Gotcha Guide™: Don't Traumatize the Kids, Cat, or Yourself with Your Next Move

NOTE: This information is part of a forthcoming book, the Gotcha Guide™ to Buying and Investing in Real Estate.  
by DeeinAustin™

I don't have kids or a cat, but realized yesterday why we all hate to move. I live in Pflugerville and am moving to a new home in South Austin in April.

Moving is often traumatizing because it can be one of the most time-consuming hassles you'll come across in life. I'm not the type of person who can easily handle standing in long bank lines, waiting for others to go at a green light, or driving behind the slowest car on the freeway. There are lots of moving tips on the web, but I had to figure out the best ways to ease the pain.

Here is how the impatient, type-A person can ease the trauma of moving for your pets, family, and yourself:

• Use a move calendar. It's basically a checklist that moving companies, real estate agents, storage facilities provide that tells you what should be completed 6 months, 3 months, 1 month, and weeks before your move.
• Use color-coded tags and markers to keep track of where boxes belong.
• Need a place to store your stuff as you move it out of the house? Take a look at PODS, 800-Packrat, and U-Haul for storing items before the move. Larger brokerage firms get customer discounts for storage, so ask your agent for the reduced rate.
• Know where your stuff is. We're using a nifty device called Intelliscanner to scan in books, cds, and other items so we know which boxes they are in when we're all done.
• Bring in the big guns for state-to-state moves. The Move Advocate provides free move assistance.

Have your own moving tips or devices? Send them and I'll post here in a follow-up article!

-All Rights Reserved