands like gently used boxes, bubble wrap, packing paper, etc. you can save yourself a lot of money that way and you’ll be helping a neighbor get rid of unwanted items at the same time.

Budgeting Apps

Movers by themselves can cost up to $10,000 depending on the size, complexity, and distance of your move. That doesn’t even include the costs of packing supplies and buying new stuff for your new home! Before you know it, you’re blowing past your monthly budget with credit card bills piling up. It’s a nightmare scenario for most people, especially when you consider all the new things you need to buy for your new house!

In order to keep your spending from spiraling out of control, you’ll want to look into a way to budget your spending. Before that, of course, you will need to know what your average monthly budget is and see where you might be able to take funds from to funnel into your moving budget. If you’re already tracking your spending, you should be able to see what categories you can decrease. Maybe that means reducing your fun money (booze, takeout, entertainment, etc.) for a few months to save up. If you don’t track your expenses, look at your bank and/or credit card statement for the past few months. As best you can categorize each transaction so you can see where you’re spending your money.

You could potentially get away with just tracking your expenses via a spreadsheet, but there are much easier ways to budget your spending via apps such as Mint. These apps automatically connect to your bank account and credit card once you give them permission and will list all of your transactions and guess at the specific category. You can create a monthly budget for specific categories so you can see how much you’re spending in that specific category. You can even create custom categories (like moving) and set a monthly spend. Visually seeing where all your money is going and what you’re spending it on can help you reduce your overall spending in other areas and keep your moving budget from getting too high. You will need to re-categorize transactions to the custom category, but it only takes a few seconds to do!

Digital Interior Designing

Decorating a new home is always the funnest part about moving, but it can also be the stuff of nightmares especially if you’re bringing your old furniture with you. You might think that the sofa would fit snugly in a specific corner of the living room, but it turns out it’s actually just a little too long. Sound familiar? It’s a common occurrence for a lot of people.

If you want to avoid that heartbreak of moving furniture only to have to get rid of it, then get some digital help. There are many online floor plan and/or interior design apps that can help you imagine your new space. For best results, you’ll of course need the dimensions of the rooms (including doorways and entryways) as well as your furniture. From there, you should be able to get an accurate idea of how to arrange the various rooms and whether that old sofa or table will even fit in a room. Many sites and apps will even have generic furniture that you can put down if you don’t plan on bringing any with you.

Make Your Next Move Easier

While there are some parts of the move that you can’t use your phone or computer for, there are so many other steps where you can save yourself a lot of time and money. If you’re planning to move soon, then try out the above ideas to see how much better your moving experience is. And, of course, make sure to hire professional movers so moving day will be even more stress-free.

FAQ

How can I keep track of my belongings during a long distance move?

Many trusted movers, like us, have GPS trackers on our trucks and we send our customer’s daily updates so they know exactly where their belongings are. If you’re making a long distance move, make sure to asking the movers if they provide GPS tracking!

What should I do if I need to file a complaint with a moving company?

It depends on the nature of the complaint, but always contact customer support via email to let the company know about the issue (and call too). If the crew broke an item, take a picture and send it to the movers and ask to fill out an insurance claim form.

Can I put in a request for mail forwarding online?

You sure can! All you need to do is go to USPS website and change your address online. It will cost some money, but it will save you a trip to the post office.