Moving house is pretty much always a stressful time, although it can also be very exciting and even liberating. Here are some tips on how to make your house move go as smoothly as possible, so you can focus on enjoying your new place without all the frayed nerves which normally come with moving house!
Start packing early
The folks at moversville.com have put together a handy week-by-week guide to help you figure out when you should aim to have each step of the process of moving house completed by. They advise you to start the actual packing at least 3 weeks before your moving date, but also say that 6 to 8 weeks before moving is when you should start going through all your stuff and deciding what you will be taking with you and what you will be selling, donating or putting in the trash. Arguably, you could combine the two processes and keep a ‘getting rid of’ box next to you as you pack, in which case you need to be really disciplined, and not fall into the habit of just packing everything without stopping to consider whether you actually need to keep all that stuff!
Don’t forget that storage is an option
One of the most stressful aspects of moving house is probably trying to deal with the fact that on the one hand you need to pack up all your stuff, which will fill your house with boxes and bags, and on the other hand you also need to give the place a deep clean, which you can only really do once the place is empty. If you are going to be on a tight timeline, which is often the case when moving out of a rental, consider putting furniture and boxes in storage for a few weeks to give you time to go through each room and deep-clean it. For example, if you have a bookcase in your living room you could pack up all your books and move both the boxes and the bookcase into storage, and then clean the living room. If you don’t have that much stuff, choose a storage company which offers small units, such as storagearea.com, in order to save money.
Label your boxes
This is probably the single most useful thing you can do when packing for a house move, and your future self is sure to thank you! The folks at unpakt.com have some useful tips for how to label your boxes in the most useful way, which includes labeling all sides of the box (including the top) in order to make it as easy as possible to figure out where each one goes when they are all stacked together in a moving van. Another important thing to remember when labeling your boxes is that you should write down not only the room which the contents of the box should end up in, but also what the contents themselves are. When you get to your new place you are going to be hungry and tired, and you don’t want to have to go through five different boxes labeled ‘kitchen’ before you find your coffee maker or your toaster!
Pay attention to the order you pack things in
Joshua Green of mymovingreviews.com has written an excellent article detailing which order you should tackle packing in. One fairly obvious tip is to pack the items you use the least first. These could be decorations (which are pretty but not essential), collector’s items or books and magazines, as you definitely won’t have that much time to read while packing for a house move! Another important point that Green makes is to tackle your most difficult areas first, such as your junk drawer or that garage, attic or basement you let yourself fill with stuff. While you might be tempted to procrastinate dealing with the most difficult areas of your house to pack, earlier on in the process you will have more energy and time to dedicate to this burdensome but essential task. Plus, the sense of achievement you get from finally sorting through all your stuff will motivate you to get the rest of your packing done!
Don’t forget to use suitcases
Unless you are a very frequent traveler, chances are you keep your suitcases at the back of a closet or under your bed, and don’t even think about them the vast majority of the time. When it comes to moving house, however, it will pay to remember that you have suitcases, and to use them to pack as much of your stuff as possible. This doesn’t have to be limited to clothes, either; if you have wheeled suitcases you might want to pack your heaviest items in them, such as books, to make them easier to transport. Moreover, packing as much stuff as you can in your suitcases will help you minimize the number of boxes you need to use, which is great because cardboard boxes are not cheap, as someone at thechicagogreenbox.com pointed out!
Have some empathy for your significant other
Moving house is one of the most stressful life events a couple can go through, agree several psychologists and organization experts who were interviewed by realestate.boston.com. A house move entails expenses, uncertainty, a never-ending to-do list and (more often than not) disputes with your significant other about whether they really need to keep their collection of old comic books. To make sure that your relationship survives the house move, remind yourself to try and see things from your spouse or partner’s point of view; what might seem like unnecessary clutter to you might hold a lot of sentimental value for them. At the same time, don’t forget to advocate for yourself and your own needs, ideally using nonviolent communication to avoid starting an argument unnecessarily. Another good idea would be to agree in advance on a budget and timeline for the move as well as on who’s responsible for doing what.
