8 tips for a seamless moving experience

This year, more people are moving than ever before. Whether you’re looking for a new location away from the crowds or need more living space to accommodate at-home offices, moving can get hectic. It’s no wonder we often forget to consider some important factors and issues. Below, we’ve provided a quick list, so you don’t have to try and remember everything.

If you hire a professional moving company to help with your move, make sure you check to see what they won’t move for you. Those items may include things like aerosol cans, paints, pesticides, fertilizer, cleaning products, propane tanks, and fire extinguishers.

If you’re using a moving company, consider talking to them beforehand about limiting the number of people you’ll be exposed to. Make sure they take safety precautions such as taking the movers’ temperatures each day and wearing a mask.

If you have fine art, sculpture, wine, or other valuable and fragile items, we suggest using a transportation company that specializes in moving those items. As a Chubb client, contact our Risk Solutions Concierge, and a team member can help you find the right movers for your situation, as well as share best practices for packaging and transporting your valuables during a move, and much more. 

You may keep important papers or valuable items such as jewelry in a safety deposit box near your home. Don’t forget to retrieve those items and carefully consider how you’ll transport them safely to their new destination. Like other valuables in your home, fine jewelry deserves special treatment when moving from home to home or bank to bank.

Before you put anything into a box or allow your moving company to start packing, make sure you have a complete inventory of your possessions, especially those that are valuable. If you then label all of your boxes and packages with specific contents, you’ll know exactly what you have and where it is at all times. That way, if you are missing something after the move, you’ll either be able to locate it easily or you’ll have the documentation you need to make a claim.

If you’re taking your furniture to your new home, you may want to measure the furniture and your new space first, just to make sure the furniture will fit through the doors and will work well in your new space. After all, you wouldn’t want to haul your favorite sectional across the country, state, or even across the street just to find out it is too large for your new living room.

If your plants are making a move across state lines, contact your moving company or the states you’ll be crossing for specific rules and regulations. Not all states welcome all types of plants, as some are considered invasive and therefore not wanted.

If you’re just moving an hour or two away, your pets should be fine going from place to place. However, if you’re moving hundreds of miles, you may want to talk to your veterinarian for ideas on how to make your furry friends comfortable before, during, and after the move. After all, most pets are used to a particular location and routine and may not take well to flying in a plane or driving across country for days.