How to Pack Furniture

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of wikimedia

During the course of the past year, I have shown you how to pack everything from artwork and breakables to pets and plants.  Whether a possession is large or small, sturdy or fragile, there is a right and wrong way to ready it for moving.  Follow my suggestions and the odds favor you getting most any object from point A to point B in one piece.  Believe it or not, the same principles work just fine when it comes to moving furniture. 

How to Make a Mover Smile

By Scott Boone

Courtesy of Scott's Discount Movers

You made the decision to hire a mover.  That undoubtedly meant taking the time to thoroughly investigate and interview several moving companies. It also required you to put your faith in a mover to show up on time and to take care not to damage your belongings while being loaded and unloaded from the truck.  Now that the preliminaries are over, I thought I’d dedicate this week’s blog to helping you get along with your moving crew.

What to do When Your Mover Lets You Down

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of pixabay

Having done more than 5,000 moves, I always try to make sure that my clients get their money’s worth when they hire my firm.  That being said, any time you move everything you own, there is always the possibility of having one of your possessions damaged, lost or destroyed.  In fact, the farther you move, the more likely this can happen.  That’s because a number of interstate movers use multiple trucks and sometimes even transshipping warehouses to move you across the country. This means if you move cross country, there is a high probability that the truck and crew that packs your stuff up, won’t be the same ones who drop them off.  Either way, if you do have something that gets dinged, dented, dropped or destroyed, you need to know how to proceed to get satisfaction.

Do You Need to Downsize?

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of media coverage for what is known as the Tiny House Movement.  This fad has been picking up steam for the past couple of years.  Where in years past, Americans have been hog wild about moving into ever larger houses, the trend lately has turned this concept on its head.  In fact, some people are now taking tiny houses to an extreme, by moving into dwellings that would have been considered backyard sheds in years past.  We’re talking houses with less than 500 square feet of living space.  Sometimes significantly less.  I’ve seen tiny homes as small as 300 square feet.  I have owned garages with more space than that.

The Purrfect Move for You & Your Cat

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of flickr

Cats are like people in that they have their likes, their dislikes and no two are exactly alike.  Unlike dogs, that are more subservient to people’s wants and desires, every cat owner knows that when it comes to getting your way with them, your feline friend isn’t going to fetch, roll over or lie down on command.  Cat’s do pretty much what they want when they want.  What they don’t want is to have their routine interrupted.  When it comes to moving with cats, this can present a few issues, which I will cover this week.

How to Pick the Right Packing Material

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of Pxhere

Last week I ordered a wood-fired outdoor pizza oven online, only to have it arrive broken in half.  When I looked inside the box I discovered the manufacturer had chosen to protect a 30-lb clay oven with a single sheet of bubble wrap.  As a result, the distributor was forced to give me a full refund.  This incident also made me consider how many times people have items broken by movers, not due to negligence on the mover’s part, but because they didn’t know how to properly pack these items. In today’s high-tech world, there are many choices when it comes to packing materials.  Everything from newspaper and blankets, to bubble wrap, peanuts and packing foam are available to help you protect expensive and/or fragile items that you intend to move.  The secret to success is knowing what material to use with which item.  Below is a list of packing common materials along with their intended uses.

What Additional Services Do Movers Offer?

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of Flickr

When most people hire a mover, they assume that all the company will do, is load the truck, drive the truck and unload the truck.  How complicated is that?  What many do not realize is that moving companies offer a number of extra services that are designed to make your move less of a hassle… for a price.  They also have a list of what are considered additional services that can cause your bill to become inflated beyond the agreed upon price quoted prior to the move. Below is a list of additional services of which you need to be aware.

Boxing Your Books Without Breaking Your Back

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of Pixabay

When it comes to packing, some chores are more difficult than others.  For instance, packing breakables such as glasses and dishes can be a challenge.  So, too, can packing books, although most people don’t realize this until the next day when their back is killing them.  Of course, back strain aside, there is a right way and a wrong way to pack books for shipping.

How to Avoid Busting Your Moving Budget

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of Scott's Discount Movers

If you have ever moved before, then you know the logistics involved are only slightly less complicated than rocket science.  That’s because moving a home or business is complicated.  Not only do you have to negotiate the slippery slope of packing up all your stuff, but you have to coordinate the transportation of your family, your belongings and your pets while relying on movers you don’t know from Adam.  Make one wrong move, or rely on the wrong moving company and you could very well find yourself out of time and over budget.  During this week’s blog, I will try to provide you with a map that will help you find your way down the treacherous road of moving without breaking the bank.

What Your Mover Won't Move

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of Free Stock Photos

People hire movers to help them relocate their home or business.  As such, there are a great many things the typical homeowner or business owner wishes to transport from Point A to Point B.  This is all well and good, provided that the business or homeowner understands the limitations that professional movers are under.  What I mean by that is there are a number of things that a mover won’t move.  This is due to regulation, jurisdiction or restrictions imposed on moving companies.  Below are a number of reasons you need to talk to your moving company before you sign the contract.

Moving with Children

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of flickr.com

Even in the best of times, moving all your possessions is stressful.  The logistics involved in deciding what to pack and when can take even the steadiest of individuals to the breaking point.  Add to that frustration the patter of tiny feet and tiny hands getting into everything and you can have a recipe for disaster.  You’ve heard the old adage, “Two is company and three is a crowd.”  If you are a family of three or more, let Uncle Scott give you a few words of wisdom when it comes to moving with children. 

How to Organize Your Next Move

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of Scott's Discount Moving

If you have read any of my recent blogs, you are familiar with my advice to plan your move well in advance of moving day.  That being said, what do you do with the ever-swelling sea of boxes that begin to pop up like mushrooms all over your home?  While some people bite the bullet and order a POD, this can necessitate spending an extra $100 or more per month.  But, what if you could get the convenience and extra storage space of a POD without having to spend one red cent?  Would that help make your move more convenient?

The ABC’s of Moving Your Plants

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of maxpixel.freegreatpictures

So, you have a green thumb.  Bravo.  You probably pride yourself on your ability to turn your home into an oasis inside and out.  That being said, what do you do when you decide to move your oasis across town or across the country?  Before you wind up losing half your precious plants in the process, you had better read my blog below.

A – Always Plan Ahead

Just as you need to plan ahead to manage the arduous task of packing and moving all your belongings, the same needs to be done with your plants. 

Moving Into a High Rise

By Scott Boone

Courtesy of Pixabay

Well, you finally decided to move out of your house and into a condo in the sky.  Congratulations!  Living in a high-rise building can be exciting.  The views are spectacular.  The living arrangements are a little different.  Instead of being part of a neighborhood of flatlanders where you hardly know anyone on your block, life in a high-rise means having to deal with those who live cheek to jowl with you.  This can present challenges, starting with the day you move in.  That’s because condos have rules.  Lots of them.  Run afoul of any and you run the risk of rubbing your neighbors the wrong way, or even receiving a fine.

Take moving day, for instance.  Unlike residential neighborhoods, in a high-rise, moving in is not as simple as parking the moving truck and unloading your belongings.  Believe it or not, your neighbors, not to mention the management, expect you to make a reservation before you move in.  That’s because you will need to park your truck near an entrance and commandeer the freight elevator for the better part of a day in order to move your stuff from the truck to your unit.  This takes coordination and planning.

Moving During the Summer

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of maxpixel.com

Summer is fast approaching.  That means 2 issues: heat and rain. Being a Floridian I know all about making a move when the temperature hovers in the mid-nineties.  While my crew and I understand that working in the heat necessitates applying sunscreen, slowing the pace down a bit and staying hydrated, that doesn’t mean most homeowners do.  Moving in the heat of a summer’s day can make the average homeowner swoon, or wind up with a case of sun poisoning the following day.

6 Reasons to Hire a Professional Mover

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of Scott's Discount Movers

When you take into consideration the fact that 14 percent of the population in the US moves within any given year, the odds are better than 1 in 6 that you will move this year.  That being the case, when it comes to moving, the choice comes down to hiring a professional mover or trying to do it yourself.  While a DIY move sounds like a way to save some money, at least on paper, allow me to present you with 6 reasons why you should consider hiring a pro.

Overcoming the Unpacking Blues

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy Scott's Discount Movers

You finally finished moving into your new home, which is always a high point in most people’s lives.  While moving up in the world can provide a sense of elation, the next logical step always brings people back down to earth.  I’m talking about the unpacking blues, that moment of sheer panic when you are forced to face the prospect of days or even weeks to unbox and rearrange everything you packed. Instead of winding up lost and frustrated among a mountain of boxes the next time you move, take a few tips from a moving pro who has been there and done that thousands of times.

How to Avoid Moving Scams

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of flickr.com

Whether you’re young or old, rich or poor, it’s likely that sometime in your life you will fall prey to fraud.  During the past decade, scams have mushroomed out of all proportion.  Whether you are targeted online, on the phone, or in person, most Americans are ill-equipped to deal with the sheer volume of con artists that prowl the country looking tor targets of opportunity.  Sad to say, but the moving and storage industry is not immune to shady operators.  Below are some moving scams that you need to make yourself aware of.

How to Find a Great Moving Company

When the Spirit Moves You 

By Scott Boone

Image courtesy of Scott's Discount Movers

Are you moving or getting ready to move? Most of us will move at one point in our lives or another. Every year, millions of people move in the US. There is a lot of speculation as to how many people move and why, but it goes without saying, lots of moving is taking place. An article I read by David Bancroft Avrick called; How Many People Move Each Year – and Who Are They? , gives us a little insight.  If we look at the US Census Bureau data, we see that, out of their database of 282,556,000 people, around 40,093,000 moved. That’s a little more than 14% of the US population annually. Of the 40 million plus that moved; 23,468,000 moved within the same county, another 7,728,000 moved to a different county within the same state. Still another 7,628,000 moved to a different state, and finally 1,269,000 moved to a different country. That’s a lot of moving. But the question remains, how do you find a great moving company?