| By :
Wendy Moyer
It's often fun and exciting moving to a new location, even thought the process of moving might not be the highlight of your day. In addition to either hiring someone to pack and unpack your things or doing it yourself, the cost of hiring a moving company and equipment is not cheap. And if you're moving far away, you will need a lot more help than having a neighbor with a pickup truck give you a hand. If you want to pretty much guarantee that everything will arrive safely then you will want to do it yourself. This way you can carefully pack and unpack everything. Of course it's very time consuming. An alternative is to find a reputable professional moving company that you can sign a contract with that will clearly state that your things are guaranteed to arrive safely or they will be replaced by the company. Even if you pack your own household you'll probably find that it's almost impossible to move on your own, especially if you're moving across the state or across the country. Even if you hold a garage sale to get rid of things you'll probably find that it's less expensive to move most of your possessions to your new home than to furnish it from scratch. With that in mind, the process of hiring a moving company takes a bit of planning. That's because some companies might offer you a free moving truck upgrade and charge you by the mile while others may offer unlimited mileage but charge you based on the size of the truck you need. So in order to save the most money you will have to compare potential prices. The best thing to do would be to get quotes from a number of moving companies. How far in advance you contact them and the day of the week you move will impact your cost. If you know you're going to move well in advance of the actual move, don't delay in calling the moving companies. Then, when you find one you want to hire, sign a contract to guarantee the price. Do not wait because the prices might change. And when you're getting quotes keep in mind that the demand for moving equipment is usually lower midweek. If you can schedule your move between Tuesday and Thursday you can save a lot of money. When getting quotes find out if boxes, packing materials and packing tape is included in the price or if you will be charged extra. Also find out if you have to rent dollies and other moving and lifting equipment or if that, too, is included in the price. Once you've narrowed your choice of moving companies down, ask for contact information for three of their most recent clients and call them to find out what their experiences were. Prior to moving, make a written inventory of everything. Then, once you've moved, check each item on your list to see if it arrived safely. If it's damaged knows that the sooner you file a complaint the more likely it is that you will get compensated for it. Since movers may not be qualified to take apart and put together complex electronic equipment and/or appliances you should do this yourself or hire other professionals to do it. And finally, if you do decide to hire a moving company to pack your things for you, make sure that you are charged by weight instead of by volume. If they charge by volume you are opening the door to having them intentionally under pack your boxes in order to charge you more.
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