In the UK the average person moves home 8 times in their life. Amongst younger people this figure is much, much higher. On top of this, moving home is considered the most stressful activity that we do, even behind divorce and redundancy. Moving home is and should also be an exciting period of time. One of the biggest problems is the amount of time it takes; you need to update your address, organise your move and much more. We will cover the best practices for your next change of address. We will also look at how you can save time and reduce the amount of time wasted. So, let’s jump straight in!
What’s The Big Problem with the Way We Move Home?
You might be wondering what the big deal is. After all, we move home often enough – surely we would all be well-versed by now? Well, the truth is that we’re not. The average home move requires us to make over 20 phone calls or interactions just to update our address. Those phone calls, emails and interactions cost us around 7 hour According to Barclays, the average home move costs home movers over £8,000. Clearly, there needs to be a better way of doing things – and we’ll explore how.
Use an Online Change of Address Service
With new technology it is becoming increasingly easier to expedite the amount of time we spend on tasks. Just consider how much of an impact Amazon has made over the last 10 years. It used to be the case that if you wanted to purchase an item you would go to your local high street and buy it there. Now, the concept of going to your high street to purchase something is usually a rarity – especially with the advent of same-day delivery. In the same way, the way we move home has also changed and recently so has the technology.
In the UK for instance thee is now an online change of address service in which you are actually able to update your address across all of your accounts. You can Change address on driving licence, do a Boots Clubcard change of address, inform your councils and much more. Instead of repeating the same conversation over and over again you can now say it once on one form and have done with it. This should help significantly reduce the amount of time you spend on your home move, by allowing another company to manage all of your administration for you.
Compare & Save
Research shows us that when we apply time pressure to our decision making we make poorer decisions. We’re so busy when we move home that reducing our costs is usually the last thing on our mind. We can save money on all sorts of services if we plan in advance. For instance, booking your removals and storage in advance can sometimes reduce your costs.
Not many people know this but when you change address you are typically placed on the most expensive default tariff. What’s worse, because we’re so busy we don’t tend to stop and try to compare energy to reduce costs. When it comes to items like your energy, be sure to compare providers from the moment you move in. It can sound a little obvious but by changing your energy provider you can save hundreds over the year.