Moving Checklist: Changing Utilities

One moving project you'll want to start early is changing utilities. Since you'll have both your old place and your new place, you'll want to make sure you handle both:

• Arranging shut-off in the old place
• Coordinating turn-on in the new place

This includes:

c Cable/satellite television
c Cell phone service
c Electricity
c Gas
c Internet/ broadband
c Local phone service
c Long distance phone service
c Propane
c Recycling pick-up
c Sewer
c Security system
c Trash pick-up
c Water

NOTE: It's a good idea to have utilities shut off at the old place the day after the move, and the utilities at the new place turned on at least a day early, and to have the old utilities turned off the day after Moving Day.

One other suggestion: you can change many of your utilities online on a single site, http://www.WhiteFence.com. In about 20 minutes you can knock out 1-2 hours of work you would have spent going from one provider to another.

Here's why:

• The last thing you'll want to do on Moving Day is trying to coordinate with utility providers needing your scattered attention.
• If something goes wrong on the new utility hook-up, you'll have a bit of extra time to get things fixed so you're not stuck when you move in.
• If you need to finish any last-minute tasks at the old place, you'll be able to have access to lights, heat and/or air conditioning

Have any utility stories, hook-up or disconnect, to share? Please post a reply- I'd love to hear from you.

Movers and Moving Companies

Let's face it- professional movers make all the difference in whether your move becomes a success or a nightmare. And when you spend between $1,000 to more than $25,000 on their services, you want to make certain you chose the right moving company. Here are just a few of our best tips on finding the perfect movers for your upcoming relocation:

1. Only hire the best- If you choose to hire professional movers, do your research and hire good ones. Poor quality movers really can be worse than none at all. Make sure you've done your part in checkling out the backgrounds of the people who will have access to all your worldly possessions. :-)

2. Referrals- Get referrals from friends, family and coworkers who have moved recently. If that doesn't help, put in a call to your local real estate office. Top realtors have helped hundreds move, so they're an outstanding resource.

3. Licensing- Only consider movers that are licensed, bonded and insured. Ask them to provide written documentation (ok, I guess all documentation is written, but you get the idea). If you start getting the run-around, move on.

4. Research- Investigate your potential movers through the U.S. Department of Transportation (http://www.ProtectYourMove.org) and the Better Business Bureau (http://www.bbb.org). While you can't expect any large moving company to never have a complaint, pay special attention to details on how complaints have been handled and how many have occurred in the past 6 months.

5. Estimates- Evaluate a minimum of 3 movers based on in-home estimates of goods to be moved. Estimates given over the internet or over the phone are extremely convenient- and not terribly useful. If you haven't had a human being taking actual stock of what you're moving, the estimate you receive is no more than an educated guess.

6. Price- Price isn't the only factor- extremely low bids indicate a desperate mover.

7. Estimates, Part 2- Ask for written "Binding Not-To-Exceed" estimates. These are the only types of estimates to protect you from a surprise amount being tacked onto your bill at the last moment- when all your belongings are "hostages" onboard the moving truck.

8. Avoid "rogue movers"- if you feel uncomfortable, trust your instincts! Never agree to move your possessions with anyone you don’t trust.

9. Ask for references. It still amazes me that people will trust everything they own to people they just met without finding out how other people have fared. I would ask for at least 3 references from people they moved in the past month. If they can't come up with names and contact information, I would ask why.

I hope these tips will get out off to the right start in finding your ideal movers.

Moving Tips: Getting Organized

Here are some moving tips from my article, "101 Best Moving Tips:"

Getting Organized

1. Start early- Almost everyone has more stuff than they think they do, and almost no one leaves enough time to pack it.

2. Room Lists- Start by forming two room lists, one for your current place and one for future place. This will help you manage what has to go where.

3. Room Inventory- Go to each room and write down the types of things that need to be packed: furniture items, length of shelving, closets, etc.

4. Time Allotment- Make sure to leave enough time. The most common timeframe reported by people moving is that it takes a month to pack. One study reported that it takes 4-5 hours to pack an average dorm room, so that should give you an idea of what’s involved.

5. Calendar- Pull out a calendar and plan by day when each room will be completed.

6. Delegation- If you’re moving with family members, agree with them exactly while tasks they will be doing and the date they will be finished.

7. Track your progress- at least once per week track where you are against the date on the calendar. Revise your plan if you’re falling behind.

What are your favorite organizing tips? I hope you'll let me know by responding to this post.

Moving Tax Deductions: Deductible Expenses

This is the second of two posts on tax deductions related to moving. In the last post I described the tests the IRS uses to determine whether a move is eligible for tax deductions or not. This post describes what types of moving expenses are deductible.

Most of this information is taken directly from the IRS website: however, it is vital that you check with your tax professional on any information you find here.

For deductible expenses, the IRS writes the following:

If you meet the requirements under Who Can Deduct Moving Expenses, earlier, you can deduct expenses for a move to the area of a new main job location within the United States or its possessions. Your move may be from one U.S. location to another or from a foreign country to the United States.

Household goods and personal effects.

You can deduct the cost of packing, crating, and transporting your
household goods and personal effects and those of the members of your household from your former home to your new home. For purposes of moving expenses, the term “personal effects” includes, but is not limited to, movable personal property that the taxpayer owns and frequently uses. If you use your own car to move your things, see Travel by car, earlier.

You can deduct any costs of connecting or disconnecting utilities required because you are moving your household goods, appliances, or
personal effects.

You can deduct the cost of shipping your car and your household pets to your new home.

You can deduct the cost of moving your household goods and personal effects from a place other than your former home. Your deduction is limited to the amount it would have cost to move them from your former home.

Example.

Paul Brown has been living and working in North Carolina for the last 4 years. Because he has been renting a small apartment, he stored some furniture at his parents' home in Georgia. Paul got a job in Washington, DC. It cost him $900 to move the furniture from his North Carolina apartment to Washington and $3,000 to move the stored furniture
from Georgia to Washington. It would have cost $1,800 to ship the stored furniture from North Carolina to Washington. He can deduct only $1,800 of the $3,000 he paid. The amount he can deduct for moving his furniture is $2,700 ($900 + $1,800). You cannot deduct the cost of moving furniture you buy on the way to your new home.

Storage expenses.

You can include the cost of storing and insuring household goods and
personal effects within any period of 30 consecutive days after the day your things are moved from your former home and before they are delivered to your new home.

Travel expenses.

You can deduct the cost of transportation and lodging for yourself and members of your household while traveling from your former home to your new home. This includes expenses for the day you arrive.

You can include any lodging expenses you had in the area of your former home within one day after you could no longer live in your former home because your furniture had been moved.

The members of your household do not have to travel together or
at the same time. However, you can only deduct expenses for one trip per person.

Example.

In February 2008, Josh and Robyn Black moved from Minneapolis to Washington, DC, where Josh was starting a new job. Josh drove the family car to Washington, DC, a trip of 1,100 miles. His expenses were $209 for mileage (1,100 miles x 19 cents per mile) plus $40 for
tolls and $150 for lodging, for a total of $399. One week later, Robyn flew from Minneapolis to Washington, DC. Her only expense was her $400 plane ticket. The Blacks' deduction is $799 (Josh's $399 + Robyn's of $400).

Here is the IRS take on nondeductible expenses:

Nondeductible Expenses

You cannot deduct the following items as moving expenses.

• Any part of the purchase price of your new home.
• Car tags.
• Driver's license.
• Expenses of buying or selling a home (including closing costs, mortgage fees, and points).
• Expenses of entering into or breaking a lease.
• Home improvements to help sell your home.
• Loss on the sale of your home.
• Losses from disposing of memberships in clubs.
• Mortgage penalties.
• Pre-move househunting expenses.
• Real estate taxes.
• Refitting of carpet and draperies.
• Return trips to your former residence.
• Security deposits (including any given up due to the move).
• Storage charges except those incurred in transit and for
  foreign moves.

No double deduction. You cannot take a moving expense
deduction and a business expense deduction for the same expenses.
You must decide if your expenses are deductible as moving expenses or as business expenses. For example, expenses you have for travel, meals, and lodging while temporarily working at a place away from your regular place of work may be deductible as business expenses if you are considered away from home on business. Generally, your work at a single location is considered temporary if it is realistically expected to last (and does in fact last) for one year or less).

Whew! This was a long one, but I hope it offers you enough information to
stay out of trouble on taxes. For more tips and advice, please visit our
homepage, http://www.movers-edge.com/.

Moving Tax Deductions: Qualifying

Moving is an experience most people dread. Not only is it stressful, its expenses often run in the thousands of dollars. One silver lining is that those moving expenses are often tax-deductible. This article details the IRS guidelines on tax deductions for moving. IMPORTANT NOTE: These are guidelines based on material published by the Internal Revenue Service.

This topic will be divided into two posts:

• Today's post will focus on whether you (and your move) qualify to get any tax deductions
• Tomorrow's post will focus on what kind of moving expenses are tax-deductible.

Qualifying for the Deduction

There are two basic ways to qualify for moving-related deductions:

• Passing two IRS requirements for moving deductibility because of your job: the distance test and the time test
• Qualifying under special circumstances

You will have to meet all the requirements under one of these two methods for any of your expenses to qualify.

The Distance Test

The IRS wants to determine that your new job is more than 50 miles further from your old house than your old job was from your old house.

Sound complicated?

It isn't once you get familiar with it. Let's break it down to make it easier. There are only four numbers involved.

First, calculate how far your old job was from your old house. Let's say that was 10 miles. We'll call this the "old house, old job distance."

Next, calculate how far your new job is from your old house. We'll say that this distance is 75 miles. We'll call this the "old house, new job distance."

Third, we need to subtract the "old house, old job distance" (10 miles) from the "old house, new job distance" (75 miles). That difference is 65 miles (75- 10 = 65). We'll call this the "old job vs. new job distance."

There's only one step left. If your "old job vs. new job distance" is greater than 50 miles, you pass the distance test! If it's less than 50 miles, I'm afraid your move doesn't qualify.

The Time Test

Fortunately, the time test is a bit easier. If you spend 39 weeks out of the first 52 weeks at your new job as a full-time employee, you pass. If you're self-employed, you need to spend 78 weeks out of the first 2 years at your new job. Again, as long as you meet this standard, you pass the test.

Special Circumstances

While there are many special circumstances that can affect your eligibility, I'll just mention 3:

• Armed Forces. If you are in the Armed Forces and you moved because of a permanent change of station, you do not have to meet the distance test. See Members of the Armed Forces, later.
• Main job location. Your main job location is usually the place where you spend most of your working time. This could be your office, plant, store, shop, or other location. If there is no one place where you spend most of your working time, your main job location is the place where your work is centered, such as where you report for work or are otherwise required to “base” your work.
• Union members. If you work for several employers on a short-term basis and you get work under a union hall system (such as a construction or building trades worker), your main job location is the union hall.

Next time we'll go over which moving expenses may be tax-deductible.

Moving Checklist: Final Week

Today I'll finish up the moving checklist with the steps for the final week. It's broken up into 3 components:

• 1 week prior to Moving Day
• 1 day prior to Moving Day
• Moving Day itself

Here are the final checklist items:


1 Week Prior to Moving Day
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

c Confirm start time, current home address and future home address with movers.

Even if you already have this information, it’s a good idea to double-check. It's also wise to ask who you can contact (name and phone number) if the movers don't show up on-time, since the start of the move may be well before the movers' offices open.

c Recruit friends for “moving day madness.”

Having extra help for last-minute errands or helping to watch movers and answer questions can be invaluable.

c Make arrangements for child and/or pet sitting.

Having small children and pets watched on Moving Day can eliminate a lot of stress and confusion on the big day, especially while taking care of all the other important details.

1 Day Prior to Moving Day
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

c Make sure everyone’s cell phone is fully charged.

Moving Day would be a bad day to be out of contact. :-)

c Have everyone pack one or two suitcases or a knapsack (no more).

Even if you’re only moving across the street, having a suitcase with the following, taken with you instead of on the moving truck if possible, will make things easier once you move in:

__ Eyeglasses
__ Favorite toy for the kids
__ Prescriptions
__ Something to read
__ Three days’ worth of changes of clothes
__ Toothbrush and toothpaste (if not in “Open Me First” box)

Moving Day
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

c Start early.

Moving is stressful enough without waking up late and running around with movers waiting outside.

c Take all garbage out of the house.

Movers get into huge trouble for leaving anything behind. So many people have been shocked to find their garbage packed into their garbage cans and sent along for the move!

c Make sure drivers have your cell phone number and you have theirs, along with their names.

Things come up on moving day- make sure you have a way to stay in contact. q Be available for movers’ questions. You need to be visible and available at all times- near the door is usually a good spot.

c Perform final checks before leaving current home.

Here are some final items to verify before shutting the door for the last time:

• Are the air conditioning, fans, and heat turned off?
• Is the water shut off, including to hoses?
• Are the light switches turned off?
• Are the keys and garage door openers for current home turned in or left on the kitchen counter?
• Anything left in refrigerator, freezer, stove, drawer under stove, in closets, in bathroom, under porch, in garage, in attic, in crawlway? · Did you pack your hoses and sprinklers

And finally, at the end of the day, congratulate yourself- you're done! To see the entire Ultimate Moving Checklist, click here. What checklist items do you recommend? I hope you reply and let me know.

Continuing the them of the moving checklist this week, here is an itemized list of tasks for 2 weeks prior to the move. The tasks for 4 weeks prior to the move were published earlier this week. You may also view our free Ultimate Moving Checklist (click here) to see the entire list at one time, along with categories and priorities already assigned.


c Make arrangements to return items.

Here are some critical items to return prior to moving:

__ Cable/ satellite receiver boxes, remote controls, dishes
__ Cable/DSL modems
__ Carpet shampooer
__ Clothing (borrowed)
__ DVD and video game rentals
__ Library books (neighborhood and school)
__ Tools (borrowed or rented)
__ Trash cans/ recycle bins
__ Unwanted purchases

c Make arrangements to retrieve items.

Be sure to retrieve any of the following items:

__ Clothing at dry cleaners, tailors or in storage
__ Clothing lent to friends
__ Items at repair shops
__ Tools lent to neighbors or friends

c Open bank accounts near your new address.

You may want to open a new safe deposit box at the same time, and move all vital papers and/or jewelry into the box in advance. That way you don’t have to worry about them on moving day.


c Create one “Open Me First” box for each room.

You’ll need to access certain packed items almost immediately after you arrive, and they need to be packed together in special boxes (one per room) and marked with either bright red markers or special stickers so you can spot them easily. The specific rooms are:

Kitchen:

__ aluminum foil
__ break-proof or disposable flatware, cups, and plates
__ coffee maker (don’t forget the filters!)
__ dish detergent
__ frying pan and spatula
__ pet food and bowels
__ scissors
__ tea kettle

Main Bathroom:

__ bath mat
__ bath towels
__ first-aid kit (aspirin, band-aids, hydrogen peroxide)
__ hair dryer
__ shampoo
__ shower curtain and rings
__ soap
__ toothbrushes and toothpaste

Tool room or drawer:

__ batteries
__ duct tape
__ flashlight
__ flat-head screwdriver
__ hammer
__ level
__ Phillips-head screwdriver
__ picture hangers
__ tape measure
__ utility knife

c Finish off packing for “non-living” rooms.

You want to be completed for non-essential rooms such as the basement, garage, attic, utility rooms, etc. so you can focus on main living areas in the last weeks.


c Start eating up perishable food from freezer and refrigerator.

Consider holding a “Packing Party.”
Invite trusted friends over for a “Farewell Packing Party.” Provide free food and drinks, provide upbeat background music, and allow friends to tackle projects that require little supervision, such as packing books or pots and pans. Have friends take pictures and send you copies.


c Hold a yard sale.

You might be surprised to learn that you can earn a few hundred dollars by selling non-essential items, earning you cash and making your move more efficient.

Completing these tasks will have you well on your way to Moving Day success.