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Moving to a new home or office is always a physically and mentally stressful process. A lot of people even get sick because the task can get too overwhelming to take on.
Aside from the logistics, another challenging aspect of moving is the cost. The expenses associated with moving can quickly balloon without the right budget and a good plan on how to allocate your resources properly.
However, with a bit of help, the difficulty of the entire process can be reduced. Thanks to our years of experience with removals and storage, we’ve come up with a guide designed to help you calculate and manage your moving expenses wisely. We call them “The 10 Rules of a Smart Moving Budget,” and you can read all about them below.
1. Identify the items you want to take with you.
Doing this is one way of estimating just how much you are likely to spend on the move. Naturally, you can expect that the more items you want to bring with you, the higher the overall cost.
When you work with your trusted local removalists, they can help you find solutions to manage the items you won’t be able to take with you, such as putting them in a cost-effective self-storage facility.
2. Study your financial capability.
If you have a lot of financial responsibilities to take care of, you want to make sure that the move will not compromise your ability to cover your existing financial commitments.
Likewise, it is beneficial to understand just how much money you have, to see what you can do with or without.
3. Use a budget template.
To ensure your convenience in setting up a workable budget for your move, create a budget template or spreadsheet. You can look for a sample online that you can download. And tweak it according to your specific needs.
Having a budget template will help you itemise all the items and tasks related to the move that will cost you money, such aspackaging materials and removal services.
4. Know what you need.
Arm yourself with information on the different services required to make the entire process of relocation easier. Working with a local removalist offering a wide suite of services can be a cost-effective solution instead of getting these services from various providers.
These add-on services may include self-storage, home cleaning, car transport and even pet transport to streamline and expedite the process.
5. Take into consideration tiny factors that impact costs.
It always helps to get into the nitty-gritty of things, such as extra charges for certain services due to your specific requirements, the move distance, and season. This way, once you make your final calculations, you will not be surprised by how much higher the total cost ends up being.
Also, when you see service contracts online, read everything. A lot of additional charges are in the fine print section.
6. Make a comparison of service rates.
Get a quote from the different services you require and compare them with each other. In doing so, you will be able to tell if you need to further broaden your options, so moving will not be too heavy a financial burden for you.
7. Take the time to identify aspects of the move you can do yourself.
This is a must if you feel like you can only allocate a small budget for the move. When you identify certain tasks or moving requirements that you can do yourself, you can better control the overall cost.
Do you really need extra hands for packing your things, or can you manage the task if only you start packing a week earlier than planned? A reality check should serve you well and help streamline expenses significantly.
8. Keep an eye out for deals and concessions.
Moving companies sometimes offer special promos that can further take the cost of relocation down. There are also concessions for special groups of people. The elderly, people with disability (PWD) and, at times, even veterans are entitled to concessions.
If you have such people in your family, you can tap into their concessions to manage your moving budget more effectively.
9. Identify ways to generate additional funding for the move.
This is a smart move if there are additional or special services you require for the relocation. For a lot of people, holding a garage sale first or auctioning off the items they will not be bringing with them is the perfect solution. It is more work but if money is tight, this strategy can certainly help.
10. Ask for expert advice.
A good removal company has many years of experience in solving customer problems. Most of the time, removalists are will be able to provide you with some cost-cutting solutions or a removal plan that is perfect for your needs. You need only ask.
So, these are the 10 most important rules designed to help you create a smart moving budget. They do require a bit of work but get around to them in a systematic manner and you not only reduce the cost of the move, you can also streamline the whole moving process.
Got a challenging moving question? Ask us – our expert removalists will be more than happy to provide you with the answers, solutions and services to make your move more cost-smart.
Get a free quote online now, speak to a moving expert on 02 4607 2450, or drop in for a chat.
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