Prepping For Your Next Move: What You Need To Know

Moving in your younger years probably meant simply recruiting a pickup truck-owning friend with the promise of pizza and beer. Now past age 50, moving takes on a bit more complexity. It requires forethought and planning to reduce the chance of a stressful experience. In this post, we’ll cover four phases for making a move:

Planning
Downsizing (if necessary)
Other pre-moving day preparations
Moving day
Planning the Move
Everybody’s moving situation differs. Yours might be:

Moving locally or across the country
Moving directly from your former home into your new home or ping-ponging between the old place and the new residence temporarily or indefinitely
Downsizing, upsizing, or “samesizing”
Whatever your unique situation, a well-thought-out moving plan is essential. These tips will help in the planning phase.

Learn About the New Location
Learn about the local resources in the new geography that could be useful during your move. For example, knowing the location of the closest Target or Walmart and local grocery, hardware, and drug stores will be helpful from Day One. Also, learn the local rules about moving trucks and parking to avoid unnecessary hassles once your stuff arrives.

Storage Unit or No Storage Unit?
Consider the possibility of using a storage unit temporarily. Renting a storage unit might be necessary if some of your belongings need to be out of the old home to stage it for sale better. Also, depending on your timeline, you may not have enough time to go through the downsizing process properly. Placing items in storage will buy time until you have the bandwidth to go through things. In either case, research storage options and pricing early in the planning cycle to avoid a last-minute rush.

What’s Your Budget?
A long-distance move can cost around $5,000, and a local move $1,000. If you’re doing it yourself or handling the packing, investigate the cost of truck rental, protective padding, boxes, tape, and other supplies. Remember to keep track of expenses since some might be tax deductible.

Learn more tips about making your next big move, along with an easy to follow video, by visiting out partner site Living50+ with Dort Financial Credit Union.