Have your antiques crated - they will be much safer. No recommendations - whole house move last was 33 years ago, small partial move 14 yrs ago. They're all a royal pain and need significant supervision.

First - it's time to clean house - get rid of the stuff you have been collecting but don't need. Second get rid of inexpensive things like knock down book cases, etc.

How the move goes is really dependent upon the local branch of the moving company. Do they have permanent employees (people who know how to move and lift furniture) - we had one nightmare where they had some day labor (may be alright for packing) but not for handling furniture.

Don't have the moving day on Friday. If they come late, or screw-up you have the next business day.

Does you homeowners insurance cover the goods while in transit?

Make sure you check the license of the mover to ensure you aren't getting one of the "knock off" movers. There are many so-called movers out there that will give you a quote over the net - don't go with any of them. Another thing to watch out for is someone that quotes you prices in cubic feet. Don't do that either. You need a mover to come and actually survey what you have and give you a binding contract. Make sure you are dealing with the real deal and not someone that is using a variation of a large movers name (this is very common). There is a good website where you can check the credentials of moving companies and learn the common moving scams. It is movingscam.com. Please be very careful.

Allied is the worst ever.

We've always had better luck with smaller, local companies that have built up a good reputation locally. Many of them also do long distance moves.

No matter what, you'll pay by weight. Get rid of as much weight as possible, and remember that some low volume items, like books and paperwork, can be quite heavy.

Get a company with experience in long-distance moving, who will come to your place for an assessment first. Most reputable companies would prefer to do the packing for you, at least in my experience, and the packers usually do a good job, as nobody wants to be sued for damage. Their labelling is vague however, sometimes on purpose (in my last long distance move, my electronics were really well hidden -- the company said they will not label any box "computer" or "electronics" anything, because the boxes sit in their warehouse until they gather several people's things for long distance moves), so I would keep my own list of box numbers/contents for essentials. When the boxes are delivered, re-verify the list of contents and ensure you received every box.

Re. timing, do not be surprised if they tell you things like "your furniture will arrive in two to four weeks". This may require significant planning at both ends of the trip. In our last and longest move we picked a company with decent reviews and solid web presence; the coordinators were rather flaky, the packers were fantastic, our stuff arrived in the very last possible minute it could after days of not knowing when exactly it will arrive, but it was all there and there was no damage, so we considered ourselves very lucky.

Are long distance moving companies franchises? We have found some "franchise" local offices to be much better than others. Both in prices and business practices (the actual care of our furnishings)

I had an awful, awful experience with Bekins. They were late, unprofessional, and when we finally unpacked we realized that the stuff they hadn't stolen they broke. They finally settled with us but only after a tremendous amount of work and time and we were still out thousands in loss of value. They lied left and right - no concern for doing what was right, just what they could get away with. Crooks.

We used Mayflower, full service and unbelievable service, be aware each affiliated/franchisee mover is different. We had a fairly large home to move from coast to coast. Since we have tons of very delicate stuff, paintings, crystal, full size bars, hundreds of bottles of regular and rare alcohol, and I have a very large number of delicate and huge remote control model aircraft/planes, we interviewed primarily for experience, reputation and quality of service; the move itself was quite expensive for two full 53' semi. I used another company to move my vehicles(another unbelievable company) and yet another professional computer moving company for my computer servers and related equipment. Back to Mayflower, these guys will overpack your stuff, absolutely guaranteeing everything will arrive in one piece; for such a big move, we had zero damage. Do your research; we took several months before selecting final movers.

If you pack yourself, they will not cover damage to the goods you pack. Check with your home owners insurance company before deciding whether to pay for extra insurance from the moving company. Ours covered our goods in transit so we declined extra coverage from the moving company.

Check on their assembly of beds, etc. as in, watch them do it and make sure it is done correctly. Our most recent move (mayflower), they did not assemble our daughter's bed correctly. We found the bolts that had been just barely finger tightened after they left and got out our tools and fixed that. But we didn't realize they had lost the hardware for attaching the feet and used drywall screws instead. Two of them broke while she was getting into bed one night a few weeks after the move. (No injuries). They also did not tighten any of the hardware when they re-assembled our bikes. One of us could have been badly hurt if my dh hadn't checked before use. I flagged this on a survey they sent but got no response.

The reality is they won't cover goods they packed, either. Ask me how I know.

There is no reason why you can't pack a box filled with sheets an towels. There are plenty of boxes you can pack. If you are in doubt you let them pack whatever item you desire. If you pack and label a box yourself, you will save some money.

The driver will note on the manifest PBO, packed by owner. This way, you aren't charged for something in error.