Moving During the Winter? Keep These Tips in Mind

Are you planning on moving during the winter? There are seasonal challenges specific to the winter season that you need to be aware of and plan for in order to prevent a disaster. If you’re moving during the winter, keep these tips in mind. They’ll make the move more comfortable, safer and less of a hassle for everyone.

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Confirm Details with Movers

Summer tends to be the busy season for movers, while winter is their slow season. However, you want to follow up with them to make sure your driver didn’t take a vacation when you’re planning on them showing up. Likewise, you want to confirm pricing since you may have received a season discount that wasn’t properly applied or were given last year’s price quote when prices went up on the first of January. And you don’t want someone to accidentally send a truck too small for the job because they misunderstood the job.

Check the Utilities

You must, absolutely must, check all appliances when moving in winter. It isn’t safe to move into a house only to discover the power or gas won’t be turned on for another day or two. That’s aside from the risk of the pipes bursting when they freeze. If possible, turn on the utilities – especially the heat – two days before you move in.

Turn Up the Thermostat

When you’re moving into a new home, you want to turn up the thermostat to keep the home comfortable though the doors may be wide open. This is critical to do as soon as possible when you weren’t able to turn on the heat in advance.

You’ll especially want to heat your bathroom so that it is comfortable when people decide to take a hot shower after a long day of moving boxes through snow covered yards and loading it in a freezing garage. A space heater can make that area tolerable even while the rest of the house is freezing.

Know When There Won’t Be Snow

It’s winter. It may snow when you’re planning on moving. It may have snowed last week and remained piled up. The only thing you know is that four feet of snow on the ground makes it hard to move furniture into the house or even pull into the driveway. One solution is to know the snow removal plans for the area you’re moving into. Then you can arrive with your truck on newly plowed streets, knowing whether or not the street and sidewalks are clear. If you need to arrive when there won’t be snow removal for sidewalks and driveways, you’ll know to hire someone in advance of your arrival to do it for you. And know the snow removal schedule so you don’t get dented – literally or financially – when leaving your car or moving van in the street on the wrong day.

If you want the process to go as smoothly as possible, make sure you follow the tips in this article. Moving in the winter can seem like a challenge, but can be done when you have a solid plan in place.