Moving Your Elderly Parents Across Country
There are many things to consider when moving your parents across country and it can be quite overwhelming; first you will have to figure out how many items your parents need moved? You will then need to research a moving company that best fits your parents’ needs. Last but not least, you will need to figure out what moving supplies you will need.
Photo Credit | Deposit Photos | @ londondeposit
Make it easier on yourself by following the guidelines below:
As mentioned, the first step is to determine what mom and dad need to ship. Speak with your parents and figure out how much they want to move and how much they can move. If they are ‘right-sizing’ from a 4 bedroom home of 30+ years into a 2 bedroom apartment, then they will not be shipping as much as they thought.
Find out if the house they are moving to is already furnished or if they need to bring their furniture. Also, will they be bringing all of their knick-knacks, photos, and miscellaneous items they have collected, or will they remain in storage? This is important information to have for a moving company because the first question will be ‘what do you plan to ship?’
Once you know how many items need to be moved across country, you can start looking into senior moving companies.
Full service moving company – If your parents are moving all of their items (furniture included) into a two bedroom apartment and do not have anyone that can help, hiring a full service moving company is highly recommended.
Photo Credit | Deposit Photo | @andresr
Rent a truck or POD– There are many long distance moving company options as well. If you live close to mom and dad and are able to help pack and load the moving truck but do not have a truck, you could rent a moving truck or you could also look into renting a POD to keep as long as you would like and pack items gradually into the POD.
Hire laborers – And maybe you have a truck/trailer, can pack all the boxes and wrap the furniture but you are unable to lift and load the truck – hire laborers for the day, both at pick-up and delivery.
To help determine what type of moving company you will need is, call and research the companies online.
* Google the type of moving company you planning on using.
* Check review websites such as movers.com, moverreviews.com, and reviewamover.com.
* Ask the moving company for a reference and call previous customers to find out how their experience with the moving company was.
Lastly, gather moving supplies. The amount of moving supplies and the type of moving supplies vary. It depends on how much packing you or your parents plan to do. For example, if you are hiring laborers, ask them if they will bring packing supplies or if you need to have them available. If you are going to use a full service moving company, they should bring all packing and shipping items. It is always safe to confirm with the moving company prior to scheduling your move.
There are many steps to take in preparing to move your parents across country. To make it easier on you and your family, Moves for Seniors is here to help with all of your local and long distance moves. As a full service moving company, Moves for Seniors will provide your parents’ with a specialty move coordinator to help with the process of organizing and planning their move. Your parents will also be provided with a senior checklist and do all of the heavy lifting!
To schedule your move, give us a call at (800) 227-0515.