3 Tips for Seniors Preparing to Move Cross-Country

In reality, only about 3–4 percent of retirees across the nation move each year. But for those seniors who do decide to relocate out of state, figuring out how to start can feel like a logistical nightmare. Here are three action steps you can take that will help make moving a dream.

1. Decide What You Want to Bring with You

If your new home is the same size as your current home, you can move everything you own to the new place if you want to. Chances are your new home is smaller. Many, if not most, senior citizens downsize once they retire. Their children are grown, and they no longer need or want to deal with the upkeep a big house requires.

Compare the square footage in your current home to the home you are moving to. This will help you determine the things you have room to bring with you. For example, if you currently have a 4-bedroom home and are moving to a 2-bedroom condo, you will need to drastically reduce your household items such as furniture.

Don’t forget to consider things outside your home as well. If you are moving to a retirement community in Florida, you won’t need the snowblower and shovels anymore. If your new home provides lawn care, you won’t need to pack the lawnmower, either.

Go through your clothing, too. Wisconsinites who are relocating to warm locations probably won’t need their winter parka, snow pants, boots, gloves, mittens, and hats, anymore. It doesn’t make sense to move things you no longer need or won’t have room for, so purge things now.

2. Enlist Your Children’s Help

If you are like most parents, your attic, basement, garage, and maybe even the kids’ former bedrooms are still littered with things that don’t even belong to you. Get the kids to come over and help you go through the old toys, the shelves full of trophies, and the crate of record albums that has been sitting in the family room collecting dust since your children were little. Have them take the things they want and get rid of the things they don’t. This will make sorting through your own items much easier.

3. Decide How You Want to Move

Moving across town when you are young is stressful, labor-intensive, dirty work. It’s even harder when you are older and moving out of state. Most seniors are not going to want to do the heavy lifting, load up a truck, and drive themselves, only to reach their destination a few days later and then unload and unpack everything.

Driving a big, unfamiliar truck on the interstate is hectic at best and potentially dangerous as well. Unless you have retired from a career as a professional truck driver, it’s best to leave the driving to the professionals.

You can choose a moving company who does it all for you, from packing up your belongings to unpacking everything at the new house. If you would rather pack and unpack your things yourself and just have the moving company transport your belongings to the new house, which is an option, too.

And don’t forget about your personal vehicles. Many people just don’t want the hassle of driving cross-country through unfamiliar terrain on busy interstate highways. If you’d rather fly to your new destination, find a moving company who can also move your vehicles.

If you want an experienced moving company to help you with your move out of state, contact us today at Christofferson Moving & Storage. We will be happy to help you, answer your questions, and get your valued possessions safely to their new destination.