When we think about moving, the first thing that often comes to mind is finding a new home, packing, and beating several deadlines. As soon as you discover you’ll be relocating, you’ll begin to hunt for a house, start packing, and making arrangements for the kids to transfer to other schools. That’s all good! Taking care of these issues early usually goes a long way in making any move successful. In fact, at Winter Moving, we encourage you to begin planning as doon as you can.
However, even with all that planning, there is one thing that can make or break the move, and that’s budgeting. Just as with other areas of life, without a moving budget, you’re only a small mistake away from a complete collapse. So, today we want to give you a few tips on how to budget for your move. There are four broad points you need to consider:
1. Moving company expenses
If you’ll be using a moving company (and we encourage this option because it’s ultimately cheaper), you’ll typically begin by requesting a moving estimate. It’s important to know the factors that culminate in any estimate. They include:
- Weight and distance: Find out how much volume you’ll be moving and the distance to the new location, then check the cost per kg and cost per mile/km being charged by the movers you’re considering.
- Additional charges: The estimate will usually contain a list of additional services and the cost of each. Learn which of these services you might need and the respective costs.
- Additional insurance: Since the limited liability insurance offered by most movers is hardly ever sufficient, you might need additional insurance. You need to budget for this, too.
- Extra charges: Finally, you may sometimes need to pay extra charges and fees for things like long carries, handling bulky items, cancellation, and so forth. Allow for extra charges.
2. Moving on your own
If you choose to move on your own, you may have friends to help with packing, loading, carrying, unloading, and unpacking. But you still need to budget for other expense, which may include:
- Truck rental: You need to find the right size truck to avoid making several trips. And don’t forget to budget for fuel.
- Moving equipment: Things like an appliance dolly, furniture pads, and moving blankets are always needed.
- Hidden costs: Packing materials is the obvious one here. From moving boxes to bubble wrap and packing paper to tapes, ensure you’ve budgeted for these necessities. Also, take into account road taxes and tolls, and lodging costs.
3. Immediate post-relocation costs
Whether you’ll be using a moving company or moving on your own, it’s important to plan for post-relocation costs too. These often include:
- Rent, mortgage, and deposits
- Furniture and appliances (you’ll probably be buying a few)
- Groceries, cleaning supplies, and other essentials
- Car transportation, registration, and insurance
4. Final considerations
You’re almost there! As a final step, you need to keep these critical rules in mind when budgeting for the move;
- Always inflate the actual numbers. A good rule of thumb is to inflate the actual figures by 25%.
- Always have a contingency fund. Moving is a long process and you never know what can go wrong. If things don’t go to plan, that contingency fund will come in handy!
Moving Soon? Let’s Move You
Winter Moving & Storage is an approved Atlas Van Lines agent with more than 40 years’ experience serving Northwest Arkansas. Contact us today at 1-800-435-6683 for a smooth, budget-friendly move.
No comments yet.