Every year, millions of Americans are moving out of their residences, packing up all their belongings, and moving into a new residence. This is especially true for younger Americans, and the numbers show that a typical American will move 12 times in their life. Older citizens tend to move much less often, instead investing in their current properties. College students, young working professionals, parents, and more may decide to pack up all their furniture and goods and move in somewhere new. They don’t have to do this alone, either; a local moving company can help, and that local moving company may provide trucks, trailers, and manpower to make that move easier. When it comes to hiring moving companies, what should a client keep in mind? And what about local movers for a small business client?
Moving Out
Many statistics are being kept to see how Americans handle their living arrangements, including how often they move, and why. Many young adults move often, and they tend to rent their living spaces rather than rent them. This makes moving much faster and easier, and these young adults may move for college, finding a cheaper area to live in, or finding a new job. Some young adults move often simply because their lifestyle is based on seeing and experiencing new things often. A family, meanwhile, may move because a child was born or adopted, and the family is now too large for its current living space. That, or one or both parents got a job that is far away, so everyone will move closer to it.
Before hiring a local moving company, a household should get itself ready. Besides finding the new residence and handling all paperwork, the household’s members should take care of their inventory. An average American household today has an incredible 300,000 items in it big and small, ranging from furniture to children’s toys to kitchen goods to electronic devices and books. Moving all this can be a real hassle, so the family members can slim down their inventory and give away, sell, or simply throw away items they do not want to use anymore. It may be noted that some large items, such as furniture or a spare car, can be placed in a storage unit and retrieved later, after the move is done.
The family members may also gather all items by category to take full inventory of what they own, and gauge what should be brought along and what will be sold off or recycled. Clothes are often a major category, and it may not be unusual for a household to donate half of their clothes before a move. Something similar can be done with books, toys, kitchen goods, and more.
Hiring Help
Once a household’s inventory is slimmed down and the moving date approaches, it is time to look for a local moving company. A good local moving company will have its own website, and a client can look up several moving services in the area and compare them. A client should note, though, that some moving companies will make longer trips than others. Some companies might not be able to handle a moving trip outside of the county, or even outside the city. Moving from Texas to Pennsylvania, for example, may involve looking for moving companies that can handle such a long trip. A client should also look up customer reviews of a given moving company, to ensure that the company’s performance and crew are satisfactory for the job. Clients may also carefully look over any and all fees that the company may charge based on distance traveled, total weight delivered, or any other factor.
Once a local moving company is hired, the family members and moving crews will pack furniture and boxes of items into the moving trucks and trailers, ensuring that there is little room in between them. Tightly packed items are less likely to jostle around or fall over, and restraining straps can also help. If the new address has narrow streets that pose a challenge to larger trucks, then items can be transferred from a larger truck or trailer to a smaller one that can travel all the way to the new residence.