Category: Blog

What do you need to master your next residential move? A solid plan in place. Here are 3 ways to stay ahead of the game.

When it comes to your residential move, you are likely always thinking about ways to simplify the process. After all, a move can be all you think about for weeks and even months. But just thinking about it isn’t really enough! The best way to stay ahead of the game and fight the feeling of overwhelm is to have a solid moving plan in place.

Our professional movers at Nilson Van and Storage are happy to share these tips with you for 3 ways to stay ahead of the residential moving game:

#1: Schedule for Professional Moving Services in Advance

Of course, some people want to attempt the moving process on their own, but if you are looking for a way to get through your move without losing your mind, your best bet is to hire an expert moving team. Be sure to call the service as much in advance as possible to ensure they have your moving dates available and can accommodate your needs and budget.

#2: Determine the Details of the Residential Move

You will need to figure out which vehicles to use for your move as well as what types of boxes and packing supplies will be necessary. The good news is if you hire the right moving company, they will help you to determine the appropriate truck size for your move as well as the best moving supplies and services to meet your unique needs and budget. Be sure to inquire about their qualifications, mover training, and years of experience before hiring them. This isn’t a job for amateurs!

#3: Create an Organized System for Packing

This is extremely important in protecting your sanity! A streamlined system for packing and labeling your boxes will make the entire process so much more effective. Once you arrive at your new home you will be happy you took the time to pack items correctly. The right moving company will have a perfected system you can use to make packing as hassle free as possible.

Feeling overwhelmed about your upcoming residential move? Let our team at Nilson Van and Storage help. Contact us today to learn more about our solutions and services designed to take the guesswork and stress out of the moving process.

If you need to buy boxes for a residential move, how can you tell how many you need?

Cardboard boxes are a staple of any residential move. But how can you tell how many you really need? They don’t come cheap, as you can expect to pay several dollars or more for each, depending on the size and features of the box. Therefore, you might want to buy as few as possible.

On the other hand, you can probably imagine the frustration if you are just a few boxes short of packing up all the contents left in your home. To avoid this frustrating scenario, you’ll want to carefully calculate how many boxes you need. Keep reading for four factors to consider when determining how many boxes your move requires.

Rough Guidelines

A very, very rough rule of thumb is that you’ll need about 30 boxes for every bedroom your home has. But this is subject to adjustment depending on several variables.

Variable #1: Type of Home

A detached home will generally need more boxes than an apartment or condominium, even if the number of bedrooms is the same. This is because detached homes often have larger rooms and may even have an additional building, such as a garage. This will add to the number of items that need packing.

Variable #2: Lifestyle

Are you someone who likes to collect things? Or maybe you consider yourself a pack rat? If so, you’ll need more boxes than someone who lives a minimalist lifestyle.

Variable #3: Number of People Living in Your Home

Just because your home has a lot of bedrooms or square footage, that doesn’t automatically mean you need more boxes. If you’re the only person living in a five bedroom, 5,000 square foot home, you will probably need fewer boxes than a family of four living in a 3,500 square foot home with four bedrooms.

Variable #4: Size of Boxes

The bigger the box, the more stuff you can put inside. So, if you have one box that has twice the volume as a smaller box, you’ll need two smaller boxes for every large box. But this ratio is subject to change, depending on what you put in the box. For instance, you cannot completely fill a large box – one that is roughly 20 inches on each side – with textbooks. If you did, it would be almost impossible for one person to move and you would likely tear the box during transport.

If you want extra guidance for figuring out how many cardboard boxes you’ll need for your residential move, think about giving our moving professionals at Nilson Van and Storage a call today.

Before you move internationally, be sure you take care of the necessary requirements.

If you’re moving internationally, then you will complete one of the most complicated types of moves. To make sure it goes as uneventfully as possible, you’ll want to comply with the following four basic requirements:

#1: Possess Current Passports

This sounds like a no-brainer, but in the mad rush and craziness to plan an international move, people tend to forget all about having a current passport. Not only should your passport be current, but you should be careful to ensure it won’t expire until well after you finish the move.

Some visa or immigration documents are only available to those with a passport that is not only current, but won’t expire for a set period, such as six months. Also, even if such government bureaucracy isn’t an issue for you, you’ll want enough time and flexibility to take an extra trip or two across the border or in case there is a delay in your moving date. Finally, getting a new passport in your adopted country should be much easier with a current passport from your previous home country.

#2: Have All Necessary Legal Documentation

When you move internationally, you’ll need to have all your basic legal documentation handy, such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, professional licenses, diplomas/degrees, wills and a power of attorney. Make extra copies of these important documents, too.

#3: Make New Financial Arrangements

You’ll want to set up a new bank account and, if necessary, new retirement accounts and insurance policies.

#4: Get Rid of Anything Not Allowed In Your New Country

Before the move, you’ll need to make sure you don’t bring anything you’re not allowed to possess or use in your new country. Some things will be obvious, like firearms, but others less so, like certain toys (some radio-controlled toys use radio frequencies that civilians may not use) or medications.

If you plan the international move carefully and well in advance, you should be fine. But to have that extra help with the move, consider using a moving company that deals with international moves, like Nilson Van and Storage. Get in touch with our team today to get the answers to your moving questions and to schedule the professional moving services you need.

A cross-country move is a major undertaking that requires planning.

Moving cross country can cost a lot of money and produce a great deal of stress. There are so many tasks you have to arrange to make sure things go smoothly. You can reduce some of the anxiety and work involved in a long distance move, but it usually results in a higher cost for the trip. Regardless of whether you try to save money and handle the move on your own or spend the extra money to hire a moving company to handle everything, here is some advice to make the trip go as well as possible.

Plan Early

The earlier you plan the move, the easier and cheaper it will be. There are several reasons for this. First, making reservations are almost always going to be cheaper when made far in advance compared to making a reservation at the last minute. If you’re flying yourself to your new home, plane tickets will be cheaper. If you book hotels rooms for a multi-day drive, the cost for the rooms will often be more affordable.

The cost of a moving truck rental or hiring a moving company may not be less expensive if booked early, but it certainly provides greater scheduling flexibility. This can indirectly result in lower costs; the flexibility allows you to shop around for the best deal for moving supplies or hiring moving professionals.

Second, knowing well in advance about a move allows you to make more efficient use of your resources. We can use an example to demonstrate. Let’s say you know where you’re moving. You don’t have a house or apartment set up yet, but you know what town or city will serve as your new home. During a drive to this new location to do a house or apartment search, you can pack extra items in your luggage that you’ll need to move when you finally switch homes.

For example, if you only need to pack three days’ worth of clothing and toiletries for the house hunting trip, go ahead and fill up the entire car with stuff you won’t need at your current home. Then, put all that stuff in a small, cheap storage unit. The rental cost of a month or two of a storage unit may be worth the cost savings of avoiding an extra car or moving truck trip later on.

Conclusion

The best way to ensure the best possible long distance move is to plan well and do so as early as possible. If you decide on using professional moving help for the cross-country move, contact Nilson Van and Storage at 1-800-845-2682 as soon as you learn of the move.

How many years will military moves take off your life? Save the stress by hiring trusted professionals

Military moves are one of the most trying aspects of life for relatives of those in the service. Packing up, moving on and making sure nothing gets lost in the process takes a Herculean effort. Want to minimize stress and hassle? Consider shopping the job out to a reliable company like Nilson Van.

Here are three reasons you should call the professionals before your next military move:

1. They have specialty packing materials

You don’t know the meaning of specialty until you see a Nilson Van team pack up a home. They use an impressive array of boxes, packaging and equipment to pack up your property.

2. They’re puzzle masters

Not only do they have tools to get your items safely packed. They also have the skills. In just a few hours, they’ll have your property safely secured in one big block of “stuff” wrapped in cellophane. This giant puzzle makes excellent use of moving van space, but it also helps protect your items. If they can’t shift much during travel, they’re not able to bump into one another and break.

3. Packers offer more protection

Value protection will provide for the repair or replacement of items lost or damaged during a move, but it is at-fault coverage. For instance, you’ll be responsible for damage if you handled packing and didn’t use enough padding. Having professionals ready your shipment saves time. Allowable moving expenses include professional packing services because they’re so helpful. Put these benefits to use!

Military moves get complicated fast, and frankly, you’ll have enough to worry about. Take advantage of the services offered by our moving experts at Nilson Van and spend your time on all the moving responsibilities no one else can manage.

How do you keep pets safe during international moves?

International moves are stressful on every member of the family, but they’re especially chaotic for furry friends. Pets just don’t understand what’s going on. It’s important someone does in order for everyone to be safe.

Here are three tips for moving pets across international lines:

1. Understand quarantine

It’s important to plan your flights carefully when moving a pet from one country to another. There are three classifications of countries when it comes to rabies quarantine: high-rabies, rabies-controlled and rabies-free countries. Your pet might wind up in quarantine, though a rabies titer testing might suffice. Other countries will require a lengthy hold, even if your pet is passing through on a layover, so plan your travel carefully!

2. Have the proper paperwork

Blood tests. Titer tests. Vet forms. Microchipping. Import/Export. Depending on where you are travel, and the countries you’re going through to get there, you will need more or less paperwork. Be sure you check with the airline well in advance of your trip. Also, consider special travel insurance policies. A basic travel insurance policy might not cover delays caused by pet transport mix-ups.

3. Err on the side of caution

The safest place for your pet to travel is beside you in the cabin. Unfortunately, this option only exists for small, extremely well-behaved animals and short flights. Many airlines do not offer any in-cabin travel for international flights. Pets can panic during flight as well, turning the experience into a nightmare for the animal, owner and fellow passengers. Cargo is an expensive option that several airlines have started phasing out for safety reasons. Finally, commercial shippers are now transporting more pets as airlines tighten the rules.

International moves don’t have to put your pets — or your pocketbook — at risk. Talk to one of our experts at Nilson Van before moving day. Connect with us online now or call 800-845-2682.