As exciting as moving to a new home can be, it comes with the burden of moving all your belongings which can feel never ending. Fortunately, there are many hacks, tips and tricks that can help make the process less gruelling. As with many large projects, planning ahead is key because things can take longer than you anticipate them to.
Below is a list of seven tips and tricks for the planning, packing and unpacking process to make your move seamless and smooth.
1. Select a Moving Company Early
Ensure that you do your moving company research ahead of time to avoid making a quick decision that will impact you negatively in the future. Once you have done your research, book the company, dates and times you want as early as possible. Otherwise, you may not get your first choice or have to move at an inconvenient time.
2. Budget
Typically moving is not cheap, budgeting can help you plan for the large upcoming expenses to make sure you’re not caught off guard. Make sure to get quotes for the big expenses to incorporate into your budget. The little things, like packing supplies, can’t be forgotten either!
3. Sort Personal Belongings
Depending on where you’re moving, you will have to decide which items you’re bringing with you and which items are going to be sold, donated or thrown away. This process takes longer than you think, make sure to plan ahead.
As a tip, items that are hard to replace, like clothes and photos, should be brought with you but items that are easy to replace, such as furniture, should be sold, donated or thrown away.
4. Cancel Utilities Immediately
Once you know the date of your move, notify your utility service providers immediately. Often, there are cancellation fees associated with utility companies if you cancel too late.
In addition, if you are moving to a location with the same service provider, you can transfer the service to your new home. Utility changes and other similar service adjustments is often overlooked, living without utilities is added stress that you don’t want!
5. Packing
There is only so much preparation you can do, eventually it will be time to take action and pack. Make sure to label boxes strategically, colour coding or labelling by room are both straightforward methods. Don’t forget to pack a separate bag with the essential items you will need over the duration of time that you are moving and unpacking.
For efficiency, use towels to wrap fragile objects, put small items in large pots and use little pieces of plastic to cover items that might spill. Make the most of your space, you can get creative in your space saving!
6. Moving Day
The most stressful part of moving is the actual moving day. Try to have all of your belongings packed for the day you move, last minute packing is time consuming and slows the whole day of your move. If the move gets too overwhelming, it still isn’t too late to call for the help of professional movers.
It is best to be prepared with snacks and water on moving day too, it is easy to run out of time to grab a meal. If you have young children or pets moving with you, plan to have them stay with friends or family on moving day, if possible.
7. Unpacking
The last step of the moving process is unpacking all your items. Unpacking will take just as long as it took you to pack, if not longer. It’s best to start unpacking the frequently used rooms first, mainly the kitchen and bedrooms.
The rest will take a while, try to do a little bit everyday until you’re done. If it helps, set a deadline for completion of unpacking, as it’s easy to put it off.
