Moving Technology, Moving Tips
Let’s face it, completing a move is overwhelming and stressful to say the least. Thankfully, if you tap into the technology that is available to you in today’s tech-savvy industry, your move can be much less stressful, even fun. Read on to learn more about using tech to make your move easier:
Using Technology to Make Your Move Easier
- Schedule Smart: Scheduling is vital to substantiating a successful move. There are many apps available that help you organize necessary tasks. Apps like Wunderlist and Sortly are two examples. They allow you to set deadlines, reminders and create to-do lists. Using an app like these will enable you to focus on other things…not worry about remembering every single task.
- Organize and Downsize: One way to reduce your stress during a move is to cut down on the amount of gear, furnishings, decor, furniture, etc. that you have to move. You can go about this a couple of ways. One is to sell items. If furnishings are in good enough condition, this can be a great way to make some extra money and reduce the amount of stuff you have to move, simultaneously. Some apps that can help with this include LetGo and ThredUp. If you would rather avoid spending time pricing items or listing them and don’t mind not making any money off your items, you can always donate unwanted items instead. You can write off your donation on your taxes, which can be financially beneficial. Not to mention the feeling of satisfaction you get from knowing you helped someone with your donated items.
- Maintenance and Repairs: Another important task on your to-do list before moving is to make sure all necessary repairs are done, and complete various maintenance issues around your current home before you leave. Finding time to complete these repairs yourself can be impossible or you might not have the materials or knowledge needed to do the job. If this sounds like your situation, hiring a professional is wise. Finding the best one isn’t always easy, though. There are a few apps you can use to make this process a little simpler, such as TaskRabbit or Thumbtack. These apps allow you to contact professionals, share images and videos with them, schedule appointments, get instant quotes and then initiate the repair process.
- Don’t Forget Your Fuel: When all your pots and pans are packed up or in the process of being packed up or you haven’t had the time to run to the store, because of your move, cooking dinner can be a challenge. Thankfully, you can ensure you have the fuel you and your family need to get through the finish line of your move by utilizing a few helpful apps. These apps include GrubHub and Postmates. These apps allow you to order any type of food you desire, from restaurants to fast food and everything in between, all brought to your door at your convenience. No longer are you relegated to ordering pizza alone. Now every type of food is on the table…literally!
Orchestrating a move is no easy task. In fact, it’s often downright stressful. Thankfully, by using the technology apps listed above, you can make the process much easier by taking some of the load off your mind and schedule during the move. Try them and similar apps to successfully use tech to make your move easier.
Home Ownership, Living Tips, Moving Tips
Owning your own home is a big part of realizing the American dream. However, trying to buy a home before you are ready can turn this dream into a nightmare. Thankfully, there a few indications you can look for that reveal you are in a healthy place and are ready to embrace home ownership. Read on to learn more:
You Have a Decent Savings
In order to ensure the purchase of a home doesn’t put you into a bad financial situation, you should have at least 20% of the home’s purchase price saved for the down payment. Yes, you can qualify to purchase a home with much less as a down payment. In fact, FHA mortgage loans will approve you with as little as 3.5% down. However, paying 20% down means you don’t have to carry private mortgage insurance and your monthly payments are lower. You also will protect yourself from a market adjustment that lowers your home’s value significantly.
You Understand Home Ownership Involves More Than a Purchase Price
Another factor you need to consider when contemplating home ownership is the overall cost of home ownership. Your mortgage or purchase price is just one factor. You also need to account for homeowner’s insurance, moving costs to move your belongs from your current location to your new home, closing costs, property taxes, maintenance and repair costs and much more. Let’s face it, owning a home is a big responsibility. This tool by Zillow is a helpful way to determine if you are ready to take on not only a mortgage payment, but also are able to keep up with all other costs associated with home ownership.
You Can Come up With Down Payment Without Spending Savings
While paying that 20% down payment is important as mentioned above, you shouldn’t deplete all your resources to come up with this money. You also shouldn’t tap into retirement or other long-term savings accounts to get the money. You will need your savings more than ever once you are a homeowner. All the expenses mentioned above reveal this to be fact. You don’t want to deplete every resource you have trying to achieve your American dream. Instead, work towards saving the 20% down in addition to your existing or regular savings.
You Have a Long-Term Plan That Makes Home Ownership Wise
Another way to determine if you are ready for homeownership is to consider your long-term plan. If you plan on being in the same location for more than a few years, home ownership can make sense. However, if you know you will need to move for a job or other factor in a manner of one or two years, the closing costs and other expenses involved in the purchase of a home can mean staying put is the best idea. Home ownership shouldn’t be approached as a temporary living situation, but part of a long-term life plan.
Homeownership is a dream many Americans work to achieve. If you want to make this dream a reality for your family, consider the points listed above. Are you in the right place to buy a home? Sure, some things simply cannot be foreseen. However, when possible, create a long-term plan and approach homeownership in the right way to ensure you are in a positive situation when move in day arrives.
Sources:
https://www.hud.gov/buying/loans
https://www.zillow.com/mortgage-calculator/house-affordability/
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/23/how-to-know-if-its-time-to-buy-a-home.html
Healthy Moving Tips, Moving Tips
February is known as National Heart Health Month, and is therefore, the perfect time to contemplate overall heart health. Unfortunately, if you are like many Americans, thinking about your finances causes stress, which eventually negatively affects your heart health. Therefore, to promote greater heart health, it’s important to have healthy finances as well.
More on The Correlation Between Financial Stress and Heart Attack Risk
According to research published by Cardiovascular Business on heart attack patients by the South African Heart Association, if you are under significant financial stress, you are 13 times more likely to have a heart attack than someone without the same level of financial stress. Significant financial distress was defined in the study as stress caused by no income or inability to meet basic needs. Subjects who had an income but still worried about their financial situation were considered to have moderate stress. Those considered at low risk for heart attack were often experiencing no financial stress at the time of the study. This indicates a direct correlation between the subjects’ financial standing and their overall heart health. In addition, within this same study, 96% of all heart attack patients reported some level of stress was present when they had their heart attack.
Financial Issues Result in Physical Conditions
Heart health is affected by many physical conditions, such as having high blood sugar, high blood pressure, obesity and more. These factors, of course, increase a person’s risk of having a heart attack. It seems financial stress, in particular, even more than other types of stresses can lead to heart issues. There are different types of stress hormones that the body releases when it feels it is in danger. The type that is released when in physical danger is different than what is released during a financial crisis. Many experts believe this is because this type of stress is chronic in nature and therefore has a long-term negative impact on the overall health of the body.
How to Stop Stressing Over Money
Thankfully, money issues are something you can put your finger on. They are tangible and fixable. This means there are actionable ways for you to regain control of your health by reducing your chronic stress levels pertaining to finances. Here are a few tips for taking back control of your money and subsequently reducing your stress levels and promoting heart health:
- Get Involved: Finances aren’t managed well passively. Get involved. Open bank statements, bills, etc. It might not be fun, but knowing your enemy is half the battle.
- Make a List: Instead of keeping your financial worries in your head, causing stress to build, write it down. Make lists of what is bothering you most about your finances.
- Make a Plan: Create a solution to your problem and a plan of action for getting there, or…
- Get Help: Ask a trusted friend or a financial planner to help you get your finances in order or utilize resources from blogs like this to make a good plan of action.
- Keep at It: Even when this plan gets hard, stick with it. Remember how much stress was caused by not having a plan and stick with it.
Take control over your finances to reduce stress and promote increased heart health.
Sources:
https://www.cardiovascularbusiness.com/topics/acute-coronary-syndrome/financial-stress-risk-factor-heart-attacks
https://www.nbcnews.com/better/business/how-stop-stressing-over-money-so-it-doesn-t-hurt-ncna874791
Moving Tips
The purchase of your home is likely the largest singular investment you will ever make. As such, it demands protection. This means purchasing a homeowners insurance policy to protect your home from a wide range of events and happenings. Before purchasing a policy, consider what homeowners insurance does and doesn’t cover:
What IS Covered
Homeowners usually does protect against the following events and situations, depending on specific plans and coverage amounts:
- Structural Coverage: Homeowners policies typically won’t protect against general wear and tear of your home. However, it will cover structural damage caused by a natural disaster like tornado, hail or fire. This coverage often applies to all attached structures, like decks and garages.
- Non-Attached Structural Coverage: If the damage incurred is a result of a natural disaster, homeowners insurance will usually cover repairs or replacement costs for non-attached structures on your property. This can include sheds, detached garages or fences.
- Personal Property: Most standard homeowners policies include some measure of reimbursement for personal property. It will often reimburse you for any belongings damaged in a disaster. It won’t replace it in its full value, usually just 50% to 70% of the overall value of your belongings. There are often exceptions to what personal property is covered in homeowners policies. For example, jewelry often requires an additional add-on to the policy and isn’t automatically covered under the protection of homeowners. Therefore, you should check what personal property is covered before purchasing a policy. If something important isn’t covered in the basic policy, you can opt to add supplemental insurance for specific possessions.
- Liability Coverage: In this day and age where people tend to be lawsuit happy, this coverage is vital. Liability coverage protects you if someone is hurt on your property and then tries to sue you for medical expenses. Most homeowners policies have a liability aspect that pays for the costs related to someone’s injury.
What IS NOT Covered
- Flood Damage: Although it is a natural disaster, flooding is often not included in covered events. If you live in an area prone to flooding, it’s a good idea to purchase a separate flood policy to cover your home and possessions in the event of a flood.
- Negligence Damage: Homeowners policies typically do not cover damage due to negligence. In general, homeowners insurance is designed to help you recoup your loss if something happens to your home that’s not within your control. However, if damage is caused by your neglect as a homeowner, there is a chance your policy won’t cover the cost of repairs. For example, your insurance company might not pay for damage due to frozen pipes if you as the homeowner didn’t take steps to winterize your pipes.
- Landslides and Earthquakes: This type of natural disaster, much like flooding, is typically left out in terms of what is covered in most homeowners insurance policies. There are some exceptions to this rule. For example, Tennessee and Florida have a “catastrophic ground coverage collapse” clause within policies that covers damage from sinkholes, landslides and earthquakes.
Other Common Uncovered Issues:
- Sewer backups.
- Dog bites (on your property).
- Trampoline accidents.
- Termites.
- Mold.
Keep the above information in mind when purchasing your homeowners insurance policy. If you aren’t sure if a certain event or structure/possession is covered, ask your agent. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Home, Moving Tips
Whether you are moving all of the way across the country or several states over, you have a big decision to make. Should you use storage pods to transport your possessions or hire a traditional moving truck to do the job for you? Your answer actually depends on several factors, including how much stuff you have, whether or not you are moving in right away, and if you are up to the task of packing the storage pods on your own. Each method offers a few benefits and disadvantages, but you can use the following information to help you come to an informed decision.
When Should You Use a Storage Pod to Relocate Instead of a Traditional Moving Truck?
If you aren’t moving into a new home or apartment right away and you need to keep your items in long term storage, pods are a great option. You only have to pack them up once, and then, they are placed in storage until you need them. They are delivered right to your door for packing and picked up once they are ready. A monthly fee is attached to your storage along with the initial cost of obtaining and packing the pod/pods.
What You Need to Consider When Choosing Pods over Traditional Moving Trucks
If you choose to use pods to move your belongings, you are responsible for moving everything on your own. This process typically involves asking for help from friends and other family members, particularly when moving heavy pieces of furniture, large appliances, and oversized TVs.
If you hire professional movers to transport your belongings in a moving truck, they do nearly all of the work for you. They arrive at your home, pack up your stuff, and unpack it at your destination. This can eliminate a lot of the hassle associated with moving. Professional movers are trained to do this type of work. They are strong and can easily move large pieces of furniture in and out of the truck. Since professional movers carry insurance, your possessions are covered if anything is damaged during the moving process.
If you are moving the entire contents of a large home, you are going to need the largest size pod that is available. You might even need more than one, particularly if you are storing most of your possessions. One of the benefits of using pods is that you can take your time packing up since it doesn’t need to be accomplished in a single day.
What You Need to Consider When Using Pods to Transport Your Items or Storing Your Possessions in Pods
Typically, pods aren’t climate-controlled. Even though the building where they are going to be stored might be climate-controlled, you still have to worry about travelling time. In some cases, pods do not travel directly from your location to the ending destination since the truck transporting the pod might need to make additional pickups in other cities. If you have items that won’t travel well in the heat or cold such as musical instruments and artwork, then you might want to ask about the actual travel route that will be taken.
Moving Tips
Hiring professional movers to help you relocate your possessions can make your life easier and your move smoother. The same can be said about using a few good packing and storage strategies to help you pack up before the movers arrive.
Gathering Your Supplies
In addition to lots of moving boxes, you’ll need bubble wrap to protect your breakable items. To help keep your boxes closed during the moving process or while in long term storage, purchase the strongest packing tape available. Don’t forget to pick up markers and colored stickers to label your packages.
Labeling Your Boxes
Instead of simply marking your packing and storage boxes with a generic label such as kitchen or kid’s bedroom, you should include a brief description of what is inside. This strategy helps you find the items you want without having to go through a dozen packing and storage boxes to find them.
Pack Similar Items Together
Whenever possible, you should pack items that are used together in the same box. This strategy makes unpacking easier. For example, pack extension cords or surge protectors with your small appliances and electronics.
Identifying Your Boxes
While you can label each box with the name of the room that it is going to, using colored stickers as well provides fast and easy recognition that makes this process simpler for your movers. After all, you might know where your daughter’s bedroom is, but how will the movers know this? Just place one of the stickers on each door, and everyone who is helping will know exactly where to put the packing boxes.
Important Documents
It’s essential that you keep your important papers with you to avoid having them get misplaced during the move. A simple tote bag or business folder can be used to store these items and keep them safe for you.
Long Term Storage Tips
Perhaps the most important thing to remember when you are placing your possessions in long term storage is that these items should be clean and dry. This will help to keep them in the best condition while also avoiding the growth of mildew or mold. Make sure that you drain hoses and disconnect them from large appliances.
Moving and Long Term Storage Tips
Whether you are packing items for long term storage or for transportation into your new living quarters, each of the following tips can help to prevent accidents from happening.
- Wrap breakable items individually with tissue paper or bubble wrap and fill in empty areas in the box to keep the items cushioned.
- Pack spillables separately.
- Secure electrical cords to prevent dangling.
- Unplug electrical items 24 hours in advance when possible to allow them to cool down.
- Use tape or ties to secure hardware, placing small items in plastic bags before securing them.
- Place heaviest items in the bottom of your moving boxes.
- Leave moving boxes containing high-value items open so that the movers can inspect them prior to placing them on the van.
- Pack firmly to avoid shifting and unnecessary damage.
- Use sturdy, corrugated moving boxes for china, glassware, and other breakable items. Label the boxes with the words “Fragile. This side up.”
