Moving to a new home across the country requires considerably more effort and money than moving across town does. You have to ship or transport all of your belongings thousands of miles away, and you have to keep all of your belongings safe. This can be pretty challenging on top of everything else you have to do to make your transition to your new home smooth. If you’re moving across the country for the first time, you may be wondering exactly what you can do to make things easier for yourself. Here are three tips to help you out as you prepare for and make the big move:

1. Don’t try to take it all with you – You probably don’t want to part with some of your personal belongings, but you should. The more stuff you try to take with you when you move, the more difficult the move’s going to be. So, go through everything you own and decide what you want to get rid of. You may want to consider how much it would cost to transport your heavier items and whether or not it would be more cost effective to just replace them when you to your new home.

2. Pick the right moving company – There are tons of moving companies that can help you transport your personal belongings and furniture. Those moving companies will differ in terms of price and quality. It’s wise to do some online research of moving companies that specialize in cross-country moves. These moving companies will usually cost less than moving companies that ordinarily just handle local and regional moves. Be sure to read online reviews before committing to any particular company. You don’t want to end up with damaged furniture and other belongings because you picked a less-than-reputable moving company.

3. Consider shipping your car – You may not have time for a 24-hour road trip to your new home. Shipping your car will save you the trouble and time of having to drive it across the country. You may want to calculate how much it would cost in terms of gas and lodging to drive your car across the country versus how much it would cost to have it shipped. If you decide that shipping your car is better for your particular situation, you should research car shipping companies online. There are a number of reputable car shipping companies that will transport your car safely to your new home and save you some extra effort.

How much you take with you to your new home is important and so is who you trust to transport all of your belongings. So, leave some things behind and find the best companies to help you with your move!

Author’s Bio: Ryan Franklin is a guest blogger on the subjects of relocation, staying organized while moving, and finding the best long distance movers.

When you label your boxes: ‘Bedroom’ or ‘Kitchen’ this only helps you out a little in the unpacking process.  If you label them with a number you can not only reuse the boxes for your return trip, but also on a separate sheet of paper you can keep a list of inventory that corresponds with the number on the box.  This way you’ll know exactly what is where.

Everything must go in boxes, minus full sized furniture of course.  This isn’t like when you’re moving to another part of town and you can shove things in an empty trashcan or laundry basket.  You’ll want to have everything covered and protected for it’s journey and for the unpacking process as well.

Inevitably in most moves something fragile breaks.  This is totally preventable!  It doesn’t have anything to do with how far the items travel it has to do with bubble wrap, packing paper and packing tape.  Don’t be shy. It’s more expensive to replace your broken item than to buy extra packing supplies.  This will also help you stay organized because the better things are packed the better, the better they fit together and the less crammed each box will be.

Ultimately organization will come down to your sense of order when you’re grouping things together.  In the living room you may be tempted to put all of the books in one box, but this can make it impossibly heavy, so either use small boxes for heavy items or split the boxes with books on the bottom and throw pillows on the top.

Keep calm and you’ll get through the move just fine, carry a pen and marker with you at all times and you’ll be able to label and list everything so well you’ll know how to find anything immediately.

In his role in the self storage industry, Mike James helps customers care for their cherished belongings that must be put in storage. Mike goes to see his facilities including an Albuquerque self storage facility center.  He was also recently meeting customers and staff at the Las Vegas self storage facility.

Technology in International Shipping and transportation

During 2007 we’ve finally decided that we must get the right technology for the busy summer ‘cause doing everything manually is not something we could afford any more.

We wanted to get a system that would address multiple tasks and computerize all our activities from the first stage of the contact with the customer and to the very ending of each moving process. We felt it was necessary to integrate on-site equipment such as electronic in-residence surveys and on-site printing of shipment labels and inventories.

The idea was to have the data captured on-site and then feed it into the office software and produce all standard documents. Preparing documents such as survey reports, quotations, contracts, insurance forms, packing inventories, agent manifests, bingo sheets, dock receipts, etc…, occupy precious office hours that can easily be reduced by employing a computerizes system.

We decided to purchase a system called MightyForwarder by Voxme. It took some time to adjust to it and adjust it to our needs (and that is why we bought it during the off session). However, after using it for 5 months, I am more satisfied with it then I could have ever imagined!

What we came to realize is that once the data is recorded, there’s no manual paperwork or typing that needs to be redone – again and again and again!!! We press the button and out comes the document that before could take hours to produce. Now all shipment information is organized and easily accessible.  We no longer need to search for a piece of paper with a survey from 2 months ago or look for an email from an agent with a delivery day.

Sounds pretty ambitious? Well, we purchased this system from a Richmond Hill (Toronto) based Voxme – aggressive as we sound, it was comforting to have the technology provider just 10 minutes up the street.

So what did we learn after 5 years? Probably the most important lesson is that it pays to spend a little extra time that it may take to capture the data electronically. What’s interesting is that the customers actually like to see our staff use the handheld units for survey and packing inventories. Sure, it projects the right image of our company, but more importantly, people have grown to trust “the computers” more than a sheet of paper.

Our international shipping program has allowed us to help our clients moving to other countries with ease and confidence. The success rate with these international removal and relocation services is unparallel. 

When shipping from Canada to other countries such as UK, Germany, Israel, Australia and more, we can enjoy this system even more since our overseas agents share the same software and it is easy to convey information.

The bottom line: technological investment has allowed us to be more efficient, have less mistakes, project the right company image and it freed up a lot of time and resources we can use to grow our business.

Adi Shaked

President.
Orbit International Moving Logistics LTD.

We hope you enjoy using Orbit International Moving. If you have any questions or need any help please feel free to send us an email at info@orbitmoving.com or you can call us at (905)-763-1936.

Orbit International Moving Logistics Ltd.

• Moving to Europe
• Moving to Finland
• Moving to France
• Moving to Germany
• Moving to Hong Kong
• Moving to Hungary
• Moving to India
• Moving to Ireland
• Moving to Israel
• Moving to Italy
• Moving to Japan
• Moving to Jordan
• Moving to London – UK

• Moving to Luxembourg
• Moving to Malta
• Moving to Monaco
• Moving to Morocco
• Moving to Netherlands
• Moving to New Zealand
• Moving to Norway
• Moving to Peru
• Moving to Portugal
• Moving to Saudi Arabia
• Moving to Scotland
• Moving to Singapore
• Moving to South Africa

• Moving to Spain
• Moving to Sweden
• Moving to Switzerland
• Moving to Taiwan
• Moving to the Bahamas
• Moving to the Cayman Islands
• Moving to the United Arab Emirates
• Moving to Turkey
• Moving to UK
• Moving to USA
• Moving to Venezuela
• Moving to Wales
• Worldwide Moving