A family moving to Kansas is hoping for help after somebody stole their U-Haul truck and trailer full of irreplaceable family memories.

Kathleen Scott and her son Zack are moving to Kansas from Chicago. They said they packed all their most meaningful items into the two U-Hauls. Their furniture and other items are in a semi-truck with the movers.

She said they left the hotel to run errands for an hour and when they came back, their U-Hauls were gone.

“All of the memorabilia of my late husband, like all the photo albums and the videotapes, all that stuff was in there,” Kathleen Scott said.

She said her wedding photos were also inside the truck.

“Just a lot of old toys from growing up that I wish to share with my kids one day, like football cards, old Legos, things like that that I’ve been keeping for years and years that I can hopefully play with my kids with someday,” Zack Scott said.

The U-Haul truck has a green dinosaur on the side and Arizona license plates.

They said they hope they can at least get the memorabilia back.

“We couldn’t care less about the entire contents of our kitchen. I don’t care. That’s replaceable,” Kathleen Scott said. “What’s irreplaceable are the memories and the things like the locket my husband gave me the last Mother’s Day before he died. It’s engraved and it says mom and it has a picture of Zach and his sister in it.”

She said most of the items have no value to anyone else besides her family. She said she hopes her story will help warn people to be extra careful with their moving trucks.

“I just hope other people don’t have to go through this and maybe if a couple people see this and they warn people they know that are moving then this won’t happen to them,” Kathleen Scott said.

“If nothing else comes from this, I would just hope we're the last family they do it to,” Zack Scott said. “Obviously, we would like to have our stuff back, but at the end of the day if we’re the last people we do it to, then some good will come from it.”

The migration brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic is putting a strain on professional moving and storage companies across the country and in Canada.

"We were moving a tremendous number of people out to Colorado, Texas, Florida from Chicago, New York, L.A., etc.," said Chuck Kuhn, the CEO of JK Moving Services. "It was truly a mass exodus of the major cities, and it's still continuing on those two years later."

Kuhn says that his company has had a 40% increase in volume for the last two years. Typically, it's around 10-12%.

That growth has increased the need for truck drivers.

JK Moving has a $100,000 minimum pay guarantee to all their long-haul drivers. They're looking to hire 100 more immediately.

"With the business volumes we have today, one of the nice accommodations we can make to the drivers is figuring out what their needs and desires are for getting back to their homes and what area of the country they want to run in," Kuhn said. "We can we can target that area for them and help their quality of life."

JK's drivers can be based anywhere. They can drive regionally and spend about three days a week away from home or drive cross country and be gone for weeks at a time. They have the flexibility to make their schedule.

For those that need to hire movers soon, Kuhn says to allow more planning time. Start calling at least two months in advance, get two or three different estimates, and do the homework to ensure it's a quality company.

"Just drive to the location, look at the quality of their vehicles, look at how they're maintaining their fleet, look at the facility that your items will be stored in, looking at the people that she'd be interacting with during the move," Kuhn said.

Moving is stressful enough without throwing a pandemic into the mix.

Many Americans may be forced to consider moving as federal foreclosure and eviction moratoriums expire. In the first week of July, 32% of Americans did not make a full, on-time housing payment, according to a nationally representative survey by the website Apartment List. Others may relocate to save money, be closer to loved ones or simply leave a densely populated area.

If you’re considering moving, here’s what to know from a financial standpoint, as well as tips to make moving day safer.

Budget for extras

Aside from the usual expenses like buying boxes, renting a van or hiring movers, plan for extra costs because of the pandemic.

You may need to buy heavy-duty supplies to deep-clean your old place, for example, or to sanitize your new accommodations. If you are moving out of a rental unit, some landlords may ask you to pay for professional cleaners or take the cost out of your security deposit.

Moving across county or state lines? Check what the quarantine requirements are in your new location, says Jean Wilczynski, a certified financial planner and senior wealth advisor at Exencial Wealth Advisors in Old Lyme, Connecticut. You may have to pay for quarantine accommodations like a hotel or Airbnb if your new apartment or home is not move-in ready, she says.

If you are receiving unemployment benefits, check the rules on how your benefits carry forward in your new location and what the taxes are if it is a new state, Wilczynski says. You can typically find this information on your state’s Department of Labor website, she says.

If you are unemployed or your income has dropped as a result of the pandemic, you can also check whether you qualify for moving assistance by calling 211.

You might not be able to really get to know your new place until you’re living there, so prepare yourself (and your wallet) for surprises like leaky faucets or broken appliances. Landlords and real estate agents may offer only virtual tours. And if you can see the new accommodations in person, you may be required to sign a waiver, wear a mask and avoid touching anything while in the house.

Stay safe during the move

How to move safely depends on whether you are doing it yourself or using movers. Current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that the main way the coronavirus spreads is through respiratory droplets, says Lindsay Slowiczek, pharmacist and drug content integrity manager at Healthline.com. That’s why wearing a mask and staying away from people is important to slow the spread of the virus, she says. Sanitizing surfaces is also an extra precaution worth taking.

Moving yourself

If you’re renting a moving truck, companies like U-Haul offer contactless pickup and drop-off options. Slowiczek suggests sanitizing the door handles, steering wheel, radio and the metal tongue on the seatbelt in the rental van.

Using movers

Before picking a moving company, check its website or call and ask about its safety practices in response to the pandemic, Slowiczek says. Ask whether the movers wear masks and gloves during the move.

On moving day, she suggests being prepared with a plan to limit interaction with movers and maintain social distancing. This includes packing as many things as you can yourself, or consider using a self-pack moving container as Slowiczek did for her own recent move.

If the movers will pack the truck, create a schedule for the movers. For example, ask them to start with a particular room as you stay in another. This is also particularly useful if you live with family members who are vulnerable or immunocompromised, she says. Try to limit their involvement with the move as much as possible.

“Plan out the way [the movers] are going to move through the house,” says Slowiczek. “If possible, move all of [your boxes] to one area in your home so they don’t have to come throughout your house as much.”

Keep hand sanitizer or soap handy during the move so that you and the movers can use it periodically, she says. (Check on the FDA website that your brand of hand sanitizer is methanol-free, Slowiczek adds). After the move, use disinfectants registered with the Environmental Protection Agency to clean surfaces or furniture.

“Just using the product as-is is not enough — read the instructions on how long it should be wet on the surface,” Slowiczek says.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press.

More From NerdWallet

Amrita Jayakumar is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: ajayakumar@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @ajbombay.

Moving is a part of growing up: from home to dorm or apartment, from apartment into a condo or home, from one part of the country to another. While the reasons can vary, this year the coronavirus pandemic is motivating a lot of moves.

Realtor groups around the country have reported that home sales continue to be strong in many areas around the country, as buyers look for a new place to call their work-from-home office. The National Association of Realtors says August is poised to have a home buying peak, with year-over-year growth in home sales, buyer demand and housing prices.

Since many are discovering work can be done from a home located almost anywhere during the pandemic, moving trends are favoring smaller cities and reportedly lower rents and home prices.

Moving help website HireaHelper.com released results of a recent study on 2020 moving trends. They looked at more than 25,000 moves booked since March 11, 2020 to see where people were headed as the country manages the coronavirus pandemic.

According to HireaHelper, 15 percent of all moves they tracked were motivated by the pandemic. Of those moves, 37 percent were moving because they could no longer afford to live where they were living.

Their study also found high-rent cities like San Francisco and New York saw more people leaving than moving in; both cities had 80 percent more people moving out of the area than moving in. New York as a state had 64 percent more people leaving than moving in.

Meanwhile, the state of Idaho saw an increase of 194 percent more people moving in compared to leaving. The next closest state with high move-in compared to move-out numbers was New Mexico with a 44 percent increase.

According to a survey conducted in July by the Pew Research Center, one-in-five Americans (roughly 22 percent) have relocated because of the Covid-19 pandemic or know someone who has. Roughly 6 percent of those surveyed say someone has moved into their household because of the pandemic.

Overall those most likely being motivated to move or to have more people move into their home because of the pandemic are young adults, 37 percent of 18 to 29 year olds surveyed.

In that age group, roughly one-in-ten of them said they have moved because of the coronavirus outbreak. The reasons varied from colleges closing campus, work hours cutting back or being laid off.

Typically, there is a slow down in home sales and moving in the fall and winter. The National Association of Realtors says the pandemic has pushed the normal summer peak by a few months into August. Time will tell if the pandemic impacts moving trends into the later part of 2020.

A lot of people moved in 2020 as the pandemic accelerated change for a lot of Americans.

North America Van Lines takes a hard look at the previous year and reviews where people moved. In 2020, the moving company examined migration patterns based on nearly 70,000 moves.

"Where are people moving from? NYC, Chicago, and the other four cities were in California,” says Kevin Murphy, vice president and general manager for North American Van Lines.

“Something that struck me was Idaho was our No. 1 inbound state. Seven people are moving to Idaho for every three that move out of 10 moves. You’re seeing a large number there,” Murphy added.

One thing learned in 2020 was a lot of us can work from anywhere, which means we can live anywhere and still keep our obligations.

“It's really changed where people have to live or where they want to live,” Murphy said. “I know a number of people, some that we work with are changing locations and their companies don’t even know they’re in a position where they’d rather ask for forgiveness than permission.”

Allied Van Lines reviews migration patterns as well. In their network of more than 300 independent movers, they noticed trends that have been highlighted in years past still held true for 2020. Things like Florida and Texas are still popular moving destinations.

“We’ve seen that Texas has been a No. 1 state for a number of years, but it’s a very business-friendly environment, a lot of pharmaceutical and health care companies, so top talent is a desired resource there. They have low state tax and no income tax," says Lesli Bertoli, vice president and general manager of Allied.

She also says California is still seeing an exodus.

“California is a very, taxes are high. Other states have more friendly business practices, rules and regulations,” Bertoli said.

Illinois is also seeing an exodus.

“Interestingly enough, the state of Illinois was a net outbound and that’s increased over the past three or four years; 68% of that Illinois volume, more people leaving than going into that state,” Bertoli said.

“If you think of the things that were really important to you as a person in an urban environment, it’s dining, it’s museums, going to an LA Rams game, see the Dodgers win the World Series. All of those things that are the benefits of living in an urban area were torn away during the pandemic,” Murphy said.

While there was a lot of bad in 2020, it did accelerate and perhaps force people to make the change they've always wanted to make, even if it means uprooting.

GLENWOOD, Iowa (KMTV) - Pew Research Center reports about a fifth of adults moved because of COVID-19 or know someone that did. Here's a story of one family who made the move.

Glenwood, Iowa, native Christina Duran first moved to New York City as a young, single 22-year-old. Eventually, she met her husband and started a family but the pandemic changed their comfortable lifestyle.

"When the pandemic hit last year, we were in a three-bedroom apartment. Everything shut down in New York City, everyone was just locked in their houses. Here I'm looking at these three little kids, that are like, 'What are we gonna do?" Christina said.

That's when Christina and her husband decided to move back to the Heartland, calling it a "perfect storm" of circumstances.

"We looked at each other and said, 'What are we doing?'" Christina said. "Are we really going to go back and just sit?"

The move hasn't come without its challenges.

"It was an adjustment for my husband because he's Dominican. There's very little Dominican cuisine [or] Dominican culture here. In New York, it's like little Santo Domingo," Christina said.

But her three children, like her son Marcus, aren't having much trouble.

"When I first moved here, I just got popular for no reason," Marcus said.

Marcus gives credit to his background.

"It was just like, everyone thought I was cool because I was from New York," Marcus said.

Ultimately, Christina calls the move to Glenwood a "full-circle" moment.

"While I can't change the world, I can release three good humans into it and hope that little seed kind of grows and they can impact each one of the people they come into contact with and maybe we can get back to a more caring, kind, place for all of us to be," Christina said.

This story originally reported by Isabella Basco on 3NewsNow.com.