How To Plan A Cross Country Move

This is a multi-step process, which could seem overwhelming at first. But, if you give yourself enough time ahead of your move date, you will thank yourself once the moving process is over. The ideal amount of time for this is similar for any kind of move – 8 weeks. If you are lucky enough to have that much notice before your move, it should be a relatively stress-free process. 

Let’s face it. Any move that you are directly involved in will feel like a big move. After all, you will be uprooting your entire life for a time. No matter how short a distance you’re traveling to your new city, it is a highly stressful life event.

Looking for an easy option?  Check out our top-rated long-distance movers that can make your relocation care-free:

Clean House

This step involves a few distinct processes. First and foremost, you will need to go through your “throwaway” list items and dispose of them. If your home is big enough, this may require you to make multiple car trips down to your local dump. In extreme cases, you may need to rent a large dumpster to get rid of your excess things.

Next, you should set up a way to sell or give away the non-essential items on your second list. The best ways to do this are by hosting a garage sale or going to an online marketplace like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. This process could take a few weeks, depending on the number of things that you’re parting with. 

The final step here is to clean and organize your home. Once again, taking your time and doing this room by room is the best way to avoid stressing yourself out. Aside from showing you how much you need in the way of moving boxes, a less cluttered home will be less overwhelming to look at when thinking about your upcoming move. 

Evaluate Your Options for Your Long-Distance Move

When moving cross-country, your choices will often boil down to two factors: convenience and cost. Being able to effectively set your moving budget early will go a long way towards reducing your stress levels during moving estimates and through the entire process. 

Your cheapest option will almost always be to rent your own moving truck and take on your move by yourself. Depending on your own physical ability, the number of things you are taking with you, and your comfort driving a truck over long distances, this may or may not be a good idea. 

For small to medium-sized DIY moves, renting a moving container may be the perfect marriage of pricing and convenience. Renting from a company like PODS or U-Pack comes with its own set of benefits and drawbacks. If you know your home can fit in a single 16-to-20-foot container, then this may be your best bet. If you have to rent more than one container, it will effectively double your costs; at that point, hiring a full-service moving company would be a better option.

The third, most costly option when moving long-distance is to hire a full-service operator. You will pay the most money when getting yourself a team of professional movers, but their know-how and ability are usually well worth the cost. For this price, your movers assume liability for your possessions and will handle all aspects of your move until you arrive at your new address. 

Booking Your Move

If you’re still unsure of your course of action for the upcoming move, you can learn more by scheduling in-home moving estimates with as many moving companies as you can. Many carriers offer to do this by phone call or Zoom conference nowadays, but face-to-face estimates are still the most accurate by far. You should schedule these with plenty of time to spare before your intended move date. This ensures that, if you decide to book with a full-service mover, you will be able to do so on your intended date. 

The same goes for reserving a moving container or moving truck rental, especially when moving during the spring and summer months. You need to book your move early.

Vet Your Movers

All movers who transport household goods across state lines are required to be registered with the FMCSA. You can use a carrier’s U.S. DOT number to research their complaint history there. You can also research your mover’s profile on the Better Business Bureau, Yelp, Google, and anywhere else clients leave reviews.

When getting an estimate, it’s important to ask about insurance policies held by your mover. Any reputable moving company will carry workers’ compensation insurance. They will also include released liability coverage on your household goods in the cost of the move. 

Pack Up Your Home

You can either do this yourself, or hire packing help from your moving company. Similarly, most moving companies sell packing supplies like cardboard boxes, tape, and bubble wrap, but there are a number of cheaper ways to get your hands on those. If you would like to buy your packing materials new, U-Haul sells them at a cheaper price than many moving companies. They even offer to buy back unused boxes at cost. You can also find free boxes in local online forums and marketplaces. Even when broken down, used boxes can take up a lot of space. Most people are happy to be rid of them. 

If you pack your own home, you should begin at least a month out from your move date. Like the rest of this process, haste makes waste. Take your time, and do a little whenever you have an open block in your schedule. You should start with your non-essential items. Out-of-season clothing, older books, fragile items or keepsakes, rarely-used kitchen appliances, and anything else that you know you won’t use can be packed first. 

As you approach moving day, it will get easier to pick out items you won’t need. Your time in your old home will be nearing an end, so you will need less and less. In the last few days of packing, you should pack up all unneeded clothing. Remember to empty your dresser drawers; your movers will thank you. If this seems overwhelming, you should check out this guide to packing up your home. 

You will eventually be left with the few items and sets of clothing that you will load into your car or rental truck cab for your cross-country road trip. 

Choose a Cross-Country Moving Company

​If you choose to go with a full-service moving company, you should familiarize yourself with your own rights and responsibilities as a client before finalizing your decision. First and foremost, you should only book with a reputable carrier who has been able to give you a fixed estimate. Fixed estimates are binding, and can only change if you add extra goods or services to your move. 

Planning Your Own Cross-Country Drive

Assuming that you’ve used full-service movers, and will be driving your own personal vehicle a long distance to your new house, you will have to plan your trip carefully. Due to the FMCSA’s service time laws for truckers, you should not expect your household goods to travel at a rate faster than 400 to 450 miles per day. They may move faster if your route crosses an area with no major cities or obstructions, but this should not be expected. Many long-distance movers will offer 24/7 tracking or guaranteed delivery dates, but you should still plan and pack for the worst-case scenario. 

Using the expected miles-per-day figure above, plot out your drive, and decide where you will spend each night during your trip. You should pack a spare set or two of clothing, aside from the one per day you will need. It would also serve you to brush up on basic emergency car maintenance, in case you have to change a flat tire, or pull over for an unforeseen reason. On a similar note, keeping first aid and car emergency kits under your passenger seat for ease of access is an absolute must. Your odds of needing either are low, but you will be glad you thought to bring them along.

Finally, you should keep all important documents on or near your person at all times. This includes birth certificates, social security cards, bank documents, credit cards and, if needed, medical records. These should remain in your glove box, or in a small, dedicated lockbox, at all times during your trip.