Whichever way you slice it, moving is rarely a relaxing experience. In fact, many people have ranked it as one of the most stressful experiences of life, right up there with weddings, divorce and death in the family. It doesn’t matter if you’re a single person who has only their own things to pack up, or you’re trying to rally a partner and children to please pack, and not just dump things in a box, there are plenty of things that can stress you out during the entire process. But they don’t always have to. To try and make the process of moving as simple and stress-free as possible, we have a few tips for you.
Declutter Before You Pack
It’s a well-known fact that, while you might move in with a small amount of stuff, you will expand your belongings to fit the space you’re in. That means you quite often end up with a lot of clutter you didn’t have before, and not all of it will be worth bringing to the new house. So before you even start packing, work through your house room by room and go full Marie Kondo. Sort through everything you own, and if you don’t want or need to keep it, put it into one of three piles: sell, donate or dump. Once you’ve decluttered, the packing process will be much easier, first because you know where everything is, and second because there will be much less to pack! If you aim to do this around a month before you move, it doesn’t have to be a stressful or rushed process, and you can go at your own pace.
Plan Your Transport Early
The main part of moving house is getting all of your belongings from point A (the old house) to point B (your new home). Given that this is such a key element, we’re always amazed at how many people leave it until the last minute. So before you pack, have a think about how you’re going to move everything. It could be that you can do it all in the back of your cars, but odds are you will probably need a van or some kind, or maybe even a lorry. If that’s the case, you don’t want to get to moving day and find out no one is available. If you need to rent a van you can usually get better deals on price if you book further in advance, and if you need a lorry you will need to hire a professional moving company to help you, since normal drivers licences don’t cover driving HGV’s. Whichever way you choose, you need to have it worked out well before moving day!
Make A Packing Plan
Depending on the kind of person you are, you will have a certain way you like to pack. You could be a ‘throw it all in a box and worry about it later’ kind of person, or you could be a ‘strategic, work-through-every-room’ kind of person. Whichever you are, it’s important to make a plan so that you can work out how many boxes you need, how much tape and if you need any extra packing materials (like bubble wrap). If you’ve done a thorough declutter (as we suggested above), then you should already have a pretty good idea of how much stuff you have. Just be careful not to overfill boxes, and use smaller boxes for heavier items, and bigger ones for light ones. We also recommend labelling each box – at least with the room it will go in – to make your life much easier when directing the “helpers” on where to put the boxes and when it comes to unpacking!
Get Your Utilities Organised
No one wants to move into their new home only to discover the internet isn’t working and there are a thousand different meters to read. It’s often the last thing you think about when you’re moving, but if you don’t deal with those things quickly it can mess up your utility bills, or take a long time to get you connected. Getting your utilities organised before you move will be a weight off your mind, and mean your new home is fully up and running much faster as well.
Are you looking for your next home? We can help. Just get in touch with our team today.
