When you have a firm moving date, ask for final readings on gas, water, and electric meters. Check whether you have any deposits that should be refunded. Refunds may also be due on your security deposit if you’re renting, prepaid cable TV service, and the renters or homeowners insurance you’ll be canceling.
Notify anyone who calls at your home regularly: diaper service, pool or water softener servicers, pest controllers, trash collector, housekeeper, or gardener.
Return library books, pick up dry cleaning, and empty lockers. If you’re changing towns, find out about the transfer of medical and school records.
Running Your Garage Sale
Remember that most moving companies charge by the hun¬dred pounds. If you have some idea how much that might be, you can decide which things are worth taking and which might be more cheaply replaced. If you’re up to your ears in kids, work, or packing and need help, professional organizers (in the Yellow Pages under “Organizing Services and Systems, Household and Business” or on the Internet <www.napo.net>) provide an excel¬lent service to relocating homeowners by helping them weed out the items they may not have touched for several years. They are also experts at helping you pack in an efficient and organized man¬ner. The unneeded items can be sold at a garage sale, placed at a consignment shop, or donated to charity.
When you’ve advertised your garage sale, be prepared for antique seekers and garage sale enthusiasts who will knock on your door an hour before you’re ready. It’s best to price everything the night before, leaving little to be done the next morning. When you’re asked if you’ll take less, say that whatever is left will sell at half-price at the end of the sale. If you donate the leftovers to char¬ity, ask for a receipt to back up your income tax deduction.
If You Move Yourself
Truck rental agencies have information to help you estimate what size truck or trailer you’ll need. You can rent a hand-truck or dolly, furniture pads, and straps, and buy cartons specifically made for packing. Your rental can be round-trip or one-way. Be sure to ask about drop-off locations.
Though moving companies seldom accept credit cards, truck rental companies often will. Remember that in addition to the daily charges, you’ll have costs for gasoline and tolls.
Be sure to check with your insurance company to see whether you need any additional insurance coverage to supplement the rental agency’s own policy, or in addition to any insurance carried by the professional movers you may hire.
Hiring a Professional Mover
The more packing you do yourself, the more you save. The moving company can sell you cartons of uniform size intended for china, clothing, and other items. Or you can ask for sturdy cartons at local liquor stores and larger ones from computer stores.
The mover should furnish first a nonbinding estimate and ser¬vice order, listing the items to be moved. Expect to pay extra for packing and unpacking, disassembly and assembly, moving items up or down stairs at either location, and any large item like a piano. (Some concerned homeowners hire a separate piano-mov¬ing company entirely, because safely moving a heavy musical instrument, especially a grand piano, takes a specialized type of dolly and moving process.) The final contract you sign should match the estimate and service order; double-check it.
The final weight of your shipment will be determined by hav¬ing the truck weighed empty and again after it is loaded. Be pre¬pared to make payment in cash or certified check when the movers arrive at the new location, because it is doubtful they will unload otherwise. (If the bill is more than 10 percent over the estimate, you are entitled to 30 days in which to make up the overage.)
Be sure to hand-carry jewelry, a portable file of important documents, medications, and a suitcase for each family member. A cooler with some perishable foods you can’t bear to waste can come in handy for the trip, or even to unpack immediately upon arriving at your next home. Take along a box containing a ham¬mer, screwdriver, cleaning supplies and rags, extension cords, paper plates and cups, plastic utensils, saucepan, coffee maker and coffee, snacks, toothbrushes, soap, and towels.
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