Moving long distance across the country is viewed as the most challenging type of relocation there is, right after moving to another country (an international move).
And to be able to guarantee the success of your upcoming cross-country move, your best option is to have a master plan about what you should be doing each step of the way. And, of course, how you should do it too.
One thing is sure – you’re going to have to be ready for your long-distance move. And this is exactly where good advice will come in very handy.
These top 20 long-distance moving tips will guide you throughout the entire house moving process – from the very first moment your move becomes only a matter of time (start point) until the day your household items are delivered to the new home that’s located many, many miles away (end point).
Are you ready to follow these good tips for a successful long-distance move? Here we go:
1. Create a long-distance moving plan ASAP (Moving Checklist)
Moving long distance requires a lot of planning and you shouldn’t waste another day wondering where to start or what you should do next. The solution is simple: you need a plan that works, and you need it right now.
How to plan a long-distance move? Create a moving checklist to manage your time perfectly. Fill in that moving timeline only with move-related tasks that are relevant in your case, then sort out the jobs in order of importance.
Do not start the cross-country preparation stage without a long-distance moving checklist by your side.
2. Don’t make the biggest moving mistake
These tips for planning a long-distance move will help you organize a problem-free household move from start to finish. Nevertheless, costly mistakes are never out of the question.
The biggest mistake when moving long distance is to underestimate the complexity of the residential move and decide to organize a self-move as a result. Even when you have previous relocation experience, the great distance between the two homes will increase drastically the DIY moving costs, as well as the risks and dangers on the road.
Ultimately, going with top-rated long distance movers is the only sensible option you’ve got.
Must-read: How to find a good moving company
3. Get in-home moving estimates from reputable movers
In order to prepare a preliminary moving budget, you’ll need to know how much long distance movers cost. Or in your specific house moving case, how much those cross-country movers will charge YOU.
The easiest way to learn the cost of a long-distance move is to get free long-distance moving quotes. Once the initial contact has been established, ask several companies to visit your home in person to do a risk assessment and a visual inspection of the things you’ll be moving.
Get binding written estimates after the in-home survey is complete.
4. Understand the cost of a long-distance move
What’s the average cost for a long-distance move? According to the American Moving and Storage Association (AMSA), the average cost of a long-distance move is roughly $4,300 for shipping 7,400 pounds of household items to a distance of 1,225 miles.
However, that is just an average cost and what you’ll pay the movers in the end will depend on a number of factors such as the move distance, shipment weight, and additional services used for the completion of the job.
Use this long-distance move calculator to get accurate cost estimates that will reflect the final bill.
5. Research the long-distance moving companies
You’ve got written cost estimates from several cross-country moving companies. Now what? How do you pick the best long-distance mover among those companies?
Our tips for a long-distance move continue with a critical stage – the task of researching professional movers in order to pick the best one for you in terms of price and conditions.
Check the movers’ reputation by reading consumer reviews (moving reviews).
Check the movers’ membership and ratings at the American Moving and Storage Association (AMSA).
Check the movers’ BBB accreditation at the Better Business Bureau.
6. Protect your cross-country move from possible fraud
It’s imperative that you have a safe and trouble-free residential move. There’s little doubt that the best way to move long distance is to hire experienced professionals to get the job done.
However, a professional mover may still try to scam you.
The most common moving fraud is the so-called low-ball estimate where a moving company may offer you a much lower price than their competitors. And once you say YES, then they will find a way to increase drastically the quoted price.
Try to understand why a moving estimate is much lower than the rest of the quotes. If you can’t, stay away from it.
7. Consider purchasing extra insurance
Moving hundreds or thousands of miles across an entire continent is never a joke, and long-distance moving problems do happen from time to time.
In fact, anything can happen on the road regardless of how reputable your chosen cross-country mover is, so you should definitely consider buying extra insurance for your items.
Speak with your mover about purchasing adequate insurance if most of your household items are really valuable – like an upright piano, for example.
At 60 cents per pound per item, the Basic Limited Liability Protection (aka Moving Valuation) you’ll get for free is practically non-existent, so request more information about the Full-Value Protection.
8. Sort out your household items
The best way to prepare for a long-distance move is to inventory and sort out all of your possessions so that you can move only the items that 1) you plan to use in the foreseeable future, and 2) you’ve always liked and enjoyed.
Bear in mind that every extra item you choose to take with you will cost you more money in increased transportation costs. So, go from room to room and make a detailed inventory list of all the items found in each living area.
Basically, you want to know what items you have before starting to pack them up in boxes.
9. Get rid of items you no longer want or need
There are good ways to prepare for a long-distance move, and then there are bad ways to do it. Packing and moving ALL of your household items is a classic example of what you should NEVER do when moving across multiple states.
As you’re sorting out your items, pay special attention to your furniture and ask yourself this: is it worth paying good money just to move a furniture piece that you can buy cheaper after the move?
Sell (either online or at a garage sale), give away to friends or donate to charity all the things you’re leaving behind.
Read also: How to get rid of furniture when moving
10. Decide who will do the packing
As you should know by now, the easiest way to do a long-distance move is to hire a full-service moving company to do it all for you, including packing. Unfortunately, that’s also the costliest way to go when moving to another part of the continent.
When organizing a long-distance move, you’ll have to decide who will take care of the toughest task there is – packing.
If you pack your things by yourself, plus a few loyal friends, you’ll be able to save money. On the other hand, self-packing for a cross-country move can be risky in case you own specialty items such as antique furniture, baby grand pianos, grandfather clocks, pool tables, etc.
11. Get free moving boxes to lower the costs
When organizing a long-distance move, your priority should always be to lower the moving costs any way you can. Keeping in mind the average cost to move across country, a good way to start saving money on your long-distance move is to get hold of free moving boxes.
Cardboard boxes represent the biggest packing expense so getting those containers free of charge is a good tactic to cut the costs of moving.
Ask friends, neighbors and co-workers if they have boxes to spare.
Also, do a tour around the local big retail stores and speak with their managers about getting free cardboard boxes.
Websites such as Craigslist and Freecycle are also good sources of free packing boxes.
12. Pack essentials boxes
Unlike a local move that usually gets finished within a much shorter period of time, a cross-country move can take days to complete. And this fact alone means that you probably won’t see your household items again for quite some time.
To survive the time until you get reunited with your stuff, remember to pack a few boxes with absolute essentials before your long-distance mover arrives. These so-called essentials boxes (aka Open-First boxes) should contain super-important items such as prescribed medicines, kitchen items, toiletries, basic hand tools, children’s and pets’ essentials, and so on.
Don’t give any of your essentials boxes to your long-distance mover by mistake.
13. Pack your things by yourself to save money
One of the best ways to prepare for a long-distance move is to take control of the packing task without having to pay professional packers to help you out.
Of course, that’s not always possible. Luckily, you’ll have enough time until Moving day and will have friends who won’t mind giving you a packing hand.
Before initiating the packing job, check whether you have the necessary packing supplies in terms of quantity and quality so that you won’t need to interrupt the packing process later on.
Always pack your things with distance in mind, meaning that you should use more cushioning and padding materials to prevent damage to your more fragile items.
See also: How to pack for moving
14. Follow a packing timeline
What’s the best way to pack for a long-distance move? The answer is simple: use a packing timeline to manage the most time-consuming task in your moving calendar.
Packing for a move is where you may get to lose a staggering amount of time if you’re not sure where to start packing or how to organize the entire packing process. And this is where a packing timeline will prove to be extremely useful.
Start packing as soon as you possibly can.
Begin from the rooms that are the hardest ones to pack – all the storage areas in your home.
Do NOT pack items your movers won’t move – anything that is flammable, explosive or corrosive in nature.
ALWAYS label your moving boxes once you’ve filled them up – write down the destination room, the content, and any special handling instructions.
15. Get your pets ready for the cross-country move
Moving across country with pets can be rather challenging so you need to address that issue early in your preparation. Your pet or pets are part of your family and you’re taking them with you no matter what.
Before anything else, take your pet for a complete medical check-up by a licensed veterinarian.
If you’re driving to the new residence, then a good option is to move your pet in the car with you. Dogs usually travel well in cars while cats are best transported in special pet carriers.
If you’re flying to your new home, find an airline that is pet-friendly well in advance. Follow the airline’s requirements for a safe and trouble-free pet relocation.
Good to know: How to move with pets
16. Change your address
Preparing for a long-distance move means that you’ll need to think of everything, or almost everything, before moving out for good.
So, what is your moving checklist telling you to do now? Change your postal address, of course.
Moving to a new home will mean your address is changing too. So, to prevent any important piece of mail getting lost during that transitional period, start the change of address procedure roughly 2 weeks before your move-out date.
Basically, there are 4 different ways to change your address with the United States Postal Service (USPS): doing it online, in person, by phone, or by mail.
Visit the official USPS website to initiate the change of address procedure.
17. Change household utilities
Good tips for moving long distance can save you from all sorts of trouble during the house move, like arriving in your new home and finding it with no electricity or running water.
Changing your household utilities is an important task when moving across the country – one that you should not forget to do.
First, contact your current utility provider and schedule the disconnection of the utilities you’re enjoying now. For best results, do this 2 weeks prior to Moving day.
Then, contact the utility providers in the destination town or city and schedule their connection in the new apartment or house. Set up the basic utilities first – electricity, water, Internet – before deciding what other services you’ll need in the future.
18. Keep your valuables with you at all times
Here’s one of the best tips for a safe long-distance move you’ll need when moving across the country – keep your valuables with you throughout the move.
Even if you’ve hired the most trustworthy moving company there is, you should not entrust them with the high-value items you can move by yourself. Easy-to-move valuables include but are not limited to jewelry, cash, important documents, electronic gadgets, irreplaceable items such as collector’s items, and so on.
If you have high-value objects that are big and you can’t possibly move on your own, then purchase additional insurance for them. In most cases, you’ll be glad that you did.
19. Think about how to move your car
When you’re about to move many miles away and cross many state lines, one pressing question takes center stage: How to move your car across the country?
For a number of reasons, you may decide not to drive to the new residence in your own car. Or, you may be willing to do that cross-country road trip but have another car to worry about.
In such cases, your best solution is to have your vehicle transported by a professional car shipping company. It’s simply, really: hire a long-distance car shipping country with many years of experience and excellent reputation and ratings.
And how to do all that? Start off by getting long-distance car moving quotes.
20. Save money on your long-distance move
Yes, moving across the country is expensive so you should use every opportunity, no matter how small it seems, to save money. Little by little, you should be able to reduce the moving costs by A LOT.
The top 3 ways to save money when moving long distance are:
1) Hire a low-cost long-distance mover. Compare well the in-home cost estimates.
2) Take only the things you absolutely need. Don’t move any furniture.
3) Pack whatever you can on your own. Get your hands on free packing supplies, especially free moving boxes.
See also: How to minimize moving costs
