There’s little doubt that moving to a new home is tough. Often coined as one of the most stressful events in life, the house moving process can range from being fairly difficult to proving extremely hard, rough, and complicated to plan and execute.
Simply put, when you yourself are getting ready to move out, you should welcome any help you can get.
A critical aspect when moving to another home is to get timely help from your best friends. As the saying goes, A friend in need is a friend indeed, and this aphorism can’t be any truer during a house move.
And what better way to connect to your closest friends quickly and reliably than using the undeniable power of social media platforms? That’s right – social networks are an excellent tool for fast and easy communication with your friends at any time of day and night.
Here are the top 7 ways to use Facebook and Twitter to your great advantage when moving to a new place.
1. Inform your friends that you’re moving away
When moving to a new home, one practical way to use your favorite social media sites to your advantage is to tell your friends that you’re moving away. It’s easy, fast, and the news will reach your pals in seconds.
However, before you compose that message, consider breaking the news to a few select people first – your family members, your boss (of course!), and your closest friends. If possible, do this in person or at least over the phone before you rely on Facebook or Twitter to announce it to all your social media pals at once.
One thing to keep in mind is that the announcement that you’re moving to a new home may not be relevant to all your social network friends. Therefore, if you really wanted, you could restrict that moving-away notice to only select buddies.
Either way, the wording that you use to tell your Facebook and Twitter friends that you’re moving is important. Don’t forget to thank your pals for being great friends and to assure them that you’ll keep in touch after the move.
See also: How to tell friends you’re moving away
2. Ask your friends if they know somebody who’s looking for a roommate
As it turns out, you may happen to be looking for a roommate when you’re renting a place in the new town or city.
Now, it’s not a secret that finding a good roommate will save you a lot of problems but it’s always risky to trust a complete stranger. So, one way you can use Facebook and Twitter during your move is to ask your social media friends if they know anyone who’s also looking for a roommate in the destination place.
You’d think that the odds of that happening are close to zero, but you shouldn’t estimate the power of social networking – your Facebook and Twitter friends also has friends, who in turn have their own friends too. So, a single post asking for help can be shared and re-shared multiple times until it reaches the right person.
You just never know, do you?
3. Ask your friends to recommend good movers
Without a doubt, one of the best ways to use social media to your aid when moving to a new home is to ask your friends if they can recommend you any good movers you can hire.
That’s usually the trickiest part of every move – to find a good moving company that 1) won’t try to cheat you in any way, 2) will have the necessary experience, competence and professionalism to handle your prized possessions with care, and 3) will offer high-quality yet affordable moving services.
Must-read: 10 Steps to select a good mover
And that’s exactly why it’s important that you get recommendations for movers from people you can actually trust – people who won’t gain anything from misleading you.
Just post Can anyone recommend good movers? on Facebook and Twitter, then sit back and enjoy the show.
Good to know: How to get recommendations for movers
4. Ask your friends if they have moving boxes you can use
When getting ready to move out, one of your priority tasks is to keep packing and moving expenses to a minimum. You already know that moving house is an expensive affair, so you really shouldn’t spend more money than absolutely necessary.
To reduce your packing expenses, do consider finding and using second-hand cardboard boxes for free. How do you do that? Compose a Facebook post and a Tweet asking your social media friends if they happen to have any cardboard boxes in good condition you can use.
Looking for moving boxes. Anyone?
With a little luck, you’ll not only get all the free moving boxes you’ll ever need, but also other packing supplies such as bubble wrap and even wrapping paper without paying a cent for them.
Ask and you shall receive, eh?
Read also: How to get free moving boxes
5. Ask your friends if they want any of the items you’re not moving
In most cases, you’ll be using your preferred social media sites to want something from your pals – information or help, or both. But that’s not all – you can also use Facebook and Twitter to give back to your friends, and whenever possible, you should do just that.
Once you’ve inventoried your items and made up your mind which ones you’re moving with you and which ones you’re leaving behind, you’ve got the perfect chance to offer your closest friends some of the things you’ve decided not to move to the new home.
Be a thoughtful friend and offer your buddies to take any of the furniture pieces you’re not moving. Or your lovely houseplants that won’t survive the long-distance move anyway. Or just about anything else that you know your good friends will be interested in.
Useful info: What to do with unwanted furniture when moving
6. Ask your friends to help you pack and move
Unless you’ve hired a full-service moving company that will take care of everything for you, the chances are that you’ll need your friends’ assistance on the day of the move or even before that. And that’s exactly when your favorite social networks can help you reach your pals in time.
There’s no doubt that the best approach to ask friends to help you move is to do it face to face, followed by the over-the-phone technique to ask for help. However, if you know that those two methods won’t really work for you, then using Facebook and Twitter to request moving assistance still remains a good option.
Send the I’m moving soon! Any help will be greatly appreciated! message as soon as you can to minimize the disruption of your friends’ plans. Also, be specific about exactly what type of moving aid you will need to prevent awkward misunderstandings.
See also: How to throw a packing party when moving
7. Ask your friends if they know anybody in the destination place
Moving to a place where you know nobody can be a real challenge – the adaptation period will be a hard pill to swallow and the idea of finding new friends can be truly disheartening.
And that’s where you Facebook and Twitter friends can help you out too – just ask them through a post if they happen to have friends in the city or town you just moved to. And if anyone of your pals does, then maybe they will be willing to arrange a meeting of you and their friends or acquaintances.
Either way, those new-city contacts can really help you out in the beginning, showing you around and giving you some invaluable first-hand information that you can’t possibly get from anywhere else.
Might need this: How to make friends in a new city
