Your home is your haven, a spot to relax and unwind at the end of the day, but what happens when you need to relocate your nest?
Moving house can be stressful; here are a few tips to make it a little easier…
UP TO 2 MONTHS BEFORE THE MOVE
Declutter
Packing and moving clutter is time consuming and expensive. Tackle your space one room at a time so that you don’t become overwhelmed. Moving around the room touch each item one at a time and ask yourself: “do I need this, use this or love this – does it reflect who I am right now”. If not, perhaps it’s time to let it go.
Decide what supplies you’ll need & make one trip to the store
Items to consider:
- Strong boxes (not too big, these are heavy to manoeuvre, and not too small, some transport companies charge per box)
- Packaging tape
- Scissors
- Permanent Marker pens for labelling
- Bubble wrap (for art work, electrical appliances, and mirrors)
- Clear Newsprint paper (if you use normal newspaper you’ll have to wash the ink off your stuff on the other side)
Book your service providers & support crew early
Shop around and book a moving company early (note: booking off peak days is usually more cost effective). Say YES to eager friends who offer to help and arrange a sitter to look after the children and pets on move day.
Packing
- Pack up items that you don’t often use and can do without for a short period, e.g. Books, out of season clothes.
- Tape up both the top and bottom of your boxes.
- Label each box clearly with the room that it comes from and an idea of the contents e.g. KITCHEN: Crockery or STUDY: Academic text books.
- Keep all your packing supplies in one designated area. This avoids the time waster of wondering what happened to the scissors and where the last roll of tape went!
MOVING DAY
Wake up early to pack in the last few things. Arrange for a cleaner to come in after everything is gone, this will be quicker than trying to clean up while you are packing. Meet the removal truck at your new home and ask them to place the boxes directly into the correct rooms, this will save you the hassle of sorting through which boxes go where.
Unpacking
- Unpack one room at a time, for a sense of progress and completion. Start with your bedroom, so you have a sanctuary to collapse into at the end of the day.
- Unpack one box at a time putting each item in its new home as you go.
- Finish the job to enjoy a sense of completion. Don’t leave boxes for a rainy day and try not to let the study / spare room become a dumping ground for all the stuff you still need to find a place for.
AND FINALLY
Reward yourself for a job well done and enjoy making your new house a home.
We are moving temporarily to a much smaller place which means that we need to put some stuff in storage (e.g. really old books inherited from my Grandfather, furniture etc). I’ve followed your method too except that we’re ending with three categories of items and boxes. I bought big circle stickers in three colors and each box got a sticker. Pink for moving immediately, Yellow for moving later and Green for storage. We still have a lot of decluttering to do (mainly hubby’s stuff) but fortunately we can leave that stuff at the old place until we put the house on the market. It sure is a challenge!