Moving can be an extremely stressful affair due to a number of reasons. Besides the fact that sometimes it means saying goodbye to your family, friends, and favorite places, the process requires at least a month of careful logistics planning. However, certain situations may arise that necessitate a quick relocation, such as natural disasters, evictions, sudden change in health or employment, or a quarrel with an intimate partner or roommate.
Having very little time to organize and pack can add a lot of strain to an already tense situation. When you have to move out of a place in just a few days or you have to move across borders on short notice, the entire approach will have to be radically different.
Emergency moving is not for the faint of heart – you can’t plan for it financially since you already need the cash for rent, temporary storage services, and miscellaneous expenses. At such a critical time, it’s recommended to hire a reputable and reliable integrated moving and storage company to avoid losing or damaging your property in the hands of rogue movers.
Where an urgent move is inevitable, here are some tips for a seamless relocation;
1. Hire a Full-Service Professional Mover
When moving out in a hurry, one way to be realistic with your options is simply hiring emergency moving services to guarantee a successful relocation story. You may want to organize a self-move without any help, but if you only have a few days until you have to move out, then organizing and executing a DIY move is simply not a feasible plan.
Urgent relocations are manageable with a professional full-service moving company. A full-service relocation means the company comes to your home and packs your belongings, loads them onto the truck, transports them to your new space, unloads them, and helps you settle into your new home. You may only give instructions and let the team handle the heavy lifting.
Professional packers and movers have been trained to work efficiently and can pack up your items fast enough and transport them to your new place. Compared to standard moving rates, emergency moving support can be especially costly due to the fact that you’re calling in at the last minute.
2. Use Quick Packing Tips for Urgent Relocations
You can significantly speed up the packing process with a few specific tips. In case you want to get ahead of your hired professional movers and pack some belongings yourself, here are some quick DIY packing tips for emergencies;
- Pack your hanging clothes by inserting them into clean and strong trash bags directly from the closet, with the hangers.
- Prepare an essentials bag or box where you can keep your daily medications, government-issued IDs, phone and charger, pet items, and children’s essentials.
- Leave drawers and dressers full if they have light and non-breakable items such as fabrics or personal effects. Consider stretch wrapping them shut to keep items from falling out during loading and transportation.
Start packing as soon as it becomes apparent that a move is inevitable. You might need to ask for help from family members and friends to help you pack. Designate duties to each one of them that way you get to finish packing faster. This reduces the amount of work that the movers need to do, driving down the cost and time required to execute your move.
3. Declutter While You Pack
When facing an emergency move, it won’t make much sense to pack everything since you don’t have the time. Besides, you would need more packing supplies and may pay higher moving costs compared to decluttering your home and moving only the essential items. To save time, don’t bother packing items you don’t need or see yourself using in the near future.
Given enough time, you could organize a yard sale to get rid of the items and earn some money too. However, emergency moves are time-sensitive and your best bet is to donate them or contract storage in transit services form your mover.
4. Create a Last-Minute Moving Checklist
Creating a moving checklist can help alleviate the stress of an urgent move. For short-notice relocations, use a special shortened version of the standard home moving checklist since you won’t have time to attend to pre-move tasks such as sorting through every single drawer and closet months in advance, scheduling multiple in-home moving company estimates, or hosting a garage sale to clear out unwanted items.
The last-minute moving checklist will contain only the most critical tasks you must do no matter how much time you’ve got. For instance, you shouldn’t bother changing your address now since you can still do it after settling in your new home.
5. Put Extra Goods in Storage
If you’re downsizing or happen to need extra space for some household goods, you can arrange to keep some items with a friend or relative, or book a storage unit at a facility. This is where integrated moving and storage companies come in handy with storage in transit services.
6. Take Care of Essential Paperwork
While you can address some things after settling in your new space, certain issues require your attention before you move:
- Notifying your landlord (and employer, if relevant) of your imminent move so they can take care of any related paperwork if there’s need. This could be leasing agreements, transfer letters, or recommendation letters.
- Arranging for the shipment of your pets and motor vehicles
- Getting plane tickets for international moving or car service for local ones
- Putting your financial documents and national ID together in an essentials bag
7. Ask Friends or Relatives for Help
There are various ways your friends can help you out in the case of an urgent move: they can give you cardboard boxes or other packing materials for free, they can come over and help you with the arduous task of packing, and they can help you lift and carry heavy furniture pieces, if any.
8. Allocate an Emergency Fund
Where emergencies are concerned, anticipate the unexpected. You may need to spend the night at a hotel because your house could not be set up in time. Or you may need to get a new appliance, fitting, or accessory to have your new house feeling like a home again. Any expense may creep up, so it’s essential to prepare a miscellaneous expense budget for these unforeseen events.
Ready to Make Your Emergency Move?
Emergency moves – sometimes, even with the help of professional movers – can present various challenges, especially involving planning and costs. While most moving companies have adequate labor, material, and support resources, booking at the last minute finds the best crews already assigned to other projects, or the company may not have all the resources to execute the ideal moving experience.
Additionally, urgent moves in the peak periods (like near the end of the month and around the holidays) are generally priced higher than those booked earlier. This is why booking early is considered best practice as you can lock in the best possible prices. Desperate clients are a lot more susceptible to getting overcharged.
Need to make an emergency move? Nellions has been helping over 15000 families and companies move seamlessly for over 12 years, and we would be honored to help with your relocation.
Contact us via +254700000002 or email move@nellions.co.ke to get a free quotation.
