On the Move

Craft Room Before (left side)

Craft Room After (left side)

Here are some great Before and After pictures of our client Nancy’s craft room. As Nancy describes it, with the help of her Seamless Moves team, she transformed a room that was so crowded she could only use it as a ‘dumping ground’ into a beautiful, practical workspace.

Craft Room Before (right side)

Craft Room After (right side)

Nancy’s favorite parts of her organizing day (actually 4.5 hours) were:

1) Knowing what she could do to prepare for organizing day; 2) we took away items she wished to donate to charity and gave her an itemized tax receipt from the non-profit recipient; and 3) “They hung my child’s art!”

Closet Before

Closet After

We really enjoyed helping Nancy reclaim her craft room and learning about knitting (she has a yarn category called “Yummy”).

Nancy said her team was, “competent, courteous, thorough and smart about what they do. Hire Them!”

The Lakeshore on Lake Washington

We are pleased to announce that two more Era Living Properties are offering new residents a no-cost Seamless Move. Move into The Lakeshore (on Lake Washington in South Seattle) or The Gardens at Town Square (Bellevue) by August 31, 2010 and get up to $5,000 credit towards your Seamless Move.

Shopping Near The Gardens at Town Square

Just think: professional help assisting you and your family to plan and decide what to move and what to do with things you are not moving. Someone to pack, move, unpack and put everything away in your new apartment while you direct us or relax with your new friends. We even hang your pictures!

A Seamless Move can be accomplished in just a few days, even if you have lived in your home for 30, 40 or 50 years. “Impossible!” you say? We’ve been helping folks just like you for over 12 years.

For information about The Lakeshore, please contact Marlene Williams at (206) 772-1200.

For information about The Gardens at Town Square, please contact Sharon Howell at (425) 688-1900.

Exciting news for anyone planning to make a move to a retirement community: Move into University House Issaquah by August 31, 2010 and get up to $5,000 credit towards your Seamless Move. This is your chance to get the highest level of moving services for the lowest possible cost–possibly even free!

University House Issaquah, an Era Living property, is located on the Sammamish Plateau. It has 185 apartments ranging from studios to three-bedroom penthouse suites. Elegant interior design and comfortable surroundings are abundant. Residents enjoy chef-prepared meals, weekly housekeeping, scheduled transportation and much more. Other amenities include an indoor pool, exercise room, hair salon and many planned social activities. University House Issaquah provides residents with an involved way of life which is enriched by the connection with the University of Washington Retirement Association (UWRA) and the resources of the University of Washington.

Please contact Kathleen Beers, Community Relations Director, (425) 557-4200 for more information.

For your viewing enjoyment, we proudly present Seamless Moves’ Signature “Out of the Box”® Unpacking Service:

Unpacking Team In Action!

With an enormous thank-you to our clients, friends (and Realtors®), Mary Juhl-Willard and Rich Willard for letting us film in their lovely home. The awesome Unpacking Team in the video: Cheryl McIvor, Jan Screen and Lindsay Loeffler.

A day of unpacking makes a great wedding gift, thank-you gift from Realtors® or job relocation perk. Before YOU move, think “Out of the Box!”

This??

Last time you said, “Never Again!” Remember?

You took a week off from work; begged, borrowed and scavenged from the liquor store as many cardboard boxes as you could source, packed up all your cherished possessions and loaded them in the U-Haul van; goaded 2 of your strongest friends into helping you muscle the hide-a-bed down 2 flights of stairs (and then had to patch the ding they made in the wall); made 6 trips to your new home; cursed at those too-small those liquor store boxes that don’t stack worth beans; jammed your furniture and boxes into the garage; and barely made it back the rental office before midnight to avoid being charged an extra day’s truck rental.

But you saved money, right?

Three years later, you still have unpacked boxes in that same garage and it’s time to move again. Really?? Can your back take it? Is your wife pregnant with baby #2 and #1 is already a full-time job? Will the only other person left in your department after the recent layoffs cover your job for a week as well as theirs?

or This??

We invite you to picture this:

Monday morning: You go to work as usual. When you come home, everything is packed up and ready to move EXCEPT the coffee maker, your personal bathroom items, what you want to wear to work tomorrow and the TV and remote. Hmm, mildly annoying, but not too bad.

Tuesday morning: You go to work, but instead of going home to your old home, you go to your new home. The furniture has all been placed where you want it and your bed is made. The coffee maker, your personal bathroom items, what you want to wear to work tomorrow and the TV and remote are unpacked and in place. Your bedside alarm clock has been set 10 minutes fast, just the way you like it.

Wednesday morning: You go to work again, only tonight when you come back to your new home there are no boxes (no paper, no crates, no bubble wrap!). All of your belongings have been unpacked and put neatly away. Your paintings, artwork and decorative items are unpacked and ready for your decorator (or ours) to place in their new locations tomorrow.

Thursday: Decorating day. When you come home tonight, you feel like you’ve lived there for years. You change your clothes and go watch your child’s soccer game.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday: Relax and enjoy your Seamless Move! Have a housewarming party; invite friends over and brag about how you got it all done in less than a week (we won’t tell!). No back ache, no calling all over town several weeks before you move to source boxes, trucks, labor, etc. No wondering what is falling through the cracks at work or at home.

Relax! We’ve done this before. Hundreds of times. We would LOVE to help you and your family, too! Just tell us what you need, and we’ll do the rest.

Recently, folks in the Seattle area have brought to our attention something that has been disturbing them. Many people are distressed that the final bill for their move was quite a bit more than the original bid. Either it takes more time than projected, needs more people to accomplish, more boxes and supplies, etc.  Here is something you may not know:

According to the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission (which oversees moving companies registered to do business in this state):

“If charges are more than the written non-binding estimate, the mover must unload and release all of your goods if you pay 110 percent of the amount of the estimate and supplemental estimates. The mover is required to give you at least 30 days to pay the balance. Even if you receive only a nonbinding estimate, there is a limit to the amount you are required to pay. UTC rules ensure that in no instance are you required to pay more than 25 percent above the estimate and any supplemental estimate.” Consumer Guide, Moving in Washington State (emphasis ours)

As you can see, it is important for you to know whether you have received a binding or a non-binding estimate from the moving company. We will go into further detail about estimates in a subsequent post, however a couple of things to note regarding cost and the estimate:

1) It is seriously important for you to show your estimator EVERYTHING in your home that you want to have moved during the estimate process. That includes things in the attic, garage, backyard, shed, crawlspace, basement, underneath and behind furniture and inside every closet and piece of storage furniture. If you point to several things and say, “that will be gone before the move” and they are not, your cost will be higher. If you suddenly remember a storage unit down the road with more items in it…well, you get the idea.

2) Times are tough for movers right now. Many have gone out of business in this ‘correction’ economy. The companies that remain are competing for a much smaller marketplace of folks who are moving than in the past.

So yes, SOME companies, knowing they can legally charge you 10-25% more at the end of the move, are bidding your move lower than they know it will actually cost in order to come in below other bids you may have received to get your business. Additionally, any mover you schedule through a third party referral service (through your realtor or relocation company) might be required to pay that service a commission, thereby cutting their net revenue on your move. Did this happen before the recession? Yes, of course, but not nearly as much as we are seeing now.

This is where it comes in handy to have a project manager such as Seamless Moves on your team. If we see a moving estimate that is obviously TOO low, we are going to call them on it. A moving company that cares about customer service and whether you have a good moving experience (the ones we work with and recommend) work very hard to estimate your move correctly. Their estimates sometimes look higher than other companies who have a more short-term view of their business.

If you are managing your move yourself, ask your friends and co-workers for recommendations. Check testimonials on HelpHive, Yelp , Angies List , etc.
And above all, remember this lesson we have all learned the hard way:

Going with the lowest bidder doesn’t always save you money.

Beautiful!! Rhodies outside the Seamless Moves Admin office window.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Washington coast to dig razor clams. There are only a few days each year that the non-Native American public is allowed to dig razors and only on certain beaches approved by the state’s Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. Some of these towns have been hard-hit by the recession, the real estate and job market crashes and by various downturns in the fishing industry, so businesses in those areas generally gear up for those dates knowing that many tourists will be in town who will spend money in their hotels, restaurants, stores, etc.

As a small business owner myself, I projected that if I owned for instance, a restaurant, that is what I would do. I’d get the employees together and polish up that puppy until it gleamed in anticipation of the quite possibly hundreds of additional customers, order more supplies and gather everyone together to map out a game plan for handling the crowds we were anticipating. I may even add a couple of part-time, on-call employees to make sure everything went smoothly.  Here are some of the things I would NOT do:

1) The very last day of clam digging season began roughly an hour or two before low tide at 8:58 a.m. It takes most folks about an hour to dig their limits, so figuring they would be hungry for breakfast either before digging or after, I’d open fairly early. I would not watch a steady stream of people entering my restaurant at 10:15 a.m. and have the hostess tell them, “We don’t open until 11:00.” And then watch each and every one of them turn and leave.

2) I would not have a breakfast counter with four empty stools and tell a group of four customers that only three people could sit there because the counter in front of the fourth stool was reserved for a glass cake plate displaying muffins for sale.

3) I would not have only two very harried and cranky waitstaff (and no hostess) working a 16-20 table restaurant, one of whom had to repeatedly push through the long line of waiting customers with plates of food for one side of the very dark and scarily dismal-looking restaurant.

Granted, I have never tried to run a restaurant. I’m sure there are challenges I cannot even comprehend that differ from my business. However, there are ways in which all businesses are similar. Primary among them are customer service, finding and keeping good employees and making a profit. Last year, I ate breakfast at a diner in Anchorage that provides free coffee and newspapers for waiting customers. Their restaurant is nearly always full and their waitstaff is cheerful and service-oriented.

As for our party of four: after leaving the above three restaurants hungry, we went to the grocery store for eggs and bacon, returned to our friends’ home and made our own breakfast. It was delicious.

photo courtesy of Mike Nakamura Photography

Laurie Lamoureux, Founder and Chief Box Opener of Seamless Moves, will present a Downsizing Seminar Saturday, June 12, 2010 from 2:00 – 3:00 pm in the Lakeview Dining Room at The Lakeshore, an ERA Living community located at 11448 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98178 (near the Renton airport). The information presented will be helpful to people moving right away, those who want to be ready for a future move as well as individuals helping friends or family with their moves.

• Learn how to begin the downsizing process
• Hear tips on how to find and interview movers
• Learn more about organizing, packing and more
• Dessert, coffee and lots of useful information about beginning the process for a seamless move

Feel free to invite a friend! No cost to attend, but please RSVP to The Lakeshore 206.772.1200 by June 10th.

Printable flyer (.pdf) here: LKS Downsizing Seminar_061210

T-Shirts Before

Do or your children you have a disorganized T-shirt drawer? Maybe your t-shirts are well-folded but stacked on top of each other in the drawer, making it difficult to see which one is which.  Here is Seamless Moves’ super-secret “Out of the Box” professional organizing tip so that you will quickly be able to find just the right t-shirt to fit the occasion.

As you may know, there are many ways to fold a t-shirt. For this tip, you will need to fold your t-shirts “store display” style, in other words you lay it on its front, fold both sides in to about the 1/3 mark, then fold the t-shirt in half. Depending upon the depth of your dresser drawer, you will either need to fold it in half again, or fold it in thirds instead of half. Make sure you can see some of the writing and/or picture on the top third and fold of the shirt.

Note: For a really fun, easy way to fold t-shirts, see videos on YouTube such as How to fold a Shirt in 2 Seconds or you can buy a plastic shirt-folder thingie from just about any garage sale in town.

Now here’s the big secret—ready? Don’t lay the t-shirts on top of each other in your drawer, stand them up on end with the neck opening facing down like this:

T-shirts After

What? Aunt Millie is on her way over? Where is that cutsie cat t-shirt she gave me? (Open drawer, look, grab = 3 seconds), “Hi, Aunt Millie. What? Oh yes, I wear this all the time; such a thoughtful gift!” And just think how quickly your kids will get dressed for school.

Enjoy!

Well, it’s official. You’ve 1) bought a new home; 2) been hired for a new job; 3) gotten married/merged households; 4) kids have left home and you’d like to downsize, or 5) many, many other reasons (some happy; some, unfortunately–not so much). And now you have to M-O-V-E. Uggghhh! All of your precious, favorite, special belongings now have to be shoved into boxes and trucked across town or across the country. Could anything be worse?! Remember what a horror it was LAST TIME? Why can’t you just snap your fingers and it would all be done? (Actually, you can if you have a Project Manager such as Seamless Moves, but that’s not the point of this post.)

I was surprised to find that the often-cited Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale lists ‘change of residence’ at only 20 points out of 100. Of course changing your residence, as noted above, is usually the result of another life-event. For instance, a marriage is assessed at 50 stress points, a major mortgage is 32 points and retirement is 45 points. And those are considered ‘good stress.’ ‘Bad stress’ such as death of a spouse (100 points) or divorce (73 points) are assigned significantly more stress points. Added together, you can see why moving can be a major headache for most people.

Pour yourself a cup of peppermint tea, sit down and take a breath; you’ve come to the right place. In the next few weeks, we’ll share some tips that we’ve acquired/developed over the last dozen or so years that you’ll be able to use when you move (or when your friends or family co-opt you into helping with their moves!). We hope you’ll add your tips to ours so we can all help each other to have a more Seamless Move!

We’ve changed our name to Seamless Moves!

Move after move, our clients have told us how delighted they have been with their stress-free moving experiences. Our new name more clearly defines the benefit YOU receive: “SEAMLESS” meaning, “harmonious and smooth; having no awkward transitions or interruptions…” Doesn’t that sound like a heavenly way to move?

A sincere THANK YOU to our loyal clients, employees and referral partners. It is because of you that we have been able to grow over the last six years and to provide an “Out of the Box” moving experience for families of all sizes and situations. Whether you’re moving within or relocating to Seattle, Bellevue, Mercer Island, Redmond or anywhere in the greater Puget Sound area, we look forward to working with you, your family and friends on your next Seamless Move!