Moving into a new home isn’t the funnest task ever, but if you think about how awesome your new home will be once you are all moved in, that can help inspire you. There are those people who enjoy the challenge of seamlessly transitioning into unknown territory and calling it home, but even those people inevitably get stressed out by the move. You should consider how much your time and saneness is worth to you. Fortunately, I’ve got a few ideas that will make moving into your new home a efficient, yet leisurely process.
1. Planning
This one may be totally obvious, yet most people don’t know what to focus on when they plan or don’t have a very effective plan of attack. You have to approach this task with a strategic mentality in order to get the move done as fast and conveniently as possible. First you want to plan as far ahead as you can. Planning too much is better than not planning enough! Try to sort out dates first. This will determine most of the planning – whether to keep your belongings in storage, whether to make prior arrangements or whether to move straight in. The more time overlap you have between moving out and moving into your new home, the better. Of course, too much overlap will result in superfluous renting costs, but a few weeks of overlap is perfect. This will give you enough time to make desired renovations or to move your belongings in several trips instead of a single day of torture.
Help Your Friends Move
Anytime your buddies need help moving, jump on it! Your help will increase your chances of getting free help for moving when you move out. Not only will doing this put you in their favor, but word will spread around that you are a helpful person, and everyone enjoys helping those who do good things. At the very least you’ll have people receptive to helping you in the future. Even if it isn’t when you’re moving into a new home, you can’t complain about that.
2. Start Packing Up Early.
It is better to start packing too early than it is too late. If you start too late, you’ll be in such a hurry that you’ll likely forget lots of important things. Many times there is so much involved in the move that you need time to think about all the things you need to do. Either way, it is important to have a good plan – what services you should get, what you should get rid of, etc.
Finding Moving Supplies
Get boxes from people you know who work in a restaurant, drugstore, or retail store. Just go into a local store and ask the manager if they have any spare boxes. You might also be able to get some bubble wrap or packing supplies too. Accumulate newspapers as they are work well as packing material.
Storing Your Stuff in the Meantime
Designate an area for short term storage. Dishes you don’t use often can be packed in advance. Leave out only enough utensils and supplies for a few days of use. Start throwing out food you don’t need or that has gone bad. Start putting away unused clothes and put clothes that you don’t want or don’t ever wear in a bag to donate or giveaway. You can leave clothes in your dresser because when you move you can easily take the drawers out and place them in the trunk or back seat. Blankets and sheets can also be packed ahead of time. Take down posters, artwork, decorations and pack them up. Do the same with anything you don’t use often, such as DVD or CD collection. Determine how you will get rid of your clutter. You can give away your stuff to friends and family or charity. Keep in mind, Craigslist is great for listing large furniture items. If you have things you’re not sure about, put them in a bag and if after a few weeks you haven’t gone back and decided, just drop it off at Salvation Army.
3. Take a Look at the Needs of Your New Home Beforehand
Before you move in, when your new home is cleared out, is the most optimal time to fix issues with your new place. Does it need a dash of color? Do you want wood flooring instead of carpet? Maybe you want full-length French windows in the master bedroom for your new spectacular view! Whatever it is, these can be major projects, but this is the most optimal time to do it. If you don’t do it now, then later you’ll have to move all your furniture, then back again. That’s like a triple move! Save yourself the hassle and do any renovating ahead of time. Even better, hire a nearby contractor to do the work for you while you plan or work on other things. These days you don’t have to spend days finding a good contractor to hire. A few online websites, such as Angie’s List, provide real reviews and ratings of nearby contractors. Utilizing these time saving websites will prevent future headaches because you won’t have to worry about receiving poor service and then finding someone else to do the work.
4. Buy Furniture On the Web and Have it Shipped to Your New Residence.
Some pieces of furniture just are not worth the hassle to move, in which case you are better off buying new furniture. Most of your shopping can be done online (for furniture like chairs, tables, and beds). Keetsa is a great place to get your mattress from because they offer free shipping on their eco-friendly beds. What’s unique about this is that they compress your bed into a small box! The only downside of shopping online is that you can’t feel the furniture before you buy it, although a handful of online furniture retailers have local storefronts too. Make your order about a week before you move in (this depends on what kind of shipping they use, but you can ask for an estimate).
5. Change Your Information
The excitement of being done with your move may push you through the final phase without too much stress, but don’t forget that there are still phone lines, broadband, names on bills to change and much, much more! It’s easy to overlook a task such as forwarding your old mailing address to your new one.
Once again, I suggest doing these tasks online because it is faster and more convenient. Here’s a simple tool you can use to quickly change your USPS forwarding address: the USPS website has a free address forwarding service. Like many Web 2.0 website these days, they compensate for the cost of their free service by giving you the option to choose special offers from different businesses. This is only a simple example of how you can go about updating your address information. Then there are the more apparent information changes like your credit cards, bank accounts, and monthly bills, which you can all make online. Moving into your new home without updating your information could result in you not receiving important mail, so make sure you do it because it’s too easy not to!
As you can see, moving into a new home requires a lot of forethought, but when move-in day comes it will have been worth the time you spent planning. The idea of living in a new place is always exciting and doesn’t have to be stressful. If you apply the advice above, you can settle in quite nicely in as little as a few hours. The sooner you move into this new place that you’ll be calling home, the sooner you’ll be able to relax and enjoy it.
