Moving your home or office comes with some level of stress at any time of year. But frigid temperatures and the possibility of snow makes more than a few people anxious.
When fear drives our decision-making process, we typically miss opportunities. These may include buying a home during the winter months at a reduced price or taking advantage of prime office space that has become vacant. By adopting strategies that help overcome the fear of moving during winter, you will be positioned to make informed decisions.
1. Pack Unessential Items Well in Advance
Taking the first step in any journey tends to be the most difficult. In terms of moving, packing tends to be the first major activity. If you are considering buying a new home or relocating your office, take advantage of the time you have right now. There’s no pressure to put everything in boxes and no reason to start packing up non-essential items. By having a portion of your belongings ready to go, you’ve taken the first step.
2. Consider Hiring Experienced Packing Professionals
One of the primary fears people experience is that their valuables will get damaged due to slip and falls on icy surfaces. You can just see that box of formal dishware hitting the pavement. This is not an unreasonable fear given the fact we’ve all landed on our backside at least once.
Perhaps the best way to alleviate this fear is to work with a professional moving company that offers packing services. People who carefully wrap fragile items daily do this with the idea of protecting them from hard impacts. Pro movers can add additional bubble wrap and employ other strategies to deliver the best possible moving protections.
3: Work with Professional Movers to Account for Holidays
One of the major issues that typically hold people back from winter moves is the holiday schedule. No one wants to have everything in boxes when family gatherings are imminent. Rather than kick the relocation plan into spring, consider working with professional movers.
Moving companies work seamlessly with people every day who have concerns about wide-reaching issues. They routinely help families and businesses navigate around holidays, birthdays, weddings, and leases that are timing out.
4: Plan for Winter Storm Delays
The trickiest part of moving at any time of year is the impact severe weather can have on your schedule. Some people think that spring and summer are safe bets in terms of weather. That’s not necessarily the case. Torrential downpours, high winds, and hailstorms can crop up at any time. The point is that no one can anticipate foul weather weeks in advance.
Consider discussing this issue with an experienced moving company that can provide an alternative date if a snowstorm does descend. Expert movers usually understand the time it takes to clear streets and can work out fallback schedules. The delay might be hours or a day or two, depending on ice and snow accumulation. But having a moving date and snow date in hand can certainly minimize any fear of long-term delays.
5: Moving Day Strategies Worth Considering
Winter presents unique logistical challenges that professionals negotiate all the time. But if you’re handling a move on your own, you would be wise to consider investing in items such as floor protection and snowmelt products, among others. Consider putting down plastic or other protections over carpet and flooring to avoid tracking mud.
Whether a DIY move or using a professional moving company, make sure that walkways are shoveled and doused with a suitable product to prevent a slip and fall.
Take a moment and review areas that require secure footing and take precautions. Knowing you have these and other winter protections in place will likely make you feel more confident about a winter move.
Winter Moving Reinforcements
Let professionals help you with your move. Contact us for a free quote. We can help make your winter move stress-free.