Over the thanksgiving holiday, I was looking through photo albums with my family. A few of the photos were so old they were deteriorating. My husband and I were worried about these family treasures, so we decided to scan all of the old photos to keep our visual family records intact. This is one way to create amazing, and unique, family trees!
As I started the scanning process, I was labeling the photos with generic names like, “mom with me at the beach” or “mom holding me”. My husband came up with this Tip: label your photos as if a stranger would be looking at them. For example, use your loved ones’ full names, including your own. “Mary and her daughter Grace at the beach,” for example.
We also decided to scan the photos so that each and every family member would have the photos. That way there would be no disagreements about who would get the photos. Plus, it is nice to have them. We posted our photo collection on www.photobucket.com and www.facebook.com so that our families could access the photos for quick viewing. Another way to distribute photos to everyone is to burn them onto CDs. We save our photos on an external hard drive. However you decide to scan the photos and store them, just be sure to label the photos for future generations.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Estate Management
Losing someone you love is incredibly difficult; having to go through that person’s belongings can be one of the hardest things of all. Perhaps surprisingly, it can also be a wonderful experience – it all depends on how you approach the task at hand. I know a great lady that lost her mom – a woman who was a very flashy dresser – so she and her sister decided to sort her closet by trying on each item as a way of celebrating her life. They decided to keep a few items and the rest went to a charitable organization. While the experience was definitely bittersweet, it was much less painful then it could have been. Below is a list of organizing steps to help you through this process.
Determine what is being kept and what is going to family members. Then pick items designated for donation or to be put on Craig’s list. This is the hardest step, not only having to go through your loved ones’ items after they are gone, but also not knowing what to do with all of their treasured belongings; it really can bring all the grief home. Be sure that you have someone with you when you are going through this process.
Mark all items that are going to family. If possible, pack them up and send them to the family members with a quick personal note. For photos, I suggest the following: scan the individual photographs, and send them out to all family members. Give the originals to the eldest member of the surviving family. If there were photos given as gifts, ask the gift givers if they would like the photos back, if not they can be given to someone else in the family, or as a last resort, thrown away. Pack up what is being kept. Be sure to make an inventory of the boxes so that you can keep track of items; this way, when you are ready to unpack them you won’t have to go through the initial painful process. It will, instead, be like opening memories of that loved one – still sad, but hopefully less so. Have someone else take away the donations and other items. I have worked with many people who have lost loved ones, and taking those special items to a charitable organization was often terribly painful. Instead, have these boxes picked up or ask a friend to deliver them for you. If you aren’t ready to let go of the items right away, pack the items and mark the boxes carefully. Tread lightly here; you don’t want to end up with a household full of boxes that you are never able to get rid of and these boxes of cherished items can accumulate over time.
List items to donate or sell on Craigslist and people can come and pick them up directly. This is particularly helpful when there is furniture that needs to go. (If it isn’t expensive furniture, list it for free, it will go within the day.)
There are also situations that are too confusing, painful, or just plain overwhelming. If that is the case, having someone outside the circle of loved ones, like a professional, might bring a much needed sense of objectivity and relief.
Determine what is being kept and what is going to family members. Then pick items designated for donation or to be put on Craig’s list. This is the hardest step, not only having to go through your loved ones’ items after they are gone, but also not knowing what to do with all of their treasured belongings; it really can bring all the grief home. Be sure that you have someone with you when you are going through this process.
Mark all items that are going to family. If possible, pack them up and send them to the family members with a quick personal note. For photos, I suggest the following: scan the individual photographs, and send them out to all family members. Give the originals to the eldest member of the surviving family. If there were photos given as gifts, ask the gift givers if they would like the photos back, if not they can be given to someone else in the family, or as a last resort, thrown away. Pack up what is being kept. Be sure to make an inventory of the boxes so that you can keep track of items; this way, when you are ready to unpack them you won’t have to go through the initial painful process. It will, instead, be like opening memories of that loved one – still sad, but hopefully less so. Have someone else take away the donations and other items. I have worked with many people who have lost loved ones, and taking those special items to a charitable organization was often terribly painful. Instead, have these boxes picked up or ask a friend to deliver them for you. If you aren’t ready to let go of the items right away, pack the items and mark the boxes carefully. Tread lightly here; you don’t want to end up with a household full of boxes that you are never able to get rid of and these boxes of cherished items can accumulate over time.
List items to donate or sell on Craigslist and people can come and pick them up directly. This is particularly helpful when there is furniture that needs to go. (If it isn’t expensive furniture, list it for free, it will go within the day.)
There are also situations that are too confusing, painful, or just plain overwhelming. If that is the case, having someone outside the circle of loved ones, like a professional, might bring a much needed sense of objectivity and relief.
Maintaining Your Home While It’s For Sale
Summer is a popular time to sell houses. One of the hardest parts about selling a home is living in it while it’s being sold. Below are some simple and practical ways to maintain your newly staged home while it’s on the market.
Things to do each day to keep you on track:
IN THE MORNING:
Bedrooms:
• Make the beds
• Clear off any clutter on nightstands
• Make sure there are no dirty clothes on the floor
Bathroom:
• Keep counter tops clutter-free. This would be a perfect time to purchase those basket organizers you have been eyeballing!
• Make sure there are clean hand towels and hand soap available
• Make sure there is toilet paper
Kitchen:
• Make sure the counter tops are clutter free and clean
• If there is a cooking smell, air out your kitchen, or bake cookies!
Den/family room:
• Make sure there are no dirty dishes laying out
• Dust surfaces, if needed
IN THE EVENING:
Kitchen
• Clean up kitchen and leave nothing out
• Run the dishwasher and empty it
Den/family room:
• Fold up any blankets or throws that you used
If your budget allows, consider hiring a cleaning service as well as a yard service, to save you time and energy, and give your place the professional touch.
Things to do each day to keep you on track:
IN THE MORNING:
Bedrooms:
• Make the beds
• Clear off any clutter on nightstands
• Make sure there are no dirty clothes on the floor
Bathroom:
• Keep counter tops clutter-free. This would be a perfect time to purchase those basket organizers you have been eyeballing!
• Make sure there are clean hand towels and hand soap available
• Make sure there is toilet paper
Kitchen:
• Make sure the counter tops are clutter free and clean
• If there is a cooking smell, air out your kitchen, or bake cookies!
Den/family room:
• Make sure there are no dirty dishes laying out
• Dust surfaces, if needed
IN THE EVENING:
Kitchen
• Clean up kitchen and leave nothing out
• Run the dishwasher and empty it
Den/family room:
• Fold up any blankets or throws that you used
If your budget allows, consider hiring a cleaning service as well as a yard service, to save you time and energy, and give your place the professional touch.
eBay Instructions
Choosing What to Sell – The best advice I can give is: sell things that you are going to make more than $25.00. By the time you package it and drive to the post office, you have spent more time, energy, and gas on an inexpensive item. Think about it, what is more valuable your time or a $10.00 object sold on eBay? In other words, go for high bidding items. How do you know what is high bidding items? Research – read on for details. The exception is if you have a bunch of small things you can sell a lot of, such as a Hummel collection. In that case, tell bidders that you ship on Friday, and make one post office run to ship off everything you've sold at one time. Be sure to spell what you are selling correctly. If you spell the item for sale incorrectly the potential buyer won’t find it!
Excellent Description – Be specific when describing your item. What is the size? Is it hand painted? Can you tell a story of how you came to have it? Make it interesting and fun and you will have more viewers at you listing! Be sure to study similar listings that have the most bids on them to see how their items are described, it might give you ideas.
Clear Photos – Make sure your photos are clear and/or legible. Don’t post pictures that are too dark, or show your home in the background. Tip: use a drop cloth or the carpet as a background. If there are special marks indicating a collector’s item, be sure to take pictures of them.
Research – Research is the key to figuring out pricing, and if you have a treasure or not. Without researching, you may sell something for an inadequate amount, when it may have gone for more. A great way to figure out pricing is to do a “Title Only” search for items that are similar to what you are selling. To perform a “Title Only” search type in the title of what you are looking for, but do not specify a category. For example, you would type in “ceramic Dalmatian mug” leave the scroll bar at “all categories, and hit “search”. To finish researching the pricing, you would click on the “completed items” list and sort the results by price. Be sure to focus only on items that have bids. Here is an example: http://tinyurl.com/5gq69a
Pricing – Be sure to research the price of your object.
Use the search tool on eBay to see if someone is selling something similar and at what price. Has it been bid on? If not, the reasons can vary. It could be the price is too high, the description or photos are poor, or it’s just bad luck. eBay is tricky and often random – sometimes things sell and sometimes they don’t. If you go to the advanced search options, you can search items that have actually sold, not just ones that are currently for sale.
Gallery Pictures – Consider paying a little extra for the gallery photos, which displays your item for sale even before a buyer clicks on your listing. I would also have extra digital photos. You'll get your money back with more, and higher, bids.
Monitor Your Listing – If you listing has no bids you can adjust the listing. I suggest checking on your listing every day. One clue that you’re not getting any prospective buyers is if you have not received any emails asking questions about the item.
Setting Up Rules On The Listing – Be sure to specify where you will mail the item (this is an option you can click on when entering a listing. Unfortunately sometimes buyers don’t look at it anyway.) If you are selling a large and heavy object, such as furniture you probably only want to sell in the state of Washington as shipping would be astronomical, point this out in your listing. Reiterating the guidelines is ok, even recommended. Also be sure to have general prices for shipping for buyers available.
Set up guidelines:
• State that all sales are final. You will get newbie’s bidding on an item who will get buyers’ remorse. Unless they have a really good reason for backing out of the sale, tell them that you stated that all sales were final and stick to your guns.
• Put insurance on the items that you sell. Accidents do happen in shipping. This way you will be covered by insurance instead of having to pay the damages out of pocket. Before you do refund them, make sure they have proof that the item was
damaged.
• Be aware that every buyer you sell to will rate you. Keep this in mind when you ship things. I always take special care to ship things with extra bubble wrap to ensure it gets there in one piece. Don’t send the item until you receive payment – you can also specify this on your listing.
Buy It Now Feature – Instead of doing a regular auction, where you may not sell the item for what it is worth, I suggest using the “buy it now” feature. This is a great feature for selling an item faster, especially if you know exactly what it is worth. Start the price at more than half what it is worth to encourage bids.
Reserve feature – This feature allows you to put the
actual amount you want to sell the item for secretly. Until the reserve is met, it will not be sold. For example, if you reserve a tea cup for $50.00 and no one bids that high you have the right to withdraw the item that is for sale. Use this sparingly as it can scare potential buyers away.
Pay Pal – I suggest setting up an account with Pay Pal as it is the quickest, safest, and most accepted method of payment used on Ebay. Go to: www.paypal.com to do this. Be aware that they ask for your bank account information. There is a 3% fee when you use Pay Pal. Pay Pal will allow buyers to pay with credit card. You can also use Pay Pal to send money for things you purchased on eBay. It is also a great way to get the money right away from an item you have sold and keep track of your earnings.
Beware of false emails from supposed Pay Pal members or Pay Pal administration – if they ask you for ANY personal or financial information delete the email and report it to Pay Pal. This can also occur with false eBay emails asking for personal and financial information.
Methods of Payment- I would recommend accepting money orders, credit card payments through pay pal and cashier’s checks. You could also accept checks, but always wait for them to clear before sending out the sold item.
To learn more about the specifications of a sale and the rules of eBay go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/index.html
Excellent Description – Be specific when describing your item. What is the size? Is it hand painted? Can you tell a story of how you came to have it? Make it interesting and fun and you will have more viewers at you listing! Be sure to study similar listings that have the most bids on them to see how their items are described, it might give you ideas.
Clear Photos – Make sure your photos are clear and/or legible. Don’t post pictures that are too dark, or show your home in the background. Tip: use a drop cloth or the carpet as a background. If there are special marks indicating a collector’s item, be sure to take pictures of them.
Research – Research is the key to figuring out pricing, and if you have a treasure or not. Without researching, you may sell something for an inadequate amount, when it may have gone for more. A great way to figure out pricing is to do a “Title Only” search for items that are similar to what you are selling. To perform a “Title Only” search type in the title of what you are looking for, but do not specify a category. For example, you would type in “ceramic Dalmatian mug” leave the scroll bar at “all categories, and hit “search”. To finish researching the pricing, you would click on the “completed items” list and sort the results by price. Be sure to focus only on items that have bids. Here is an example: http://tinyurl.com/5gq69a
Pricing – Be sure to research the price of your object.
Use the search tool on eBay to see if someone is selling something similar and at what price. Has it been bid on? If not, the reasons can vary. It could be the price is too high, the description or photos are poor, or it’s just bad luck. eBay is tricky and often random – sometimes things sell and sometimes they don’t. If you go to the advanced search options, you can search items that have actually sold, not just ones that are currently for sale.
Gallery Pictures – Consider paying a little extra for the gallery photos, which displays your item for sale even before a buyer clicks on your listing. I would also have extra digital photos. You'll get your money back with more, and higher, bids.
Monitor Your Listing – If you listing has no bids you can adjust the listing. I suggest checking on your listing every day. One clue that you’re not getting any prospective buyers is if you have not received any emails asking questions about the item.
Setting Up Rules On The Listing – Be sure to specify where you will mail the item (this is an option you can click on when entering a listing. Unfortunately sometimes buyers don’t look at it anyway.) If you are selling a large and heavy object, such as furniture you probably only want to sell in the state of Washington as shipping would be astronomical, point this out in your listing. Reiterating the guidelines is ok, even recommended. Also be sure to have general prices for shipping for buyers available.
Set up guidelines:
• State that all sales are final. You will get newbie’s bidding on an item who will get buyers’ remorse. Unless they have a really good reason for backing out of the sale, tell them that you stated that all sales were final and stick to your guns.
• Put insurance on the items that you sell. Accidents do happen in shipping. This way you will be covered by insurance instead of having to pay the damages out of pocket. Before you do refund them, make sure they have proof that the item was
damaged.
• Be aware that every buyer you sell to will rate you. Keep this in mind when you ship things. I always take special care to ship things with extra bubble wrap to ensure it gets there in one piece. Don’t send the item until you receive payment – you can also specify this on your listing.
Buy It Now Feature – Instead of doing a regular auction, where you may not sell the item for what it is worth, I suggest using the “buy it now” feature. This is a great feature for selling an item faster, especially if you know exactly what it is worth. Start the price at more than half what it is worth to encourage bids.
Reserve feature – This feature allows you to put the
actual amount you want to sell the item for secretly. Until the reserve is met, it will not be sold. For example, if you reserve a tea cup for $50.00 and no one bids that high you have the right to withdraw the item that is for sale. Use this sparingly as it can scare potential buyers away.
Pay Pal – I suggest setting up an account with Pay Pal as it is the quickest, safest, and most accepted method of payment used on Ebay. Go to: www.paypal.com to do this. Be aware that they ask for your bank account information. There is a 3% fee when you use Pay Pal. Pay Pal will allow buyers to pay with credit card. You can also use Pay Pal to send money for things you purchased on eBay. It is also a great way to get the money right away from an item you have sold and keep track of your earnings.
Beware of false emails from supposed Pay Pal members or Pay Pal administration – if they ask you for ANY personal or financial information delete the email and report it to Pay Pal. This can also occur with false eBay emails asking for personal and financial information.
Methods of Payment- I would recommend accepting money orders, credit card payments through pay pal and cashier’s checks. You could also accept checks, but always wait for them to clear before sending out the sold item.
To learn more about the specifications of a sale and the rules of eBay go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/index.html
STAGING YOUR HOME FOR SELLING
When you are putting your house on the market, a key thing is Stage Your Home. An essential part of staging includes de-cluttering. You want to make your home look like a warm and inviting hotel. Start with this list below, and you will be on your way to staging your home in no time!
SORT
Be sure to have three things ready: a donation box, a garbage bag and a recycling bin. Go through your house systematically, room by room. Start putting likes with likes. For example, put clothes you are going to keep in one pile. If you have kids’ toys that are no longer used, put them in the donation box. Extra light bulbs that you’re not going to use in your new home can be recycled; see the following article for tips on how to recycle these and other items.
TOSS
Purge, Purge, and Purge! Now is the time to throw things away that can’t be recycled or donated! Liberate yourself from those bottles of shampoo that just have a smidgen left (I know you’ve got a few of these around in the shower!). If you have things lying around that haven’t been used in years, old stinky mops and multiple brooms: toss them. You’re not likely to use them in your new home and it’d be silly to move them. When you’re finished purging, take your garbage to the curb, so you don’t change your mind. Good Riddance!
Personal Photos – The key during a walk-through is to make potential buyers feel like they are living in their own home. Remember the idea is a hotel; there wouldn’t be pictures of other guests would there? To this end, take all your “making merry around the Christmas tree” and “bbq-ing in the backyard” photos and pack them up.
Closets – This is a perfect time to pack up seasonal clothing that you are not wearing and put it into plastic bins. Having a less cluttered closet will make it look bigger. And remember, people don’t want to see how you live, they want to imagine themselves living there; give them as tidy a palette as possible.
Collectibles – Go through your valued collectibles before you store them away. Maybe there are a handful you don’t like or need anymore. This may be an opportunity to give some items away, or sell them.
Counter tops – Be sure to keep counter tops clutter free. Everything should look streamlined and clean. This is the perfect time to figure out what you need on the counter tops and what you don’t. If some items are continuing to come back to haunt you, you probably need to rethink your set-up.
DONATE
Here are some general donation stations:
Goodwill donation center locator: http://www.seattlegoodwill.org/
Value Village donation center locator: http://tinyurl.com/38m37o
Shalom Bayit: http://www.ncjwseattle.org/DVproject.htm
Eyeglasses Stores: Many eye glass stores, and many drug stores, will gladly accept these donations for those who cannot afford glasses but desperately need them.
Doll museum – If you had a lot of dolls as a child and don’t want to just drop them off at the local donation station, this is a great place to take them. http://www.dollart.com/control.htm
SELLING
Think carefully about what you are attempting to sell. Is it really worth your time to sell the item?
Figure out how much the item may be worth before attempting to sell it. A good way to get an idea about how much you may get for an item is to visit www.eBay.com and look at the same item being sold by other people. I would suggest selling big ticket items, such as a 2 year-old refrigerator, or a really nice table saw. You may, however, want to re-think selling Barbie dolls that aren’t in their original box, as they don’t tend to bring in very much money. Think back to the SORTING phase, these Barbies may be a hot ticket donation item for some little girl who’s dying for a doll! If you don’t have a lot of time to mess around with the intricacies of online auctions, one option is to hire someone to sell on eBay for you like
http://www.i-soldit.com/index.asp; this company will sell your items for you, and send you a check or donate the proceeds from the sale to your favorite charity!
SORT
Be sure to have three things ready: a donation box, a garbage bag and a recycling bin. Go through your house systematically, room by room. Start putting likes with likes. For example, put clothes you are going to keep in one pile. If you have kids’ toys that are no longer used, put them in the donation box. Extra light bulbs that you’re not going to use in your new home can be recycled; see the following article for tips on how to recycle these and other items.
TOSS
Purge, Purge, and Purge! Now is the time to throw things away that can’t be recycled or donated! Liberate yourself from those bottles of shampoo that just have a smidgen left (I know you’ve got a few of these around in the shower!). If you have things lying around that haven’t been used in years, old stinky mops and multiple brooms: toss them. You’re not likely to use them in your new home and it’d be silly to move them. When you’re finished purging, take your garbage to the curb, so you don’t change your mind. Good Riddance!
Personal Photos – The key during a walk-through is to make potential buyers feel like they are living in their own home. Remember the idea is a hotel; there wouldn’t be pictures of other guests would there? To this end, take all your “making merry around the Christmas tree” and “bbq-ing in the backyard” photos and pack them up.
Closets – This is a perfect time to pack up seasonal clothing that you are not wearing and put it into plastic bins. Having a less cluttered closet will make it look bigger. And remember, people don’t want to see how you live, they want to imagine themselves living there; give them as tidy a palette as possible.
Collectibles – Go through your valued collectibles before you store them away. Maybe there are a handful you don’t like or need anymore. This may be an opportunity to give some items away, or sell them.
Counter tops – Be sure to keep counter tops clutter free. Everything should look streamlined and clean. This is the perfect time to figure out what you need on the counter tops and what you don’t. If some items are continuing to come back to haunt you, you probably need to rethink your set-up.
DONATE
Here are some general donation stations:
Goodwill donation center locator: http://www.seattlegoodwill.org/
Value Village donation center locator: http://tinyurl.com/38m37o
Shalom Bayit: http://www.ncjwseattle.org/DVproject.htm
Eyeglasses Stores: Many eye glass stores, and many drug stores, will gladly accept these donations for those who cannot afford glasses but desperately need them.
Doll museum – If you had a lot of dolls as a child and don’t want to just drop them off at the local donation station, this is a great place to take them. http://www.dollart.com/control.htm
SELLING
Think carefully about what you are attempting to sell. Is it really worth your time to sell the item?
Figure out how much the item may be worth before attempting to sell it. A good way to get an idea about how much you may get for an item is to visit www.eBay.com and look at the same item being sold by other people. I would suggest selling big ticket items, such as a 2 year-old refrigerator, or a really nice table saw. You may, however, want to re-think selling Barbie dolls that aren’t in their original box, as they don’t tend to bring in very much money. Think back to the SORTING phase, these Barbies may be a hot ticket donation item for some little girl who’s dying for a doll! If you don’t have a lot of time to mess around with the intricacies of online auctions, one option is to hire someone to sell on eBay for you like
http://www.i-soldit.com/index.asp; this company will sell your items for you, and send you a check or donate the proceeds from the sale to your favorite charity!
Moving the Right Way
Recently, I have been packing, moving and unpacking a lot of my clients at their new homes. Sometimes, I am only called upon to pack a few of their belongings. When this occurs, I often find that things are packed in a disorganized fashion, and not only does it take longer to unpack, but sometimes the boxes are miss-marked. Luckily, we unpack them immediately so this is not a problem. However, it seems lots of people never get around to unpacking all of their boxes and end up storing them in storage facilities or their garages. Years later they contact me and we have the daunting task of going through the miss-labeled boxes and find out that things that were supposed to be in certain boxes are in fact not there. This can be very frustrating for everyone for the following reasons: It takes longer to go through things, it takes longer to decide what to keep and toss, and it takes longer to organize belongings.
You get the picture! What can you do to avoid this?
1) Have the person packing properly mark boxes as you go – You should try creating a packing list.
There are several way you can do this:
• Use the software program Paper Tiger: http://thepapertiger.com/ – this is great software
–it allows you to use a numerical organizing system. You can number your boxes and create an inventory of what is in each box to reference upon arriving in your new home.
For example, box 1 might have random objects that you packed at the last minute, like sticky notes, extra pens, appliance manuals, and toilet paper. You can list this all in the program under “box number one.”
• Number the boxes and create an inventory using an excel spreadsheet
• Create a hand written packing list and tape it to the outside of each box– be sure to have someone remind you to do this, it’s easy to forget in the hustle and bustle of moving!
2) Take the time to go through everything before you move, that way you won’t pack things you don’t need. This way you will have less to pack, and will be more likely to unpack it all when you get to your new destination.
3) Pack things in an organized fashion – pack items room by room, likes with likes. For example, start with your office. Put all of the computer software together, and the tech books in another box. That way when you go to unpack, it will be easier to organize the office.
If you take all of these steps, I guarantee unpacking will be less of a nightmare and you won’t be wondering what’s in the boxes you didn’t have time to unpack!
You get the picture! What can you do to avoid this?
1) Have the person packing properly mark boxes as you go – You should try creating a packing list.
There are several way you can do this:
• Use the software program Paper Tiger: http://thepapertiger.com/ – this is great software
–it allows you to use a numerical organizing system. You can number your boxes and create an inventory of what is in each box to reference upon arriving in your new home.
For example, box 1 might have random objects that you packed at the last minute, like sticky notes, extra pens, appliance manuals, and toilet paper. You can list this all in the program under “box number one.”
• Number the boxes and create an inventory using an excel spreadsheet
• Create a hand written packing list and tape it to the outside of each box– be sure to have someone remind you to do this, it’s easy to forget in the hustle and bustle of moving!
2) Take the time to go through everything before you move, that way you won’t pack things you don’t need. This way you will have less to pack, and will be more likely to unpack it all when you get to your new destination.
3) Pack things in an organized fashion – pack items room by room, likes with likes. For example, start with your office. Put all of the computer software together, and the tech books in another box. That way when you go to unpack, it will be easier to organize the office.
If you take all of these steps, I guarantee unpacking will be less of a nightmare and you won’t be wondering what’s in the boxes you didn’t have time to unpack!
Moving Checklist
Summer is here and it is a popular time for people to sell their homes and buy new ones, which of course means that they will be moving. To many this is a much dreaded task. There is so much to do it can be overwhelming. Below is a checklist of final things to do before you move.
1. Turn off or change your phone number – Be sure to have the outgoing message let everyone know what your new number is (not just that your number has been disconnected)
2. Change your address - Send out change of address post cards and be sure change your address at your post office. To make the change of address run smoothly, contact your monthly billing places, such as credit cards, cell phone, banks, financial plans, subscriptions and any other company that sends you regular mail at least one month in advance of your move date.
3. Turn off utilities - Phone, gas, electricity, garbage, water, cable, internet, any food service provider (like a milk delivery or organic produce delivery service). Be sure to get a written letter from each company confirming that they have turned off your service. Give them the approximate time that you are moving (as well as your new address) so that they know where to mail your final bill.\
4. Check that your Home Owner’s Insurance covers moving damage –This is essential, so that if something is broken while you are being moved, it will be covered (after the cost of your deductible). While you are at it, contact all insurance companies that you have policies with and let them know of your change of address.
5. Defrost the freezer and clean it out (including the refrigerator) – While this task is easy, cleaning out the entire house is not when you are in the midst of a move. Instead, hire a cleaning service to do a deep cleaning of the house you are moving out of and the house you are moving into.
6. Disconnect any appliances you are taking with you.
7. Have the mover’s phone number handy and make sure they have yours – Be sure that they have a map of the area you are moving to, as well as a second phone number where they can reach you.
8. Arrange for a babysitter for your kids the day of the move – This will make everyone’s day easier!
9. Take photographs of everything you are moving – This is a great way to document your belongings for insurance in case any damage occurs during the move. I would also create an inventory along with the photographs.
10. Label the boxes – Put your name and address, along with the room that the box is going into on the box, so that there are no mix-ups. Sometimes the movers have more than one household in a single truck, so this can avoid any mishaps.
11. Have a “moving manager” on call - Make sure that someone is observing the move, so that all goes smoothly: think of them like a wedding planner. They are there to make sure that everything runs according to plan, that the movers are being careful with your belongings, and to answer any questions the movers may have.
If possible, don’t leave all of your moving tasks to the last minute. If you use this list as a guide for your next move you will find the act of moving a lot less disconcerting.
1. Turn off or change your phone number – Be sure to have the outgoing message let everyone know what your new number is (not just that your number has been disconnected)
2. Change your address - Send out change of address post cards and be sure change your address at your post office. To make the change of address run smoothly, contact your monthly billing places, such as credit cards, cell phone, banks, financial plans, subscriptions and any other company that sends you regular mail at least one month in advance of your move date.
3. Turn off utilities - Phone, gas, electricity, garbage, water, cable, internet, any food service provider (like a milk delivery or organic produce delivery service). Be sure to get a written letter from each company confirming that they have turned off your service. Give them the approximate time that you are moving (as well as your new address) so that they know where to mail your final bill.\
4. Check that your Home Owner’s Insurance covers moving damage –This is essential, so that if something is broken while you are being moved, it will be covered (after the cost of your deductible). While you are at it, contact all insurance companies that you have policies with and let them know of your change of address.
5. Defrost the freezer and clean it out (including the refrigerator) – While this task is easy, cleaning out the entire house is not when you are in the midst of a move. Instead, hire a cleaning service to do a deep cleaning of the house you are moving out of and the house you are moving into.
6. Disconnect any appliances you are taking with you.
7. Have the mover’s phone number handy and make sure they have yours – Be sure that they have a map of the area you are moving to, as well as a second phone number where they can reach you.
8. Arrange for a babysitter for your kids the day of the move – This will make everyone’s day easier!
9. Take photographs of everything you are moving – This is a great way to document your belongings for insurance in case any damage occurs during the move. I would also create an inventory along with the photographs.
10. Label the boxes – Put your name and address, along with the room that the box is going into on the box, so that there are no mix-ups. Sometimes the movers have more than one household in a single truck, so this can avoid any mishaps.
11. Have a “moving manager” on call - Make sure that someone is observing the move, so that all goes smoothly: think of them like a wedding planner. They are there to make sure that everything runs according to plan, that the movers are being careful with your belongings, and to answer any questions the movers may have.
If possible, don’t leave all of your moving tasks to the last minute. If you use this list as a guide for your next move you will find the act of moving a lot less disconcerting.
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