You’ve begun moving into your new home, but you aren’t sure what should to do first. 

Unpacking your stuff is essential, but before settling in completely, it’s a good idea to inspect your home’s amenities to make sure they’re up to code!

If you don’t know what you should be taking a look at, we can help!

Here is a list of things you should do when moving to a new house.

Change the Locks

At the top of your checklist for moving into a new home should be security. Play it safe and help prevent theft by changing your locks. You don’t know who might have a key to your house, in addition to the previous owner.

You can install new deadbolts yourself or hire a locksmith to do the job.

If changing the locks isn’t enough to put your mind at ease, consider installing a security system or door and window alarms.

Turn on the Utilities

You want to get your electric, gas, and water running as soon as possible so you can detect any problems and resolve them right away. Your internet and phone are important, too, but focus on the essentials for now.

You also want to check your house for plumbing leaks, running toilets, and dripping faucets. Immediately taking care of these problems will save you time and money later.

Clean Your Carpets

If you’re not planning on removing or changing your carpets right away, you’ll want to clean them as soon as possible. You don’t know the last time they were replaced or what the previous homeowner tracked across your floors.

A professional will likely charge you per room or square foot, or you can rent a steamer and clean the carpets yourself. Cleaning your carpets will help your new house feel like home.

Check for Carbon Monoxide Leaks

If your new home has a leak, the areas around your heating equipment may have soot or brownish-yellow stains. The windows in the rooms with your heating appliances may have more condensation than usual, and the air might be musty. Check for all signs of a leak to keep your family safe.

Test the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors immediately. If your new home doesn’t have working detectors, purchase your own.

Meet the Neighbors

When moving to a new place, it’s a good idea to get acquainted with the locals.  You don’t have to throw a barbecue to get to know everyone, but consider going door-to-door or having a brief conversation with neighbors you see outside. 

Being friendly with your new neighbors can also connect you to information. They can tell you about local eateries, the best daycares, or where to go if you need home repairs.

Moving to a New House

Moving to a new house should be a thrilling adventure, not a stressful endeavor. Following this checklist will help you adjust and settle into your new home and neighborhood quickly!

If you still need help getting to your new house, contact us. We can make your move so smoothly!

Moving is a common event in the lives of modern adults. In fact, tens of millions of people make either a short or long-distance move every year. The fact that it happens all the time doesn’t make the process any easier.

Uprooting your entire life for even a short-distance move proves intensely stressful for anyone. You live with the constant worry that you’ll forget something important.

To help you reduce stress and make moving a little easier, we’ve put together this checklist for moving. Let’s dive in!

1. Decide What to Purge

It’s an understandable impulse to focus on figuring out how to pack everything for the move, but that’s not necessarily the best strategy. Not everything you own warrants inclusion on the truck.

Take an inventory of bulky items like furniture and appliances. If some of them are nearing the end of useful life, consider replacing when you arrive at your new home. After all, a five-year-old washing machine with two major repairs behind it probably isn’t worth the trouble of relocating.

2. Deal with Crucial Documents

Decide early on how you plan to deal with crucial documents. The last thing you need is birth certificates, passports, automobile titles, or deeds going missing or getting destroyed in transit. You can go a few different ways with documents, such as:

• Transport them with you in a secure document box
• Create digital backups
• Transport them ahead of time and store them in safety deposit box

Transporting them with you often offers people the most peace of mind, but secure digital backups are always a good idea.

3. Pack an Essentials Box

Even the most ideal move will leave you tired. So, when you finally arrive at your new home, the idea of unpacking a bunch of boxes won’t prove an appealing prospect. You can avoid the worst of the first day unpacking with an essentials box.

An essentials box contains things that everyone will need, such as toiletries, medications, charging cables, and a change of clothes for everyone.

4. Confirm Utilities at Your Destination

Before you leave for your new home, contact the utility providers in your new town or city and confirm they’ll turn on the utilities at your new address before you arrive.

While you can probably live without Internet access for a day or two, you’ll absolutely want electricity, water, and temperature control.

5. Consider Pro Movers

Consider hiring professional household movers. In addition to speeding up the moving process, professional movers often provide secondary services such as packing, crating, and storage. These secondary services can streamline the process and reduce the odds of property damage during the move.

Make Your Checklist and Get Moving

While moving is a common experience for adults, relocating your entire life rarely gets easier. Following our checklist for moving can help take the worst edges off the stress of the process.

Browning Moving & Storage specializes in local and long-distance moves for households and commercial enterprises. For more information or a preliminary quote, contact Browning Moving & Storage today.

Long distance moves generally cross state lines or are 400+ miles. Once a move crosses a state line, it falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government and is regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

When a move is designated as Long Distance, the carriers switch from charging by time to charging by weight and distance. This has implications for your decisions as a mover.

Reduce the Weight

Given that carriers price long distance moves by weight, it is evident that the less you move, the lower your cost will be. Household movers are commonly told to reduce the number of items they have to move. This advice is particularly true with long distance moves as it directly impacts your cost.

Things You Won’t Use

You can reduce by leaving behind things you simply will not use. But, also consider things that you may want to replace in the near future.

Rather than move larger items now only to replace them in a few months, sell them before the move. You’ll save money on the move and be able to replace the items at your destination.

Items that Won’t Fit

Determine if everything will fit in the new home.

Two homes of approximately the same size may be configured such that the same furniture cannot work easily in both. Create a small, to scale layout of the rooms in your new home, as well as to scale cut-outs of your current furniture. Does that couch still fit? How about that bookcase? Or try a room design app to see if your stuff will fit.

Again, it will be cheaper to reduce before the move than after you move, so be sure the items you want to keep will fit in the new place. You may be better off parting with them before the move.

Changes in the New Home

Once you’ve moved into a new home, it’s likely you’ll want to make changes. Some might be minor. Other changes, might be very disruptive.

When you move a long distance, you leave behind a network of friends and family that can help you manage the disruption. There is no one to look after the kids, give you a refuge from the chaos that comes with changes in your home, or just be there to lend a hand.

If you can, have some of the more significant alterations done before you move. Settling in will be much easier.

Refinishing floors or replacing carpet can, and should, be done before you move your furniture to the new home if at all possible.

Painting the walls is easier without furniture to move or cover. Making these changes before the move will make the changes and move easier.

Your real estate agent may be able to make recommendations or introductions to reliable, local resources for handy-man work or contractors.

Utility Connections

One challenge for moving a long distance is understanding the local utilities. From state to state there are different regulations. But even from municipality to municipality, resources can vary.

In some parts of the country, electricity provides power for heating as well as cooling, while others use natural gas to power furnaces. In the northeast, oil is often delivered for heating, while many rural areas use propane. Your heat source can change by the town.

Water can be private wells or municipality supplied. Similarly, sewer may be private septic or municipal. You may be familiar with one source, but need to learn about a different type of water/sewer utility in a new home.

As soon as you know where your new home will be, learn about the local utility providers. Your real estate agent should be able to provide you with the correct utilities as well as let you know about oil or propane providers if they are the fuel source for heating. Do not put off learning about and contacting the local utilities. The time to establish connections and deliver fuel will vary, and you want to be on the list as early as the services allow.

Ready to Relocate

There are some aspects of moving that are shared in local and long distance. But, long distance moving has some unique challenges. If you start early, these challenges don’t have to be overwhelming.

This is true with selecting a long distance moving company as well. Contact us if you’re in need of the top Florida long distance movers, and we will help you plan your move and provide a free estimate of your moving costs.

Moving is an exciting time! A new home awaits. But, before you move in you will need to take care of a few essential things. Here is a list of some key tasks you will want to take care of when you move into your new house.

Deep Clean

It’s possible the previous owners have left your new home in excellent condition, but just in case, if you have the opportunity, spend a day at your new place deep cleaning, literally from top to bottom. Scrub everything from ceiling and exhaust fans to baseboards and carpets, plus everything in between.

Give particular attention to disinfecting the kitchen as well as the bathrooms as those are the rooms where germs linger. Also, replace the toilet seats!

Or, if you just can’t squeeze in the time to do do the cleaning yourself, hire a professional cleaning service to take care of the dirty work for you.

Turn on Utilities

Take care of your utility changes well in advance.

If you are in an area where you need to maintain electricity or gas between the closing date and your moving in, you will need to make arrangements based on your closing date. Otherwise, plan to have the services turned on a day or two before your move-in date. Or, if you plan on doing that deep clean day, make sure your power and water are on for that.

When scheduling the disconnection from your previous home, plan to have the services discontinued a day or two after your scheduled move-out date so that you will have the utilities you need throughout your move.

Set-up Internet and Cable

In this age of technology we depend on these services, so you will want to have them available as soon as you move in.

Contact the internet and cable service companies for at least two to three weeks in advance to schedule service. Sometimes an installation appointment is necessary, so get on the schedule ahead of time to get these services up and running as quickly as possible.

Change the Locks

As soon as you move in, change the locks on all of your doors. Or, hire a locksmith to come and take care of it for you. Since you have no idea how many keys might be floating around out there it’s best to be on the safe side and have the locks replaced.

Change Address

Take care of changing your address as early as possible so that you don’t have to depend on the new tenants of your previous home to forward your mail.

Notify the post office of your new address through their online form.

Contact businesses and government bodies individually to assure your mail is forwarded to the correct address. Remember to:

• contact car insurance and registration provider to change your address
• update magazine and other subscriptions
• update the details for voter registration
• notify your bank

Personally update your friends and relatives with your new address through a text message or email.

Locate the Main Switches

Locate the circuit breaker box and primary water shut-off valve in your new home. It’s important to know how to shut off the electricity or water in case of an emergency. Also, make sure the circuit breaker panel is labeled correctly.

Let Us Help With Your Move

With so many details for you to take care of you might need some assistance with packing and moving. We can take those tasks off your plate for you so that you have plenty of time to do the rest and enjoy your new home. Give us a call today.

It is key to stay on top of your moving budget when relocating. Without care and attention, you might find your costs start spiraling out of control. To save you stress, and your dollars, we’ve come up with the best ways to avoid any monetary surprises.

Written Quote

Avoid unnecessary moving day cost surprises by getting a written quote. Work with a moving company that will send a moving specialist out to your home to estimate the approximate size and weight of your belongings and to speak with you about your moving day needs. At the end of the consultation, the moving specialist will give you a written estimate of your moving costs.

Be sure to ask about any additional charges that might arise that might affect your quote. If you don’t ask or note the details of your contract, you might not budget enough for the move.

Follow Packing Rules

Do you know precisely how your moving company wants your items packed? To avoid breakage of any of your special items make sure you follow their instructions. Arm yourself with the right packing material; packing paper, bubble wrap, solid boxes, and tape. Properly packed items will save you time and money in the long run.

Avoid Waiting Fees by Creating a Schedule

Start planning and scheduling your move six weeks in advance. One of the most significant unseen charges when relocating is the waiting time fee charged for overtime. It can add up quickly and soon your expected budget is shot. Waiting time often occurs when there is no access to the new property. If you aren’t there, ask a friend or family member to be based at the new property so that upon arrival the movers can gain instant access.

Utility Costs

Water, gas, and electricity are all necessities, but many hidden costs that can pop up. You may find that there is a cancellation or new account service fee with your provider. If you are moving a long distance, it might be true that you have to change service providers and this may see an increase in price. Research companies in your new town for better deals on utilities. The US News and World Report recommend keeping a file with your bills to ensure you are not overcharged. This will be particularly useful if you are in the situation of paying for both your old house and new house utilities for a short ‘cross-over’ period.

Update Address and Cancel Memberships

Make a list of all of your recurring expenses and make sure that they are covered, canceled or changed for the move. Even though you may have forwarded bills to your new address, the time it could take for the transfer – depending on where you move – could cause charges to incur. When possible, switch to online correspondence to receive your bills directly and avoid those expenses.

Also, make sure you cancel memberships at local gyms, swimming pools, clubs, and day care centers. You don’t want to continue paying for these services after you have moved.

Ask the Experts

The best way to avoid unexpected costs is to plan and make sure that you have contingencies in place. Speak to your moving company, remember that they are the experts in relocating and can help make sure that your big day goes without any surprises. We can help with your move. Reach out to us for a free quote!