How To Have a Stress-Free Move

Confessions from a recent move

Moving is a daunting task, no matter how you look at.

To think you have to put ALL of your belongings in a truck that never seems big enough, is overwhelming in and of itself.

When we recently moved, there were a few things I wish I knew or had put more thought into as we packed up our belongings and moved. A few months ago I did post called 16 Essentials to Remember When Moving. As time has gone by, I could definitely expand that this, hence this posting. Some of the ideas may overlap, but it is only because they are that important.

Here are a few more tips when it comes to moving:
1. Start packing as soon as you can. This means starting a few weeks before the actual move. You may be thinking “but I still will need to use so many things.” To be quite frank, the reason you think you will use some items is because you are now seeing them. You probably haven’t touched some things in months, but now that your eyes have seen them, that is when you think you will use them. I thought I started earlier enough since most of our items were in boxes – I think we could’ve started even earlier.

2. Use the reduce, reuse, recycle plan – either throw it away, keep it for yourself, or donate it.

3. Going through your “stuff” does take a long time. If you are at ALL, wondering if you should keep something, trust me, GET RID OF IT! When you unpack, you will keep wishing you did. I kept WAY too much – I think I have gotten rid of at least 7 big boxes of stuff I knew we wouldn’t use. Though I wouldn’t classify ourselves as minimalists, I must say we are trying to live with what we NEED.

4. Box as many “like” items together as you can. It will make unpacking much easier in the long run. I had way too many boxes labeled “random.” It made unpacking them that much more stressful.

5. Label your boxes – not just with “bedroom,” but with which bedroom it needs to go in. Be specific. Definitely made this mistake!

6. Big boxes are great, but they can get heavy! Beware of what you save your big boxes for. The bottoms will fall out if you are not careful!

7. We had the joy of living with my husband’s family when we moved, so meals were not an issue. It may be wise to set up a meal plan so that you can pack up all the food you will not need so that your cupboards aren’t overflowing last minute. Take the time to inventory what you have so that you can use up the food that you have in your house (less to pack then!).

8. When you are unpacking, continue to look at each item and ask yourself: “is this worth keeping?” Again, purge, purge, purge!

9. When unpacking, walk around the house first so that you have an idea of how and where you would like everything (if you haven’t done so already). Typically you will end up moving some things again, but minimize the number of times you move something by finding a place for EVERYTHING. This made unpacking that much easier!

10. Close out any accounts that you do not plan to use, BEFORE you move (especially if living in a different state). Not doing this, has caused a great deal of stress at times. Granted we did not know where to go for a new bank, but that is something we should’ve done when we were looking for housing a few weeks before the move. I HIGHLY suggest doing this prior to moving.

If you ever have any questions about moving, feel free to comment and I will try to answer them the best I can!