Will you be moving home? Here are some tips on how to make the process stress-free.

 

Moving Home: How to Make the Process Stress free

It’s moving day, and hopefully, you have everything in place for a successful transition to your new abode. Moving day can be stressful, but with the right planning and pieces in place, you can stay in control of the process. Find out more about making your home move stress-free.  

Key Takeaways: Moving Home  

• Work with a professional removal company for the best results and reduced stress
• A checklist can help you plan and execute the move without leaving anything out
• Avoid moving issues by contacting the professional movers first for more information 
• Take your time tidying and cleaning your new home before unpacking. Unpack slowly.   

Removals Firm 

Don’t leave it to the last minute to pick a removal firm. When people move home, they tend to plan the project during the most convenient times; these include school holidays and weekends. Chances are, you won’t be able to hire your first choice removal firm if you leave it too late, so research your options early and book your home move in advance to reduce any moving stress.  

Your first choice for a moving service should be professional movers. It’s best to hire a professional company instead of a local service to avoid delays and accidents. There is a higher chance of something breaking or getting lost in the process when you hire non-professionals. A professional service might cost a little more, but they will wrap and protect your belongings. 

Make a Checklist 

A home move is a project. It’s quite a big project and requires careful planning. Even if your offer and only recently been accepted, there is no better time than now to start your home move planning. Don’t leave it until the last minute; this will only result in stress and panic. Instead, make a checklist as soon as the offer goes through, and you can keep things under control. 

When it comes to moving home, there are dozens of things to consider. Some of the items on your checklist can be organized at short notice, but the majority of them cannot. Items such as home surveys and paperwork take time to plan and complete, so give yourself as much time as possible. For an idea of what to include on your move checklist, visit the Money Saving Expert.  

Declutter in Advance 

Make decluttering one of the items on your checklist, and don’t wait too long to start the process. Decluttering reduces stress; the reason is that clutter splits your attention, creating tension in the mind. Conversely, a neat and tidy home calms the mind and settles the nerves. But that is not the only reason to declutter the home for a move. It saves you time and money. 

The last thing you want is to arrive at your new home with belongings you are going to immediately send to the secondhand stores – that would be a waste of effort packing and moving the items and a waste of space and money hiring a removals team for the work. Instead, you should declutter the home ahead of time and ship off anything you are not going to need.    

Make a Packing Plan 

Packing is an important stage in the home moving process. Even when you hire a removal company to pack your stuff, you still have to pre-pack it to an extent. There are a few best practices when it comes to packing. Start with the rooms you use the least. Packing these rooms first doesn’t disrupt your life and gives you a place to store some other packed boxes. 

It’s also important to label your boxes, but again, there are best practices to follow. It’s tempting to put all the plates in a box and write a label that says “kitchen stuff,” but chances are you will have dozens of them, so how are you going to find the plates in your new home? Instead, write “kitchen stuff” followed by a few bullet points of what the box contains, making life less stressful.  

Moving Issues 

A professional removal company will transport most items, but there are a few things that most companies refuse. These include plants with soil, hazardous materials, and tins of paint. There might be other items on their list as well, so make sure you ask if there’s anything they can’t accommodate. That leaves you with the issue of how to transport these rejected home items. 

Over the years, you have grown attached to your plants and don’t wish to give them away; instead, remove the soil and pack the roots in plastic; the plants can then be transported in your private vehicle. Hazardous material and tins of paint need to be transported privately too. When packing, improve safety by using small boxes for heavy items and large ones for light items.  

Home Paperwork 

Your home is likely to have sensitive paperwork and data that need to be transported securely. Home paperwork might include bills, passports, house deeds, insurance documents, and more. Make sure all of the important paperwork is stored together in a box and correctly labeled; you might also choose to store some of these documents in a cloud storage device like Dropbox.

“Paperwork” also includes the mail you receive; this will have to be redirected to your new address. Put this item on your checklist and make sure you arrange it before your home move; not only does it cover any important mail coming your way in the near future, but it gives you a little more time to organize your mail and paperwork when you are settled in your new home.     

Organize Utilities 

The last thing you want is to arrive at your new property only to have to start contacting utility companies for water and heating. If you have moved on the weekend, it might be difficult to set utilities up at short notice as well, leading to more frustration and stress. Utilities need to be switched off at your old property and switched on at your new one ahead of time for best results. 

Utilities include gas, electricity, water, and internet. Each of these items needs to be dealt with independently. A phone call to your registered gas company can turn off the gas at your old home; you can then choose to close your account or register it at the new address. The same is true for electricity and the internet. Cancel the services and allow the new owners to set up.       

Cleaning Time 

It can be awkward to move into a new property with all your boxes and then have to clean. Of course, it makes sense to clean the home before installing your furniture and belongings; but it’s tricky to clean in and around stacked boxes before you unpack. If possible, arrange some overlap between leaving your old house and arriving in the new one to give you time to clean. 

As well as having an empty home to clean at leisure, you will have time to picture and plan where all of your belongings are going to reside. When packing up your old home, remember not to pack the cleaning supplies. Keep them accessible so you can clean the old home and the new one without digging through the boxes. Cleaning is also an excellent way to reduce stress. 

Moving Day Survival 

Make your moving day an event and plan it carefully. Moving home is not a quick, effortless process; even when you have the help of a professional removal company, it is still a long day with decisions to make and physical exertion. Make your moving day less stressful with a moving day survival kit. This kit contains essential items you need that aren’t packed away. 

A moving day survival kit contains toiletries, phone chargers, bottles of water, snacks, and hot drink provisions. You will be glad you took this advice when you are tired and weary in the afternoon and need a break. With the help of a moving day survival kit, you can make your home move faster and less stressful so that you achieve everything within the right timeframe.   

Move Slowly

Take your time! When you have everything moved from your old home to your new one, and the utilities are switched over, it’s time to settle in. Most people want to unpack everything right away and make the new place their home, but it’s often better to spread the task out over a few days or a week giving you time to make better choices about where the items should land. 

Hopefully, your boxes have to be labeled carefully with bullet points, and you know what rooms to put them in. Stack the boxes in the relevant rooms and take out the necessary items first. Living with the boxes for a time helps you to discover what you need and when so your home items find their natural place. When you move fast, you tend to make more intellectual choices.   

Final thoughts 

Moving home doesn’t have to be stressful; it can be controlled. Of course, you will still have to expect some heavy lifting and mild to moderate stress, but it’s a lot less if you can tick items from a checklist ahead of time. Work with professional movers song the way for the best results.