Things People Forget to Do When They Move

- Return library books and movie rentals

- Cancel gym memberships

- Pick up items from Dry Cleaners/Shoe Repair

- Pack school records, pet records, legal records, property records, necessary financial records separately from the rest the stuff

- Discontinue services like cable, newspaper, etc

- Defrost freezers

- Extract gas and oil from the machines (e.g. lawnmower)

- Make childcare arrangements for the moving day

- Return borrowed items

- Check for items left behind (spots like top shelves, long-time-no-use closets, sheds, kitchen cabinet draws)

What’s missing on your moving check list?

Spring Discount from Statewide Van Lines

These days many families ask themselves time and again: how else can we save money? Well, If you are planning to move any time soon we have some good news for you. Statewide Van Lines will give you $150 off your move with us if the move day falls on any date in March or April (weekends included). Getting the discount is simple: 1. Follow our blog 2. Contact us at 1-866-259-3405 or visit our website http://www.statewidevanlines.com/ to get a free quote and mention the blog discount. And that’s all that is required. Well, there’s still a challenging task of planning how to spend the $150 that you saved but we are sure you won’t need help with that.

Statewide Van Lines is a fully licensed and insurance moving company. We take pride in offering affordable moving services on a highly professional level. For those who value their time – make sure to take advantage of our expert packing and unpacking services.

This is the first promotion in the series of upcoming discount offers – so stay tuned for more deals from Statewide Van Lines.

Moving and Sweepstakes: Where Will Your Prize Go?

Changing your place of living can sometimes be compared to “burning the bridge behind”: some things will be gone from your life forever. You are unlikely to see again you neighbors, or your postman with whom you’ve frequently had a pleasant chat about weather; your kids will miss their classmates from the previous school – and even though they will keep in touch for some time, they will move on to new friendships rather quickly, making old friends history.

But don’t rush to abandon your old postal address: even if you notified your friends, employer, credit card companies and utility services where you now reside, there might still be some important mail cramming in your old box or getting thrown away by the new resident. A good example is if you were actively participating in various sweepstakes and contests. Sometimes it takes months for a winner to be selected but that could very well be you, so make sure you will receive notifications or prizes (if there are any) even after you move.

The first thing you should do is submit a change of address form to your local post office. Temporary mail forwarding will ensure that you get your mail that was sent to the old address forwarded to the new location for up to a year. Unfortunately some sweepstakes sponsors use express delivery services like UPS and FedEx to send your prize: the problem is these companies don’t have a mail forwarding option. Rather than giving up on your hopes of winning, you can take a few steps to increase your chances of receiving prizes you possibly won:

- Edit your profile if you participated in online sweepstakes and such an option is available

- Check your sweepstakes email address frequently: most people create a separate email account specifically for contests and other promotions that they want to participate in but then forget to check this secondary email

- Contact the sweepstakes sponsor and notify them of the address change; if that won’t work – follow up with them immediately after the winner announcement date and inquire if your name was selected by any chance

- Try to get on friendly terms with the new owners of your previous house/apartment: send them a welcoming note, maybe even a small inexpensive gift and ask them to notify you if there is any important mail/package in your name.

Participating in sweepstakes and contests is hard work and you shouldn’t let it go into waste just because you moved. A few simple steps will help the prizes find their rightful owner.

Packing and Moving Your Garage

The moving date is around the corner and everything in your house is wrapped, folded, dismantled and packed up. The one area that you dread approaching is your garage – it’s filled with odd stuff, most of which you barely ever use but still like to keep just in case… Bulky items like lawn mowers or old deck furniture, some auto parts from extra tires to engine stands, children’s stuff and outdoor equipment long out of use, tools, pots, broken statues – you have to sort through it all and figure out what still has value and what can be sold or discarded. (“Garage Stuff on Garage Sale” is a nice title for your newspaper ad).

A few things to keep in mind when packing your garage for the upcoming move:

- Drain all the gas and oil from gas-powered items such as a lawn mower or snow blower since they are considered hazardous materials, which most movers are not licensed to transport

- Empty the draws of your desks and workbenches and pack their content into boxes

- Secure together all the tools of similar length using a strong plastic cord; if you don’t have a tool box use a thick-wall carton to pack your hand tools and small power tools. Use paper to fill extra space and prevent tools from shifting. Cover sharp edges of the tools with linen or bubble wrap to avoid injuries when unpacking the box.

- Disassemble metal shelves and tape them together in a bundle along with the bolts placed in a labeled zip lock bag.

- Label your auto parts prior to packing. If there are certain parts that you cannot identify or which origin/purpose are a mystery, you are very unlikely to make use of them in the future and might as well donate them to the local auto shop.

- Flammable or explosive liquids (fertilizer, gasoline, kerosene, motor oil, pool chemicals) fall under the hazmat category and cannot be transported by most movers.

Most importantly, don't leave packing your garage till the last moment, it is notorious for being the most cluttered area of the house and can take longer than you expect to prepare for the move.

Moving During the Holidays

“To new beginnings!” is the toast you say as you watch the Times Square ball countdown on TV. And new beginnings they will be since you just moved to a new house just on time to ring the New Year in. In fact your boxes are still half unpacked and you are eating out of plastic plates after failing to remember where your best china was packed in. It doesn’t sound believable, does it? Who would want to mix the moving chaos into the holiday hassle?

You will be surprised how many people move during the period between Thanksgiving and New Year. Many families choose to move because that’s when the school is out or in hopes that the wide-spread holiday sale will apply to moving services as well. Some tenants’ lease expires at the end of the year and they may choose to move to a better apartment not to get locked in the new lease.

So if your moving date is during the holiday season, there a couple of things you want to be aware of. First of all you will not be one of the “few”, so don’t expect it to be a slow time in the moving season when movers are fighting to get business from you. Holiday discount on the move is probably just a myth so you shouldn’t count on that either. In fact the biggest challenge for moving companies around this time of the year is that they are short of hands because drivers want to take some time off to be with their families for the holidays. Hence, you might expect longer than expected delays for the delivery. So if there is a way for you to postpone your move till the holidays are over, you should give serious thought to the alternative option.

Have a Great Holiday Season!

What Men vs. Women Really Think before Spending

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Source: GoBankingRates.com

Want to Move with Less - Have a Garage Sale

Getting ready to move means that you might need to sort through your stuff and see if there is anything you can get rid of before the move. Why not hold a garage sale – not only will you dispose of the extra items you no longer need, you can also earn some cash that will help with the upcoming moving expenses.

Planning and organizing the sale will ensure a hassle-free day of parting with your belongings (and some of the memories too), counting the earnings and looking into a future that has more room for new things.

1. First thing that you should do is to check with the local authority if a special permit is required to hold a garage sale. In some places residents can only hold one garage sale per calendar year – so you want to be aware of this and similar rules.

2. Set the date. You will be better of to check the weather forecast first – a nice sunny day will bring in more buyers. Needless to say that weekend sales tend to do better but you want to avoid doing it on holidays.

3. Choose a place. The sale can be held on your patio or backyard, but it’s best if your display is immediately visible so try to arrange it closer to the street/sidewalk so that random passersby could stop by as well.

4. Advertise in advance. Run an ad in your local newspaper, put a sign in your window and spread the word through your neighbors.

5. Sort your items for sale – organize them into several groups by type, size or even assumed popularity (you may want to have a separate “hot items” pile displayed at the front for a better promotion of the sale).

6. Set the price. Think of a reasonable range to charge for items that are still in good condition – usually it would be 20-30% of the original purchase price. You may also use the Value Guide List provided by Salvation Army for the used household items.

7. Be prepared to bargain. Your buyers will want the cheapest prices so establishing a range rather than a set price will serve as a guide by how much you can lower the price for each item.

Enjoy your garage sale and don’t forget to take the signs down when it’s over!