Planning a big move from one home to another? Don’t panic! While moving is one of the more stressful, costly, and aggravating jobs out there, you can do it with minimal fuss and bother.
Here are five tips for moving to a new home without losing your mind if you need a little help getting ready.
Create a checklist
Moving is one of those things where you don’t want to wing it. A month or more in advance, create a checklist. Decide what you need to do and assign deadlines for each step. Get specific! Choose the best day of the week to move, and write down must-dos like contacting the movers or alerting the utility companies and letting them know when to stop service at one address and start at the other. Visit the post office and arrange for mail forwarding. Schedule a time to pack and ensure any boxes or other necessary receptacles are available by then. Check things off. Arrange for reminders via text or email so that even if you forget a step, your calendar won’t.
Declutter the clutter
Get rid of a few things before you begin packing. Review your worldly possessions and decide what to do with them. Decide what’s coming with you and what you need to trash, donate, or leave behind. Some things are obvious trash or donatable: broken things, old clothing, opened food containers, and the like. Don’t waste money paying movers to transport it if it doesn’t serve a purpose. Be honest and don’t let misplaced sentimentality interfere with your decisions.
Clean the new place
Very likely the previous tenants or owners of your new home took the time to clean it up before they left. Even so, this is your opportunity to clean parts of your new place that you may never have access to again after you move in all your stuff. Honestly, this is probably a job left to professionals, unless you have time to clean the place from top to bottom. It also allows you to remove any old scents from the place so you can truly make it your own.
Change the locks
You should have the locks changed even if the past tenant says they provided every key to every lock. You never know if there are duplicate keys floating around out there, giving some nefarious individual access to your new home. Do an overall security check to see if there are any other points of entry and decide how to fix the situation.
Pack an overnight bag
After a long and frantic moving day, you’ll want to hit the hay and leave unpacking and other activities to the coming month. Make sure you don’t have to look for your toothbrush and various toiletries. Pretend you’re staying at a hotel for the night and prepare an overnight bag so you can brush, shave, wash up, and so forth that same night.
Those are just five tips for moving to a new home without losing your mind. Good luck!
Create a checklist
Moving is one of those things where you don’t want to wing it. A month or more in advance, create a checklist. Decide what you need to do and assign deadlines for each step. Get specific! Choose the best day of the week to move, and write down must-dos like contacting the movers or alerting the utility companies and letting them know when to stop service at one address and start at the other. Visit the post office and arrange for mail forwarding. Schedule a time to pack and ensure any boxes or other necessary receptacles are available by then. Check things off. Arrange for reminders via text or email so that even if you forget a step, your calendar won’t.
Declutter the clutter
Get rid of a few things before you begin packing. Review your worldly possessions and decide what to do with them. Decide what’s coming with you and what you need to trash, donate, or leave behind. Some things are obvious trash or donatable: broken things, old clothing, opened food containers, and the like. Don’t waste money paying movers to transport it if it doesn’t serve a purpose. Be honest and don’t let misplaced sentimentality interfere with your decisions.
Clean the new place
Very likely the previous tenants or owners of your new home took the time to clean it up before they left. Even so, this is your opportunity to clean parts of your new place that you may never have access to again after you move in all your stuff. Honestly, this is probably a job left to professionals, unless you have time to clean the place from top to bottom. It also allows you to remove any old scents from the place so you can truly make it your own.
Change the locks
You should have the locks changed even if the past tenant says they provided every key to every lock. You never know if there are duplicate keys floating around out there, giving some nefarious individual access to your new home. Do an overall security check to see if there are any other points of entry and decide how to fix the situation.
Pack an overnight bag
After a long and frantic moving day, you’ll want to hit the hay and leave unpacking and other activities to the coming month. Make sure you don’t have to look for your toothbrush and various toiletries. Pretend you’re staying at a hotel for the night and prepare an overnight bag so you can brush, shave, wash up, and so forth that same night.
Those are just five tips for moving to a new home without losing your mind. Good luck!
These tips are fantastic! We’ll definitely remember them as we prepare for our upcoming move. We’ve been busy decluttering our home and getting rid of all the unnecessary stuff we’ve accumulated over the years. Our dumpster rental is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to start clearing out the clutter! Once we’ve tackled all the extra waste, I’ll be sure to put these tips into action. Thanks for sharing!